New Release Tuesday #1: January 02, 2018

Hello dear Readers,

Releasing today another book in the DC Icons Series. Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu.

Title: Batman: Nightwalker

Series: DC Icons Series

Genre: Teens-Sci-Fi-Fantasy

Author: Marie Lu

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: January 02, 208

Language: English

Hardcover: 288pages

Meet the Author: Marie Lu

Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

The new, eagerly anticipated BATMAN YA novel is an action-packed thrill ride that could only be penned by #1 New York Times bestselling author MARIE LU.

Before he was Batman, he was Bruce Wayne. A reckless boy willing to break the rules for a girl who may be his worst enemy.

The Nightwalkers are terrorizing Gotham City, and Bruce Wayne is next on their list.

The city's elites are being taken out one by one as their mansions' security systems turn against them, trapping them like prey. Meanwhile, Bruce is about to become eighteen and inherit his family's fortune, not to mention the keys to Wayne Industries and all the tech gadgetry that he loves. But on the way home from his birthday party, he makes an impulsive choice and is sentenced to community service at Arkham Asylum, the infamous prison that holds the city's most nefarious criminals.

Madeleine Wallace is a brilliant killer . . . and Bruce's only hope.

The most intriguing inmate in Arkham is Madeleine, a brilliant girl with ties to the Nightwalkers. A girl who will only speak to Bruce. She is the mystery he must unravel, but is he convincing her to divulge her secrets, or is he feeding her the information she needs to bring Gotham City to its knees?

In this second DC Icons book--following Leigh Bardugo's Wonder Woman: Warbringer--Bruce Wayne is proof that you don't need superpowers to be a super hero, but can he survive this game of tense intrigue, pulse-pounding action, and masterful deception?

Act fast! The first printing includes a poster of Bruce! Each first printing in the DC Icons series will have a limited-edition poster--collect them all to create the full image!

"The trickiest aspect of any Batman narrative is getting into Bruce Wayne's head, and [Lu] doesn't miss a beat. . . . An engaging character piece with enough Batman allusions to intrigue fans and newcomers alike."

--Kirkus Reviews

"A fast-paced story line, action-packed fight sequences, and hi-tech gadgetry expected from any Batman story make this a fun read with wide appeal."

--SLJ

Wendy

Book Review: Into the Water: A Novel by Paula Hawkins-Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Hello dear Readers,

My book review of Into the Water: A Novel by Paula Hawkins.

Title: Into the Water: A Novel

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Author: Paula Hawkins

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Publication Date: May 2, 2017

Language: English

Hardcover: 400 pages
Meet the Author: Paula Hawkins
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller and global phenomenon The Girl on the Train returns with Into the Water, her addictive new novel of psychological suspense. 

“Hawkins is at the forefront of a group of female authors – think Gillian Flynn and Megan Abbott – who have reinvigorated the literary suspense novel by tapping a rich vein of psychological menace and social unease… there’s a certain solace to a dark escape, in the promise of submerged truths coming to light.” –Vogue

A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged.

Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother's sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from—a place to which she vowed she'd never return.

With the same propulsive writing and acute understanding of human instincts that captivated millions of readers around the world in her explosive debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins delivers an urgent, twisting, deeply satisfying read that hinges on the deceptiveness of emotion and memory, as well as the devastating ways that the past can reach a long arm into the present.

Beware a calm surface—you never know what lies beneath.

My Thoughts

My most anticipated read of 2017. One word. Amazing. Is it true, like other people have expressed, at the beginning I had issues with all the different POV's, the large cast of characters, however, once I passed that and I was finally able to find the rhythm, it was an enjoyable, amazing, surprising read. 

Why I loved this book? Because part of me was expecting something similar to The Girl on the Train, and it wasn't and I am glad it was not. This was a total surprise and I think it is wonderful when an Author has the ability to surpass our expectations in a good way and bring something different, something unique. That is what reading Into the Water was for me, a very unique experience. 

As for the large number of characters? Well, after finishing the book, in my opinion, each character was necessary to make the story work, what each one brings to the table is a little something which put together gives the book that wow factor, all these different personalities that at the end are connected one way or the other. 

As for The Drowning Pool story in between, personally, it helped me understand a few details included in the story. I liked the suspense, the darkness, how all the secrets unraveled and the ending, a satisfying one but at the same time open which made me think beyond this story and what would have happened if...

Into the Water, a very unique, suspenseful, dark read which I totally recommend.

Wendy

Book Review: Always and Forever Lara Jean by Jenny Han-Teens/Fiction

Hello dear Readers,

My book review of Always and Forever Lara Jean by Jenny Han.

Title: Always and Forever Lara Jean

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Teens/Fiction

Author: Jenny Han

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 

Publication Date: May 2, 2017

Language: English

Hardcover: 336 pages
Meet the Author: Jenny Han
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

Lara Jean’s letter-writing days aren’t over in this surprise follow-up to the New York Times bestselling To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You.

Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could ever hope for. She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter; her dad’s finally getting remarried to their next door neighbor, Ms. Rothschild; and Margot’s coming home for the summer just in time for the wedding.

But change is looming on the horizon. And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy helping plan her father’s wedding, she can’t ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college and what that means for her relationship with Peter. She watched her sister Margot go through these growing pains. Now Lara Jean’s the one who’ll be graduating high school and leaving for college and leaving her family—and possibly the boy she loves—behind.

When your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

My Thoughts

Words are not enough to express how thankful I am that I had the opportunity to read this trilogy. It will always be one of my favorites. 

Lara Jean and Peter, such wonderful characters and all the others as well. Lara Jean's father, Kitty, Margot, Ms. Rothschild. Without a doubt the perfect conclusion to the story. It was not easy knowing it was the end but very satisfied about it. All the feelings while reading this book. Happiness, sadness, nostalgia, laughter. I became very attached to the characters and invested in the story, in Lara Jean's world, which is not that difficult, with a beautiful writing style the Author makes you feel part of it all.  

Like I said before about the other two books, I like how we can relate to the characters and all they go through. When it comes to family relationships, love relationships, transitioning from that teenage period to a more young-adult phase, making decisions on your own, obstacles, taking ownership of your life. The Author does a great job in giving us this funny, cute, story/characters but at the same time making them real, Human. 

Overall, I loved this trilogy, I did not want it to end, I enjoyed each book and even though I know this was the end but we can always hope, maybe a new book from Peter's POV, maybe? Yes, please.

Wendy

New Release Tuesday #09: March 07, 2017

Hello dear Readers,

Happy Book Birthday to The Roanoke Girls: A Novel by Amy Engel.

Title: The Roanoke Girls: A Novel

Genre: Fiction/Historical

Author: Amy Engel

Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: March 07, 2017

Language: English

Hardcover: 288 pages

Meet the Author: Amy Engel

Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

“Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.”

 After her mother's suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother's mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran…fast and far away.

Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again.

As it weaves between Lane’s first Roanoke summer and her return, The Roanoke Girls shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart.

Wendy