The Path of One by D. P. Behling REVIEW

Summary:

Joshua Elias Tanner is trying to fix his life and reconnect with his four-year-old daughter Sophie. In a bizarre twist, he gets pulled into the multidimensional world of the Immortals simply by being the last person on the elevator after lunch!

If Josh wants to find his way back to Sophie, he will be forced to rise through the levels of mortal cultivation to reach Transcendence with his fate-bonded brother, Senyak Marztanak.

Senyak needs the unique mortal qualities of Josh if Sen is to reclaim his Immortality and sit on his family's ruling seat.

My Thoughts:

This was really interesting to read. I especially love the development of the characters throughout the novel, and the room made to develop them more in the sequel.

Josh is like a reader-insert of sorts. He, like us, are thrown into a reality of which we know nothing about. While I do like his character, Josh acts a lot more like a teenager than a father, which is really most of the novel. We get little glimpses into his life, but I found it kind of hard to believe that he is an adult.

Senyak is so interesting as a character. He originally was not the heir to his family, but his brouther failed his test and was unable to claim the right to be his family's heir. His character is astonishingly more believable than Josh's. Senyak is hundreds of years old, but time is different when you're an Immortal, and he comes off as a teenager who tries to be seen as an adult (except it doesn't work).

Sophie was mentioned a few times, but never in much detail for being such an important factor in the story.

In terms of reading, the novel was difficult at first due to the vocabulary being very scientific, but it catches on soon after. The book also jumped around from feeling like an adult novel and being a YA novel, which was kind of confusing.

A lot of these criticisms really come down to characterization in terms of plot, which could be solved in the sequel.

I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't really my cup of tea. However, I would pick up the sequel whenever it comes out.

My Rating: 3 stars

Vaulting Through Time by Nancy McCabe REVIEW

 Summary:

Sixteen-year-old gymnast Elizabeth Arlington doesn't care that her mother is older than the other girls' moms or that she doesn't look anything like her parents. She has too much to worry about like her body changing and how all of a sudden the balance beam is not as easy as it used to be. But when she makes a discovery that throws her entire identity into question, she turns to her ex-best friend Zach, who suggests a way for her to find the answers her mother won't give her: a time machine they found in an abandoned house. As Elizabeth catapults through time, she encounters a mysterious abandoned child, an elite gymnast preparing for Olympic Trials, and an enigmatic woman who seems to know that she's revealing. Then when a thief makes off with an identical time machine, Elizabeth finds herself on a race to stop the thief before the world as she knows it - and her future - are destroyed.

My Thoughts:

Oh my god, I loved this. 

Elizabeth is in love with her ex-best friend, and despite trying to avoid him, he is there when she needs him the most: questioning her own heritage. When Zach brings up the time machine, she originally writes him off as crazy. But when she tries it out reluctantly, it works - taking her to the past. Time travelling takes out a lot of stress on her body, and it doesn't help that the watch will sometimes not go the way it is programmed. Elizabeth ends up meeting her family, and finds out that Abby/Gail, a relative, got stuck in the past. The thief turns out to be Mrs. Grundy, Abby's mother-in-law, who sneaks around and tries to change time.

I fell in love with the characters. Despite the shorter length of the novel, the characters are fleshed out and easy to care about. The writing style is easy to read, but not in a bad way. McCabe has done a wonderful job on her first young adult fiction novel, and I can't wait to see what else she has in store for her next book.

My Rating: 5 stars

Atlantia by Ally Condie REVIEW

 Summary:

For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamed of the sand and sky Above - of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all Rio's hopes for the future are shattered when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected choice, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio's true self - and the powerful siren voice she has long silenced - she has nothing left to lose.

Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother's death, her own destiny, and the corrupted system constructed to govern the Divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.

My Thoughts:

I loved this book way more than I thought I would.

Rio's mother, a minister, has died, leaving her and her sister Bay to live on their own. They are twins, and that is rare in the Below. When they reach a certain age, one can go Above but the other must stay behind. Bay has her promise to stay so that she wouldn't be alone, but then she goes Above, leaving Rio behind in shock. Through trying to find a way to follow her sister, Rio discovers more things about her mother, her aunt, her world, and herself, ultimately stopping her world from being destroyed in the process.

I don't know why I never picked up this book sooner. Rio may be your typical YA protagonist, but she's also more relatable (personality-wise). And I honestly liked this so much better than Matched. As soon as I started reading, it was nearly impossible to put down. The characters are strong and memorable, and Below is developed so well. While there are no mermaids (unfortunately), I got over the disappointment rather quickly.

I would definitely recommend this one.

My Rating: 5 stars

Illusionarium by Heather Dixon REVIEW

Summary:

Far, far north, in the cold aerial city of Fata Morgana, apprentice scientist Jonathan is preparing to leave for university.

He doesn't know about fantillium, the newly discovered chemical that allows people to share hallucinations - to become an illusionist.

He doesn't know that fantillium can also open gateways to parallel worlds. Or that he will soon begin an epic journey, crossing cities and worlds, to save his family, his friends, and his very reality. 

He doesn't know any of that . . . yet.

And when he does, will his compass continue to point true north? Or will it break apart?

My Thoughts:

This book was hard to get into. The style of writing took a while for me to get used to, but I did end up enjoying it.

There is a sickness going around, and the queen is ill. Jonathan's father is the best scientist, so the king pays him a visit requesting him to find a cure as soon as possible. He wants him to work with Lady Florel, who only wants to use fantillium to find the cure. The father refuses, saying it is too dangerous, but Jonathan goes to help Lady Florel out of desperation since his mother, sister, and sister's friend fall victim to the sickness.

They travel to another world, where Jonathan finds out that she isn't who she says she is.

While I did enjoy reading this, it wasn't for me. Jonathan's family are not very developed at all, making it hard to care about what happens/will happen to them. The writing style isn't my favorite, and most of the characters are forgettable. 

My Rating: 2 stars 

The Prettiest Girl In the Grave by Kristopher Triana REVIEW

Summary:

When Bella, Celeste, and Rose meet with new friends at a graveyard in the woods, they soon realize they're unprepared for what's planned. At twenty, Aubrey is older than the high schoolers, and she knows of a secret game that's been played by local girls for decades.

It starts with personal questions, but quickly moves on to a test of courage as Aubrey guides them into an underground crypt. But even Aubrey doesn't know what they're really getting into. Bella's mother, Holly, may be the only one who does.

As a teen, Holly and her friends also played the game, and Holly barely survived. When she discovers her daughter has gone to the graveyard, she fears Bella will get lost in the mysterious catacombs just as she had . . . and face the same sinister forces.

As the girls search for a way out, Holly must return to the dreadful crypt she swore she'd never come back to, and finally face her own dark secrets. 

My Thoughts:

When I discovered this was getting published in May, I dropped everything to buy it. Girls, graveyards, and Triana? It sounded too good to be true.

Bella is the main character, and so is her mother, Holly. She and Rose had been friends since childhood, but their friendship was starting to strain when Bella started hanging out with goth girls. Rose is really only there because Bella asked her to be. For a novella, the characters are mostly super well developed. The only characters with not much are Rose's parents, Savannah, and Marnie.

While the book starts out a little slow, it hits you with a brick out of nowhere when Savannah and Marnie are mauled by black bears in the catacombs and reminds you just what author you are reading.

The game is intended to have only one survivor, and pits the friends against each other as they desperately try to find a way out of the graveyard. Ghosts of previous contestants appear as the audience for the current players. When Holly goes out to find her daughter, the ghosts are a grim reminder of her own survival and the price she had to pay to leave the graveyard.

My Rating: 4 stars