Review: Spartan Frost by Jennifer Estep

Spartan Frost (Mythos Academy #4.5)

By Jennifer Estep

Release Date: June 25, 2013

Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation

Source: NetGalley

eBook, 60 pages

Professor Metis and Nickamedes say that I'm fine, that Loki and the Reapers don't have a hold on me anymore, but I can't risk it. I can't risk hurting Gwen again. So I'm leaving Mythos and going somewhere far, far away.

I know Gwen wonders what's happening to me, whether I'm safe. I can't tell her, but this is my story. . .

Pre-order Spartan Frost here: Amazon (Kindle) | B&N (Nook)

5 Stars

Contains Spoilers from Previous Books in the Series!!!

Review:

After the giant cliffhanger at the end of Crimson Frost, I was ready to blow up the entire world. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!?!?!?!? *beep beep beep beep* pause *beep beep beep beep beep* I was spazzing out because the most kickbutt couple in the entire world was going through noble idiocy. Noble idiocy, if you don't know, is the chronic syndrome that couples go through where one person decides to leave the other for some pathetic reason. Refer to Edward from New Moon. 

At first, I felt betrayed by Jennifer Estep. How could she subject the most clichéd plotline in the world onto such an epic series? But then Ms. Estep released this novella which makes things so much better. Rather than abandoning Logan freaking Quinn for several months, she decided to give us an even better view of Logan freaking Quinn. Usually novellas are pointless stories that the author writes for some money, but Spartan Frost was totally worth the read and the money.

Spartan Frost begins with Loki possessing Logan, forcing him to attack Gwen. This event was already recapped by Gwen in Crimson Frost, but it was so much more heartbreaking to see this event from Logan's point of view. Seeing Logan so furious and hateful of himself for attacking Gwen, even though it totally was not his fault, is so heartbreaking. Before reading this, I understood that Loki needed to be destroyed forever. But after this, I want Loki to be tortured for eternity because he just gave Logan freaking Quinn a meltdown! This transgression is unforgivable because Logan is such a great protagonist. He has all of the bad boy swag, but he actually has emotions, which sets him apart from the rest of those dumb male YA characters.

Poor Logan is so traumatized that he runs away from Gwen for her safety, which is NOBLE IDIOCY, as mentioned before!!! This stuff usually ruins books, stories, and plots. However, in this case, the noble idiocy made so much more sense. The reason is because we got to see what Logan felt during his meltdown. It also may have helped that he wasn't a soulless robot throughout this ordeal: He still kicked the Reapers' butts in this novella, which is definitely a plus. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised that Spartan Frost effortlessly connected emotionally with its readers, despite its rather short length.

Honestly, if you have not started this series, you really should start now. The first book, Touch of Frost, is not as good as the rest of the series. Furthermore, there isn't anything really original in the setting or storyline of this series. In spite of these faults, Mythos Academy really has grown to be a favorite YA fantasy series though because all of the characters really connect to the readers. I admit, part of the reason why there is a connection is because Gwen has the power to sense the past when touching an object or a person. Still, there is something special in this series that everyone should discover.

Waiting on Wednesday 6/19

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event that features the books that we (the bloggers) are highly anticipating. "Waiting on Wednesday" was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

~M is Eagerly Anticipating:

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

Expected Publication Date: July 2nd, 2013

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.

Pre-order The Distance Between Us at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / The Book Depository

Angie is Impatiently Dying for:

After Daybreak (Darkness Before Dawn #3) by J.A. London
Expected Publication Date: June 25, 2013

Dawn returns from L.A. with terrifying news: In his greed for power, the maniacal Day Walker Sin is raising an army and infecting his followers with the Thirst—a rabieslike disease that will turn them into mindless killers. To stop him, Dawn and Victor will have to convince humans and vampires to work together before it’s too late.

Pre-order After Daybreak here: Amazon/ B&N/ The Book Depository

What are you Waiting on Wednesday for?

Summer Reads Recommendations

Seeing as school has just let out (for me), and summer has begun, I thought it would be the perfect time to create a list of books that should be read this summer. Here they are:

The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller

Published May 7th, 2013

On the outside, seventeen-year-old Madelyne Summers looks like your typical blond cheerleader—perky, popular, and dating the star quarterback. But inside, Maddie spends more time agonizing over what will happen in the next issue of her favorite comic book than planning pep rallies with her squad. That she’s a nerd hiding in a popular girl's body isn’t just unknown, it's anti-known. And she needs to keep it that way.

Summer is the only time Maddie lets her real self out to play, but when she slips up and the adorkable guy behind the local comic shop’s counter uncovers her secret, she’s busted. Before she can shake a pom-pom, Maddie’s whisked into Logan’s world of comic conventions, live-action role-playing, and first-person-shooter video games. And she loves it. But the more she denies who she really is, the deeper her lies become…and the more she risks losing Logan forever. -Goodreads

Purchase this book at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble /  The Book Depository

Shutdown (Glitch #3) by Heather Anastasiu

Expected Publication: July 2nd, 2013

The battle is all but over, and hope seems to be lost. Zoe and her fellow Resistance fighters are on the run, having lost their home, their protection, and their leader. They are outnumbered and outmatched by the powerful corporation that controls the world, and the cruel Chancellor is inches away from completing a scheme that would kill most of humanity. Zoe's only remaining option is to chase the impossible dream of upending the Link system, freeing the world from the hardware that controls their thoughts and emotions, and hope it will trigger a revolution. 

