Maddie Diaz never should have taken that shortcut through the park. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have seen two members of the Reyes gang attacking a homeless man. Now, as the only witness, she knows there’s a target on her back.

But when the Reyes jump her on the street, Maddie is protected by a second gang and their secretive leader, Lobo, who is determined to take down the Reyes himself. Lobo is mysterious and passionate, and Maddie begins to fall for him. But when they live this close to the edge, can their love survive?

"From Allison van Diepen, author of Snitch and Street Pharm, comes a sexy, dangerous novel about a teen who witnesses a murder and gets caught up in the seedy world of Miami’s gangs." -extracted from book's blurb

Things were looking good for Madeleina "Maddie" Diaz. Her mom was finalizing her divorce with her stepdad from hell, she got accepted to her first choice college on full scholarship, and her friends threw her a party to celebrate. All of that came crashing down when she sees a homeless man getting attacked by the Reyes gang- and decides to get involved by testifying in court. Maddie quickly becomes known as a snitcher, and we all know what happens to people who snitch on gangs.

Truth be told, I had a really hard time getting into this book. The beginning dragged on a bit too much and never really set the pace 'til near the end. It was supposed to be thrilling from the beginning, what with the whole plotline of being involved in gangs and all, but I never really felt my heart beat faster than the normal rate. And the fact that Maddie was kind of a dull character didn't help either. She was made out to be this headstrong student journalist who was smart and sexy at the same time but it just didn't seep through. Her character sort of fell flat for me. She was kind of like a transient being robotically interacting with the other characters and moving from scene to scene. The pacing was choppy too- the transitions between scenes wasn't smooth and it made me confused.

There was one thing that made Maddie come to life though: romance. She became animated and flirty (in a cute, awkward, nice girl way) when it comes to boys. Three of them come into the picture: Manny, her funny, reformed ex-convict co-worker; Ortiz, the quiet, kind, and mysterious boxer who oozes sex appeal; and the gang leader Lobo, the unknown gang leader who saved her life. I only ever liked Maddie when she was talking to either one of the three. The author definitely knows how to develop subtle chemistry and sexy banter. The backstory behind the rivalry between the two gangs was incredibly well plotted though. It was the main reason why I kept reading- it was interesting, dark, and made my arms tingle with excitement. Too bad that it was only made evident in the later part of the story. I would have liked to know more about the two gangs and their members, especially Lobo's partner X.

All in all, On The Edge had the promise of a great plot and well thought-out storyline. However, a story like this needs a main character with strength and conviction, and Maddie unfortunately fell short. 

Seventeen-year-old Genesis Lee has never forgotten anything. As one of the Mementi—a small group of genetically-enhanced humans—Gena remembers everything with the help of her Link bracelets, which preserve memories perfectly. But Links can be stolen, and six people have already lost their lives to a memory thief, including Gena’s best friend.

Anyone could be next. Which is why Gena is less than pleased to meet a strange but charming boy named Kalan who claims that they’ve not only met, but that Gena knows who the thief is.

The problem is, Gena doesn’t remember Kalan, she doesn’t remember seeing the thief, and she doesn’t know why she’s forgetting things— or how much else she might forget. As growing tensions between Mementi and ordinary humans drive the city of Havendale into chaos, Gena and Kalan team up to search for the thief. And as Gena loses more memories, they realize they have to solve the mystery fast.

Because Gena’s life is unhappening around her.

Buy from: Amazon // The Book Depository

730. That's how many days I've been trapped.

18. That's how many days I have left to find a way out.

DAI, trying to escape a haunting past, traffics drugs for the most ruthless kingpin in the Walled City. But in order to find the key to his freedom, he needs help from someone with the power to be invisible....

JIN hides under the radar, afraid the wild street gangs will discover her biggest secret: Jin passes as a boy to stay safe. Still, every chance she gets, she searches for her lost sister....

MEI YEE has been trapped in a brothel for the past two years, dreaming of getting out while watching the girls who try fail one by one. She's about to give up, when one day she sees an unexpected face at her window.....

In this innovative and adrenaline-fueled novel, they all come together in a desperate attempt to escape a lawless labyrinth before the clock runs out.

I always assumed that The Walled City was a dystopian novel, so as I read each page I was surprised to discover that the book isn't set in a distant future or in a different world- it is set in our world, in our timeline. However, it felt like an entirely different world. It was incredibly dark and dangerous, and I could feel the tension in every scene. In a district filled with cheaters, gangs, prostitutes, and drug dealers, you wager your life every day.

