The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Genre:  YA Dystopian

The Maze Runner Series, Book 2

James Dashner's website

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Note:  This is the second book in a series.  You've been warned...

Description (taken from James Dashner's website):

Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end.

Thomas was sure that escape from the Maze would mean freedom for him and the Gladers. But WICKED isn’t done yet. Phase Two has just begun. The Scorch.

There are no rules. There is no help. You either make it or you die.

The Gladers have two weeks to cross through the Scorch—the most burned-out section of the world. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Friendships will be tested. Loyalties will be broken. All bets are off.

There are others now. Their survival depends on the Gladers’ destruction—and they’re determined to survive.

This one was definitely not exactly like the movie, unlike the first book.  I was kind of excited to see that movie led me down an entirely different direction than the book was starting out.  The Gladers have gotten out of the Maze and found shelter.  But in reality, they haven't.  Instead, they will undergo another test where you either pass or you die.  All bets are off in this high risk dystopian world.  But WICKED is trying to save the world by putting these boys through hell.

Honestly, I was happy to start this story with a new setting to see what happened.  And while the story did evolve more, it still felt exactly like the first book.  We're in a maze completing a mission.  Only it's a desert town instead of a maze.  And there are psychos on the loose.  I guess I have mixed feelings about this.  Yes, the story was easy to follow.  But no, I don't really like Thomas.  I just don't.  But I'm still going to finish the series.

Maybe with the next book, I'll be able to say I read it before the movie came out.  Although I'm worried it's going to follow closer to the movie since the second book obviously didn't.  Meh, it's a dystopian series...

Witch's Pyre by Josephine Angelini

Genre:  YA Fantasy Romance

Worldwalker Series, Book 3

Josephine Angelini's website

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Note:  This is the third and final book in a series.  You've been warned.

Description (taken from Josephine Angelini's website):

Two versions of the same world. Two versions of the same girl.
Lily Proctor has come a long way from the weak, sickly girl she used to be. She has gained power as a witch and a leader, found her way home, chosen to face battle again, and (after losing her first love and being betrayed by her new love) she has learned more about loss and grief than she ever wanted to know.
Thrust once again into a society different from anything they have ever seen, Lily and her coven are determined to find answers―to find a new path to victory, a way to defeat the monstrous Woven without resorting to nuclear weapons or becoming a tyrannical mass murderer like her alternate self, Lillian. But sometimes winning requires sacrifices . . . and when the only clear path to victory lies at Lillian's side, what price will Lily be willing to pay?

A series I fell in love with but over the years couldn't remember well enough.  This third book picks up right where the second one left off.  And if you can't remember exactly what happened in the last book, then you're kind of lost for the first half of the book.

Lily has left Rowan in his own miserable exile.  And now she's teeming up with the evil Lilian to help get rid of the Woven.  Wait a second, I can't exactly remember what happened in the last book.  Woven definitely rings a bell, but I'm super lost with where they belong in the plot.  Oh right, I'll catch up once I'm halfway in this story.  But wait, this whole plotline of being angry at the new love and losing the old love, wow I forgot a lot.  And it just didn't make sense to me.  But for some reason, I was still hooked in the story...  Must have been the good writing.

Yeah, this is a fun fantasy series to read.  But I'm definitely going to recommend reading them one right after the other, so you don't have the same problems I had.

Deity by Jennifer L Armentrout

Genre:  YA Paranormal Romance

Covenant Series, Book 3

Jennifer L Armentrout's website

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Note:  This is the third book in a series.  You've been warned.

Description (taken from Jennifer L Armentrout's website):

History is on repeat, and things didn’t go so well the last time.
Alexandria isn’t sure she’s going to make it to her eighteenth birthday–to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she’s a goner… and so is Aiden.
If that’s not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time “training”–which really is just Seth’s code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time–she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome.
But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she’s caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed… and destroyed.
Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate…

The third book in a series.  One where the love triangle cements itself, and you begin to take a side.  And we all get sick of one of the love interests.  Just your typical paranormal love triangle here.  But the story begins to evolve more.  Remember how this paranormal series is based on mythology?  Yeah, we get some more mythology happening here.

So I can't truly give the best review here.  Number one, I love paranormal romance novels.  So of course, I'm into this series.  But number two, it's your typical paranormal romance.  I haven't really found too many new things.  But the ending had me hooked and dying to read the next one.  So yes, same old, same old.  But I really like this same old.

Honestly, you'll know after the first book in this series if you want to stick with it.  But I definitely will tell die-hard young adult paranormal romance readers to pick this series up.

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Genre:  YA Fantasy

Six of Crows Series, Book 2

Leigh Bardugo's website

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Note:  This is the second book in a series.  Fair warning...

Description (taken from Leigh Bardugo's website):

Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and left crippled by the kidnapping of a valuable team member, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

Back in the Grisha world, one of my favorite fantasy worlds.  The heist that Kaz and his crew pulled off in the last story went terribly wrong.  And this story picks up immediately after that happens.  It follows the six people who are determined to get payback and money for their troubles.  Only thing is the whole world is watching this little city because everyone wants a piece of the drug: jurda parem.  Will Kaz and his crew be able to protect themselves and their city or will they sell out?

This book has a lot of action and so many angles that you're dying for more.  My only regret is not reading it closer to the first book and that whole other series.  I feel like there were a lot of things I couldn't remember and was kind of missing the insider knowledge.  Anywho, you pretty much fall in love with the characters.  But you want to know the reason why this isn't a five-pointer for me?  I was not a fan of the ending.  It ticked me off.  Like really ticked me off when I realized it was the last one in the series.  But I can't give it away (those who have read the book could probably understand my anger).

If you're a fan of fantasy, start with the first Grisha series and then pick this one up.  If you couldn't get into the first series, then just dive into this one.  While there is romance in this story, it's not the main plotline like the other series.

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Genre:  YA Historical Fiction
Stalking Jack the Ripper Series, Book 1

Kerri Maniscalco's website

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Description (taken from Kerri Maniscalco's website):

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord’s daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father’s wishes and society’s expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle’s laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

Audrey Rose lives in a historical England where she is growing up to be a society girl.  She is doing everything that a wealthy and privileged English girl should do.  Well, except for helping her uncle dissect cadavers.  And helping him with solving deaths and crimes.  So it's no surprise that when Jack the Ripper begins to appear, she becomes intrigued...

So I can't really go into too much detail to this story.  Because most of us are very familiar with the unsolved mystery of Jack the Ripper.  And this fictional story tells it from Audrey's point of view.  And as much as I had it pegged from the very beginning, I was still disappointed with the ending.  And one of the things that angered me greatly was how many times Audrey was told she shouldn't be doing something because of her female status.  I just got tired of it a little.

This was a decent detective story to follow from start to finish.  And it does give a nice twist at the end.  I'd suggest checking it out if it peaks your interests still.