A Thousand Pieces of You - by Claudia Gray

Title: A Thousand Pieces of You
Author: Claudia Gray
Published: 1 Nov 2014
Series: Firebird #1
Rating: 3 stars
Synopsis: 
Cloud Atlas meets Orphan Black in this epic dimension-bending trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray about a girl who must chase her father's killer through multiple dimensions.
Marguerite Caine's physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite's father is murdered, and the killer—her parent's handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.
Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul's guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father's death is far more sinister than she expected.
A Thousand Pieces of You explores an amazingly intricate multi-universe where fate is unavoidable, the truth elusive, and love the greatest mystery of all.


So what if hair pulling is a girl move? It hurts, and it works.

I listened to this one as an audiobook. The narrator did a wonderful job and did the different voice accents each time they changed too which was lovely and added to the story.

Originally, I hated Paul - which I guess is the idea as it open with a scene about her wanting to kill him. He did really grow on my throughout the book though.


For one split second, it's hilarious. I'm going to marry Prince William. I'll get all Kate Middleton's cute coats.

It's nice that having your period in Russia before technological advances was put into the book. It was only mentioned once, though. Even though it there would have been an entire week of the pre-tech period, it's never mentioned again.

I need him to be one more of those assholes who thinks my brain couldn't hold anything other than gossip and favourite colours of nail polish.

I sort of loved the text messages from Theo in varying states of panic though. How the texts cut each other off and it was sort of like he couldn't even get his main thought in edge-wise because of all the panic.

I didn't know it was possible to go from making out with someone to wanting to smack them upside the head hard in less than a minute, but here we are.

Spoilers!

I did guess that the Tsar wasn't her father in the Russian universe as how else was she supposed to be there? She did say something similar to her unique DNA make-up being the only one she could go to.

I don't think that she should have left Evil Theo in the sub-like machine under the water, though. Plus finding out that through pretty much throughout the entire book we weren't reading about Real Theo and that we were reading about Evil Theo did emotionally suck a bit though.

End Spoilers!

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All books in this series:

    1 | A Thousand Pieces of You
    2 | Ten Thousand Skies Above You
    3 | A Million Worlds With You

LIFEL1K3 - by Jay Kristoff

Title: LIFEL1K3
Author: Jay Kristoff
Published: 29 May 2018
Series: Lifelike #1
Rating: 5 stars
Synopsis:
On a floating junkyard beneath a radiation sky, a deadly secret lies buried in the scrap.
Eve isn’t looking for secrets—she’s too busy looking over her shoulder. The robot gladiator she’s just spent six months building has been reduced to a smoking wreck, and the only thing keeping her Grandpa from the grave was the fistful of credits she just lost to the bookies. To top it off, she’s discovered she can destroy electronics with the power of her mind, and the puritanical Brotherhood are building a coffin her size. If she’s ever had a worse day, Eve can’t remember it.
But when Eve discovers the ruins of an android boy named Ezekiel in the scrap pile she calls home, her entire world comes crashing down. With her best friend Lemon Fresh and her robotic conscience, Cricket, in tow, she and Ezekiel will trek across deserts of irradiated glass, infiltrate towering megacities and scour the graveyard of humanity’s greatest folly to save the ones Eve loves, and learn the dark secrets of her past.
Even if those secrets were better off staying buried.

"Hey, you. Yes, you. Put this grimy, beautiful, devastating, hilarious, screaming, writhing, all-out post-apocalyptic girl-buddy-road-warrior-lost-princess-techno-thriller in your face and read it right now. It is every kind of badass." - Laini Taylor (blurb from the back cover of the book)

Oh. My. Goodness. Laini Taylor's quote about this basically sums up how I'm feeling right about now. I really don't want to wait until May 2019 for the next book in the trilogy, that's how good it is. The picture also doesn't show it but the coppery colour on the edges of the front and back cover are metallic and shiny and oh-so-cool!

I like that we see action within the first chapter so it doesn't take too long to get into it.

There were so many awesome points to this book.

It's easier to base something from something else than it is to create something from nothing, so the lifelikes were modeled off the Monrova family. Grace from Eve's mother Alexis, Gabriel from her father Nicholas, Raphael from the eldest sister Olivia, Hope from the second youngest sister Marie, and Faith from Eve herself.

I liked that the twelve lifelikes were named after angels and virtues. Gabriel, Ezekiel, Uriel, Raphael, Michael, Daniel, Hope, Faith, Patience, Verity, Grace, and Mercy. It was also good that they had the same emotional capacity as an adult, but without the knowledge or experience of how to deal with them.

There is insta-love in this book, but it's not your usual kind. This is the kind that rips out your heart and stomps on it until it is nothing but mush. The kind that shows you what horror and pain it can cause to people and their emotions. The kind that shows you that love and lust are two completely different things.

