Ash Reads Stuff

The Last Hope by: Krista & Becca Ritchie Publication Date: August 13th, 2019 Pages: 400 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars NetGalley Synopsis: A stunning conclusion to the sci-fi romance duology by writing duo Krista & Becca Ritchie, The Last Hope is filled with twists and turns you'll never see coming. Sacrifice all you have to survive. Imprisoned for weeks on an enemy starcraft, Franny, Court, and Mykal have sat with an unfathomable revelation. But as they fight to stay alive, escaping prison means trusting a young mysterious stranger. He knows everything about their lost histories, and when answers aren’t given freely, the bonded trio are forced to join a mission. One that will determine the fate of humanity. Legend says, a baby—the first of her species—has the power to cloak and teleport planets. Tasked with retrieving the infant, Court fears the baby is just a myth, and if they fail, they’ll never find the truth about t...

The Rising Gold by Ava Jae Pages:  424 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult/Science Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: A new world ruler is crowned. Plunged into a crumbling world of foreign politics that is desperate for a leader, Eros chooses a loyal prince to help him navigate the hostile sands of Safara. But not everyone is happy to see a half-blood become the most powerful person on the planet. A queen must restore her nation. In power once more, Kora faces new challenges and a difficult decision that puts someone close to her in mortal danger. The wrong choice could destroy her relationships, her right to rule, and her life. A rebellion is brewing. With their world collapsing around them, new threats spreading across the globe, and their loved ones at risk, the people of Safara―Sepharon and human alike―depend on Eros and Kora to fix their bleeding world. But with generations of hate stacked against them, the two young monarchs may be doomed to...

The Raging Ones  by Krista & Becca Ritchie Publication Date: August 14, 2018 Pages:  400 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult/Science Fiction My Goodreads Rating:  4 Stars Synopsis: An edge of your seat sci-fi romance with twists and turns that you will never see coming! In a freezing world, where everyone knows the day they will die, three teens break all odds. Franny Bluecastle, a tough city teen, dreams of dying in opulence, to see wealth she’s never known. Like the entire world, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday. Until the day she does. Court Icecastle knows wealth. He also knows pain. Spending five years in Vorkter Prison, a fortress of ice and suffering, he dreams of life beyond the people that haunt him and the world that imprisoned him. Mykal Kickfall fights for those he loves. The rugged Hinterlander shares a frustrating yet unbreakable connection with Court—which only grows more lawless and chaotic as their senses and emotions ...

LIFEL1K3  by Jay Kristoff Publication Date: May 29th, 2018 Pages:  416 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3 stars Synopsis: On an island junkyard beneath a sky that glows with radiation, a deadly secret lies buried in the scrap. Seventeen-year-old Eve isn't looking for trouble--she's too busy looking over her shoulder. The robot gladiator she spent months building has been reduced to a smoking wreck, she's on the local gangster's wanted list, and the only thing keeping her grandpa alive is the money she just lost to the bookies. Worst of all, she's discovered she can somehow destroy machines with the power of her mind, and a bunch of puritanical fanatics are building a coffin her size because of it. If she's ever had a worse day, Eve can't remember it.  The problem is, Eve has had a worse day--one that lingers in her nightmares and the cybernetic implant where her memories used to be. Her discovery of a handsome android named ...

The Dark Intercept by Julia Keller Publication Date: October 31st, 2017 Pages: 320 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 2 stars Goodreads Synopsis: When the state controls your emotions, how hard will you fight to feel free? In a radiant world of endless summer, the Intercept keeps the peace. Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, has spent her life in comfort and safety. Her days are easy thanks to the Intercept, a crime-prevention device that monitors and provokes emotion. But when her long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a dangerous altercation on Old Earth, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he's hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she's ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept. Much like the device itself, The Dark Intercept might get under your skin. My Review:  I...did not like this book. I gave it two stars ...

Ringer  by Lauren Oliver Publication Date: October 3rd, 2017 Pages: 528 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult/Science Fiction My Goodreads Rating:  4 stars Goodreads Synopsis:   Like its ambitious companion novel, Replica, this far-reaching novel by powerhouse bestselling author Lauren Oliver digs deep into questions of how to be a human being in a world where humanity cannot be taken for granted. In the world outside the Haven Institute, Lyra and Caelum are finding it hard to be human—and neither of them knows where they belong or who they can trust. When Caelum leaves without warning to pursue the dream of a place he belongs, Lyra follows him, convinced that together they will hunt down a cure for the illness that’s slowly consuming her mind. But what they uncover is a shocking connection to their past—even as their future seems in danger of collapsing. After discovering the uncomfortable truth about her connection to the Haven Institute, Gemma struggles to r...

Nyxia  by Scott Reintgen Publication Date: September 12th, 2017 Pages:  384 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Emmett Atwater isn't just leaving Detroit; he's leaving Earth. Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family. Forever. Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden--a planet that Babel has kept hidden--where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe. But Babel's ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won't forever compromise what it means to b...

