SHATTERED DREAMS by Ellie James

Sixteen-year-old Trinity Monsour wants nothing more than to live a normal life. But that isn’t as easy as it seems. Trinity is different. She is special. She sees visions, and for those she’s seen, it’s already too late.

Trinity arrives on her aunt’s doorstep in New Orleans with virtually no knowledge of her mysterious heritage. She begins settling into life at a new school and even starts making friends. But all too quickly her dreams accelerate; twisted, terrifying visions of a girl locked in a dark room. And when the head cheerleader, Jessica, goes missing, Trinity knows she has no choice but to step forward with what she’s seen.

But people believe that Trinity has information about Jessica’s disappearance not because of a dream, but because she is involved. She is kind-of dating Jessica’s ex-boyfriend, Chase, and Jessica did pull a nasty prank on Trinity. Revenge seems like the likeliest scenario.

Nothing prepares Trinity for the dark odyssey that ensues while searching for Jessica, including the surprising romance she finds with Chase, or the shocking truths she learns, not just about the girl who has gone missing, but the past that has been hidden from her.

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I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley.

There is so much to love about SHATTERED DREAMS. First, the setting: New Orleans is so vivid in this story, you can practically smell it. And I was fascinated by the post-Katrina images the author gave us. I also loved the concept of a girl who sees visions of people's deaths before they die. Others have complained that this idea is not original.

Most ideas are not original. Find me a completely original plot ANYWHERE, and I'll buy you a Coke.

I enjoyed the author's take on this concept of foresight. It occurs in a teen girl, Trinity, who has always been told that her gift is a curse--and that's on the rare occasion she's told anything at all. Her grandmother, who has recently died, never told her anything about her parents. Not even how they died. She refused to discuss Trinity's visions and treated her ability as something dangerous rather than something to be explored.

Now, there were a few things I didn't completely adore. The dialogue didn't always seem "teen" to me; Chase, the love interest, was not attractive to me; a few scenes were a bit too unbelievable and I just didn't buy them. Also I would prefer a bit more punch at the end--it fell a little flat for me.

BUT. Overall, I really enjoyed the story. I looked forward to reading it every night and was excited to see how it would end. I do think a lot of people would enjoy this book; I know I did. It's a fascinating story and a quick, fun, mysterious read.

This book releases in December!

HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire

One hour to rewrite the past . . .

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.

Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

My Take

I just sat here for a solid five minutes trying to think of how to start this review. I’m pretty sure that has never happened before.

Here’s the thing: When I started this book, I had really, REALLY high hopes. I’d heard SUCH great things about it and I saw Myra at DBF this year, and she is ADORABLE, and I just could not wait to get my hands on her book.

The premise is amazing. It’s a whole new spin on time travel: instead of the person going back in time (which does happen but is not the core of the story), people/things from the past come to her. It’s a great idea, and I loved watching the MC, Emerson, analyze people’s clothes to determine if they were real, or if they were a “rip” (time ripple).

I didn’t immediately click with Emerson, but by the end of the book, I liked her. I’m still struggling to identify with Michael; I just never got a clear picture of him. My favorite character was Kaleb, who’s peripheral, although important.

BUT: The dialogue is funny, the writing is good, and I would recommend this book to others. If you’re looking for something new to read and you enjoy teen fiction, this is a great choice!

THE BLACKHOPE ENIGMA by Teresa Flavin

For centuries, Blackhope Tower has been shrouded in intrigue, centered around a labyrinth and a painting in the Mariner's Chamber.

When fourteen-year-old Sunni Forrest visits the tower and sees her stepbrother Dean disappear, seemingly into the painting itself, she must find him and risk being drawn into the heart of the Blackhope Enigma.

The Afterglow

LOVED this one! Not only do people live inside the painting; there are layers of worlds, in which the inhabitants are unaware of how much time has passed outside the painting. Arcadia--the "main"world, I guess you could say--is too perfect to ever leave.

I loved the idea of Arcadia; how it seems so perfect on the surface, but once you dig a little deeper, you find some darkness lurking in the corners . . . wonderfully creepy!

This book releases August 9--just a few days away!

TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES by Denise Grover Swank

“It all started when I saw myself dead.”

For Rose Gardner, working at the DMV on a Friday afternoon is bad even before she sees a vision of herself dead. She’s had plenty of visions, usually boring ones like someone’s toilet’s overflowed, but she’s never seen one of herself before. When her overbearing momma winds up murdered on her sofa instead, two things are certain: There isn’t enough hydrogen peroxide in the state of Arkansas to get that stain out, and Rose is the prime suspect.

