Salt and Stone (Fire and Flood Series #2) by Victoria Scott

                                           🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Synopsis: 
How far would you go to survive?

In FIRE & FLOOD, Tella Holloway faced a dangerous trek through the jungle and a terrifying march across the desert, all to remain a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed for a chance at obtaining the Cure for her brother. She can't stop - and in SALT & STONE, Tella will have to face the unseen dangers of the ocean, the breathless cold of a mountain, and twisted new rules in the race.

But what if the danger is deeper than that? How do you know who to trust when everyone's keeping secrets? What do you do when the person you'd relied on most suddenly isn't there for support? How do you weigh one life against another?

The race is coming to an end, and Tella is running out of time, resources, and strength. At the beginning of the race there were one hundred twenty-two Contenders. As Tella and her remaining friends start the fourth and final part of the race, just forty-one are left . . . and only one can win.

Wow! What a thrill ride! I loved this book as much as the first one! There are new obstacles that the contenders face and the action/thrills keeps coming. I didn't know that it was possible but there is even more action in this one than the last book. 

Tella was a lot stronger in this book which I loved but I couldn't understand why the author felt the need to keep telling us how different she was when the character's actions showed us throughout the entire book. I got so frustrated with the amount of times that Tella kept having inner dialogues about how she was tough now compared to when she was planning on wearing a sparkly dress for this or that or how new jeans used to be all she cared about. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH! It made it seem as if the author didn't trust readers to be smart enough to pick up on the fact that Tella was stronger so it was thrown in our faces time and again. 

I know that it may sound as if I didn't like this book when it reality it was really good! I loved reading about the new challenges the contenders were forced to face as well as the new skills that we found out about the pandoras. The relationships between the characters grew and changed in interesting ways as well. Overall, this book is just as good if not slightly better than the first book.

Victoria Scott has said that she is unsure whether this will be the last book in the series and I will be so upset if it is. So may things are left unanswered at the end of the book. I have to know what happens to the characters after Brimstone Bleed concluded.

Killer Instinct (The Naturals #2) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

                                              🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Cassie Hobbes has a gift for profiling people. Her talent has landed her a spot in an elite FBI program for teens with innate crime-solving abilities, and into some harrowing situations. After barely escaping a confrontation with an unbalanced killer obsessed with her mother’s murder, Cassie hopes she and the rest of the team can stick to solving cold cases from a distance.

But when victims of a brutal new serial killer start turning up, the Naturals are pulled into an active case that strikes too close to home: the killer is a perfect copycat of Dean’s incarcerated father—a man he’d do anything to forget. Forced deeper into a murderer’s psyche than ever before, will the Naturals be able to outsmart the enigmatic killer’s brutal mind games before this copycat twists them into his web for good?

I had some apprehension about reading this book with it being a sequel to The Naturals. I was curious if it would end up being like other similar series which are just a bunch of who done its, one after the other with no overarching story line. It seems as if there might be one but there is no solid evidence of that yet.

My theory is that the books will all be connected because each book will bring one of the naturals team's demons of their past to the focus. The first book focused on Cassie and the fact that there was a killer murdering people similar to her mother and in this one Dean is the focus because someone is attempting to replicate his father's MO and signature when murdering victims. I'm assuming the third book will focus on Sloan because it has poker chips on the front cover and she used to be a card shark.

Anyway, it's not that I don't like these books but I wish, like I said, they would have a plot line that carries over. This book did manage to be different from the first one but I was able to figure it out fairly easily. There were a few twists that I found particularly interesting in the story and the author's writing style still manages to grab my attention and ratchet up the tension as the story moves forward in the book. Jennifer Barnes knows how to write a thriller!

I did appreciate how the author didn't just gloss over the events of the first book. It is easy to tell that the characters were and continue to effected by what happened to them in the first book. I'm sure that I will be able to say the same thing for the next novel in the series. 

This book explains a bit more about Dean's background which I loved. I feel that he is the most interesting character and it is probably because he was raised by a serial killer and is not forthcoming about himself. I enjoyed getting to learn more about him and seeing his reactions to the events in the book.

The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles

                                                 🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:
For the perfect love, what would you be willing to lose?

