Gemina - Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff - 5 stars

This is book 2 of the Illuminae Files. I enjoyed this one just as much as the first. It took a little bit to get into this one at the start because there were all new characters since this one did not take place on the Hypatia like Illuminae did.

The setting for this one is on the Space Station Heimdall, in which the Hypatia is heading for. These new characters have to face the next round of assault from BeiTech. A lot of energy and excitement in this one. It seems like much more goes on in this one too, since these are humans verses humans rather than humans verses machine. So it does get pretty intense. It seemed liked the action was non stop in this installment and there is a pretty good twist in this one too.

I was a little disappointed that Kady and Ezra were not in this one and I did not think I would like the characters in this because of that. But the characters in this story really came shining through and I thought that they were just as well developed as the former cast. I really enjoyed each one of them a lot and their individual personalities. They did remind me a bit of Kady and Ezra though. I found that Nik was a bit more of a wild child than Ezra was, but I really liked that too. I would love to see all of them come together in the third and final installment.

This is a great YA Science Fiction. If you like Sci-fi and YA, then I am thinking y'all will love this one. This is a great action packed trilogy! Looking forward to getting into the last book Obsidio Soon.

Then She Was Gone - Lisa Jewell - 5 stars

I got this book through Book of the Month and I am so glad that I chose this one. This is a first time read for me of this author. I love her writing style so much, it is so poetic. A lot of great quotes to remember in this one. It was very engaging from the first page all the way to the last.

This story has a great setting, one of those settings that gives you that small town feel. I love stories like that. The book flows well from start to finish and it was pretty hard for me to put down. It has some good plot twists to keep readers on their toes, and enough excitement to keep readers up at night. I also loved all the mystery leading up to the great reveal. I was always thinking and trying to figure out what was going on. Great storytelling!

There are some pretty good characters in this story. Well defines, well created, some very relatable and others you just was to punch in the face because they are either bad people or just annoying. She gives a wide array of personalities in this book. There was one character though, Theo, that I really did not see the significance of his role in the story until maybe way at the end, but even then he seemed kind of insignificant. He felt more like a filler, even though I did not think the story needed that at all.

I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I find her writing style very poetic and engaging. If you like thrillers check this one out.

Illuminae - re-read - April 11, 2018

(Re-read for April 2018, and still loved it! So glad that I have re-read this book, now I can move onto Gemina, and finish up with Obsidio.)
Wow what an experience this book was. This book is a book that was picked for me for the Pick 5 challenge. And WOW is all I can say. This is a Science fiction which is completely out of my comfort zone and I absolutely loved this book! Right now, I can't imagine not reading it. So glad I was given the opportunity to do so.

Ok so at first I thought, great a science fiction, and then I picked up the book and turned to the first page and was glued to it till I finished it. This is the great escape into the universe! This is truly my favorite book for February. The plot draws readers in right from the start, you can't help yourself because you can feel the excitement building from that first page and you know you are in for one wild ride. The world that has been built here is built with such great imagery, that it makes you forget that any other places even exists. There are great twists to the story that add so much more to the story. Readers will feel every single emotion possible while reading this book.

The Characters are just stunning. They are so well developed, so relatable, and so believable. You have strong characters, weak characters, evil and good characters, characters that are off the charts in all areas. Readers will love every one of them for what they are or who they become. A nice mix of protagonists and antagonists. The ones you love and the ones you love to hate. Of course as far as characters goes it is hard to choose one favorite out of all of them, but I have to say Kady probably is my favorite. She grows so well throughout this story. She is strong and smart, but she also has her own issues and flaws that make her very relatable.

The Girl Before - J.P. Delaney - 4 stars

I received this book though Book of the Month a while ago and decided to read it as a filler before a buddy read that I had planned. I have not read a psychological thriller in quite some time, so I thought it might be time now. I really enjoyed this book and I am so glad I decided to read it. It is a combination of thriller and mystery. I found that it was a pretty engaging read.

It really has a great pacing, I love how fluid the writing is. I found it to be a little predictable, but I have to wonder if the author did that on purpose just because of the way the story comes together. It did not really ruin the story for me though, so that was good. It also switches between 2 characters (both women) perspective from 2 different times. Makes it easier to follow that way. The setting is pretty awesome as well. The story surrounds a flat that is actually 'called' One Folgate Street, which is actually just the address, and I feel that the address is very ominous and suits the story very well, and the man who is responsible for it's construction.

One of the women I liked and the other not so much, but both of them written very well. Readers will see the similarities between them and then of course the differences as well. Readers also get to learn a lot about each of them and how One Folgate Street shapes and molds their lives and how it, in effect, affects each of them.

Rage - Jackie Morse Kessler - 4 stars

This is book #2 in the Riders of the Apocalypse. I read Hunger, the first book, the end of last year and then found this one shortly after and knew I had to read it.

In this series the author takes everyday disorders, such as eating disorders, or self harm, and turns them into something a bit more positive, (if you can think of the apocalypse as a positive), without glamorizing it. She shapes and molds each of her characters into decisive and confident people, but it is not and 'over night' achievement. Readers go through plenty of dark tunnels before finding that light at the end. She draws readers in with her down to earth honesty, no sugar coating the issues that so many teens face every day.

The characters are damaged, flawed and definitely scarred, their souls bared for all to see. Readers live through and face every torment, and every pain with them. I felt as though I was there in the story with them, and I found myself trying to push them along when they want to give up. A very engaging read.

I look forward to continuing the series with the final 2 books in this series, Loss and Breath.

Monsters of Men - Patrick Ness - 5 stars

This is book 3 in the Chaos Walking trilogy, and wow this was probably my favorite one. There was definitely a lot more excitement and it was full of turmoil and frenzy and a lot of drama. The author stepped the story up with this installment. I don't generally enjoy dystopian novels or series, but this one was done a lot differently than normal dystopian stories.

Again the Characters are amazing. They are developed and written so well that you get to watch them grow right before your eyes as you read each book. Each of them with their own personalities. This is what makes them feel so realistic, living in an unrealistic world. I love who and what they stand for, I also love the fact that there are aliens that live among the people of 'the clearing'. How they all struggle to understand the other, and how they deal with the differences. This story also has one of the best 'bad guys' (in the Mayor), that I have read in a long time.

I also really enjoyed the changes in perspectives. You still have Viola and Todd, but then getting to also read from the perspective of the alien(s), is fantastic. I feel like readers will really enjoy seeing how 'the Sky' and 1017 perceive things as well. It was so well done, so well written. One of the best series/trilogies I have read so far this year.

The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore - Joan Lowery Nixon - 2 stars

I picked up this book some time ago and chose it for a quick read, (since it was a YA Mystery), but I was not all that thrilled with this story at all. I did think the storyline sounded very interesting. A girl gets kidnapped, then she is saved, but everyone thinks she had a hand it. To start off, I found it to be predictable and unrealistic. True, it did have a good pacing so it was a pretty quick read, but it was just all so improbable. I wont give those spoilers away to prove my point though.

The characters were ok, but not really very relatable for me. I did not feel like they had much depth, or really a story behind their characters, kind of one dimensional. Even the bad guys were not really bad guys I did not think. They were just kind of there. I am guessing maybe it was tamed a bit because it was a YA Mystery?

I also really wanted a little more excitement to the story. I mean the girl was kidnapped, that would call for some scary parts or some adrenalin pumping action of some kind right? It was more like she was a guest in someone's home. It was really all kind of sub par for me and I really just wanted so much more to the story.