The Walled City is a riveting novel written in three different perspectives- Dai's, a drug trafficker with a dark past and a dangerous secret; Jin's, a girl who spent years pretending to be a boy to survive the City and to look for her missing sister; and Mei Yee's, a prostitute with a silent desire to escape and find a better life outside and see the sea. Three different people from different walks of life in the City, three different lives that ended up finding each other and working together to destroy the King Pin's gang from the inside and escape the City forever.

I loved Dai, Jin, and Mei Yee equally. At first glance, they seemed like people who gave up and succumbed to the City's powers, but they actually had this fire within them- this quiet determination that pushed them every step of the way. Learning about their pasts, my heart broke and cheered for them even more. My heart raced along with theirs at every danger that they faced and believe me when I say that it was like they were cats that have nine lives considering all of the near-death circumstances that they got into. Reading this book was like asking for a heart attack!

The book had echoes of a reality that we refuse to accept. There are places out there just like the Walled City, like the Kowloon Walled City that the book is based on. Ryan Graudin managed to create a carbon-copy vision of those places and projected it into the book. It was absolutely masterful and terrifying. Her writing kind of reminded me of Haruki Murakami's- tasteful, smart, fluid, and realistic with a drop of magic. It keeps you guessing and leads you on a spiral of fictional reality that will shake your core. Words cannot express the experience The Walled City gave me, you'll have to read the book yourself. But be careful! In the Walled City, there is no escape.

Seventeen-year-old Skylar has been haunted for as long as she can remember by fleeting yet powerful sensations that something is horribly wrong. But despite the panic attacks tormenting her, nothing ever happens, and Sky’s beginning to think she’s crazy. Then she meets a mysterious, otherworldly boy named Win and discovers the shocking truth her premonitions have tapped into: our world no longer belongs to us. For thousands of years, Earth has been at the mercy of alien scientists who care nothing for its inhabitants and are using us as the unwitting subjects of their time-manipulating experiments. Win belongs to a rebel faction seeking to put a stop to it, and he needs Skylar’s help--but with each shift in the past, the very fabric of reality is unraveling, and soon there may be no Earth left to save.

Ever since she was a kid, Skylar gets feelings or sensations of wrongness from the most normal things. When she freaks out about a bomb that no one saw and disappeared as quickly as it appeared, she feels like she has completely lost her grip on reality. And then she meets Win, a mysterious boy who somehow knows about the bomb that came and somehow understands her 'panic attacks' completely. After being chased by a group of otherworldly-looking humans carrying weapons Sky had never seen before, Win admits that he is a time-travelling alien rebel hell-bent on stopping scientists from his planet who are experimenting on earth.

Win tells Sky that the sensations of wrongness that she gets are the effects of shifts in the time rift caused by time travellers and takes her back in time to different countries in search of missing pieces left behind by their rebel group's MIA leader- pieces to a device that will stop the aliens from messing with earth's timelines.

Earth & Sky primarily caught my attention because of its Doctor Who vibes. Time traveller picks up a female companion to help him save earth? Sounds like a fun read, right? Unfortunately, the book wasn't as exciting as I expected. Yes, the plot was pretty interesting but I think that the whole concept of a species from another world manipulating Earth just wasn't explained clearly enough. It just didn't sell for me because of that and I found myself stumbling over sentences and getting confused a lot. The world-building was just too weak to hold a massive plot like that.

Sky was a pretty boring protagonist and Win didn't really stand out much for me. I didn't feel a connection with them at all. They went through this cycle of travelling to a timeline, getting chased, finding the piece they need, getting chased again, and returning to Sky's timeline to rest. It got pretty repetitive after a while because there weren't any wow moments that heightened my excitement. I did really enjoy the first part of the book because it started so high, but it just didn't go anywhere after that. Earth & Sky had the makings of a great read, but I think that it just tried to accomplish too much that it fell short in the end.

“I am Adelina Amouteru. I belong to no one. On this night, I swear to you that I will rise above everything you’ve ever taught me. I will become a force that this world has never known. I will come into such power that none will dare hurt me again.”

3. The Dagger Society. When the Inquisition held Adelina at the stake for the murder of her father, a group of Young Elites whisked in and saved her. Basically the X-Men of their world, The Dagger Society dedicate their lives to reinstating the rights of the malfettos and overthrowing the king and queen. Led by a sword-fighting fire wielder named Enzo Valenciano, the group sees murder as a means to an end and will kill anyone who gets in their way. I loved reading about them and their different abilities- there's Ezio with his ability to control fire, a male courtesan who can sense the abilities of other malfettos, a windwalker who can control air, a girl who can steal the will of any animal, a boy who can bend any object to his will, and one of the greatest fighters the world has ever seen.