It’s been a shattering year for seventeen-year-old Zoe, who’s still reeling from her father's shockingly sudden death in a caving accident and her neighbors’ mysterious disappearance from their own home. Then on a terrifying sub-zero, blizzardy night in Montana, she and her brother are brutally attacked in a cabin in the woods—only to be rescued by a mysterious bounty hunter they call X.

X is no ordinary bounty hunter. He is from a hell called the Lowlands, sent to claim the soul of Zoe’s evil attacker and others like him. X is forbidden from revealing himself to anyone other than his prey, but he casts aside the Lowlands’ rules for Zoe. As they learn more about their colliding worlds, they begin to question the past, their fate, and their future.
 
I thought that the book had an interesting plot but it wasn't executed as well as I would have liked. The book focused more on Zoe and her whining/angst than the most interesting part of the story which was X , his purpose, and where the Lowlands. I wanted to read more about that because it was what made me want to read the story in the first place. 

The pacing was odd throughout the book as well or maybe it was the characters actions that made the pacing seem off somehow. The characters took actions that didn't make any sense. For example, when someone has violent tendencies you expect them to perform violent actions or when your life has been threatened you don't just forget about that right away. 

I also hated the insta-love! Why would an author have characters express their love for each other when they have known each other for a couple hours. I can understand if two characters are attracted to each other but they shouldn't be saying that they are in love with each other.

I called what was going to happen towards the end of the book from the very beginning. The book was extremely predictable. It was not hard to guess what would happen which made the story boring and hard to pay attention to.

I was able to read about 60-70 percent through the book then I skimmed the rest. I don't usually do this but like I said before I was bored. I was also tired of hearing the two main characters pine for each other even though they had much bigger things to worry about. This book may have been more successful if it was solely a love story rather than adding in the paranormal elements.

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

                                             🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But, it's not a skill that she's ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they've begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie. What Cassie doesn't realize is that there's more at risk than a few unsolved homicides—especially when she's sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms close. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive. Think The Mentalist meets Pretty Little Liars—Jennifer Lynn-Barnes' The Naturals is a gripping psychological thriller with killer appeal, a to-die-for romance, and the bones of a gritty and compelling new series.

I love thrillers and I have been on the lookout for one to read. I found The Naturals on a list on Goodreads, saw that it had a fairly high rating, and thought that the synopsis sounded interesting enough to check it out.
This book reminded me of some of the thrillers that I had read before but it changed things enough to keep things interesting. The author gives us the serial killer's point of view which I love! I love to feel like I've gotten inside of a killer's head and understand what their thought process is when they target their victims. Jennifer Barnes did an excellent job of providing that for the reader.
The characters were interesting and different enough from each other in personality and abilities to keep things intriguing throughout the book. I was intrigued by their abilities and felt that they had a realism to them. There are people out there that truly can read other people so well that it seems like they have a gift. I'm not sure why the author shoved the romance aspect into the story because it didn't need it. I wasn't completely bothered by it but it did feel a bit out of place. 
I didn't expect the serial killer to be who it was until later on in the book. The author was able to surprise me at least somewhat which I can appreciate. Usually, I can guess pretty quickly "who done it" in most books and movies. I enjoy it when an author is able to throw me off the scent.
I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series and I hope that it lives up to this one. If you want to compare this book to others, I would say that it is like The Body Finder and I Hunt Killers both of which are also great books! 

Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott

                                              🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌗 (4 1/2) out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟


Synopsis:

A pulse-pounding thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life--and her own.

Time is slipping away. . . .

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can't determine what's wrong, her parents decide to move to the middle of nowhere for the fresh air. She's lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying--and she's helpless to change anything.

Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It's an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother's illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there's no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can't trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?


I've wanted to read this book for a while. It was added to my to be read pile and I forgot about it until I found it at the library the other day. I have to say that it mostly lived up to the hype that I built up in my head. 

I thought that the idea of animal companions or pandoras was an interesting and unique idea. I can't really say to much about them without giving some things away but each of the contender's pandoras had a special set of skills that made me want to keep reading so that I could find out what else they could do. 