Rose realizes she’s wasted twenty-four years of living and makes a list on the back of a Wal-Mart receipt: twenty-eight things she wants to accomplish before her vision comes true. She’s well on her way with the help of her next door neighbor Joe, who has no trouble teaching Rose the rules of drinking, but won’t help with number fifteen– do more with a man. Joe’s new to town, but it doesn’t take a vision for Rose to realize he’s got plenty secrets of his own.

Somebody thinks Rose has something they want and they’ll do anything to get it. Her house is broken into, someone else she knows is murdered, and suddenly, dying a virgin in the Fenton County jail isn’t her biggest worry after all.

The Afterglow

My first thought when I finished this book was, "I'm glad it says "A Rose Gardner Mystery" on the front, because that makes me think there might be more!"

Denise Grover Swank has really set the standard high for herself with her debut novel! I was hooked right from the beginning; who wouldn't be? Seeing a vision of yourself dead is enough to get anyone's attention. But Swank didn't stop there. The action picked up quickly and never slowed down. I found myself reading at the weirdest times, like while I washed dishes or folded laundry.

One of my favorite things was how down-to-earth the main character, Rose, is. She seems like someone I could just call up and hang out with. But at the same time, she has quite a unique past, and it plays an intriguing part in the story.

A fabulous debut, and I hope to see more from this author!

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to wake on a new planet, three hundred years in the future.

Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into a brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone--one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship--tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

The Afterglow

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

Y'all, it took me entirely too long to pick this one up. I had a baby, and then I kinda forgot about all these awesome books I meant to read.

I finished ATU in a couple days. If life hadn't gotten in the way, I would have finished it in a few hours.

IT IS THAT GOOD.

The characters are just so tangible. There wasn't a character Revis didn't flesh out or that felt flat to me. And the tension! Trying to close this book was so hard, it might as well have been superglued to my hands.

If you haven't read it, I recommend you do so immediately. Love, love, love.

EDGES by Lena Roy

EDGES is a beautifully written Young Adult novel with themes that will hit home with every reader.

Luke is a teenage boy whose father has spiraled into alcoholism after the death of Luke's mother. Unable to tolerate the drinking, ranting, vomiting, and general ugliness of it any more, Luke relocates from New York City to Moab, Utah to work at a youth hostel there.

Ava is a recovering alcoholic at only nineteen years of age. Though her parents are kind people, the relationship between Ava and her mom and dad is strained at best. Now that her parents have left town to seek their own adventure out west, Ava must not only support herself, she must also defeat her addiction.

With a touch of magic woven into a tale of brokenness and redemption, EDGES is one that will leave you feeling full of hope.

Like the sound of it? You can enter to win a signed copy here!

MATCHED by Ally Condie

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow - between perfection and passion.

The Afterglow

When I finished this book, I almost went back to page one so I could read the whole thing again.

Beautifully written, MATCHED reminded me of THE GIVER meets THE HUNGER GAMES.

The plot, which centers around a wannabe-Utopian Society that controls its inhabitants every move, has its obvious echoes of THE GIVER (actually, I think this may have been a point of contention with some readers, but I did not feel like it was a rip-off or anything).

And the main character, Cassia, feels like she could be a sister to Katniss Everdeen. If nothing else, the two would absolutely be best friends. In fact, if Katniss had enlisted Cassia's help to bring down the Capitol, there probably would have been a lot less bloodshed.

But I digress.

I loved, loved, loved this book. Condie is a master writer, weaving words together in such a way that the reader slips through the story with seemingly no effort at all. And the concept of a Society like the one in the book, while at first glance far-fetched, becomes more horrifyingly possible the further you get into the story.

All in all, a great book and highly recommended! Sequel comes out in November!

PRECIPICE by Melissa Luznicky Garrett

"I've been trying to convince myself since the first day we met not to go down this road," he says, "but I don't know how much longer I can keep up the charade."

I hold my breath in anticipation of what I hope he will say, knowing that I'm balancing on the precipice of a great betrayal.

When Julia said "I do" to her husband three years ago, she thought it would last forever. But when she finds herself in a dead-end marriage and in love with her best friend's boyfriend, she begins to question those relationships and everything she once believed in.

Now Julia must either do what's right . . . or follow her heart.

* * *

Confession: Normally, I am very wary of any books about marriage gone wrong, people considering affairs, or any storyline - be it book, movie, or song - dealing with the idea of following one's heart. This is because "following my heart" typically means "making an excuse for doing something bad," and I just can't get on board with that.

Fortunately, Melissa L. Garrett's debut novel for adults is not a story about making excuses.

Even though my marriage is quite happy, I found myself identifying and empathizing with Julia, the main character. She's a teacher in her mid-twenties with hardly a thought to spare for her own happiness - and zero awareness that she deserves much more from her marriage than she's getting.

When her husband is involved in an accident on a business trip, Julia must leave town to care for him. While in the hospital, she is hit with a startling revelation: she no longer loves the man lying in the hospital bed.