Adelina trains to become on of the Daggers and this opens up whole different worlds for her, and in turn for us. Through the society, I was whisked to a world with flying manta rays in the sky, a beautiful pleasure court, underground tunnels, and devious plots.

4. The plot and world-building. Marie Lu packed everything into this book: darkness, family, magic, powers, action-packed swordfights, sexy romance, deception, betrayal; most of the plot is centered around political intrigue packed with a lot of players. I never knew what was going to happen next and I couldn't stop turning the pages. She weaved a whole new seamless world to perfectly back all of it up, too. I learned something new about their world as the story progresses, and it opens up a lot of roads leading to places outside Adelina's kingdom- places I can't wait to read more of.

5. The epilogue. THAT EPILOGUE. THAT SNEAKY SNEAKY CLIFF HANGER EPILOGUE. I can't say much without spoiling, but it's definitely a massive game-changer! A few hints? Princess. Different Kingdom. Prince. Underworld. Confused? I am too! And I need book two right this instant!

So yup, those are the five things that instantly made me Marie Lu's slave. Anything for book two. ANYTHING. Kidding aside, or not-so-kidding aside, The Young Elites isn't perfect, but it's a definite must-read for people looking for a dark fantasy with political intrigue and a fast paced adrenaline-filled plot.

MAGNOLIA

In Magnolia Branch, Mississippi, the Cafferty and Marsden families are southern royalty. Neighbors since the Civil War, the families have shared vacations, holidays, backyard barbecues, and the overwhelming desire to unite their two clans by marriage. So when a baby boy and girl were born to the families at the same time, the perfect opportunity seemed to have finally arrived.

Jemma Cafferty and Ryder Marsden have no intention of giving in to their parents’ wishes. They’re only seventeen, for goodness’ sake, not to mention that one little problem: They hate each other! Jemma can’t stand Ryder’s nauseating golden-boy persona, and Ryder would like nothing better than to pretend stubborn Jemma doesn’t exist.

But when a violent storm ravages Magnolia Branch, it unearths Jemma’s and Ryder’s true feelings for each other as the two discover that the line between love and hate may be thin enough to risk crossing over.

Romeo and Juliet. Sound familiar? Star-crossed lovers forced to be apart because of a lifelong feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. Jemma and Ryder live a completely asymmetrical life. Born in the same year to families who have been friends since World War II, Jemma and Ryder are forced to always be together. Their mothers practically planned their wedding as soon as they were born. Perfectly Convenient right? Wrong. They wanted nothing to do with each other.

Jemma and Ryder are characters that are difficult to like. Both of them are infuriatingly self-centered and stubborn. It seemed like their life goal was to get rid of and deny any inchling of feelings that they had for each other. It was always a matter of pride. But unlike what the blurb suggests it was clear from the very first chapter that they didn't hate each other, not really, and the undeniable chemistry between the two of them reappears when a massive storm strikes Magnolia Branch and they have no one to turn to but each other.

Magnolia was a cute book filled with adorable romance and pent up emotions. Kristi Cook really knows how to cook up scenes just bursting with sparks and chemistry- the banter between Jemma and Ryder had me hooked! The book, however, also found its faults in its strengths. The two main characters only ever came alive when they were with each other and just fell flat when faced with the other aspects of the story. It was a shame because Magnolia really set its foundation on its themes of family but both Jemma and Ryder lacked the solid characterization that would have made the whole set-up flawless.

Everything was evenly paced, easing the readers into each new scene at just the right moment. Aside from the lack of strength on Jemma and Ryder's characterization, I felt no bumps in the road. The book felt more like a short story, if anything. Fluffy and sweet, Magnolia is the perfect book for readers looking for a light story filled with romance and steamy banter.

New Year's Eve ended with a bang and Mary, Kat and Lillia may not be prepared for what is to come.

After Rennie's death, Kat and Lillia try to put the pieces together of what happened to her. They both blame themselves. If Lillia hadn't left with Reeve... If Kat had only stayed with Rennie... Things could have been different. Now they will never be the same.

Only Mary knows the truth about that night. About what she is. She also knows the truth about Lillia and Reeve falling in love, about Reeve being happy when all he deserves is misery, just like the misery he caused her. Now their childish attempts at revenge are a thing of the past and Mary is out for blood. Will she leave anything in her wake or will all that remain be ashes?

