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.

Walk the Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson

Series: The Gold Seer Trilogy (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Paranormal/Western Historical Fiction

Subjects: adventure, magic, gold rush

Setting: Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri and to California

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Leah Westfall

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 431 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Greenwillow Books

Summary/ product description: “Gold is in my blood, in my breath, even in the flecks in my eyes.

Lee Westfall has a strong, loving family. She has a home she loves and a loyal steed. She has a best friend—who might want to be something more.

She also has a secret.

Lee can sense gold in the world around her. Veins deep in the earth. Small nuggets in a stream. Even gold dust caught underneath a fingernail. She has kept her family safe and able to buy provisions, even through the harshest winters. But what would someone do to control a girl with that kind of power? A person might murder for it.

When everything Lee holds dear is ripped away, she flees west to California—where gold has just been discovered. Perhaps this will be the one place a magical girl can be herself. If she survives the journey.

The acclaimed Rae Carson begins a sweeping new trilogy set in Gold Rush-era America, about a young woman with a powerful and dangerous gift.”

My Review:  I don’t usually read historical fiction for fun. I’ve only read the Madman’s Daughter series, which I enjoyed, and A Clockwork Angel and Dead Reckoning, which I didn’t enjoy. But how could I resist trying to read a book about a girl who can sense gold and travels to California during the gold rush? I like Western movies, hot cowboys, all that. Walk on Earth a Stranger is a true western adventure.

Leah is an awesome heroin. When she leaves her home because her uncle murdered her parents, she disguises herself as a boy and pulls it off. She heads to Independence, Missouri to meet up with Jefferson, a guy friend who’s a neighbor. Jeff is part Cherokee and lots of people have negative beliefs about natives at that time. It takes months to get there and see him again. Crossing the plains and the mountain with a caravan takes way longer and some friend she makes even die along the way. It’s a treacherous journey. She hears her uncle took the sea rout to California, which is supposedly faster and easier. She hopes that her uncle won’t find her because he wants her for her ability to find gold.

I really enjoyed this book. Much more that the Girl of Fire and Thorns, which was pretty slow and used a lot of Spanish words, but had fantasy. This book does have some old fashioned/southernisms in it and sometime is a little slow, but not too bad. I wish there was more paranormal stuff that just Leah finding gold, but it’s fine the way it is. I watch Prospectors on the Weather Channel and sometimes other treasure shows. I panned for gold once in Deadwood, South Dakota. It was seven dollar and I got little pieces of gold, like sand grains. I collect rock too. So gold and gem prospecting is really cool to me.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes westerns or pioneer stuff, like True Grit or the Lone Ranger or even Little House on the Prairie.

Cover Art Review: Beautiful Cover. Not sure I like the girl’s dress though. Leah mostly wears boys clothes in the book are a disguise.

Of Neptune by Anna Banks

Series: The Syrena Legacy (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Fantasy

Subjects: mermaids, merfolk, supernatural, magic, mythology

Setting: New Jersey coast, and Tennessee

POV/Tense: rotating between 1^st person POV present tense: Emma and 3^rd person POV present tense: Galen

Age/Grade Level: Teens & college age

Length: 327 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: MacMillan: Feiwel & Friends

Summary/ product description: “Emma and Galen’s kingdom and their love is threatened by long-lost Syrena in the brilliant conclusion to Anna Banks bestselling trilogy.

Emma, half human and half Syrena, and her Syrena love, Galen, need time together alone. Away from the kingdoms of Poseidon and Triton. Emma’s grandfather, the Poseidon king, suggests the two visit a small town called Neptune.

Neptune is home to both Syrena and Half-Breeds alike. But Emma and Galen didn’t sign up to be peacemakers between the ocean and the land-dwelling, freshwater Syrena. They didn’t bargain for meeting a charming Half-Breed named Reed, who can barely disguise his feelings for Emma. And they especially didn’t expect to find themselves in the middle of a power struggle that threatens not only their love but their ocean kingdoms.

In this stunning conclusion to her bestselling Syrena Legacy, Anna Banks thrills fans with more action and romance than ever.”

My Review:  Ohmysweetgoodness! I just have too many feels to say how much I loved this finale in comprehensible sentences. There’s just too much. Emmy’s sassy narration and Galen’s royal hotness. The adventure and thrills and things that a so atypical of paranormal romance series. It’s been an awesome ride and I hate to see this series end, but I loved every page of it. It’s a great take on mermaid lore. Of Neptune mainly takes place on land though. Emma and Galen travel to a town called Neptune somewhere in Tennessee where Syrena, Half-Breeds and humans live together.

