I love getting the first copies of my books! Today I got the first printed edition of Twisted Currents, which looks amazing with its vibrant cover. I arrived home to this box, and was stoked to open it. It didn’t let me down. Next step, dropping copies at the book store.
JEH
If you read the news, then you probably know that everyone is fretting about the impending destruction of the earth. There’s the recent Brexit vote, Donald Trump’s win, the never-ending war in Syria, Terrorism. If you’re a Doom Thinker, then you probably like dystopian novels. I’ve read my fair share of Young Adult end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it books, so here’s my round-up of my favorites, and a few selections that I hope to fit into my reading schedule in the near future.
I’m sure I’ve written before about my love for Monica Hughes. In my teen years, I read everything by her that I could get my hands on, but Inivtation to the Game remained my favorite book. It’s about a group of teens invited to play a virtual reality game to escape their horrible lives in a world where there are no jobs, and no money. Only the game isn’t everything it seems. It’s a quick, easy read, but well worth it.
2. The Hunger Games (series) by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games is near the top of almost every book list I make. I love this series, book or movies. If you haven’t heard of The Hunger Games, then you must have spent the past five years living in the middle of the ocean with no connection to the modern world. If you’ve heard about the books but haven’t read them yet, then pick them up. Suzanne Collins has beautiful writing that you don’t want to miss out on.
3. The Selection (series) by Kiera Cass
This pick might be highly controversial to some, as The Selection series is primarily romance versus dystopian. I was surprised by how much I liked this series, and in truth, I enjoyed it more for the romance aspects than the dystopian ones, but I still think The Selection series is a great read.
4. The Maze Runner (series) by James Dashner
The world as we know it has been destroyed by disease and teens have been stuck in some kind of weird maze. Yeah. You’ve probably heard of this series or watched the movies. The Maze Runner is a great action book, and makes me think a lot about scientific experimentation, the truth about disease, and what’s really real.
5. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
I read this amazing piece of Young Adult fiction and award winner a few years ago, and have yet to post a back dated review for it. But I really enjoyed the story, and when I finished it, I went looking for a second book, which at the time there wasn’t one. There is now, and Drowned Cities is another book on my Want to Read List. Ship Breaker follows Nailer, a young boy who has to scavange for valuable parts on old ships to get by in a world ruined by the melting of the polar ice caps.
6. Undertow by Michael Buckley
This book is a bit different than the rest on the list, because the dystopian-ness is caused by the rise of sea creatures from the ocean floor (not a virus, corruption, or a collapse in government). But I have a weakness for all things ocean, and I loved the main character, Lyric, and the grimy, gritty feel of this story.
7. Divergent (series) by Veronica Roth
I know that a lot of lists ove this book at the top, and while I liked, I didn’t find the world as convincing as some of those above, but I still loved the series. The movies are pretty good too, even if they are up in the air regarding whether or not the last movie will go to television or theaters, and whether Shailene Woodley will actually be in the show (you can read more about this here).
This series, like The Selection, is more romance driven than dystopian focused. However, the characters were strong and the mystery keep one reading. If you haven’t read this series yet, and you’ve read everything else on my list, you might as well try this one.
9. Pretties (series) by Scott Westerfeld
If there’s one thing I was obsessed with in this book, it was the hover-boards. I still want one to this day. This dystopian series primarily deals with a world obsessed with looks and social media. If you feel this kind of pressure, then you’ll probably relate to the main character, who realizes that maybe a perfect looking world, isn’t so perfect underneath.
The following are books I haven’t read yet, but that are on my Want To Read list. Legend has been sitting on my ereader for four years. There just isn’t enough time in the world for books!
10. The 5th Wave (series)
Aliens and the end of the world. Yes Please!
11. Legend by Marie Lu
I’ve heard such good things about this book, and like I mentioned above, it’s been waiting to be read for four years! That’s probably the longest of any book on my To Be Read shelf. Poor book! Hopefully I’ll find time for you soon!
12. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
I love Cinderella. I fear for a sad, dystopian future. I’m sure I’ll love this series when I get around to reading it.
JEH
I posted a while back about reading Hexed, which I loved. I moved onto Charmed right away. I finished a few days back, though I was hoping to finish sooner but being sick and busy and going back to working 80% hours at my regular job didn’t equate to a quick read.
Charmed
Charmed was a fast paced as Hexed, and brought me deeper into the Witch Hunter’s world. Indigo was smart and sassy, and most of the time she didn’t rely on boys to save her (that is one of my pet peeves about some heroines). Indigo learns more about her magic in book two, and the stakes are just as high. If you love witchy books about teens, then pick up this book, you’ll love it.
4.5/5 Stars
JEH
Twisted Currents is finally here! I do not have the physical copies yet, but the ebook is up on the Kindle store now.
You can also order physical copies on the CreateSpace store, this is a great option if you don’t live in Saskatoon and want to order yourself or someone you love a whole bunch of books. You can find the entire series here.
So, now that I’m done writing the Black Depths Series, I can get back to focusing on NaNoWriMo, which I’m terribly behind on. Hopefully I can catch up within the next week. This year, I’m working on a piece of literary fiction, but don’t worry, I have some other YA drafts I’m looking at polishing and self-publishing in the near-ish future.
For now, go out, read, enjoy!
JEH
It’s finally here! I was hoping to launch the book prior to getting into NaNoWriMo, but I’m still waiting on the editor (which is my fault as I was slow in getting the book to them). But the cover is here and ready to go. It’s amazing! I would like to say a big thanks to the artist, Leah Keeler, whom you can find over on Deviant Art. This is my favourite cover so far and speaks of what’s to come! The book will be here very soon….
