Unraveled by Gennifer Albin

Series: Crewel World (bk. 3)

Genera: Sci-fi Dystopian

Subjects: Utopias, fate, abilities, resistance to government, love, alternate history

Setting: Arras

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Adelice Lewys

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 286 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Macmillian: FSG

Summary/ product description: “Autonomous. Independent. Dangerous. They tried to control her. Now she’ll destroy them.

Things have changed behind the walls of the Coventry and new threats lurk in its twisted corridors. When Adelice returns to Arras, she quickly learns that something rotten has taken hold of the world and Cormac Patton needs her to help him reestablish order. However, peace comes at a terrible price. As the Guild manipulates the citizens of Arras, Adelice discovers that she’s not alone, and she must let go of her past to fight for mankind’s future. She will have to choose between an unimaginable alliance and a deadly war that could destroy everyone she loves.”

My Review:  I really enjoyed this series. It’s unlike any other dystopian book I’ve read. It’s alternate history, which you’d know if you read Altered or the Cypress Project prequel. On Earth it’s only 16 years after WWII, but in Arras, where time move 12 times as fast, it’s about 200. In Altered Adelice meet her biological father, Dante, who’s only aged 16 months since she was born (because 1 month of Earth = 1 year on Arras). He is part of the Agenda, the rebellion to stop Patton and the Cypress Project.

Adelice goes back to Arras. Patton wants to marry her and parade her around as the face of Arras. She’s not only a Crewel who can weave, but a Tailor who can alter. Some say she’s the Whorl. Altering is an ability that usually only men can posses, but she can do it. She’s not as good as Dante or Erik at it though. She wants to alter Patton while in his possession. She sacrificed herself to help the Agenda and save Arras.

She gets to see her sister Amie, who has aged two years in the time Adelice was gone. No longer is she 13, but 15. Practically a woman. Amie wants to be a Spinster like her sister, but lack the ability to see the weave in the looms. Adelice rather she be a dress designer like she originally wanted to be before Patton altered her memories.

Jost plans to rescue his daughter Sebrina from the Eastern sector. Adelice, Erik and Dante get a chance to help him with that, but they discover a deadly virus affecting the citizens there. Adelice in in love with Erik. She and Jost broke up in Altered when she told him she couldn’t be a mother to Sebrina if it came down to it. I really liked Jost better in the first book. I was team Jost all the way, but Erik isn’t too bad. It’s just that my brother’s name is Erik too.

I did love this series. It’s been so long since I read Crewel as an ARC and only just read Altered and Unraveled back-to-back. I’m kind of disappointed in the open-ended ending. If you finished this series too and want to check out how I think the book should of ended, scroll down below my cover review.

Cover Art Review: Lovely emerald green color. Love the hourglass. I love these new covers so much.

How Unraveled should have ended (SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO DID NOT READ THE BOOK)

Although the author only left hint of the possibility, my theory in that Erik altered himself and Jost, switching each other’s appearance. Erik tried healing himself while disguised as Jost. Adelice is convinced she sees Erik’s eye in Jost. Gennifer Albin is very Crewel to not give us a concrete answer, so I’ll write the ending for her. :)

….

“I know you’re not Jost,” I say. He freezes and his eyes meet my gaze. With that look I know now more than ever whom those eye belong to. “Erik,” I say.

“Yes,” he replies.

“You altered your appearance. Why?”

“Because Jost wanted me to. He wanted to sacrifice himself for us.”

“Can you change you face back?”

“I can’t,” he says.

“Can’t? Or won’t?” I ask.

“I won’t. I need to let Sebrina know she still has a father.”

“Okay then. Keep it. I still miss you face, but if’s it’s for Sebrina or Jost, I suppose I can make that sacrifice. So, for Jost?”

“For Jost.”

“For us,” I say.

“For us,” he replies. And his lips meet mine.

Public Enemies by Ann Aguirre

Series: Immortal Games (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy

Subjects: supernatural, magic, wishes, horror, immortals, revenge

Setting: Boston, Massachusetts

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, past tense: Edie (Edith) Kramer

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 372 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: MacMillan: Feiwel & Friends

Summary/ product description: “Learn the rules of the game…and then play better than anyone else.

Through a Faustian bargain, Edie Kramer has been pulled into the dangerous world of the Immortal Game, where belief makes your nightmares real. Hungry for sport, fears-made-flesh are always raising the stakes. To them, human lives are less than nothing, just pieces on a board.

Because of her boyfriend Kian’s sacrifice, she’s operating under the mysterious Harbinger’s aegis, but his patronage could prove as fatal as the opposition. Raw from deepest loss, she’s terrified over the deal Kian made for her. Though her very public enemies keep sending foot soldiers—mercenary monsters committed to her destruction—she’s not the one playing under a doom clock. Kian has six months…unless Edie can save him. And this is a game she can’t bear to lose.