In fact, she's not sure she ever loved him. And she's starting to wonder if he ever loved her.

Combine that with the sudden appearance of Wes, the new music teacher, and Julia's struggling to remain faithful to a man who can't seem to keep the vows he made to her. He does not love her. He does not cherish her. In his sickness he is ungrateful to her, and in his health, he is emotionally abusive.

What I loved about this story was the way Julia does not say, "Oh well, my marriage sucks so I'm going to leave." Without giving too much away, I'll say this: She really fights for her marriage and her husband - not to mention her best friend, who's dating Wes. And in the end, she has a very hard decision to make: Work on the marriage and save her relationships with husband and best friend, or leave the marriage and ruin two people's lives in the process.

Please believe me when I say I could not stop reading this book, and I know you'll feel the same. A wonderful debut from an author I think we'll be seeing a lot of in the future.

SPELLBOUND by Cara Lynn Shultz

Life hasn't been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Conner, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much.

Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she's irresistably drawn to - Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knight.

But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can't stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma's been having the oddest dreams. Visions of herself in past lives - visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else.

The Afterglow

OH, I loved this book so much! Although it took just a little while to really get going, once it did, I was HOOKED.

The setting is rich (literally; it's the Upper East Side, after all). Having been to most of the places mentioned in the book, it was easy to imagine Emma running through Central Park, hanging out behind the Met, and having romantic dates on Belvedere Castle.

This book's prose is beautifully written and Emma is easy to feel connected to. She will be an especially significant main character for any teen who's had a rough home life.

There was an unexpected (in a good way) level of action to this book that made it even more engrossing, and the bad guy is seriously, disgustingly bad - and SO fun to hate!

I loved this book so much that I emailed the publisher to see about getting a copy for a giveaway on my blog. If it's something you'd like to read, please be sure to visit me at http://annerileybooks.com/blog - it's not posted for giveaway yet, but it will be starting Monday, June 13!

SPELLBOUND comes out June 28 from HarlequinTEEN.

HEREAFTER by Tara Hudson

Plot Summary

For Amelia, time has all but slowed to a stop as her spirit remains stranded alone in the dark waters of a mysterious river. She knows she's died, but with no recollection of her past life - or her actual death - she's trapped in one long, continuous nightmare, in which she cannot feel anything or interact with anyone.

All of this changes when she tries to rescue a teenage boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in a moment of connection, he looks in her eyes and becomes the first person in the world to see that she still exists.

When he touches her, Joshua sparks strange and wonderful sensory feelings in Amelia - at first just momentary flashes, then pulses that become ever stronger as he leads her out of the river and into his life.

As Amelia and Joshua uncover who she was and the strange circumstances of her death, new problems arise: somehow, Joshua's grandmother seems to know exactly what is going on between them, and Eli, a ghost enforcer, is hell-bent on destroying their happiness and dragging Amelia back into the spirit world.

With every touch and the growing feelings that come with them, Amelia and Joshua begin to wonder if there's something special not only about Joshua, but also the dark river that held her captive for so long. Can there truly be love after death?

The Afterglow

This book is one of those that hooks you from the first paragraph and never lets go! I sat up late many nights, turning page after page, wanting it to last but unable to stop reading. A wonderful story with excellent writing!

Honestly, I connected so easily with Amelia. She was a 3-D character, with weaknesses and flaws, even in death. And the concept of the afterlife presented in this book was fascinating.

Kind of funny; one of my favorite things about Amelia is the way she's always trying to fix her hair or her dress, even though they can't be changed. It shows her humanity and her personality. I also loved the concept of "Seers" like Joshua's grandmother: people who can see spirits and try to exorcise them. Terrifying!

HEREAFTER will be released June 7, 2011. That's only a couple weeks away! Hooray!

Have you entered Afterglow's Beginning of Summer Giveaway yet? It's easy to throw your name in the hat for a chance to win a free book! Click here!

STARCROSSED by Josephine Angelini

Plot Summary:

Helen Hamilton has always known she’s different from the other teens on tiny Nantucket, but it’s not until Lucas Delos moves to town that she realizes just how special she is. Facing Lucas in the halls of high school, Helen’s possessed by a powerful need to kill him--and she almost succeeds. But when their mutual hatred of each other transforms into desire, Helen and Lucas discover they are both Scions--descendants of Greek gods--and that their two families have for centuries been engaged in a deadly blood feud. As Lucas teaches Helen to use her powers, which include flying, controlling lightning, and an immunity to weapons (in addition to her gorgeous face, which she’s inherited from a certain namesake whose own face “launched a thousand ships”), the two grow ever closer--but can never be together until they find a way around the curse that’s destined to keep them apart.

