Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Paranormal/Horror

Subjects: monsters, supernatural, revenants, mystery, death, murderers, magic

Setting: Nebraska, Wyoming and Boulder, Colorado, Chicago, Illinois

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Breezy Lin

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 358 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegen

Summary/ product description: “Breezy remembers leaving the party: the warm, wet grass under her feet, her cheek still stinging from a slap to her face. But when she wakes up, scared and pulling dirt from her mouth, a year has passed and she can’t explain how.

Nor can she explain the man lying at her grave, dead from her touch, or why her heartbeat comes and goes. She doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious—and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past.

Haunted by happy memories from her life, Breezy sets out to find answers in the gritty, threatening world to which she now belongs—where killers hide in plain sight, and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her. What she discovers is at once empowering, redemptive, and dangerous.”

My Review: I had no idea what to expect from this book. I went in kind of blindly. I only read this because the supernatural elements. It had this broody atmospheric feeling from the start, when Breezy’s at a gas station in Nebraska and there’s summer storm in the distance. She can sense killers. They have a dark aura. Some young guy named Danny tells her about a church that could help her. She thinks that he think’s she a drug addict and homeless.

Breezy hitches a ride with an older guy that’s definitely a murderer. She knowingly enters a car with a murderer, which is dumb, unless you can heal really fast and not die. Breezy was dead for a year and returned with these abilities. And also, she can pull the memories out of the murders she finds, rendering them in a coma or dead. Breezy ditches the murderer and takes to the road by skateboard in search of this church. Since she doesn’t have to eat of sleep, she’s got plenty of time and energy.

The church turns out to be a cover for some anti-monster folks trying to cure the monsters of their afflictions. They say Breezy is unnatural and she ends up in a room with blood on the wall and another girl named rain who’s some kind of a monster. Breezy is able to get some answers from her, but Breezy still doesn’t know what she became when she rose from the dead. Answers don’t come until later.

Shallow Grave is pretty intriquing and unique, but it’s not the most exciting paranormal story. I enjoyed this interesting setting and some of the humor. I think Breezy’s scientific curiosity and love of astronomy is pretty awesome. She turn “ways I can’t die” into a morbid experiment. Breezy also mixed racial, half-Chinese, half-Irish and has 2 sisters named Sunny and Meadow. Interesting name choices.

There is mystery, but it’s not delivered in the best way. There’s no anticipation and not much build up. This book is only a standalone. I recommend this to fans of book like the Outliers, the Soul Screamers series, and other book with dark mysteries or monsters.

Cover Art Review: I like the watercolor texture of the sky and the creepy underground roots. It’s a simple and creepy brooding cover.

Mila 2.0: Renegade by Debra Driza

Series: Mila 2.0 (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Sci-fi/ Thriller

Subjects: androids, robots, artificial intelligence, identity, love

Setting: Virginia Beach, Virginia; Knoxville, Tennessee; Chicago and Glen Ellyn, Illinois, then some compound of unknown location

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Mila

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 438 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and now in Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegan

Summary/ product description: “There is no one left for Mila to trust. Except for a boy she barely knows.

But Hunter has no idea who—and what—Mila really is. She can’t bear to reveal her secret, even though he’s unwittingly joined her search for Richard Grady, a man who may know more details of Mila’s complicated past.

Yet the road to the truth is more dangerous than ever. With General Holland and the Vita Obscura scouring the earth for her whereabouts, Mila must rely on her newfound android abilities to protect herself and Hunter from imminent harm. Still, embracing her identity as a machine leads her to question the state of her humanity—as well as Hunter’s real motives.

Perfect for fans of I Am Number Four and Divergent, this action-packed and heart-wrenching second installment of MILA 2.0 will leave readers breathlessly awaiting the series conclusion. “

My Review:  This was such an awesome sequel. It’s been about 2 years since I read the first Mila 2.0 book and the 3^rd and final one is coming out this month, so I though I better catch up. I thought maybe it’s a good thing I waited to read the sequel, but if I knew it would be this good, I wouldn’t have wanted to wait. Renegade is full of awesome.

Mila, in case you don’t know, is an android. She’s the narrator and act just like any other teenage girl would. She has feeling, which is not something you’d expect a robot to have. Mila was made to be the perfect weapon and she’s now coming to terms with the fact that she’s not human. She’s just starting to accept her android abilities and the robotic voice in her head that gives her information.

Mila invites Hunter to meet her at Virginia Beach to help her on a search for some guy her mother knew. They travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, hoping they have the right guy. Since Hunter doesn’t know the truth about Mila, she tells him that she’s searching for her real father. She keeps avoiding the truth because she’s afraid that it will hurt him. She fear his rejection. Then she starts becoming suspicious of Hunter because she never really looked into his past. Could he possibly be part of Vita Obscura?

I really like Hunter and I don’t care is Mila is an android, I ship them. I hope they work out and maybe there’s someway they can stay together. I just hope it doesn’t turn out like Chappie and Hunter becomes and android or cyborg. Hunter loves manga, and I used to be into manga and anime too. He’s sweet and adorable and funny and nerdy. Lucas, who’s not really in this book much, was also nerdy and awkwardly adorable. Mila is a really interesting character herself. I’ve only read one other series in which the main character is an android, but she had her mind downloaded into and android body after she died. Mila has very human flaws and emotions. I really enjoy all the cool abilities she has too.

