Cover Reveal: Fatal Abduction

Fatal Abduction

by Julia Crane

Book 3 - IFCS Series

Young Adult Sci-Fi Dystopian

There’s a serial killer at large. His victims just happen to resemble Kaitlyn—dark haired, pale skin and athletic build. Kaitlyn goes undercover, attending a prestigious high school to try to lure the killer into a trap and save the lives of other potential victims. Will she be able to catch the killer before his body count rises? Or will she become the next victim?

Check out the Cover!

Check out the other books in the series!

Freak of Nature - Book 1

Donate Body to Science. Check.

When seventeen-year-old Kaitlyn checked the box, she never suspected she’d have her life–and her body–stolen from her. She awakens one day in a secret laboratory to discover that her body is now half-robot and is forced to hide her own secret: that she still has human emotions and a human mind. If the scientists who made her find out, they’ll erase what remains of who she was.

Kaitlyn finds an unlikely ally in Lucas, a handsome, brilliant scientist who can’t get over the guilt he feels knowing she was once a vibrant, beautiful young woman. He never expected a science project to affect him the way she does. As he tries to help her rediscover her past, he finds himself falling for the brave girl struggling to find her place and acceptance between the human and computer worlds.

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Fractured Innocence  - Book 2

*Warning 17+ due to sexual gritty topic and language. 
Kaitlyn and Erik are sent on a mission to track down Vance Dasvoik, a ruthless monster. His latest thrill—abducting and selling young women.

Vance's current victim: Aaliyah, a seventeen-year-old who never imagined walking her brother home from school one evening would change her life forever.

The mission quickly turns personal for Kaitlyn when she finds Aaliyah beaten, her mind and soul fractured from abuse of the worst kind. Kaitlyn knows firsthand what it's like to be haunted by the past and resolves to bring justice to the elusive Dasvoik.

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About the Author

Julia crane is the author of the Keegan’s Chronicles, IFICS. She has a bachelors degree in criminal justice. Julia has believed in magical creatures since the day her grandmother first told her an Irish tale. Growing up her mother greatly encouraged reading and using your imagination. 

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Tour Post: Branded

Hello you lovely lot! It's the start of a new month and today we have something I'm really excited about! BRANDED by Abi Ketner & Missy Kalicicki has had a face lift and it back on the market with new pages and a new look. It's it pretty?

So here's my review and a little PolyvoreSTYLE to start of June. Enjoy and as always leave a comment and tell me if this is being added to your TBR list! 

Branded 
by Abi Ketner & Missy Kalicicki

Publishing Date: February 18th 2014  (First published back in June 2013)

Publisher: Abi and Missy Books

Summary

Fifty years ago the Commander came into power and murdered all who opposed him. In his warped mind, the seven deadly sins were the downfall of society. He created the Hole where sinners are branded according to their sins and might survive a few years. At best. Now LUST wraps around my neck like blue fingers strangling me. I’ve been accused of a crime I didn’t commit and now the Hole is my new home. Darkness. Death. Violence. Pain. Now every day is a fight for survival. But I won’t die. I won’t let them win.The Hole can’t keep me. The Hole can’t break me. I am more than my brand. I’m a fighter. My name is Lexi Hamilton, and this is my story.

Review

"At what point do they believe what's been branded on their skin instead of just knowing who they are inside?"

For  lovers of Divergent who are suffering from Dystopian withdrawals this is the book you need to be reading. It's funny and action packed, it's compelling and unafraid to break your heart, but most importantly it's full of rich exciting character's that will have you captivated from the very first sentence. Oh, and it has a swoon worthy book boyfriend that will give Four a run for his money! 

Taking a break from all the dual narratives that seem to be swarming the market at the moment Branded is told from the point of view of Lexi. Lexi has been accused and in a world where there are no court rooms or appeals that means Lexi is sentenced to spend the rest of her life in The Hole. The Branded are people who have committed one of the seven deadly sins, and once they're captured and marked they are made to live out the rest of they're lives in poverty. But Lexi has something most other Branded people don't. Lexi has Cole.

Sorry... just give me one moment to pull myself together! 

