The Burn (The Burn Series Book 1) by Annie Oldham

  Before WWIII, the United States took away all freedom of speech and personal privacy in a dramatic attempt to eradicate terrorism.  They had watchers in every classroom, every home.  There was even a bill in congress for personal identification implants so the government could always track their citizens' movements.

 Sixteen-year-old Terra lives where someone would only read about in science fiction and fantasy novels.  She lives below the surface of the ocean, down in the depths on the very bottom.  It is a secluded colony with a controlled climate.  She lives in a bubble.  Before WWIII (the Event) started, many scientists got together and formed these colonies in the ocean to escape what would inevitably happen.  When the war broke out, those living in the colonies were safe.  One hundred years later, their existence was just a rumor.  And the colony wants it to stay that way.  People don't ever go to the surface, what they call The Burn.  It is said to be an awful, desolate, and lawless place.  But Terra isn't happy with living in the colony.  To her it feels like living in a prison.  She longs to get out and see what The Burn is.  Mostly, she just wants to escape the colony.  Unfortunately everything in the colony is controlled and monitored heavily.  Escaping is difficult and she must leave behind her loving sister and controlling father.  Her mother hadn't been seen in a very long time.  Terra blames her father for that because of the strange circumstances of her mother's departure.  With the help of one of her teachers and the mysterious Gaea, she leaves for what had been Washington at one time.  Now all of the states have been dissolved and it is just called New America.  And it is nothing like she thought it would be.

"...Politically.  New America is the most stable nation at the moment.  Though that's nothing to brag about, given the way they're enforcing stability.  Their citizens are required to live in designated cities.  Anyone found outside is incarcerated in a labor camp.  So many other nations broke out into civil war after the Event and war with each other as well.  I suppose the relative peace in New America is admirable, but I wouldn't ask its citizens about it...."

When Terra reaches Washington, things are chaotic.  The first thing she does is rescue a guy who was drowning.  But he doesn't know who rescued him and she follows him and his friends back to their settlement.  Dave, the guy she rescued, takes to her quickly and likes her.  She likes him too.  But there is Mary, who Dave has a serious history with.  Mary also doesn't trust her.  The more she gets to know the people within the settlement, the more she feels like a liar and feels like she is betraying her new friends by not telling them the truth of where she came from.  Then again, she can't really talk.  The sacrifice for her to come to The Burn was her tongue.  So the group at the settlement thinks she is from Arizona.  The longer she stays and participates, the more she wonders if she should have stayed at the colony.  Even if it did eat at her from the inside out.  Here on The Burn it sometimes comes down to kill or be killed.  People didn't hesitate to take whatever they wanted or needed from you and you had to stay on your guard almost constantly.  Staying alive meant hard work and going out for meds and supplies sometimes, which could be extremely dangerous.  Should Terra stay?  Could she survive here in this new reality?

I left the colony to find a place I belong.  Instead I find I am capable of unspeakable violence.

One can only see the similarities in what happened before WWIII with the limitation of freedoms and how things are today.  History does repeat itself at times.  And although Terra lived in a safe and very controlled environment, is it really worth giving up her freedom for feeling like you're in prison?  Can you trade your freedom for safety and comfort?  Even though most would that lived in these colonies, she wasn't one of those.  The chance to find out who she really was and where she really belonged had a much bigger pull on her than the safety and comfort of the colony.  But what she found changed her.  Things out on The Burn were harsh.  A reality she never expected that made her question her decision to come there.  Want to hear the whole story?  Go check out The Burn!!

Perception (Perception Trilogy Book 1) by Lee Strauss

 

 Imagine living in a utopian society.  A society where everything seemed absolutely perfect.  Everyone that resided there had blond hair and blue eyes.  They were all "perfect", and they were all GAPs: genetically altered persons.  A genetically altered person had the lifespan of at last two hundred years and had a great immune system.  They never got sick.  The walled cities that they lived in were immaculate and screamed of wealth.  Zoe Vanderveen was a GAP living in Sol City.  She was the typical GAP with the long blond hair and blue eyes.  Her grandfather had been one of two men that had come up with the gene mutations to create the genetically altered person.  And her grandfather was in a position of power.  While everything seems normal, it isn't.  Zoe's brother, Liam, disappears and she will do whatever it takes to find him.  In order to do so, she must go outside to employ the rebel Noah Brody for help.  Noah is also the son of the lady who helps clean Zoe's home.  They are not GAPs and do not look like them with their dark hair and eyes.  Their lifespan is normal and, unlike the GAPs, not all of them have chips inserted into their hands either.  Many people in this world do have chips.  It allows them to pay for things and can be a source of identification instead of carrying around cards that could be stolen.  Identity theft has been pretty much wiped out and few people take regular cash anymore.  Noah Brody is against everything that has to do with Zoe's world and what it represents.  With the social classes being so separated now, it creates tension, especially among the lower classes.  And Noah is the leader of the resistance.  While Noah agrees to help Zoe, he starts falling for her, even though she is who she is.  There are so many reasons why he shouldn't like her.  But he can't seem to help himself and Zoe gradually falls for him too.  But associating with outsiders can be dangerous and the answers to what Zoe seeks are not answers she will like.  It will be the beginning of something to change her world and possibly everyone else's as well.

