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Brief synopsis (no spoilers) Ethan Burke is a Secret Service Agent, wandering around Wayward Pines, Idaho, trying to find 2 missing Special Agents. A fourth Special Agent, assigned with Burke, was killed before the story even started. The town is idyllic, but there's something "off" about it. Same with Burke- he seems like a genuine "nice guy", but there's something a bit "off" about him, too. Category Mystery Why I chose this book Kindle First My personal opinion (the review) The first 29% of the book only had 1 or two bad words, but at 30% there was a huge rash of them, and I was done. The book seemed really interesting- the plot was crazy confusing, so I was looking forward to pieces and parts coming together later in the book. The vulgarity was just plain unnecessary. Could have been a great novel, but you had to ruin it, Crouch. Warnings Language: Not frequent, but harsh Violence: None (up to 30%) "Adult" situations: Non...

Brief synopsis : This is the prequel to the Lunar Chronicles series; the backstory of Queen Levana. Category : YA fiction, sci-fi, fantasy Why I chose this book : Prequel in series My personal opinion  (the review): For a prequel, this was good. I thought I might have a bit more compassion for Levana, after reading her story, but that is not the case at all. She's exactly as terrible as she was portrayed in the previous books. This was a good, quick read. Probably not going to buy it, but it was worth the time reading. Warnings Language: None Violence: Fairly frequent, but mild “Adult” situations: Frequently mentioned, but not in detail. If you don't want to have "that discussion" with your kid, hold off. Death: Several, including major character(s) Movie rating equivalent : PG-17 Protagonist description : Levana is the younger sister of Queen Channary. She's delusional, unstable, and emotionally scarred. Point of view of story : Third,...

Brief synopsis : Winter is the step-daughter of Queen Levana, and suffers from Lunar sickness- a disease that affects Lunars that choose not to use their “gift” of mind-control, on others. The Lunar people adore her, but Levana resents her beauty. Cinder continues to work on organizing a revolt, to overthrow Levana. Scarlet, Wolf, Thorne, Cress, and Iko continue to help her. Kai is in the agonizing position of being both sympathetic to Cinder’s cause and determined to save his people, sacrificing anything necessary. Category : YA fiction, sci-fi, fantasy Why I chose this book : Next in series My personal opinion  (the review): If you prefer stories with happy endings, this one won’t disappoint. Not every part of the story is happy (see the warnings below), but if I overgeneralize, I would say the ending is happy. I don’t consider that a spoiler because, after all, the story is based on a fairy tale. Warnings Language: None Violence: Fairly frequent, but mild ...

Brief synopsis (no spoilers) What if this life is just a simulation? What if our bodies are in another world, plugged into a virtual reality game, and our entire life is just one play in that game? What would our real life be like, if we could experience several full simulated lifespans, in our teen years, and then enter adulthood? That is the premise of this story. Category Sci-Fi Why I chose this book It was either free or discounted on Amazon, and sounded interesting My personal opinion (the review) Too many inconsistencies. For example: The real world is able to view the players in the game in "real time", but time in the game is sped up, so that a week in real life is worth a decade in the virtual world. How do real world people have enough time to experience the virtual world, in real time, while still being accelerated? Danielle enters the game 3 days behind Trew, but she only ends up being 1 year younger. If a week is a decade in the game, then 3 days should have be...

Brief synopsis : Cress, short for Crescent Moon, is a prisoner on a satellite. She's a special hacker for Queen Levana’s right-hand woman, and she’s secretly in love with Captain Thorne. Scarlet and Wolf are on Cinder’s side, but certainly aren’t getting their “happily ever after” anytime soon. Iko, Cinder’s android helper, remains loyal, despite having to work as the crew’s ship controller. Dr. Erland is still looking for a cure to letumosis, and something else- not sure what, yet. And poor Emperor Kai is still stuck with Queen Levana. Category : YA fiction, sci-fi, fantasy Why I chose this book : Next in series My personal opinion (the review): Sometimes series books are somewhat self-contained. They have a beginning and an end, and they naturally lead from one to the next in subtle ways. I like those. This one left us with a total cliffhanger- drat! But I’m loving the series, this book did not disappoint, and I’m going to stick with it. Excellent, clean drama, with a good mixtu...

Brief synopsis (no spoilers):  Being sent away from her home by an otherwise occupied father, Alanna doesn't want to go to the convent to become a lady and her brother Thom doesn't want to become a knight. So they decide to switch places and Alanna, pretending to be a boy, heads to the palace to begin her training as a page while Thom goes to study sorcery at the convent. It is a difficult world physically, mentally, and emotionally as Alanna must learn to fit in at the palace. Category: YA Why I chose this book: Read a few books from the same author when I was younger My personal opinion (the review): I was hoping for more from this book. It was good and I will continue with the series, but it just seemed to leave something to be desired. For one, there was more magic/fantasy elements than I expected. Also, we don't get to see a lot of the behind the scenes struggle. Alanna struggles with sword combat. We are told she practices her skills after everyone else goes to...

Brief synopsis (no spoilers) Two stories, running simultaneous. Cinder was captured by Kai's soldiers, and is scheduled to be handed off to Queen Levana's forces. But there's no way that's going to happen (fairy tale, come on). Meanwhile, in Europe, a young woman named Scarlet was living with her grandmother on their farm, when her grandmother disappeared. 3 weeks later, grandma still hasn't resurfaced, and Scarlet will need help to find her- possibly from a big, bad wolf. Category YA Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi Why I chose this book Next in series My personal opinion (the review) Excellent book, but not as good as the first (sequels rarely are). I really enjoyed the Scarlet story, and how it melded beautifully with Cinder's story. And I appreciate the sci-fi feel to it. But there's MUCH more fighting in this one, and it gets pretty graphic. My wife would love the first book, but she would cringe at this one, about a dozen times. The roma...