Ashes to Ashes is a whole lot heavier than it's predecessors. For starts, there's a lot of blood and violence- mostly coming from Mary's hand. The book has this really creepy vibe to it especially during the chapters told in Mary's point of view. Almost like looking at everything from a psychopath's point of view. However, Mary is not a psychopath. She's a girl who's out for cold revenge, but she is also just a girl. A lost and confused girl who got hurt way too many times, in effect clouding her judgement. Throw in Kat and Lillia who are still both struggling to cope with the regret and guilt clouding their entire beings and you're in for one hell of an emotional ride.

I really liked that about Ashes to Ashes. Like its characters, the story is incredibly vulnerable and real- almost like it had it's own heartbeat. Reading it was like having an omnipotent force whispering to me to turn page after page and neglect the rest of my life entirely. I was hooked. The suspense was addictive and it will loop you in a daze and won't let go until you reach the end of the line. Unfortunately though, I thought the journey there was a whole lot more exciting than the ending.

I also think that Kat didn't get to shine. The storyline mainly rotated around Lillia, Reeve, and Mary and left Kat hanging around as a character who only showed up when her role was needed- and she wasn't needed that often. I would have liked a little more balance in the role hierarchy, I guess. Regardless, Ashes to Ashes is an explosive read with an addictive plot and strength in it's main characters who are bursting with life. I just think that the ending left a little more to be desired.

Say What You Will
by Cammie McGovern
Genre: Young Adult - Contemporary
Expected publication date: June 3rd 2014 by HarperTeen
Source: ARC

Goodreads // Author's Website

John Green's The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern's insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.

Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.

When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.

Honest, compelling, and completely heartwarming. Those three words don't even begin to describe Say What You Will in it's entirety. It isn't at all the easy light read that I was expecting, no. From the moment I flipped to page two, I was thrown into the messy life of Amy, a teenage girl with cerebral palsy, and Matthew, a boy who's hiding the fact that he has severe OCD.

My Life After Now
by Jessica Verdi
Genre: Young Adult - Contemporary
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Published: April 2, 2013
Source: Publisher

Author's website | Goodreads

Lucy just had the worst week ever. Seriously, mega bad. And suddenly, it's all too much—she wants out. Out of her house, out of her head, out of her life. She wants to be a whole new Lucy. So she does something the old Lucy would never dream of.

And now her life will never be the same. Now, how will she be able to have a boyfriend? What will she tell her friends? How will she face her family?

Now her life is completely different...every moment is a gift. Because now she might not have many moments left.

 

THE NUB AND GIST: 4.5 STARS

Losing Francesca by J.A. Huss
Publication date: July 1st 2013
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Goodreads / Kobo / B&N / Amazon

Francesca Sabatini came to America to take in the sights, celebrate her high school graduation, and have fun wasting time before college starts in the fall.
That’s not what happens.

Fresh off the plane and barely on American soil more than a handful of minutes, Francesca’s face is recognized by TSA scanners to be a match for a child who was kidnapped twelve years ago.

Brody Mason remembers the day Fiona Sullivan went missing during a family vacation in Italy and it’s haunted him his whole life. So when Francesca shows up at the Sullivan farm down the road, he’s compelled to figure out if this girl really is his long lost friend.

But Francesca knows she’s not Fiona Sullivan. She knows exactly who she is. At least she thinks she knows – until Brody Mason relentlessly pursues her and she begins to have feelings for him. Maybe being Fiona isn’t so bad?

Reality becomes blurred, secrets are revealed, and life will never be the same when the final questions are answered: Is she Francesca or Fiona? And where does she really belong?

When I first read the summary for Losing Francesca, I knew that I would be surprised. Losing Francesca not only did that, but thrilled me and made my heart race at almost every turn of the page.

I was a bit wary when I started to read the first chapter because the story didn't open at the start of the whole dilemma, but a whole month after it. J.A. Huss did a good job of feeding me all of the details at a leisurely pace, though. I started to ease in into the story and couldn't stop reading. The author fed me a lot of little hints here and there, but they only made me even more confused. For a story like this, that was definitely a good thing. There was so much mystery surrounding Francesca's real identity and I couldn't wait to know the whole story.

Francesca Sabatini/Fiona Sullivan/whatever her name is was a character that I instantly liked. She behaved how any other girl presented with a situation like hers should behave, but she also had this air of composed regality surrounding her. You'll definitely get the sense that she lived a life full of leisure, but that she's also used to moving and disappearing. Francesca was a bit snotty and hot headed, but she was so headstrong and determined; I loved the choices she made in the end.

When Brody Mason entered the story, I couldn't help but groan and think "aw hell no, not another ~bad boy~". BUT, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when he turned out to be the complete opposite of the NA bad boy cliche. Brody was a complete sweetheart that made me smile time and time again. He's headstrong and determined like Francesca, emphasis on determined, but he's a lot more composed. I enjoyed the chapters in his point of view a whole lot.