"I'll never be what you are, Zoe.  What you need...."

Danger and confusion everywhere.  Loved the book!  I couldn't put it down and kept wondering if Noah and Zoe would work out because of their obvious differences.  And the secrets of her own family are the type of skeletons in the closet that, if they come out, can be very dangerous, especially for the one who holds the knowledge.  A suspicious Officer Grant.  A power playing grandfather.  Secret keeping parents.  Illegal activities.  A possessive boyfriend.  And a love that seems it can never be.  It has a little bit of everything!

Check out the next book in the series: Volition

*images via Lee Strauss
*quote via Lee Strauss

Make yourself a book nook!

I saw this amazing book nook someone had created and just had to share it!  I would love to have one like this!!  (image found on Facebook)

Clarice's Book Nook has now passed 10,000 page views!!!  Yay!!!  Thank you to all of my followers out there!!!

Masquerade (Heven and Hell Series Book 1) by Cambria Hebert

 One night when it was dark, Heven was attacked and mauled.  She ended up with permanent scars on one side of her face.  Ugly and large scars.  Obvious to everyone who saw her.  People stared at her, whispered behind their hands.  It changed her.  She had been the popular cheerleader with lots of friends and a social life.  Now she was a recluse.  She shied away from everyone and wore hoodies and her hair down so that it would cover her scars.  She was quiet.  And her social life was almost non-existent.  Her only friends being Cole and Kimber, who went to school with her.  Cole and Kimber were dating and had been for quite a while now, even though they had the occasional breakup.
   Then a new guy shows up.  Sam.  He is tall and super handsome.  It seems to Heven that he is interested in Kimber, who was bent on giving Cole a hard time while they were broken up by making him insanely jealous.  And it works.  They get back together and it becomes very apparent that Sam is more into Heven.  He tells her she is beautiful.  And he is the only one who has ever touched her scars.  It takes Heven a while to really start believing that Sam actually likes her, and wants to be with her.  All the while, he is also trying to keep her from being the victim of another attack.  What she doesn't know is that Sam knows exactly what happened, even though Heven can't remember.
   Sam and Heven are on a tough road.  Through a series of attacks, Heven realizes just how much her life is in danger.  And Sam has a confession to make.  He is a hell hound.  And Heven was attacked by a hell hound.  Sam unknowingly drew attention to Heven by being so interested in her before they ever met.  He accidentally saw her one day and was charmed, pulled in by her.  And because of that, China, the "leader" of their little group of hell hounds attacked Heven.  And she intends on finishing the job.


   The story line in Masquerade is a rather unique one to me.  I have not read too many books that involved hell hounds, especially ones that morph into humans and fall in love.  But Sam and Heven do fall in love.  He always feels like he is undeserving of her love and she feels like she isn't good enough for him because she is so scarred.  But what is truly going on is the fact that she is holding herself back.  Once she starts opening up again, people flock back to her, glad to have her back to "normal".  This creates some tension and jealousy between Heven and Kimber.  It makes Heven start questioning their friendship, but that story must be continued in the next book because it is not completely played out in this one.  There are bigger things going on in this first book.  Like how Sam is appointed Heven's guardian when they find out that she is a Supernatural Treasure and will be in quite a bit of danger.  The two of them together could turn the tide of whether good or evil will reign on Earth.  It is a big responsibility and I cannot wait to see more in the next book!!

