The aliens have unleashed 4 waves of death upon humanity. The first, an electronic pulse to render all machines useless. The second, tsunamis to destroy coastal cities. The third, an avian plague called The Red Death. The fourth, Silencers, a race of humans implanted with alien intelligences as fetuses, an enemy we didn’t see coming. The 5th is upon us. Cassie, a 16 year old surviving on her own is one of the few left alive on earth. Armed with an M-16 and a teddy bear, she searches for her little brother with the hunky and mysterious Evan.
Altered picks up immediately where Crewel left off. Adelice, Jost and Erik are on Earth and searching for a way to get back to Arras to save the ones they left behind and overthrow the Guild. They find themselves in the middle of a rebellion they never knew existed nor truly wanted to join. All three characters have their own motivations and secrets that they are hiding from each other, and very quickly the reader realizes that this will not be a smooth or safe journey.
Everyone has felt the pressure around standardized tests. The thought, real or imagined, that how you perform in this one moment will decide the rest of your life. While we may be lending a dramatic flair to our own examinations, that fear is real for Cia. She has been chosen along with 3 other classmates from the 5 Lakes Colony to participate in The Testing. Every year, the best and brightest high school graduates are brought to Tosu City to undergo a series of exams that will decide who goes on to University.
Did that title catch your eye? Elvie's dreams of becoming an engineer on a new Mars colony get complicated when she finds herself knocked up the night before her PSAT. Cole, the dreamy new transfer student from Wisconsin, and father of the child, disappears the day after she tells him. Left on her own with only her emergency-prepared father, and quirky best friend Ducky, Elvie enrolls at the Hanover School for Expecting Teen Mothers. Aboard a renovated cruise-liner, Elvie awaits the arrival of 'the goober', and continues to dream of Mars.
One of my favorite books of all time is Unwind by Neal Shusterman. The epic story takes place after a second civil war, fought over the morality and legality of abortion leads to peace through the Unwind Accords. This agreement outlaws abortion...however, from the ages of 13 to 18 any child may be unwound by their parents.
Beatrice has grown up in post-apocalyptic Chicago, where the community is divided into 5 factions, each focused on a different value. Candor values honest, Amity values happiness, Erudite values information, Dauntless values courage and Beatrice's faction, Abnegation values selflessness. But Beatrice isn't a very good member of Abnegation, selflessness doesn't seem to come naturally to her like it does for her brother Caleb or her mother. At 16, every member of the community undergoes the test to find out what faction they will choose to live in as an adult.
I approached Mockingjay with a bit of apprehension. You know when there is something you really love you worry that the author/creator might ruin it with one swift stroke of the pen? That is the anxiety I felt leading up to the release of Mockingjay. How could you possibly end a series as great as the Hunger Games? Would Katniss survive? What would happen to Panem!? Although I liked Mockingjay it was certainly not a satisfying book.
Tally is painfully aware that she is hideously ugly. But she is about to turn the much anticipated 16, and where Tally lives your 16th birthday marks the day you get full body plastic surgery. This is surgery unheard of in modern science, it isn't just some botox and a face-lift. This alters you forever. The doctors can change you hair, eye and skin colors, your bone structure, your curves, your muscles, your teeth, and more. It is a full body overhaul. Tally is looking forward to her 16th birthday and imagining how pretty she will be once the surgery is over.
I was one of those kids who grew up with Transformers so I must admit that there is a soft spot in my heart for any of the Tranformers movies. I was a little anxious to see the latest installment because I heard some pretty bad reviews from fans but I did go pay my $10 (dang movies are expensive) to check it out this weekend. And I am glad I didn't listen! I thought it was an awesome action movie and not too shabby of a plot! I am a big action freak so I love even the worst action flicks but this one just had so much more.