I want to mention the settings in the book. There was part of the book set in my state, Illinois. Mila takes a bus to Chicago, she sees Three there and they fight. Then she rides a bike to Glen Ellyn in 2 hours (a Chicago suburb 23 miles directly west of the downtown Chicago) which I’m pretty sure in not possibly unless you’re and android, because it took my brother 2 hours to get to Bellwood. Glen Ellyn is where I went to community college (College of Dupage) for 4 years. It’s like 15 minutes away. Fun fact about it: Ghost Adventure’s Zach Bagens went to school there.

This book was so full of twists and non-stop action. I was never bored reading it. It’s completely entertaining. I hate when book feel slow and this is not a slow book at all. I wish all the books I read were this exciting. I also wish there was more contemporary sci-fi out there. Most sci-fi is dystopian, and others are more paranormal than sci-fi. There needs to be more sci-fi thrillers set in the present, without impending apocalypses.

I recommend this to fans of the Terminator movies, Chappie and Transcendence, and TV shows like AMC’s Humans, Fox’s Almost Human (cancelled after 1 season), Bionic Woman, other robot-android-cyborg TV or movies. Also book like the Insignia series by S.J. Kincaid, Robin Wasserman’s Cold Awakening series (about a girl who’s mind was downloaded into and android body), Unremember by Jessica Brody, False Memory by Dan Krokos, The Taking by Kimberly Derting, or Altered by Jennifer Rush.

Cover Art Review: Similar to first book’s cover. Lovely effect with the square coming off the model.

The Invisible by Amelia Kahaney

Series: Brokenhearted (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/Action Thriller

Subjects: crime, criminals, abilities, genetic alteration, vigilantes, superheroes, superpowers, love, ballerinas

Setting: the City of Bedlam (an alternate version of Chicago)

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, present tense: Anthem Fleet

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 291 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and soon in Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen and Alloy Entertainment

Summary/ product description: “In the riveting sequel to the reimagined superhero story The Brokenhearted, Anthem Fleet takes on a powerful new villain and makes some startling discoveries about her family and her past that will forever change her.

Taking up where The Brokenhearted ended, the sequel finds Anthem Fleet attempting to return to a normal life after an experimental surgery that left her with a bionic hummingbird heart and a terrifying new strength. But she can’t shake her suspicions about her father’s connection to the Syndicate and she can’t ignore the cries of help in the crime-ridden city of Bedlam. She finds new promise in her relationship with Ford, but after his lifesaving surgery, the Ford Anthem knew slips away.

When a mysterious new group called “The Invisible” starts attacking the privileged North Siders, Anthem has to step up and be the New Hope that Bedlam needs, or Bedlam will fall…once and for all.

Publishers Weekly called The Brokenhearted an “atmospheric, adventure-laced debut” with “graceful world-building, strong characterizations, and an enveloping plot.”

My Review:  The Invisible is the amazing sequel to The Brokenhearted. It’s full of awesome and kind of feels like The Dark Knight meets The Black Swan. Anthem has gone all vigilante, much like Bruce Wayne of Oliver Queen, but unlike them she’s had her heart modified and now she’s super fast and has enhanced senses.

Something bad goes down at a horse show and group that calls themselves the Invisible makes threats. They release videos urging the rich North siders to give their money to the South side. If not, bad stuff will happen. Then don’t take it seriously and someone gets killed. Despite her speed, Anthem was too late. Her and Ford want to find this Invisible just as much as the authorizes. Worse thing happen, and the North side finally does give some money. People now know that the New Hope is out there, but they don’t know it’s Anthem.

Also, we discover things about Anthem’s dead sister Regina.

I originally thought this was set in Chicago. It’s actually set in Bedlam, a city that is based off on Chicago. It’s an alternate reality version of Chicago that’s like Gotham from Batman. It may be a mixed of Detroit and Chicago. Like Chicago, it’s buy a lake, but Lake Morris, not Lake Michigan. There’s a river, like the Chicago River, and a North and South side. The poverty line it much more exaggerated. It’s much more dystopian-like.

If you’re a YA reader who enjoys Gotham (on Fox) or the Batman movies, then you’ll love The Brokenhearted series. Also if you love Arrow on the CW or this older show called Dark Angel. It’s very reminiscent of comic books and graphic novels. There’s so many book I can compare it too, not just TV, movies and superhero stuff. If you liked Divergent, Shatter Me, Die For Me, Cinder, Dark Star, Mila 2.0, False Memory. It’s very much like urban fantasy, minus anything paranormal. It’s action sci-fi, not steam punk. People have cell phones and dye their hair in punky colors and other modern things. I’m note sure if there will be a third book. I want there to be one, but I’m okay with this being the final book. If that sound like something you’d like to read, then give this series a read.

Cover Art Review: Lovely metal hummingbird. It’s very awesome! And also, the cityscape below is infact Chicago. I checked. That oval roofed building I recognize.