The contenders that we are introduced to in the book were also compelling. They each had different back stories and reasons for entering the race. I was suspicious of pretty much all of them that came into contact with Tella because I didn't feel like any of them were telling her the whole truth. I found myself feeling particularly wary of Guy during the course of the book. I was curious about him much like Tella was and wanted my questions answered before I committed to thinking of him as someone who could be trusted.

However, I found Tella annoying at times.  She could be very shallow and it made her come off weak and useless. I mean, who cares about nail polish or what your hair looks like when your brother is dying and you are fighting to stay alive!?! I found myself hoping that she would change over the course of the book because I knew that I wouldn't want to read the next book in the series if I had to put up with her having the same attitude. It could be possible that I have been spoiled by the other female characters like Katniss and Tris which makes it harder to except characters like Tella. 

There were a lot of layers to the story which I appreciated. It led to many questions that I couldn't automatically figure out the answers to like I can with other books. I love books that can keep me guessing and this one did just that. It was also action packed beginning early on in the story and continuing throughout making for a thrill ride of a book. It reminded me of Hunger Games in the sense that there were people controlling the game and contenders had to deal with not only the elements but also the other contenders.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

                                                🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Synopsis:
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

I have heard a lot about this book over the past couple years and even more when the movie came out. I was at the library the other day and thought, why not? I didn't really know much about the book other than it was popular and about a girl that stole books. I was conflicted about what rating I should give this book. I appreciated the subject matter because even though this book is fiction it is important to remember that particular time in history. I feel that the author did a good job of pulling the reader into the time period. 

It was also interesting to have a main character that was not Jewish so that readers could see what was happening through the eyes of a person who was not directly effected by the events that were taking place.  I appreciated seeing how things affected Liesel because I don't think that people understand that the German people were going through trials as well especially if they did not follow Hitler. 

It was interesting to have Death as a narrator and it initially pulled me into the story. I thought, "well this is a different and interesting way to tell a story!". Even with all of this I had a hard time getting through the story. I feel bad saying that I found the story dull but I feel that it didn't really pull me in. The pacing was extremely slow and I found it hard to relate to the main character. I think it is because I was not told a lot about Liesel other than a few things at the beginning and how she felt about certain events that happened. I actually think that I would have preferred more of the story to be about Max, the Jewish man in her basement. He was a far more interesting character with a compelling backstory.  

 

Mind Games by Kiersten White

                                          🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis: 
Fia and Annie are as close as two sisters can be. They look out for each other. Protect each other. And most importantly, they keep each other's secrets, even the most dangerous ones: Annie is blind, but can see visions of the future; Fia was born with flawless intuition—her first impulse is always exactly right.

When the sisters are offered a place at an elite boarding school, Fia realizes that something is wrong . . . but she doesn't grasp just how wrong. The Keane Institute is no ordinary school, and Fia is soon used for everything from picking stocks to planting bombs. If she tries to refuse, they threaten her with Annie's life.

Now Fia's falling in love with a boy who has dark secrets of his own. And with his help, she's ready to fight back. They stole her past. They control her present. But she won't let them take her future.

I think that this book might be misunderstood. There are a lot of books that center around a person at a school/academy/private institution and how that school turns out to be a horrible place where terrible things are done to people or the students are trained to do terrible things. This book might sound like it is one of those books from the synopsis but I have to say that it is better. It is reminiscent of those types of plots but I also believe that it blows them all away! 

Mind Games is the perfect title for this book because it seems like every single character is playing some sort of mind game. I loved it! It felt like a thriller and I love the darkness and psychological games that come with that type of genre. 

The main character, Fia, reminds me a lot of Katniss Everdeen and Black Widow combined. I loved her! She is tortured character but also processes so much strength and love despite what the Keane Institute has forced her to do. I appreciated the fact that the author didn't gloss over or sugarcoat the things that she had to do for the institute or how it changed her as a person. I enjoyed the character of Annie as well but I connected with Fia more. Annie was very naive even though she was the older of the two girls. I did grow to like her more as the book progressed though.

I thought that the plot was interesting and the pacing in the book was spot on. I felt like I was dumped right into the action and it kept coming up until the end of the book. My only issue with the book was that I still have some unanswered questions. I still don't really understand how the institute came to be or what Keane's end game is. I feel like some things could have been explained better regarding the plot but overall I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading the next one.