Review: Die For Me by Amy Plum

Synopsis: In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

In this incandescent debut, newcomer Amy Plum has created a powerful paranormal mythology with immortal revenants. The Paris setting comes enchantingly alive as a relentless struggle between good and evil takes place in its streets. Rich with romance, atmosphere, and thrills, Die for Me will leave readers breathlessly awaiting its sequel.

Die For Me is refreshing, charming, and will make you want Vincent just as much as Kate does. The revenants that Plum invented are new to the YA scene and that was the first thing to entice me into reading this book. The Paris setting is crisp in detail but because I have never been I could only imagine the scenery that was portrayed in the book. Kate is a girl that has lost both of her parents in a tragic accident that changed her life forever. Living with her sister and grandparents in Paris has done nothing to change the fact that she is miserable and sliding deeper all the time into a dark hole of despair. That is, until she meets Vincent, the charming, handsome and mysterious boy that seems to bump into her everywhere.

I really liked being in Kate's head. I found that right from the very first page I liked her point of view and description of the world around her. I could follow her through almost any story and enjoy every word. I found the attraction that she felt towards Vincent and vise-versa very rushed and too strong too fast. It had a very our-eyes-met-from-across-the-room sort of feel to it. I felt that the rest of the storyline progressed well and I found it easy to follow the action of the story.

There are many different aspects of the story that will make readers interested in Kate and Vincent. Vincent's approach to wooing Kate is both adorable and a little bit creepy. That being said, as much as his spying on Kate may have pushed me away a bit, he is incredibly polite, well-meaning, and protective of her. I would think that many fans of The Twilight Saga would love this book because Vincent is very much like Edward Cullen but he equally has his own personality. Vincent has chivalry down to a science and makes Kate, and readers, wait impatiently for him in his absence. Overall, a good read for people of all ages.

Review: Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready

Synopsis: AURA'S LIFE IS ANYTHING BUT EASY. Her boyfriend, Logan, died, and his slides between ghost and shade have left her reeling. Aura knows he needs her now more than ever. She loves Logan, but she can't deny her connection with the totally supportive, totally gorgeous Zachary. And she's not sure that she wants to.

Logan and Zachary will fight to be by her side, but Aura needs them both to uncover the mystery of her past--the mystery of the Shift.

As Aura's search uncovers new truths, she must decide whom to trust with her secrets...and her heart.

First thing I would like to say would be OH MY GOODNESS! I really like Shade, book one of the Shade trilogy, but this book exceeded my highest hopes for book two. Oh Zachary, totally sexy, tall, dark and accent! I love Zachary. Anyone who knows me has heard my undying love confessions for Edward Cullen, but I would gladly give him to the next girl in line for Zachary.

Aura has been mourning Logan's Shade since his concert the night he was supposed to pass on. She put her life on hold and tried every night since then to get him to return to the world as a ghost. Finally, at the beginning of the book, she finds herself face to face with Logan as a shade. Not only does he change from a ghost to a shade, but he also becomes solid again. Aura and Logan cannot think of anything except their unfinished business on the night of his birthday, the night they were supposed to make love for the first time. But to both their disappointment, Logan loses his solid form after about fifteen minutes. When she tells Zachary about what happened, on the same night that he asks her to prom, he can't believe that after all of this time of patiently waiting for her to move on that she would attempt to be with Logan again, and he withdraws his invitation.

Aura spends a lot of time in this book understanding how it is she feels about Zachary and Logan. This book is a much sexier story than the first because Aura can't seem to control her urges. Aura finds herself stuck in the middle once again. At the same time that Aura is going through all her troubles over the boys in her life, she is faced with a new discovery about her past and the secrets that may have created the Shift, and her involvement in it. Worse, someone has been watching her and may know more about Aura than she would like. This book is absolutely amazing and the romance in it is breathtaking. The mystery of the Shift and all the clues that Aura, Zachary, and Logan are given are well thought out and make you want the third book, Shine, to fall into your lap at the end. This will be another of Smith-Ready's books that I will add to my list of favorites.

Review of Clarity by Kim Harrington

Synopsis: When you can see things others can't, where do you look for the truth?

 
This paranormal murder mystery will have teens reading on the edge of their seats.
 
Clarity "Clare" Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch a certain object, and the visions come to her. It's a gift.

 
And a curse.


When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare's ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case--but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare's brother--who has supernatural gifts of his own--becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most?

I can honestly tell you that I read this book in a few hours only because I could not put it down. I started it thinking I'd read a chapter or two and wait until after I finished my school work for the day and then finish it. My mind screamed for more every time I tried to stop reading.

Clarity, Clare, and her family are blessed with gifts. Clare has the gift of visions, she can see people's perspective of specific moments when touching objects they have touched. Her brother Perry is a medium who can speak to the lingering dead and her mother is a telepath capable of knowing every lie she tells by reading her mind. They live in a tourist town in Cape Cod and most of the townies think they're freaks. Then, the town hires a new detective and everyone is talking about him and his son.. until a girl is murdered.

Clare's brother confesses to her that he was with the girl that night and becomes a prime suspect for murder, which in turn makes her want to work harder to protect him and find the real killer. There are many times where even Clare doubts her brother in this book. Clare works on the case with the detective's son, the hot and mysterious Gabriel Toscano, and her ex-boyfriend Justin. Clare is an easy character to like. She's sassy and entertaining. I did find at the beginning I had trouble connecting with her but after two or three chapters I enjoyed her point of view a lot. There is constant suspense and almost every chapter ends on a cliffhanger making you want to continue onto the next page.

This book is fast paced and will make you want more. Even after I finished I hadn't had enough. I'm really excited to read the book's sequel and cannot wait. There are many boys in this book that will make you swoon and my favorite was Perry. If you are heading to a bookstore soon, you should pick up this book, especially if you like a good mystery.

Review: I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Synopsis: Nine of us came here. We look like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books--but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. We have lived among you with you knowing.

But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They Killed them all.

I am Number Four.

I am next.

Review: I Am Number Four is a great story. John Smith, a.k.a. Four, has been running for as long as he can remember. He is from the planet Lorien, a planet that is much more advanced than earth. This planet had already gone through their destructive behaviors and started to kill their planet. They reversed this process and were given powers, or Legacies, as a way to take care of their planet. When their planet was invaded by the Mogadorians, another race from another planet that have ruined their own planet. They destroyed all of Lorien and their people-except nine Garde, those with Legacies, and their Cepan, their protectors. They were sent to live on Earth, the closest life-sustaining planet, to hide from their invaders, and save their race.

John is finally coming into his Legacies at age fifteen and can now fight back. He has never had a need to fight before he moved to Paradise, Ohio. He finally has his first friend, Sam, and his first girlfriend, Sarah. Everything he has ever wanted, including feeling normal for the first time, will not last long because the hunt is already under way. Because the Garde can only be killed in order of their numbers, John is next. The first three have been killed by the Mogadorians and they are looking for John next. John's struggle is mostly with himself in this book. He tries to live a normal life while at the same time trying to develop some sort of defense to protect himself and his Cepan, Henri. Overall a great story that will make you want to read the next in series, The Power of Six, to be released August 23.