Another thing that I liked about Losing Francesca was it's take on the Sullivan and Sabatani families. Both families are unconventional and it was interesting to read about how they all connected with each other. And then there's the humor. The book has a lot of fast-paced action, but J.A. Huss didn't fail to add humor and lighten the mood at the most appropriate times.

I only had two problems with Losing Francesca:

1. The story sounded too much like a story sometimes; Some parts were so unrealistic and too good to be true. 
2. Francesca and Brody's romance. Losing Francesca is an NA book with no sex scenes and I liked how innocent and cute the romance was, but their relationship escalated too fast.

THE NUB AND GIST: 4 STARS

J. A. Huss likes to write new adult books that make you think and keep you guessing. Her favorite genre to read is space opera, but since practically no one reads those books, she writes new adult science fiction, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, and books about Junco (who refuses to be saddled with a label). 

She has an undergraduate degree in horses, (yes, really–Thank you, Colorado State University) and a master’s degree in forensic toxicology from the University of Florida. She used to have a job driving around Colorado doing pretty much nothing but shooting the breeze with farmers, but now she just writes, runs the New Adult Addiction and Clean Teen Reads Book Blogs, and runs an online science classroom for homeschoolers.

Ink (Paper Gods #1)
by Amanda Sun 
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Expected publication: June 25th 2013
Source: review copy from publisher
Author's website | GoodReads

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive.

Picture this: you're in your incredibly tedious geometry class, drawing random doodles at the back of your notebook. Angles be damned as your imagination takes over, taking your head to every place imaginable. Ink pours out of your pen as you mindlessly create stroke after stroke, and then something happens- the hummingbird you drew starts to peel away from your blue-lined notebook, looks at you, and flies away.

Katie already thought that Shizuoka was an incredibly weird and foreign place, but when Katie picks up Tomohiro's sketch book and sees the drawings move, her life starts to get weirder and weirder. Her usual routine of house-school-cram school-house gets hijacked by mysterious boys, kendo warriors, yakuza mobs, paper gods, and drawings that take on a life of their own. Nothing a blonde girl can't handle, right? But when these things start to threaten Katie and Tomohiro's lives and the safety of the ones they care about, will they be able to the right thing, even if doing so means letting go of each other?

I loved the mythology and fantasy aspects of Ink. It's plot is probably one of the most interesting, thought-provoking, and unique ones I've ever read and the fact that I didn't lose myself in translation is a huge bonus. Yes, there were a lot of factors behind Ink's subplotting and world building, but I didn't feel overwhelmed at all! Speaking of the world building, the book is set in Japan and it made the story even more magical. Reading Ink was like travelling to a whole different country, and Amanda Sun's vivid descriptions of everything Katie saw and experienced made everything feel incredibly real. Definitely cheaper than air fare!

Ink was originally planned as a contemporary YA, but I wasn't much of a fan of the contemporary aspect of the book, or the romance for that matter. It wasn't exactly insta-love because their relationship started out slow at first, but I think that their relationship escalated too quickly after that and basically lacked foundation despite having a lot of sweet moments. I didn't like Katie that much either. I enjoyed reading about her her relationships with her aunt and classmates and the times when she got introduced to japanese traditions, but sometimes I just wanted to punch that girl. She's brave and reckless and acts like a normal teenager, but she assumes things too quickly and rushes in head on without thinking straight and was pretty much useless Bella Swan-like character. There, I said it.

And then there's Tomo. I couldn't quite wrap my head around this incredibly good guy who pretends to be a troublemaker. With the air of mystery and danger surrounding him, I definitely understand why Katie got interested in him. Tomo is strongest character in this book. His soul is so tainted and broken, but he still manages to put on a facade of normalcy. And that, I think, makes him incredibly brave. However, my favorite character in Ink is Jun. I LOVED THAT BOY SO MUCH. He was this refreshing breath of fresh air, and I just wanted to hug him for that. There were a lot of secondary characters but I feel like they weren't developed enough, much like the secondary characters in animes who are only there for comedic relief  and single-faceted roles.

Ink's paper gods, yakuza fights, and flying dragons made me gasp in awe, but the weak romance and multitude of cliches made me compare it to anime-fied Twilight.  It's no secret that Ink was one of my most anticipated reads of 2013, and with Amanda Sun's swift and breezy prose combined with the book's unique story line, high adrenaline action scenes, and vivid world building, Ink is a definite must-read for fans of japanese culture and shoujo manga. 

THE NUB AND GIST: 3 STARS