It was good to see that when restarting Myriad, four things were needed (voice ident, retinal scan, blood sample, brainwave imprint) and it took at least twenty minutes too boot up - not simply an instant restart and away you go...

The flashbacks were interesting to watch unfold. Also the layout of the pages towards the end where a character's mind spirals a bit was really nice to see. It reminded me a bit of the layout of the Illuminae Files trilogy.

The language was a bit to take in a first, but I managed to wade my way through it. Some of the language I had to figure out, like 'sprogs' and 'fugazi'. And some was pretty self explanatory, like 'bestest', 'brainmeats', 'fizzy' and 'recyc'.

One theory that I had was that the area was called Dregs because it's what remains once everything good has left, such as humanity. Kind of like how the few tea leaves and the little half-sip of tea at the bottom of the mug are called dregs.

There was only one point when I was confused about what was happening, but it's sort of self explanatory as to why that was when you get up to that part in the book. It also made my mind spin out of control with theories...

Definitely recommend this book! Also, I need the next book ASAP please, Mr Kristoff!

Stronger together, together forever.

Spoilers!

When I'd only hit page 84, I already had to try not to cry because of poor Kaiser.

Why did I cry overall? Kaiser went boom, Cricket was crushed, Silas and Ana were shot. Enough said.

Now for the part where I got confused. How was it Ana's voice and retinal scan, but not her blood? Was there a complete blood transfusion? Was it because the blood sample may have been a mix of blood and saliva? Or was it possible that Nicholas used Lemon's blood, but still Ana's eye scan and voice? And here's my craziest theory yet. One that's probably so far off the planet that it's created it's own gravitational pull: Is Lemon the Monrova's true daughter, but was given up so that she would be saved?

Finding out that Eve was a lifelike was so shocking that I actually had to put the book down and yell and swear at nothing in particular while in my car, waiting for my own 'bestest' to finish work. Plus finding out that Lemon Fresh was the one with the electrical crushing power was another big shock.

End Spoilers!

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All books in this series:

    1 | LIFEL1K3
    2 | DEV1AT3
    3 | TRUEL1F3

Before the Devil Breaks You - by Libba Bray

Title: Before the Devil Breaks You
Author: Libba Bray
Published: 3 Oct 2017
Series: The Diviners #3
Rating: 5 stars
Synopsis:
New York City.
1927.
Lights are bright.
Jazz is king.
Parties are wild.
And the dead are coming...
After battling a supernatural sleeping sickness that early claimed two of their own, the Diviners have had enough of lies. They're more determined than ever to uncover the mystery behind their extraordinary powers, even as they face off against an all-new terror. Out on Ward's Island, far from the city's bustle, sits a mental hospital haunted by the lost souls of people long forgotten--ghosts who have unusual and dangerous ties to the man in the stovepipe hat, also known as the King of Crows.
With terrible accounts of murder and possession flooding in from all over, and New York City on the verge of panic, the Diviners must band together and brave the sinister ghosts invading the asylum, a fight that will bring them fact-to-face with the King of Crows. But as the explosive secrets of the past come to light, loyalties and friendships will be tested, love will hang in the balance, and the Diviners will question all that they've ever known. All the while, malevolent forces gather from every corner in a battle for the very soul of a nation--a fight that could claim the Diviners themselves.

We are a country built by immigrants, dreams, daring, and opportunity.
We are a country built by the horrors of slavery and genocide, the injustice of racism and exclusion. These realities exists side by side. It is out past and our present. The future is unwritten.
This is a book about ghosts.
For we live in a haunted house.

I listened to this as an audiobook.

Theta and Memphis are my adorable mixed couple, Sam and Evie are my sweethearts, David and Henry are my passionate pair, and Ling and Alma are my cuties. I also loved Conor and Mabel and Isaiah. However, Roy can go die in a hole please and thank you.

I still absolutely adore January's voice in the narration of this series too, plus all of the voices she can do for them. In this one, she was even able to do a young Sister Walker voice and a robot voice. Her singing voice is pos-i-tutely divine and when the argument in the library happens, there's no "said so-and-so" but you can still tell exactly who's who because of how well January does their voices. I'd also like to think that the character Alma LaVoy, has the same surname as January as a sort of thank you. 

The sex scenes seemed pretty meh to me, possibly because they all happened at the same place in the book. It was good that Ling wasn't thrust into those scenes though as that is definitely not the way her character would behave.

Henry looked from Ling to Alma and back again. His mouth slid into a sly smile. "Oh my."

I do have a theory though. Maybe Theta and Sam are related in some way? I could be completely wrong though, but I'm probably going to think that until the next book comes out and I can find out.


Henry's fake songs are also quite nice to listen to, even though they're made up on the spot at random times. Also, at one stage we'd barely hear from or about Jericho which I noticed, but it didn't phase me too much as I was more invested in the other characters at the time.