*images via Cambria Herbert

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

   Sky Davis is about to be in her last year of high school.  For the first time she will be going to a public

school for her senior year.  Her mom, Karen, insisted on homeschooling her until this year.  Sky has lived a very sheltered, but good, life.  She was home schooled, her mom is against electronics (so she has no phone or television), and her best friend(Six) lives next door.  Six, however, goes to public school and has a reputation with the guys.  And although it has spilled over onto Sky (guilty by association) Sky is nothing like Six when it comes to boys.  She feels nothing when a guy touches her.  It's like everything shuts down.  And for some reason she likes that fact.  But she and Six sometimes wonder why.  Six thinks she might be broken.  Then Sky meets Dean Holder.  He is a dangerous guy according to the rumors circulating about him.  He has a temper that gets out of hand at times.  But the worst thing?  He is the only guy that Sky has ever felt anything for.  She is physically attracted to him and starts to like him too.  At first Holder is very enigmatic.  It seems like he has several sides to him, a regular Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  One minute he's happy, the next a storm is brewing.  Sky has no idea how to take it, until they decide to tentatively date.  But that is soon disrupted when she wears a bracelet to school that was from her past.  She doesn't remember anything from before she was adopted by Karen 13 years ago.  But Holder knows some things about her past that Sky doesn't remember.  Things that could cause her an endless amount of pain and confusion.  Although he doesn't want her hurting like that, he ends up having to explain that he knew her before she was adopted.  And Sky was best friends with him and his now deceased sister, Lesslie.  Things only get more complicated for Sky, who might not even really be Sky.  All Holder can do is be there for her, no matter what decisions she has to make.

The real reason I enjoy making out with guys is simply because it makes me feel completely and comfortably numb.

As soon as I lay eyes on him, I immediately notice three things:

1) His amazingly perfect white teeth hidden behind that seductively crooked grin.

2) The dimples that form in the crevices between the corners of his lips and cheeks when he smiles.

3) I'm pretty sure I'm having a hot flash.  Or I have butterflies.  Or maybe I'm coming down with a stomach virus.

 Dean Holder feels like he lost Sky so many years ago.  Although his guilt is still there, it is unfounded.  And then he loses his twin sister.  Her death is also a burden to him.  Holder feels like he should have seen something was wrong with his sister, some indication that she would take her own life.  But most of all, he is angry with Lesslie.  For being selfish and leaving just like Sky did.  When he meets Sky so many years later, he isn't even sure that it's her until he sees the bracelet.  It solidifies that this was definitely the girl he had been looking for all this time.  And she was with him.  Unfortunately he just pushes her away for a while, unsure of how to handle everything that is going on, because obviously she doesn't remember anything.  And when she does, it's nothing that even he is prepared for.

*quotes via Colleen Hoover

*image via Colleen Hoover

An Unexpected Hunger by C. Rosa (review)

Character Introduction:
Alexa:  Coming back home from California.  Lifelong dream of being a chef and owning her dad's old restaurant one day.  Left her job as a chef in California because she slept with her boss and his wife found out.  Now she just wants to get away from it all and start over.

Drew:  Alexa's brother who drinks too much and it has caused him some problems at college.  Is currently with Mia, a bartender at The Mug.

Ricky:  Owner of The Mug, Mia's brother, and an old friend from high school to Alexa.  Constantly fights with his dad over money.  It's the only time he ever shows up or calls.  Is a ladies man.  Not one Alexa should get involved with.  Too unpredictable.

Mia:  Sister to Ricky, friend of Alexa's.

Ethan:  A guy Ricky and Alexa went to school with in junior high.  Has an interest in Alexa.  Headed to law school.  Definitely the type Alexa's mother would want her with.

Danny:  The boss that Alexa slept with.  Even though she left to start over again, he just keeps popping into the picture at the worst times.  He can't seem to let Alexa go.  Stalkerish and now separated from his wife.


   I have never read a novel where a relationship was more complicated than this one.  Ricky and Alexa have had a crush on each other for several years.  The only thing is that neither of them knew that fact about the

other.  And Ricky is quite the ladies man.  He can have any woman he wants and he acts like it.  Alexa is the only one who seems mostly immune from his charms.  She is not the type to be swooning at his feet and begging him to take her home.  In fact, it disgusts her how other women act around Ricky.  The two of them dance around each other for a while, not really making a move.  But when Ricky starts trying to get close, Alexa backs away.  She doesn't need to get involved with a guy like him.  It would just be another heartbreak for her.  The only thing is he wants a chance.  And he asks her for it.  But their relationship is a tumultuous one at best.  She has some severe trust issues and Ricky can be very hot and cold.  His mood swings come at break neck speed.  All the while Alexa is trying to make it work with Ricky, she is somewhat babysitting Drew so he doesn't get into anymore trouble, Ethan shows up into the picture wanting some time with Alexa, and Danny won't quit calling.  It's a lot to handle, possibly too much for her and one day Danny shows up at her mom's house.  To me it would be a huge stalker move, but she tolerates it.  In fact, he tells her of a job opening back in California.  With how things are between her and Ricky, she considers taking it.  It could be her only chance.  But moving back there would change her life, again.  Will Ricky and Alexa make it out of this together?  Or will everything tear them apart for good?

*this post is sponsored by Grammarly

*image via C. Rosa