Dark Energy by Robison Wells

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Sci-fi

Subjects: aliens, UFOS, boarding schools, mystery

Setting: Minneapolis, Minnesota

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Alice (Aly) Goodwin

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 273 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “WE ARE NOT ALONE

Five days ago, a massive UFO crashed in the Midwest, killing thousands of people. Since then, nothing–or no one–has come out.

THEY HAVE ARRIVED

If it were up to Alice, she’d be watching all of this on the news from Miami, Florida. Instead, she’s the newest student at a boarding school not far from the crash site–because her dad is the director of special projects for NASA, and if anything’s a special project, it’s this.

AND THERE’S NO GOING BACK

A shell-shocked country is waiting, glued to televisions and computer screens, for a sign of what the future holds. But when the aliens emerge, they’re nothing like what Alice expected. And only one thing is clear: Nothing will ever be the same again.”

My Review:  Dark Energy is a book I’ve been highly anticipating since I heard about it. I’ve read all the other books by Robison Wells, and finally he writes one with aliens! The book isn’t what I expected. Not at first. Based off the cover I expected something more creepy and mysterious and more rural. The book is set in Minnesota, mainly at a boarding school for the “gifted and talented.” Alice is sent there because her father works for NASA and he’s investigating the UFO crash site outside of Minneapolis.

Nothing has come out of the space ship yet and everyone’s anticipating the possibility of malicious aliens who want to take over, if any aliens survived, that is. When aliens finally do come out of the ship they are not what Alice expected, in fact, there’s nothing really alien about them. They call themselves the Guides, but what is there purpose? To help, or it there another reason. Two teen guides are sent to Alice’s school and Alice and her roommates try to get information out of them. Some of what they say doesn’t add up. These Guides have translators, but there’s many thing about Humans that they don’t understand.

Anyway, there’s a lot of fun dialogue. Alice and her father have some pretty funny conversations, and Alice and Kurt flirt a bit and banter too. Alice’s roommates are smart and pretty awesome. They seem pretty accepting of Coya. Alice is half Navajo, so she feels just as out of place at this school. Alice is very bold and stubborn and fun.

Dark Energy was cool and funny at times. There are so many pop-culture references, like mentions of Ancient Aliens, Star Wars, Star Treck, 2001, ect… and even pop-culture Icons like Taylor Swift. It’s not dystopian really, but it does remind me of The 5^th Wave or the TV shows Falling Skies. Also this book has a crazy twist….actually a few crazy twists, none of which include time travel sadly, so I guess I was wrong this time.

I recommend this to fans of TV show like: Ancient Aliens, Falling Skies, Hunters (Syfy),  Childhood’s End (also SyFy). Movies like Independence Day, and War of the Worlds. Books like The 5^th Wave, Scan, Rush, The Taking, Alienated, In the After and pretty much anything with aliens. If you listen to 3^rd Phase of Moon radio show on Fridays and are a UFO geek.

Cover Art Review: The cover is cool, but doesn’t fit the content very well since the book’s setting isn’t rural and the book isn’t that creepy. The space ship is supposed to be cylindrical, not a saucer.

Unleashed by Sophie Jordan

Series: Uninvited (bk. 2) Final Book

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

Subjects: genetics, psychology, psychopaths, murder, love, rebels, resistance to government,

Setting: Texas and New Mexico

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Davy

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 355 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Unleashed, the romantic, high-stakes sequel to New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan's Uninvited, is perfect for fans of James Patterson's Confessions of a Murder Suspect.

Davy has spent the last few months trying to come to terms with the fact that she tested positive for the kill gene HTS (also known as Homicidal Tendency Syndrome). She swore she would not let it change her, and that her DNA did not define her . . . but then she killed a man.

Now on the run, Davy must decide whether she'll be ruled by the kill gene or if she'll follow her heart and fight for her right to live free. But with her own potential for violence lying right beneath the surface, Davy doesn't even know if she can trust herself.”

My Review:  Unleashed is the second and final book of the Uninvited Duology. This series is a very unique kind of Dystopian series. It’s set in the very near-future (2021) in which people are tested for the “kill-gene” and ostracized for having it. These book brought up tons of questions about psychology and prejudice.

In this sequel, Davy, Sean, Sabine and Gil attempt to cross the boarder into Mexico to get to a refugee camp for carriers. Davy is shoot and falls off the boat and washes up on US soil. She is found by a guy and taken to an underground compound and treated for her injuries. This guy, Caden broke protocol bringing her and this angers some of the other carriers at the compound.

Davy tries to act tough and sarcastic since she feels so guilty from killing a guy in the previous book. Caden sees through her act. Though Davy missed Sean and longs for him, romance bloom between Davy and Caden. Davy tries to leave the compound multiple times, but things happen that prevent her from leaving.