I seem to see new sayings in each book in this series that I have yet to hear too but sticks with the 1920s feel. "She's a real tomato", "then you're all wet", "something left-handed about him".

Libba Bray read the author's note at the end which was a nice touch.

He put a hand to the cool, painted stones bearing witness to so many names, so many histories. In the mural, there were painted lines for the Underground, like scars stretched across the skin of the infected nation. There were wounds and then there were wounds. Some were so great Memphis had no idea how they could ever be healed.

Spoilers!

Yes, I did indeed cry when Mabel and Conor died.


I also guessed that Blind Bill was Geome Johnson.

The part about making more Diviners was an interesting twist though. I also noticed the foreshadowing we'd seen, after we'd found out that the Fitter Families tents were the ones finding the Diviners.

End Spoilers!

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All books in this series:

    1 | The Diviners
    2 | Lair of Dreams
    3 | Before the Devil Breaks You

    4 | The King of Crows

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - by Newt Scamander (J.K. Rowling)

Title: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Author: Newt Scamander (J.K. Rowling)
Published: 8 Nov 2012
Series: -
Rating: 4 stars
Synopsis:
An approved textbook at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since publication, Newt Scamander's masterpiece has entertained wizarding families through the generations. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an indispensable introduction to the magical beasts of the Wizarding World. Scamander's years of travel and research have created a tome of unparalleled importance. Some of the beasts will be familiar to readers of the Harry Potter books - the Hippogriff, the Basilisk, the Hungarian Horntail ... Others will surprise even the most ardent amateur Magizoologist. This is an essential companion to the Harry Potter stories, and includes a new foreword from J.K. Rowling (writing as Newt Scamander) and six new beasts!

I would like to take this opportunity to reassure Muggle purchasers that the amusing creatures described hereafter are fictional and cannot hurt you. To wizards, I say merely: Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus.

I listened to this as an audiobook and followed along in my physical copy (The Hogwarts Library Edition). This audiobook is so awesome! It's read by Eddie Redmayne (who plays Newt Scamander in the movie) and there are sound effects of the animals he's describing too. 

The sound effects in the audiobook include the sounds that the beasts themselves make, but also when Newt Scamander beats back a beast or two with his travel teakettle. There's eggs cracking, leaves rustling, wings flapping, feet stomping...

Eddie Redmayne also reads the foreward from the book that Dumbledore has written - including telling you about a wonderful charity called Comic Relief. As he reads the book, it sounds like someone is explaining their own findings to you - not just like someone reading aloud from a book. You can hear the amazement and concern in his voice.

The 'About the Author' section is also read out as it tells you about Newt Scamander himself - his history, plus his wife and their pet Kneazles.

The physical book also has spaces where Harry, Ron and Hermione have written in the book and the cover of the book is quite lovely.

The illustrations are really good too. Unfortunately there isn't a picture for every beast, but the ones that are there are done well.

Worrying means you suffer twice.

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All books in this series:

    -  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
    -  Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp
    -  The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Lair of Dreams - by Libba Bray

Title: Lair of Dreams
Author: Libba Bray
Published: 25 Aug 2015
Series: The Diviners #2
Rating: 4 stars
Synopsis:
After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. With her uncanny ability to read people’s secrets, she’s become a media darling, earning the title “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” Everyone’s in love with the city’s newest It Girl…everyone except the other Diviners.
Piano-playing Henry DuBois and Chinatown resident Ling Chan are two Diviners struggling to keep their powers a secret—for they can walk in dreams. And while Evie is living the high life, victims of a mysterious sleeping sickness are turning up across New York City.
As Henry searches for a lost love and Ling strives to succeed in a world that shuns her, a malevolent force infects their dreams. And at the edges of it all lurks a man in a stovepipe hat who has plans that extend farther than anyone can guess…As the sickness spreads, can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld to save the city?

Evie: I've spent the last two hours worried that you were bleeding o death in a ditch. Now that I know you're okay, I just want you bleeding to death in a ditch.
Sam: Aww, Lamb Chop, you missed me.

I listened to this book as an audiobook.

The sleeping sickness was an interesting thing to red about, and it reminded me a bit of Freddie Kreuger.

George was so sweet that I just wanted to cuddle him. It was nice to see that Ling's parents were a mixed couple - her mother was Irish and her father was Chinese. It was nice to see all the main characters that we'd been introduced to meet each other too and how they interacted.

January LaVoy does such a great job as the narrator. Every time she did the dream voice or the creepy ghost voices, I literally needed to turn a light on as I was starting to get that creeped out. But when she had to sing was absolutely beautiful, especially the Slumberland song. I did also nearly forget that Adelaide Proctor existed though which I was a little miffed at myself for.

