Dog Ears

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab My rating: 4 of 5 stars I've never read any of VE Schwab's middle-grade books before, but I absolutely loved ADSoM and Vicious, so I had to give it a shot. Just because it is middle grade doesn't mean it lacked spooks, action, and characters you fall in love with. It wasn't as complex as any of her other books that I've read, and I did find the ending to be a little predictable, but I still read to the end because I was so invested in the story. I don't read much middle-grade fiction anymore, but I will make an exception for whatever Cassidy Blake adventures Schwab throws our way next. View all my reviews

Warcross by Marie Lu My rating: 3 of 5 stars I couldn't read Warcross without being reminded vividly of Ready Player One. While there were some differences, the story didn't feel original to me, and I was able to predict the plot twist at the end pretty early on in the book. If you like stories where a poor girl with crazy talents gets swept away into a wealthy world she only dreamed of living in so that she can prove to everyone that she deserves to be there, ( like The Selection, Red Queen, etc) this book is for you. View all my reviews

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo My rating: 3 of 5 stars I was a little disappointed by this book after how much I loved Six of Crows. The plot was something I have read a hundred times before; a plain girl finds out that she's special, is swept away to a new fancy world unlike anything she's ever experienced before, is trained to live this new life, then has to rebel against what she thought was a dream life. Shadow and Bone immediately makes me think of Red Queen, the Selection series, and the Throne of Glass series. I'll probably keep reading due to my devotion to Leigh Bardugo, though. View all my reviews

If you want to learn how to write cliche YA fiction, Snow Like Ashes  by Sara Raasch can show you exactly how. The main character, Meira, is a cookie cutout heroine; tough and not like the other girls, but cursed with the unique challenge of having to decide between two handsome and charming men. These men are basically the same, yet Meira is being forced to marry one while the other she can't have. If you predicted that she falls in love with the one she doesn't want to marry, though, you'd be right! There's barely any conflict between them, and I found their relationship to be boring. Mather, on the other hand, is the king, and therefore Meira can't be with him. Even though they are both homeless refugees from a ruined kingdom, somehow she still isn't worthy of him. Maybe this is Winter culture, I don't know since we don't get to learn much about any of the kingdoms' cultures.  I saw the plot twist at the end coming from a mile away. I'm sure

It's almost cruel, in my humble opinion, to release a book for pre-order months before it will actually hit shelves. Look at this! the author shrieks, waving a promotional bookmark in your face, I wrote something you are going to love! But I'm not going to give it to you yet. I'm going to make you w a i t. As you can probably tell, I'm not a fan. That doesn't, however, mean that I don't participate in this evil practice. My Amazon cart and wishlist are already holding some upcoming titles for me and will continue to do so until the book actually comes out in ten billion years. Here's what I got. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - Hank Green I have been a John Green fan ever since I first read A Fault in Our Stars  and have loved Hank Green just as much since I discovered the Vlog Brothers YouTube channel. Hank is an incredibly creative and intelligent person, as seen in his videos, songs, etc, so I'm excited to see how that will take novel form. Hon

If it moves away from you, it's food. If it moves towards you, you're food. I picked up a sampler of Weepers  by Nick Chiarkas at Madison Author Daze back in June (and didn't get around to reading it until recently because my brain has decided to prioritize YouTube above all else). I had a chance to speak to Nick at the event, and between his pitch and the back of the book, he convinced me that this story would be worth my time. Here's the blurb on the back of the book for you: The 1957 murder of an undercover cop in a New York City housing project has unexpected ties to the unsolved disappearance of a young father walking home in those same projects with his son, Angelo, on Christmas Eve six years before. The only witness to the cop killing is Angelo, now 13, while on his way to seek his own revenge in the early morning hours. The killers know he saw them. A series of gripping events forge a union between a priest, a Mafia boss, a police detective, and Angelo,