There’s a character named Reed who flirts with Emma. He’s a Half-Breed like her and also has the gift of Poseidon. This makes Galen very jealous and Galen goes off and ends up kidnapped and Emma doesn’t realize what happened to him because she thinks he left her. Galen should have been more forward about his feeling, but he love Emma so much want her to be happy. If Emma feels like she belongs with Half-Breeds with her, then she should let her be with them. Galen had a lapse in judgment for sure. They’re madly in love and should never let anything put a wedge in their relationship. Despite this almost love-triangle, I still absolutely love this book. I wish Rayna and Toraf were in the book more often, though.

I really enjoyed the setting. A small, fictional town in Tennessee in the Smokey Mountains? I love it! I wish I could visit. This book was like a virtual summer vacation. Caves and canyon and mountains and spring. It sounds so awesome. I visited Kentucky once, and West Virginia, so I pictured those places. Since there’s no ocean nearby, the Syrena swim in fresh water lakes, rivers and caves filled with water. The caves I found especially amazing I’ve been to Mammoth Cave. That cave was cavernous.

So much happens in this book. It has short chapters and is fast paced. You’d never expect a mermaid book to have this much action, but there’s kidnappings and guns and crazy scientists. The ending was amazing. The epilogue was especially romantic and made me long for a tropical vacation too. Emma is such a lucky (fictional) girl.

If you have not read The Syrena Legacy series, you are missing out big-time. You may like it if you enjoyed any of the following mermaid books: Lies Beneath by Ann Greenwood Brown, Siren by Tricia Rayburn, Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs, or Forgive my Fins by Tera Lynn Childs. This series is fun and fan-flipping-tastic! Also, full of fishy, funny curses and a great character voice.

Cover Art Review: Nice photo, but I still love the type used for the title. Metallic gold this time. Guy doesn’t look like Galen too me. Too pale.

Cold Spell by Jackson Pearce

Series: Fairytale Retellings (bk. 4)

Genera: Paranormal Romance/Fantasy Adventure

Subjects: werewolves, winter, magic, supernatural, love, rescues, retellings

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 323 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $18.00

Publisher: Hachette: Little, Brown

Summary/ product description: “Kai and Ginny grew up together–best friends since they could toddle around their building’s rooftop rose garden. Now they’re seventeen, and their relationship has developed into something sweeter, complete with stolen kisses and plans to someday run away together.

But one night, Kai disappears with a mysterious stranger named Mora–a beautiful girl with a dark past and a heart of ice. Refusing to be cast aside, Ginny goes after them and is thrust into a world she never imagined, one filled with monsters and thieves and the idea that love is not enough.

If Ginny and Kai survive the journey, will she still be the girl he loved–and moreover, will she still be the girl who loved him?

Cold Spell is a retelling of the Snow Queen”

My Review: This is a perfectly wintery read and I definitely recommend reading it this winter. Although, the book technically starts in October, there’s a freak winter storm in Atlanta. Snow in Georgia seems unthinkable, especially this early. Something happens to Kai’s grandma and then a mysterious girl offers Ginny and Kai a ride to the hospital. Mora is the Snow Queen and she kidnaps Kai with her mind control and cold kisses. Mora used to be a mermaid/water girl, like in the previous book, Fathomless. Kai says he doesn’t love Ginny, even though he’s loved her since they were kids. Ginny goes on a quest to find Kai and get him to love her again.

This is the best book in this series yet. Maybe it was because the time of year. Maybe it’s just because I love the whole Snow Queen story, even though this is a completely different take. I read the Stork series by Wendy Delsol, and the 2rd book, Frost, is also inspired by the Snow Queen. This book has a fun, fast adventure and it’s a complete page-turner.

I liked that we got to see another of the older Reynolds brothers. We met Silas in Sisters Red, and he had 8 siblings. Lucas is one of the older ones, and he’s married to a woman named Ella. They’re really nice and take Ginny in for a few days and that’s how she learns more about Fenris, the were-wolves. I also loved the part when Ginny end up “kid-napped” by Travellers in Kentucky. They’re Gypsies and they’re kind of Irish, because they speak some other langue to, possibly Gaelic. One character, Flannery, is a real tough girl. She’s the Princess of Kentucky, or at least the clan in Kentucky. She’s really great in a fistfight. There are other exciting and funny parts. I love the wintery road-trip that Ginny and Flannery go on in order to track down the Snow Queen. Near the end of the book they end up on an island that’s part of Michigan, in Lake Superior. I’ve never been there, but I know a lot about it. I love the great lakes, though.

This is a great edition to the series. You don’t have to read them in order, but I still suggest that you do. It’s fun to see the connections between different characters. I recommend this book if you loved the books Stork, Frost and Flock by Delsol, the Need series by Carrie Jones, the Siren series by Tricia Rayburn, Lies Beneath series by Anne Greenwood Brown, and Shiver, Linger and Forever by Maggie Steifvater.

Cover Art Review: Love the broken mirror and the title. The lines that swirl around the title are a bit tangled, but look nice. It’s all very beautiful. Wish is was metallic like Fathomless was.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

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