SWOON ALERT! Cole is, and I'm not exaggerating here, one of the hottest book boyfriends you are ever likely to have in a Dystopian. He's a little rough around the edges but I find that adds to his charm. Cole is Lexi's guard, he has to make sure she abides by the rules and doesn't cause any trouble. Admittedly, he doesn't do the best job of either of those things but he does try bless him. He's fiercely protective and with the help of his trusty sidekick Zeus - a horse sized dog that attacks bed sheets and is afraid of his own farts - he's always got her back. The problem is Cole isn't allowed to like Lexi. He's her capture not her friend and when feeling begin to surface things become more dangerous than ever. 

"You're like my magnet. You pull me in. No matter how hard I pull away... your force is stronger."

One of the many things I loved about this book was that it wasn't afraid to tackle the grittier aspects. Life is never going to be all sunshine and rainbows in a Dystopian world but there is a distinct emphases on the fact that life in The Hole is dangerous and one wrong step can be fatal. Which made the whole world seem more real, honest and raw. 

"But you know what? I think dying is easier compared to living here."

Although saying that, there may have been one too many scenes with guns going off and people being chased down the street for my liking. But that is just personal preference.

Overall though this book WILL break your heart and I'm not even talking about the ending. It was around 30% when I had to reach for the tissues! There are several different events that occur throughout this book making it face paced and really exciting to read.

There were one or two moments like this
and no it wasn't fair and I'm not going to lie, I had a bit of a sulk.

This is YA Dystopian at its best and it demands your attention from the very first page. It will put you through the emotional ringer and have you questioning what went wrong with humanity. By the time you reach that - rather damn perfect - last line this book will have consumed you completely and have you begging Abi and Missy for book two. Highly recommended, you won't regret it!

"So we'll take one day at a time, because each day is one day we didn't have before."

And the Hobbits liked it too :)

**I received this book as an ARC from the authors through NetGalley to read & review. This is a 100% honest review.**

Here's a little Polyvore to brighten up your day. Look inspired but the cover of Branded!

Branded by emily-bradley-dorman featuring Beckley by Melissa

**EXCERPT**

I turn on the faucet for a long while only to discover ice-cold water rushing out. The water never warms and I begin to understand. The Commander thinks he can wash away my soul by freezing me to death. He thinks he can destroy me by stripping away my possessions. But he can’t and I won’t let him take my memories, my ambition, and my pride.He thinks I’m so easily broken.The Commander doesn’t know anything about me, what I grew up with, what I endured—the father I lost, the mother I hate, the brother who walked out of my life, and the stepfather I was forced to accept. He thinks since I was rich, making me poor will cause me to give up. What he doesn’t understand is that, after my father passed away, I grew up behind walls of hatred. I had nothing, but had everything at the same time. I owned expensive clothes, enjoyed good schooling, and lived in a nice home. But my body was just a shell protecting an empty, desperate heart. My life was a colorful façade.I had so much time to sit and think. I spent the majority of my life between four walls. I was abandoned, neglected, starved, betrayed, and abused. I’ve already been treated like the scum of the earth, so the Hole is nothing new. He wants to erase every sign of my existence on this earth, but I won’t let that happen. He can strip me naked, but he’ll never reach my soul.It’s personal, completely personal.

About Abi and Missy 

Abi and Missy met in the summer of 1999 at college orientation and have been best friends ever since. After college, they added jobs, husbands and kids to their lives, but they still found time for their friendship. Instead of hanging out on weekends, they went to dinner once a month and reviewed books. What started out as an enjoyable hobby has now become an incredible adventure.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Abi's Goodreads | Missy's Goodreads

COVER REVEAL - Carrier

CARRIER
ANNE TIBBETS

Carrier by Anne Tibbets

Publication date: June 16th 2014 by Carina Press

Genres: Dystopia, New Adult

Summary 

Twenty-two-year-old Naya has spent nearly half her life as a sex slave in a government institution called The Line. When she's kicked out after getting pregnant with twins, she's got no way to earn a living and a horrifying choice to make: fine someone to replace her, or have her babies taken in her stead.

A doctor with a history of aiding ex-Line girls, Ric Bennett, wants to help. He runs a team of rebels that can delete Naya's records and free her forever. But when The Line sniffs out his plan, things ger bloody, fast. Naya means more to them than just a chance at fresh faces - her twins are part of the government's larger plan. 

As they hide from government search parties, Ric comes to admire Naya's quiet strength. And Naya realises Ric might be a man she can trust. If they make it off the grid, they could build a new life. But first they'll have to survive the long, vicious reach of The Line.