Replica  by Lauren Oliver Publication Date: October 4th 2016 Pages: 544 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult/Science Ficion My Goodreads Rating: 3.5 stars Goodreads Synopsis:  Lyra From a distance, the Haven Institute, tucked away on a private island off the coast of Florida, looks serene and even beautiful. But up close the locked doors, military guards, and biohazard suits tell a different story. In truth, it is a clandestine research facility where thousands of replicas, or human models, are born, raised, and observed. But when a surprise attack is launched on Haven, two of its young experimental subjects—Lyra, or 24, and the boy known only as 72—manage to escape. As they make their way through a new and menacing environment, they meet a stranger named Gemma, who has embarked on a perilous quest of her own. And as Lyra tries to understand Haven’s purpose, she uncovers earth-shattering secrets that will change the lives of both girls. Gemma Gemma has been...

So, February was a tough month for me all around. If we're friends in real life or any type of social media you know why, so I won't go into it. Reading is usually my solace but this month it was difficult to find that. I did, however, manage to get some reading/down time and was pretty happy with the books I picked up. I only read about nine books this month compared to my twenty-something last month. I'm only going to share the good ones, because there were some that I DNFd or just didn't like. Five Star Reads: Four Star Reads:         Three Star Reads:    So, there's a little bit of what I've been up to this month. Hopefully March will bring lots of good reads and swoons and all things like that.  What are you reading? 

Morning Star   by Pierce Brown Publication Date: February 9, 2016 Pages: 518 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult/Science Fiction My Goodreads Rating:  5 Stars Red Rising Recap: Darrow, a lowly Red, is Carved by the Sons of Ares to become a Gold. He is sent to train at the Institute and take down Society from the inside. Golden Son Recap: Darrow begins a civil war, Gold against Gold. But in the end, it's him who suffers. Morning Star Synopsis:  Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back. Risking everything to transform himself and breach Gold society, Darrow has battled to survive the cutthroat rivalries that breed Society's mightiest warriors, climbed the ranks, and waited patiently to unleash the revolution that will tear the hierarchy apart from within. Finally, the time has come. But devotion to honor and hun...

I'm always happy and/or excited when I remember to participate in The Broke and the Bookish' s weekly Top Ten Tuesday . This week was a freebie, so I chose my favorite sequels. Here we go! I pretty much read The Lost Hero  thinking "WHERE'S PERCY?" the entire time.  So many answers! I loved it.  I loved hearing Adam's story. (I also apparently love Gayle Forman.)  Like I could have a list without Harry on it?  These words. The best.  Three words for you: MORE. LOGAN. ECHOLLS.  I know it's not really a sequel, but I loved seeing St. Clair and Anna again.  Swoons.  No, I didn't skip a book. It never existed.  Can I have the third one now?  Anywho, thanks for checking out my list and be sure to check out these books! Only you should probably read the first ones...first. 

Above  by Isla Morley Publication Date: October 7, 2014 Pages: 384 (paperback) Genre: Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  “Reeled out with the chilling calmness of a Hitchcock film,Above haunts as it illuminates. Deftly told, this tale of human resilience in the face of madness is a horror classic for our times” (Lynn Cullen, bestselling author of Mrs. Poe). Blythe Hallowell is sixteen when she is abducted by a survivalist and locked away in an abandoned missile silo in Eudora, Kansas. At first, she focuses frantically on finding a way out, until the harrowing truth of her new existence settles in—the crushing loneliness, the terrifying madness of a captor who believes he is saving her from the end of the world, and the persistent temptation to give up. But nothing prepares Blythe for the burden of raising a child in confinement. Determined to give the boy everything she has lost, she pushes aside the truth about a world he may...

Beyond the Red by Ava Jae Publication Date: March 1st, 2016 Pages: 352 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult/Science Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Alien queen Kora has a problem as vast as the endless crimson deserts. She’s the first female ruler of her territory in generations, but her people are rioting and call for her violent younger twin brother to take the throne. Despite assassination attempts, a mounting uprising of nomadic human rebels, and pressure to find a mate to help her rule, she’s determined to protect her people from her brother’s would-be tyrannical rule. Eros is a rebel soldier hated by aliens and human alike for being a half-blood. Yet that doesn’t stop him from defending his people, at least until Kora’s soldiers raze his camp and take him captive. He’s given an ultimatum: be an enslaved bodyguard to Kora, or be executed for his true identity—a secret kept even from him. When Kora and Eros are framed for the attempted...

The Rest of Us Just Live Here  by Patrick Ness Publication Date : October 6, 2015 Pages:  336 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  What if you aren t the Chosen One? The one who s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions. My Review: A few years ago I read The Knife of Never Letting Go  series by Patrick Ness and was pretty impressed. I loved the fact that the story was written in the language of a young boy and that, ev...

Across the Universe by Beth Revis Publication Date: 2011 Pages: 398 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules. Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next. Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and th...