The Afterglow:

When I started reading STARCROSSED, I wasn't sure I would like it. It seemed a little too out there (and that's saying something for someone who loves paranormal fiction as much as I do!). While I thought the premise of demigods interacting with mortals was interesting, it didn't feel as fresh as I wanted it to.

However, the more I read, the more sucked into the story I became. Helen, the main character, wakes up in the morning after having a terrible nightmare - only to find physical evidence that the nightmare actually happened. I thought this was really interesting, and this was one of the first things that hooked me.

When she meets the Delos family - Lucas the love interest, Hector the slightly dangerous brother, Ariadne the kind and personable sister, and Cassandra the Oracle, I kind of had a TWILIGHT flashback but got over it pretty fast.

I've always loved mythology and enjoyed learning the stories of the demigods; how there were four Houses who went to war with Zeus and Mount Olympus, plus the legend of Atlantis. I also liked the Romeo-and-Juliet-style forbidden love that wove its way through the book, although I wish that part would have started sooner.

The end leaves the reader hanging quite a bit, but luckily there will be a sequel. Hopefully it will come out soon, because I am anxious to see what happens with Lucas and Helen!

This book will be released on May 31.

Anne Riley Is Enchanted By DIE FOR ME

Kate Mercier's wonderfully normal teenage life comes crashing down when her parents are killed in a car accident. Suddenly, she and her sister, Georgia, are forced to leave everything they've ever known in America and move to Paris to live with their grandparents. For Kate, the only way to survive is by sealing off her heart and escaping into the comforting world of books and beautiful 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. He also happens to be one of an elite race of paranormal beings known as revenants - undead creatures who exist to sacrifice themselves over and over again in place of other humans whose time to die has not yet come.

As Kate's attraction to Vincent grows, she must choose between the shattered life she was trying to rebuild and the risks of loving again. But when she learns that her sister has become involved with a group of evil revenants who exist solely to murder and betray those around them, Kate is thrown into the midst of a centuries-old battle which threatens the lives of everyone she loves.

* * *

Oh, people. If you are not standing in line to buy this book THE MOMENT it releases, you'll be missing out.

I was completely enchanted (enchanté, if you will) (sorry if that's wrong, I speak Spanish, not French) from page one of this lovely novel set in Paris. Kate, the main character, is easy to connect with; Vincent, the handsome love interest, is as strong, charismatic, and chivalrous as they come. Plot elements tie together smoothly for an engaging read that will keep you sucked in until the very last page. Loved it! Well done Ms. Plum, and congratulations on your debut!

* * *

DIE FOR ME releases Tuesday, May 10, from HarperTeen.

Anne Riley's Afterglow From GIRL WONDER by Alexa Martin

Coming out May 3 from Disney-Hyperion

It's senior year and Charlotte Locke has just transferred to a new high school. With no friends, a terrible math SAT score, and looming college application deadlines, the future starts to seem like a black hole.

Then Amanda enters her orbit like a hot pink meteor, offering Charlotte a ticket to popularity. Amanda is fearless, beautiful, and rich. As her new sidekick, Charlotte is brought into the elite clique of the debate team - and closer to Neal, the most perfect boy she has ever seen.

Senior year is finally looking up... or is it? The more things heat up between Charlotte and Neal, the more he wants to keep their relationship a secret. Is he ashamed? Meanwhile, Amanda is starting to act strangely competitive. Could Charlotte's new BFF be hiding something?

* * *

I finished GIRL WONDER about five minutes ago, and I think the best word to describe the afterglow would be "reeling."

To be honest, I had a little bit of a hard time getting involved with the story at first. Working with teens every day has given me an excellent sense of the way they talk, and in the first half of the book I didn't feel that the conversation was as authentic as it could have been. I also struggled to connect with Charlotte at first, as she came off a little perpetual-victim-ish.

Another reason I say the book left me reeling is that I wasn't prepared for the situations Charlotte dealt with. I expected a much more lighthearted, fun, surfacey book - and that's not what this is. Not at all. Charlotte deals with some serious stuff, and I didn't see it coming, so it caught me off guard.

Hold on, keep reading! I promise this review gets better!

By the second half, when I had a better sense of where the story was headed and what its message was (because it does have a message) I found that I could not put it down. I felt deeply for Charlotte when she fell to her absolute base point, and found myself wishing I could help her. Something inside me started to hurt when she let her boyfriend treat her with so little respect. I could feel the pressure she felt to be accepted by her new friends (haven't we all felt that pressure and done things we later regret so that we will fit in?)

In the end, I felt very connected to the story and affected by Charlotte's journey through her senior year. It wasn't a pretty journey by any stretch of the imagination, but I think Charlotte dealt with a lot of the same situations as many real-life high schoolers and the lessons she learned will definitely hit home with teens.

Rated: R for language, drug use, and sex