I love this cover! It's clean and vivid and definitely captures your attention! What do you lovelies thing? Do you love it??

Author Bio

Anne Tibbets is an SCBWI award-winning and Smashwords.com Best Selling author. After writing for Children’s television, Anne found her way to young/new adult fiction by following what she loves: books, strong female characters, twisted family dynamics, magic, sword fights, quick moving plots, and ferocious and cuddly animals.

Along with CARRIER, Anne is also the author of the young adult fantasy novella, THE BEAST CALL and the young adult contemporary, SHUT UP.

Anne divides her time between writing, her family, and three furry creatures that she secretly believes are plotting her assassination.

Author Links:

http://www.annetibbets.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4839392.Anne_Tibbets

https://www.facebook.com/AnneTibbetsAuthor

https://twitter.com/WriteforCoffee

Sever

Sever by Lauren DeStefano

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Summary (From Back Cover)
Time is running out for Rhine.
Having escaped from Vaughn's mansion, Rhine finds respite in the dilapidated home of her husband's uncle, an eccentric inventor who hates Vaughn almost as much as Rhine does.
Rhine's determination to be reunited with her twin brother, Rowan, increases as each day brings terrifying revelations to light about his involvement in an underground resistance. She realises she must find him before he destroys the one thing they have left: hope.
In this breathtaking conclusion to Lauren DeStefano's The Chemical Garden trilogy, everything Rhine knows to be true will be irrevocably shattered. But what she discovers along the way has alarming implications for her future - and about the past her parents never had the chance to explain.

Review
I only finished reading this a couple of hours ago and I'm still wiping away the tears! This is my favourite of The Chemical Gardens books and I'm going to try and give a non-biased review, but in all honesty, I think I'm going to struggle.

The story itself picks up a couple of days after Fever left off, with Rhine in hospital and Linden by her side. It has quite a slow start in comparison to the other two books with a lot of trying to convince Linden his father's a complete sociopath but once uncle Reed is introduced the whole thing picks up pretty fast. All your unanswered questions from the previous two books are answered and there are more than a couple of surprises on the way. Along with some familiar faces we thought - maybe even hoped - we had seen the last of.

In the past I've been in two minds about Rhine and it's all come down to the fact I have a soft spot for the men in these books. Both Linden and Gabrielle have this naivety to them that makes you want to jump into the page and protect them from all the evil things this world has in store for them. And more often than not Rhine's the reason - even if unintentionally - they're hurting. But in this book you're able to look past that, to really get behind some of the decisions she makes. Because no matter what, you can see her heart is in the right place.

There is one new face in this instalment that you need to look out for and that is Reed - Linden's uncle. Rhine goes to live with him pretty early on in the book so I don't feel bad telling you about him. He's an eccentric first generation recluse who's grumpy mannerisms had me smiling when other events in the book made my heart ache. Although, I was a little worried when he started showing Cecily how to shoot a gun!

Speaking of Cecily, throughout these books she turned from a child playing wife to something I never expected her to be when I opened the first book. She's gone through just as much as Rhine, and learned a lot of lessons the hard way, making her into a strong and independent woman that I hope you all come to love as much as I have.

I don't feel like I can say much more because I don't want to give the story away! There were so many surprises in this book that make you see previous events in a whole new light. There's also moments that will make you cry, moments that you won't see coming. One in particular, that if I had know was coming I would have shoved the book in the freezer faster than the speed of light!

If there was any part that I felt disappointed with it may have been the ending. It wasn't bad, it just felt a little rushed. I would have like another 50 pages or so, to unravel the final events of the books a bit more. But that might just be because I really don't want this series to end. It's well written and will captivate you mind while steeling your heart. If you haven't read this series then I don't know what you're waiting for!

If you haven't done so check out my reviews on the previous books in The Chemical Garden's Trilogy.

Wither     .     Fever

Official Book Trailer...

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary (From Back Cover)
Winning will make you famous. Losing means certain death.
In a dark vision of the near future, twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live TV show called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed.
When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

Review
Where to start! I picked this series up just before the first film came out and I read them all in two weeks. I couldn't put them down! There's something for everyone - you've got the love triangle and a strong family aspect, with epic fight scenes and a futuristic world that not only seems vivid and real, but magical and full of fantasy all at the same time.