I do have a question though, what's with the Goodly Heritage people? They've been mentioned a few times and I'm beginning to wonder why.

Reading about Nora and was super creepy too! I could just be turning into a bit of a wuss by now instead though.

It's good that there were multiple sayings from the time period too - such as "it's the elephant's eyebrows", "you're the berries", "let's ankle", and "nothing doing".

I loved getting to see Henry's backstory and Will's past though as it made me connect with those characters a bit more.

Spoilers!

I didn't cry when Louie was leaving, but I did tear up quite a bit. I'd guessed that he was maybe dead, but I didn't want to believe it.

I also guessed that Wai-Mae was dead and the lady with the veil too. Quite glad I got that one right. But I also guessed that Blind Bill was the cursed man in the story that he was telling, and by now I feel like that was sort of easy to guess.

End Spoilers!

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All books in this series:

    1 | The Diviners
    2 | Lair of Dreams
    3 | Before the Devil Breaks You

    4 | The King of Crows

The Diviners - by Libba Bray

Title: The Diviners
Author: Libba Bray
Published: 18 Sep 2012
Series: The Diviners #1
Rating: 4 stars
Synopsis: 
Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.
Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.
As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.

I listened to this as an audiobook.

The introduction was read by Libba Bray which was a great personal touch to the book.

January LaVoy did a pos-i-tute-ly wonderful job of narrating this audiobook. Her voice changed for each of the characters and you get the vibe of 1926 in her tone of voice. She's even able to make Naughty John's song sound creepy enough that I had to turn on a light while listening to it at night.

Naughty John, Naughty John, does his work with his apron on. Cuts your throat and takes your bones, sells 'em off for a coupla stones.

There were multiple points of view, but it didn't feel like it took anything away from the story. I also quite liked the backstories of the characters.

I'm somehow amazed that Evie doesn't remember the party she hosted at the start with the creepy Ouija board they played with where they let out Naughty John in the first place.

I originally liked Blind Bill, but at the end I wanted to punch him in the face a bit. I no longer like him because of what he did during the book.

Any librarian or scholar will tell you, close is not the same as accurate.

The walrus without a zoo comment made me snort. I'll have to try and remember that one.

The language made it feel like you were there in the 1920s with the characters. Saying things like 'the cat's meow', 'old girl', and even one I hadn't heard before: 'things will be jake'.

Will: Mothers love all their children equally.
Evie: No they don't. That's just what we all agree to say

I think Sam Lloyd or Memphis Campbell might be my favourite characters.

I love the sarcasm and the sass in the book. Also how the magic and realism join together well.

I salute your spunk. But I question your sanity.

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All books in this series:

    1 | The Diviners
    2 | Lair of Dreams
    3 | Before the Devil Breaks You

    4 | The King of Crows

The Last Academy - by Anne Applegate

Title: The Last Academy
Author: Anne Applegate
Published: 30 April 2013
Series: -
Rating: 5 stars
Synopsis:
What is this prep school preparing them for?
Camden Fisher arrives at boarding school haunted by a falling-out with her best friend back home. But the manicured grounds of Lethe Academy are like nothing Cam has ever known. There are gorgeous, preppy boys wielding tennis rackets, and circles of girls with secrets to spare. Only . . . something is not quite right. One of Cam's new friends mysteriously disappears, but the teachers don't seem too concerned. Cam wakes up to strangers in her room, who then melt into the night. She is suddenly plagued by odd memories, and senses there might be something dark and terrible brewing. But what? The answer will leave Cam—and readers—stunned and breathless, in this thrilling debut novel.

I listened to this as an audiobook.

There is nothing worse than someone knowing you like somebody.

I hadn't heard about this book before but the synopsis sounded interesting so I decided that I would give it a try.

I wanted to die. I continued to want to die all the way across the soccer field, and the baseball diamond, past the pool and the tennis courts, along the theatre, and down to Kelser House.

The picture that appeared in my head when Cam talked about the milk dispenser at the boarding school was quite amusing. Or should I say, a-moo-sing!

The flashes that Camden occasionally sees - like the duct tape over someone's mouth or stitches along someone's collar bone - was quite an interesting twist and I was wondering where it was going to lead to. It was all explained in the end though.

Trying to figure out the location of any given teenager on campus over the weekend, might as well get yourself a cowboy hat and take up cat herding. I mean, you'd be less frustrated.

When Camden asked Barnaby Charon That Question? Wow. That put a shock through my system. I wasn't expecting that. I was maybe thinking something similar, but not that.

Spoilers!

I cried when we found out that Mark died as a baby from SIDS. I thought the baby clothes had been from a baby brother his Mum lost or something, but I think my heart would have preferred that over the reality.

I had the same reaction when Camden went through the scrapbook of her friends deaths too. Along with Tammy's not-so death.

End Spoilers!