My Review: Public Enemies is the sequel to Mortal Danger. I sadly didn’t enjoy it as much as the first book (that I gave 4.5 stars). I was often confused, maybe because I forgot what happened previously. Lots of the stuff in this book is too unbelievable and hard to imagine. The best part was the romance between Kian and Edie. Edie and Kian both are interested in intellectual things, like science, classic movies, and poetry. It’s set in modern day Boston. Edie goes to a private school called Blackbriar Academy.

To recap, Edie used to be the school laughing stock: ugly, overweight and friendless, but very smart. She attempts to end her own life, but is stopped by Kian, who makes her an offer that changes her life. Kian tells Edie she can have 3 favors, like a genie giving 3 wishes. When she burns her first favor, she asks him to make her beautiful. Edie spends her summer leaning about science and getting used to her beauty and planning her revenge on the popular crowd she calls the Teflon Crew. Edie learns that getting revenge isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and that everything comes with a price.

Edie is dealing with immortal who were created by the collective conscious of human beliefs and imagination. Their existence is owed to us. Edie is being watched by the Harbinger, a trickster who made a deal with Kian to keep Edie alive. In exchange, Kian only has until he’s 21 to live and will be eaten (drained) by the Harbinger. Harbinger is kind of like Loki or other trickster gods. He’s kind of ridiculous in the way he acts and dresses. Chaotic, I guess.

There’s Dwyer, who’s the enemy and the Sun God (Apollo/Baulder). Wedderburn who’s a winter god and also who Kian used to work for. There are other kinds of creatures and being too. There’s Buzzkill, the killer clown who was an Internet urban legend. There’s a creature called the Chuthulu. There’s mythological monsters and there’s even demons.

You may enjoy Mortal Danger if you enjoyed: Any books by Brenna Yovanoff, Gretchen McNeil, Josephine Angelini, or Kendare Blake. Also mythology series like Darkness Becomes Her or Percy Jackson or Fury.

Cover Art Review: Not a fan of this cover. The girl looks like the evil queen from Snow White/Once Upon a Time.

Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre

Publication Date: August 5, 2014

Series: Immortal Games (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy

Subjects: supernatural, magic, wishes, horror, immortals, revenge

Setting: Boston, Massachusetts

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Edie (Edith) Kramer

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 372 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: MacMillan: Feiwel & Friends

Summary/ product description: “Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what--she can trust. Not even her own mind...”

My Review:  I had no idea what to expect when I started this book. I won an ARC in the mail and what a surprise. I had read Ann Aguirre’s Enclave trilogy and have mixed feeling about the series and it’s narration, but Mortal Danger is so different from those books. I can’t even fit it into one genera, but I’d say it’s mostly paranormal romance. It’s such a unique book; you’d have to read it to know.

 It’s set in modern day Boston. Edie goes to a private school called Blackbriar Academy. She was the school laughing stock, ugly, overweight and friendless, but very smart. She attempts to end her own life, but is stopped by Kian, who makes her an offer that changes her life. Kian tells Edie she can have 3 favors, like a genie giving 3 wishes. When she burns her first favor, she asks him to make her beautiful. Edie spends her summer leaning about science and getting used to her beauty and planning her revenge on the popular crowd she calls the Teflon Crew.

This book takes over used clichés of high school drama and revenge and turns it on it’s head, sideways and blends it with paranormal and sci-fi elements. Edie learns that getting revenge isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and that everything comes with a price. There are also creatures a being from people’s nightmares and imagination lurking and watching Edie. People she cares about are in mortal danger.

I really enjoyed the romance in this book. Edie and Kian both are interested in intellectual things, like science, classic movies, and poetry. Even through that both wanted to be beautiful, their appearance hasn’t changed who they are inside and they both love each other for their personalities. Kian has a bad past, but he doesn’t let it get him down. Edie is able to overcome her humiliation and make friends with people she could’ve never imagined befriending. These characters Ann created are so complex and relatable. Sure, they have a lot of stuff on their plate we could never imagine having, but I can relate to Edie’s problems with bullying (but in middle school).

I was surprised to really like this book and I think other people will find this as an interesting and eye-opening read. It’s a little horror, and a lot of paranormal romance. You may enjoy Mortal Danger if you enjoyed: Any books by Brenna Yovanoff, Gretchen McNeil, or Kendare Blake. If you like ghost stories and things that are a bit creepy. It’s not scary, but it includes urban legends like Blood Mary and mythological being. Hope you enjoy it too!

Cover Art Review: Very minimalistic and textured. I like the bloody infinity symbol