I honestly think I like Caden better than Sean. Sean was okay. I liked him though he was broody; at least he was polite and kind. He’s not really in this book very much. Caden has dark hair, Sean had blonde. Caden has golden brown eyes, Sean had blue. Caden has been a leader in the resistance; Sean has been a victim to the system.  Caden seems to have more confidence and he work so hard to fight for what he believes in. He also reminded me of Zen from Unremembered, so that’s probably why I liked him.

I did enjoy the story, though the plot was less complex than the first book. Pretty much the whole book took place on or near the compound. The previous book had multiple settings. There was action and fighting and mystery. There’s someone that may have betrayed the compound. There’s a jerk named Marcus who think Davey’s a spy. There’s also a page after before chapter that either news clips, interview, coversations, letter, text message or announcement or some sort. It adds to the story, shows us what’s going on outside of Davy’s experience.

I recommend it if you enjoyed Divergent, Blackout by Robison Wells, Shatter Me, Minders by Michele Jaffe and other dystopian books.

Cover Art Review: The girl on the cover look like Taylor Swift. I love the DNA hair!

Death and the Girl He Loves by Darynda Jones

Series: Darklight Trilogy (bk. 3)

Genera: Paranormal Romance

Subjects: supernatural, prophecies, prophets, visions, premonitions, angels, demons, nephilim, New Mexico, love

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 255 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: MacMillan: St. Martin’s Griffin

Summary/ product description: “The fate of the world is not something a girl wants on her shoulders, and that is especially true for Lorelei McAlister. Unfortunately for her, that is exactly where the world’s fate has decided to take up residence. Lorelei has seen firsthand the horrors that lie beneath our everyday world. And those horrors are getting her friends killed. Because of this, she agrees to leave the sanctity of her hometown and is sent to a different world entirely. A boarding school. But even here she is being watched. Someone knows what she is. What she carries inside her soul. And on top of that she’s seeing visions. This is nothing new for Lorelei. But these visions are something more: death, destruction, and the end of the world. Lorelei must face the fact that there are people who want her dead, and no matter where she goes, no matter how far she runs, the lives of her friends and family are in mortal peril. Lucky for her, her friends and family include the handsome Angel of Death, a fiercely protective half-angel, and a ragtag group of loyal supporters who aren’t afraid to get a little dirty in the name of fighting pure evil.”

My Review: I didn’t realize that this was the last book in the series when I started reading it. I was hoping for more than three books, but this turned out to be an interesting conclusion. This turned out way differently than I expected. The ending was happy, and kind of epic.

I love this series so much. The covers are so unfitting for the book that’s inside. This has been fun and entertaining and full of romance. I love all the characters, both the main and side characters. Their personalities are so flushed out and they are developed so well that I feel like they’re real people. Lorelei and Brooklynn have the best friendship ever (I think it’s called a femship or womance). Jared is hot and the Angel of Death, and an interesting love interest. I like Glitch (aka Casey). He’s also a funny friend who has an odd fear of turtles (which I funny, near the end of the book when we find out why). Cameron is a nephilim and I’m pretty sure that he and Brooklyn like each other. The new character, Kenya, is also pretty funny. She acts so tough.

Anyways, the beginning of the book starts out at a boarding school in Maine. Lorelei’s been there for a few week, hiding out, going by Lorraine. She’s already made friends with a girl named Crystal and is being picked on by Kenya. Some guy threatens and attacks Lorelei and she decides to go back home to New Mexico. Thing are getting crazy there as the end of the world approaches. Lorelei, her friends and family come up with ideas on how to stop the word from ending. Lorelei’s ability to see into photos develops more. She’s basically seeing into the past, but it more like astral time-travel.

There’s a huge twist in the story in the last 80 pages or so. This may be a spoiler, but it’s funny when Lorelei thinks she’s in heaven and it’s crazy what actually happened. I think the ending did drag on a bit. I liked it, but I thought it was going in a different direction. I was expecting an epic battle, but what happened was even crazier than that. I was hoping things would go back to the way they were because I didn’t like this change, but everything worked out.

I’m kind of sad that it’s over now. So many other book series are four or five books, and thing trilogy was made up of pretty short book. The stories are so fast paced that you could probably read all three books in under a week. I read this book in less than 2 days and I feel like it went way to quick. I loved every second of it. I recommend this series to fans of Hush, Hush, Fallen, The Winter Haven series, and any other YA paranormal romance series. It’s truly a must read and is very under the radar.

Cover Art Review: Why are the covers so boring! School photos suck. I want to see New Mexico, angels and supernatural stuff. This looks too contemporary.