In Places Hidden by Tracie Peterson REVIEW

Summary:

Camrianne Coulter's brother Caleb is a successful San Francisco attorney. But when three months go by without a word from the usually communicative Caleb, Camri boards a train to the booming West Coast city to find out for herself why he hasn't written. When she arrives at his home, nobody seems to know where he is, or what has become of him.

Camri's search for her brother leads her deep into the political corruption of the city--and into the acquaintance of Patrick Murdock, who Caleb successfully defended from a false murder charge. Getting to know this handsome Irish contractor challenges all of Camri's privileged beliefs, but Patrick is unshakably loyal to her brother, and he seems to know more about what happened to Caleb than anyone else.

As the two edge closer to the truth behind Caleb's disappearance, they risk angering the powerful forces that control the city. Can Camri trust Patrick to protect her from the dangers that lie hidden in San Francisco's backstreets?

My Thoughts:

I'm really happy to say that I enjoyed this book a lot. (the cover is also great!!!)

Camri is such an interesting character. She has an education and she's involved with women's suffrage movements despite her high-ish place in society. I would have loved to know more about her past and experiences with that.

Patrick's character was well developed, as was his sister's, which made me happy (not a lot of side characters have depth to them).

But her friends' characters weren't well developed. Kenzie's was the most developed, though. I hope that the story with them continues so we can know them better.

I would recommend this book to people who like mysteries with a small bit of romance.

My Rating: 5 stars

**I received this book for free to review from Bethany House Publishers. Thank you!!!**

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard REVIEW

Summary:

Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood--those with red and those with silver. Mare and her family are lowly Reds, destined to serve the Silver elite whose supernatural abilities make them nearly gods. Mare steals what she can to help her family survive, but when her best friend is conscripted into the army she gambles everything to win his freedom. A twist of fate leads her to the royal palace itself, where, in front of the king and all his nobles, she discovers a power of her own--an ability she didn't know she had. Except...her blood is red.

To hide this impossibility, the king forces her into the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks her new position to aid the Scarlet Guard--the leaders of a Red rebellion. Her actions put into motion a deadly and violent dance, pitting prince against prince--and Mare against her own heart.

My Thoughts:

I know I'm pretty late on reading this, but I kind of forgot about this book for a while.

The story was nice. It wasn't entirely original (someone of a lower class has something the higher class wants to kill her for but can't because it will end badly for them if the problem is found out) but this particular way of telling it was interesting.

Love triangles are awful. Honestly, the only one I can stand is the one from the Hunger Games because it's actually developed enough to call it a love triangle. Mare and Cal seem to sort of care for each other, and Mare and Maven seem to sort of care for each other...but it's underdeveloped to the point where I want to throw this book out the window whenever it's implied that they romantically care for each other. If it's not developed, how can we believe it???

The betrayal of Maven was great. I honestly thought it was going to be Cal, but the author surprised me on this one.

The end was nice. It wasn't a cliffhanger, but it still made you want more.

Overall? This book was pretty good, but not the best of it's genre.

My Rating: 4 stars

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard REVIEW

Summary:

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she's just read in the newspaper--

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor...from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she'll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including the maddeningly stubborn yet handsome Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her life may hang in the balance.

My Thoughts:

I love the cover and the description--but sadly it's not as good as it sounds.

There's not much steampunk. In fact, the story isn't even that dark. Just about zombies. It doesn't go any further than that. Also, if the author wanted a love triangle she should have actually made it clear that Eleanor and Daniel care for each other. Other than the kiss later on, there's no indication of that. Nor did their "romance" even get resolved. I really should've seen it coming that her brother was the once controlling the zombies. I mean, she gets a letter from a zombie from her brother--and then finds out the zombies are being controlled by a necromancer.

I really want to like this book more, but I don't.

My Rating: 2 stars

Last Chance by Gregg Hurwitz REVIEW

**Sequel to The Rains**

Summary:

Phase One of the invasion began with spores that turned everyone over the age of eighteen into vicious, unhuman beings, unrecognizable as the trusted adults they once were. These Hosts paved the way for the invaders and transformed the small town of Creek's Cause into a war zone. Holed up in the local high school, frightened kids and teenagers struggle to survive--at least until their eighteenth birthdays.

Now, a new breed of predatory creatures has been spawned and is spreading across the world, devouring everything in its path. Earth's only hope is two overwhelmed teenage brothers--and their closest friend, Alexandra--who may hold the key to humanity's survival. But how far will they have to go to save everyone and everything they care about?

My Thoughts:

I genuinely didn't know that The Rains had a sequel until now, whoops. But I am glad I found it because the previous book was great.

The story itself is quite interesting, how the aliens are forcing the adults to map out the Earth and wipe out its population for them.

I really liked JoJo. She was adorable. I really, really hated Ben. And I remembered how awful he was in the first book? He's worse in this one.

The fact that the boys can inject themselves with some solution that would kill them but save the rest of humanity was quite interesting. However, the weird love triangle around Chance, Patrick, and Alex was...weird. Like it's one thing to have a crush on your brother's girlfriend, but her saying she has feelings-ish for him while she and Patrick were still together???

Overall though, this book was great.

My Rating: 5 stars