The story itself follows a young girl - Katniss - as she has to fight in a live TV show. I loved the connection between this world and our current obsession with reality TV. Now days you can watch everything live, from 12 strangers in a house to a trial in court - for the record I don't agree with that last one. No matter what they put on our screens someone out there will watch it! Which of course makes The Hunger Games all the more terrifying, because deep down, you know that under the right circumstances a future like this is completely plausible!

Now for those of you who don't know, The Hunger Games is a live battle between 24 children (tributes) that takes place every year as a way for the government to keep control of the country. To remind them who's in charge. The 24 tributes are chosen from each district, 2 from each. One girl and one boy, but the further you get from the Capital (District One) the more poverty stricken you become and you're chances of survival dwindle. Only 1 person has ever won the games from District 12.  Twenty-four go in but only one can come out of the arena, and no matter what that child will come out a killer. Katniss (District 12 tribute) goes into the Games after volunteering when her sister gets chosen. She'll have to fight to get home.

The other tribute chosen from district 12 is Peeta - now I love Peeta and his burnt bread. Even though I know that a lot of people are routing for Gale. This is where the tragic YA love triangle comes in. Gale is Katniss' best friend, but he'll never understand the situation that she finds herself in. Peeta on the other hand. You'll have to make your own mind up on what team you're on!

However, unlike a lot of other books I couldn't stand the main character. I disliked her so much that there are moments when I'd be happy to see Katniss die in the arena. She's irritating and frustrating. She gets under my skin and I think that's why I had to rate this down slightly. Because if you can't get behind the heroine of the story then somethings got to be wrong.

Other character's to look out for are the eccentric Effie and the grumpy drunk that is Haymitch. These two give the book some humour, which is needed in a book like this. Effie with her naive outlook on the world and Haymitch and his bitter views. They're the polar opposite of each other and the book wouldn't be anything without them!

Overall it's a must read for any lover of YA fiction and will make you question a lot of things, or maybe I'm just thinking too much about it. It's a good easy read though, and when you get into it you wont be able to put it down. 

Bellow is the official movie trailer:

Fever

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary (From Back Cover)
What if you knew exactly when you would die?
Running away from her forced polygamous marriage leads 17-year-old Rhine Ellery straight into a trap: a twisted carnival whose ringmistress desires the beautiful and unusual Rhine as her start attraction. But with Gabriel - her lover and fellow escapee - Rhine remains determined to reach Manhattan, find her twin brother, Rowan, and start a life far from the gilded prisons the have confined her.
The road to freedom is long and perilous - and in a world where women only live to age 20 and men die at 25 - time is very precious. And worse still, Rhine's sinister father-in-law, Vaughn, is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion... by any means necessary.

Review
In Wither you got an idea of that harsh world Rhine is a part of, although with the majority of the book set in the Florida mansion with is locked windows and holographic illusions you don't get to see the whole image. For Rhine leaving the mansion is freedom, but once she and Gabriel have escaped you come too see the full extend of the cruel world outside the gates. Was running away the right decision? After all if she had just placed nice she could have lived the last four years of her life in luxury... but what is luxury worth when you're a prisoner?

First things first I have to say that I feel a little sorry for Gabriel going into this book, he's obviously in love with Rhine and I think she may have started to develop something resembling affection towards Linden. And things don't get better for the poor guy, it's just one thing after another with this book, with the land outside the mansion's gates turning out to be nothing but hell for the couple. But at least Rhine knew what was coming, Gabriel had been told only half truths about the world he now finds himself in.

I really liked the story line with Fever, it's constantly moving forward where as with Wither it was all very much about Rhine's escape. Now outside the gates the evens unravel quickly, with everything developing in an eery way that tells you that nothing is ever going to go right for these characters.

Although being the second book it had some of the classic blunders that sequels have. For instance the way certain character's act in this book were every similar to the character's in the previous book, giving you a serious case of deja vu. Another thing about the writing that frustrated me a little was the amount of times we were told about the musty perfumed smell of the carnival tents and it's tacky ringmistress. You can barely go a page without it being mentioned, and if Rhine had stayed there much longer I don't think I would have been able to cope!

Overall though it's an exciting continuation of the first instalment and shows the reader exactly what this kind of world this dystopai future is capable of. Can't wait to read the third and final book and find out how DeStefano concludes one of my favourite dystopain series.



Official Book Trailer:

If you haven't read my review for the first The Chemical Garden's book Wither that click the link below and give it a gander. 

WITHER