JEH
I picked this book up for my e-reader a month ago, and I have to say, I wasn’t disappointed. Hexed was the perfect read for pre-Halloween. Hexed is a classic “Teenaged girl discovers she’s a witch, story,” but the voice of the main character, Indigo, is unique and easy to fall in love with. Indigo’s more than a little bit self-centred and naive at the beginning of the book, but I love the progression and growth of a character who learns some hard lessons.
Hexed
Once I finished Hexed, I picked up the sequel, Charmed, right away. It’s that good.
5/5 Stars.
JEH
Well, we’re back into fine weather here, and I’ve had a great week of meeting my writing goals. What’s really helped this week is that I’m pushing to finish rewrites to get Black Depths #5 out the door by Halloween (cover art and editing dependant). Here’s a look at the numbers for the past week:
It looks fantastic, and as you can see, I’m well over my goal, so I’m thinking I might allow myself a mini-break once I finish this draft. Although, there is a short story I’m trying to finish up in order to enter it into the CBC Short Story Literary Awards Contest, and there is the fact that the point of this exercise is to write 1,000 WORDS A DAY FOR A WHOLE YEAR.
Yeah, that’s a lot tougher than it sounds. Speed wise, I can type out a thousand words in under half an hour. What’s tough is coming up with motivation. Take today for instance, I’m extremely tired because one of my little kittens did not let me sleep last night. All I want to do is nap but I pushed through anyway, and I’m even writing this blog post, though I was pretty sure I WASN’T going to do it. I think that means the writing has finally made it into my blood. It’s finally more habit and chore and hopefully from here things just get easier. I am looking forward to dropping back down to 1K a day though soon, once my currently project, Twisted Currents, is wrapped up. Self-publishing is never easy, but I’m pretty sure it’s most difficult as self-imposed deadlines approach.
Ah well, I’m sensing a celebration coming down the pipe… Probably in the form of cake, tea, and books…
JEH
This post is a Young Adult Book Review. I only review books I’ve chosen to read, and am not compensated in any way.
Switched by Amanda Hocking is one of those books I’ve had on my shelf forever. It was, in fact, my bathroom book for the past five or so months. Does anyone else do bathroom books? You know, the book you leave in the loo just in case you need to sit in there for a while? Well, I do. But I pulled it last week because I wanted to read the second half all at once because I couldn’t wait anymore.
I’m pretty sure by now that everyone has heard of Amanda Hocking—well, everyone in the self-publishing world anyway. She’s one of the biggest self-publishing success stories, and I, for one, would love to find that kind of success, though unfortunately, my books have been nowhere near as popular as her’s.
Switched (A Trylle Novel)
3.5/5 Stars
JEH
Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all my readers out there. I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for reading my blog and following along with me on my many journeys. I appreciate each and every like and follow I received. Whether you be in Canada, the USA or far beyond the waters, I hope everyone has a great weekend and finds sometime to give thanks and spend time with loved ones.
This weekend I’m hoping to get a bit of reading done. Reading the entire Reckoners Series by Brandon Sanderson is how I dream of spending my weekend, but between all the visiting with family and turkey and cupcake and pie eating, I will probably only get through a few pages.
I will be away from the blog for a couple days for the holiday, but will be back next week to blog away. Hopefully, by the time I return, all the snow will be gone and we can get back to autumn! But still, I could resist one last gorgeous winter picture.
JEH
Okay, same old blurb here: If you haven’t read any of the Throne of Glass series, you’ll probably want to skip this post. If you have read TOG, but haven’t had time to finish Empire of Storms yet, read this at your own discretion. I try not to be too spoiler-y, but sometimes a little bit of information you don’t want to know might just leak out.
I’m going to start by saying that the more I read of Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass world, the more my relationship with it becomes love-hate. I love the world, I love the fast-pace action and the surprising characters and the relationships, and how—thanks to Maas’s rather different writing style—there are constant surprises. But there are a few things I’m beginning to hate. Like who Aelin is with… But, I guess not everyone falls in love with the same person. Right?
I don’t think this is the strongest book in the TOG world. My favourite is still Crown of Midnight. What I didn’t like so much about Empire of Storms is that I felt like Aelin is getting away with way too much. I mean, if I knew someone who talked back that much to almost absolutely everyone around her, I don’t know if I would really want to be her friend. And it makes me wonder if that’s why, as the books go on, there are less and less Aelin scenes.
For a few books now, my favourite character has been Manon, who is more evil by nature, so maybe she can get away with more because she isn’t supposed to be this kind of holier-than-thou character, which I feel Aelin is. The good thing is that Aelin’s attitude is kind of pointed out. Like people know Aelin is a bit… much. But like I said, it’s a love hate. I love how strong Aelin is, I love that she likes to do everything on her own. I think Sarah J. Maas’s world is so engrossing partly because of this. I think few writers can pull heartstrings like she does and keep you coming back for more (instead of slamming the book shut in disgust and refusing to read on).
I also didn’t really like all the extra S-E-X scenes in this book. I also felt it was a bit much, plus it broke with the style of the previous four books. I don’t think it was needed. TOG already has a huge fan base. I don’t think the style change was necessary, and it did not need to be that descriptive, especially for something shelved as Teen. I mean, when will Amazon and the brick-and-mortor stores put together those New Adult categories already?
But, even with all the bits I didn’t like, I will read on. I need to know what happens. I’m just not sure I’m going to agree with it.
4/5 Stars
JEH
J. E. H U N T E R 