The plot requires a nearly impossible mission to infiltrate the dangerous Community, and it is a task that Zoe must unfortunately complete alone. With challenges and surprises at every turn, nothing goes according to plan. Adrien's visions of the future now show two possible outcomes: one in which they succeed, and one in which humanity falls. It all lies in Zoe's hands. 

Full of romance, high-adrenaline action and shocking twists, Shutdown is a heart-pounding conclusion to an exciting sci-fi adventure trilogy for young adults.

The thrilling conclusion to an action-packed sci-fi trilogy. -Goodreads

Pre-order this book at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / The book Depository 


 

The Fainting Room by Sarah Pemberton Strong
Published: June 7th, 2013

Ray Shepard is a wealthy architect who has mystified his friends by marrying Evelyn, a woman who works at a nail salon. Evelyn, in turn, hides a secret past about her former life in the circus, her ex-husband’s mysterious death, and the colorful tattoos she carefully conceals under her clothes. When Evelyn starts to cave under the pressure of living in Ray’s rarified world, she suggests they take in Ingrid, a sixteen-year-old girl with blue hair, a pet iguana, and no place to stay for the summer. As Evelyn and Ray both make her their confidante, drawing her into the heart of what threatens their marriage, Ingrid increasingly adopts the noir alter ego of Detective Slade”—fedora and all—in order to solve the mysteries that engulf all three characters. -Goodreads

Purchase this book at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble /  The Book Depository

 

 A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams

Published June 13th, 2013

Memorial Day, 1938: New York socialite Lily Dane has just returned with her family to the idyllic oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island, expecting another placid summer season among the familiar traditions and friendships that sustained her after heartbreak.


That is, until Greenwalds decide to take up residence in Seaview.

Nick and Budgie Greenwald are an unwelcome specter from Lily’s past: her former best friend and her former fiancé, now recently married—an event that set off a wildfire of gossip among the elite of Seaview, who have summered together for generations. Budgie’s arrival to restore her family’s old house puts her once more in the center of the community’s social scene, and she insinuates herself back into Lily's friendship with an overpowering talent for seduction...and an alluring acquaintance from their college days, Yankees pitcher Graham Pendleton. But the ties that bind Lily to Nick are too strong and intricate to ignore, and the two are drawn back into long-buried dreams, despite their uneasy secrets and many emotional obligations.


Under the scorching summer sun, the unexpected truth of Budgie and Nick’s marriage bubbles to the surface, and as a cataclysmic hurricane barrels unseen up the Atlantic and into New England, Lily and Nick must confront an emotional cyclone of their own, which will change their worlds forever. -Goodreads

Purchase this book at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / The Book Depository

 

  

Rules of Summer (Rules of Summer #1) by Joanna Philbin

Published June 4th, 2013 

When seventeen-year-old Rory McShane steps off the bus in East Hampton, it's as if she's entered another universe, one populated by impossibly beautiful people wearing pressed khakis and driving expensive cars. She's signed on to be a summer errand girl for the Rules -- a wealthy family with an enormous beachfront mansion. Upon arrival, she's warned by other staff members to avoid socializing with the family, but Rory soon learns that may be easier said than done.

Stifled by her friends and her family's country club scene, seventeen-year-old Isabel Rule, the youngest of the family, embarks on a breathless romance with a guy whom her parents would never approve of. It's the summer for taking chances, and Isabel is bringing Rory along for the ride. But will Rory's own summer romance jeopardize her friendship with Isabel? And, after long-hidden family secrets surface, will the Rules' picture-perfect world ever be the same? -Goodreads

Purchase this book at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

The Testing (The Testing #1) by Joelle Charbonneau

Published June 4th, 2013

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one in the same?


The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career.


Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies--trust no one.


But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust. -Goodreads

Purchase this book at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble /  The Book Depository

This Side of jealousy (The Inoccents #2) by Lili Peloquin

Expected Publication: August 20th, 2013

Nothing ever came between sisters Alice and Charlie. If by nothing, you mean everything. The sisters haven’t been able to stop fighting since they arrived in Serenity Point two weeks ago. Those two weeks changed their lives. And Serenity Point has changed them.

Friends didn’t. Charlie has a new group of friends and a new life. Jude and Cybill are beautiful, exciting, and dangerously seductive. And though Sasha is proving to be a friend and confidante to Alice, Alice can’t get away from the people, places, and events that mire her in the past.

Boys couldn’t. Alice loves Tommy, but the memory of Camilla, dead and gone, is driving a wedge between them. And Alice’s ex-boyfriend Patrick won’t give up on her, no matter what she says to keep him away. Jude is slowly giving up his bad boy ways for Charlie—but it’s not smooth sailing if Cybill has anything to say about it. And then Nick arrives: Dr. Van Stratten’s former intern seems to know things about last summer— things that Jude and Tommy would rather not be revealed. Alice is determined to find out what.

Their family falling apart never would. While the sisters grapple with the terrible truth about their family, the one-year memorial of Camilla’s death looms. The tension mounts and sparks fly as bright as July Fourth fireworks—and Alice and Charlie team up to find out the truth that everyone seems to be hiding.

Until they got to Serenity Point. Is Camilla their enemy and rival—even six feet under? Or is she their sister, whose memory they have to protect? And what really happened to her that night on the bridge? In a town built on secrets and lies, can the truth stay buried for long? -Goodreads

 Pre-order this book at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Between #1) by April Genevieve Tucholke

Expected Publication: August 15th, 2013

You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town…until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

Blending faded decadence and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April Genevieve Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as gorgeously told as it is terrifying—a debut to watch. -Goodreads

Pre-order this book at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / The Book Depository

 

 

So do any of you have any summer reading recommendations for us?