Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Peeps
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Date Started: March 1
Date Finished: March 5
Format: ebook from the digital library

Last year as college freshman, narrator Cal was infected by exotic goth Morgan with a parasite that caused following girlfriends to become vampire-like ghouls he calls parasite-positives “Peeps”. A carrier without symptoms, he hunts his progeny for the centuries old bureaucratic Night Watch. But victims are showing more sanity, pretty human Lacey is pushing his buttons, and her apartment building basement houses fierce hordes of ravening rats, red-eyed cats, and monstrous worms that threaten all. Morgan has the secret to a centuries-old conspiracy and upcoming battle to save the human race.

The original story behind Peeps is this – Scott Westerfeld was big when I was in junior high. My friend at the time got me into his writing with the Uglies series. When we saw that another book by him was coming out, we decided to give it a go and on one of my many trips to Borders, I picked it up. And tried to read it at least five or six times over the next few years. Which leads us to this, my final attempt at reading it and now I understand why junior high me had such difficulties with this book. Because it isn’t really a YA novel. I mean, sure, in theory it is – a college student stumbles into something he doesn’t understand and he starts to fall in love when he’s supposed to do his job in preventing an apocalypse, but the in between chapters were just a science lesson that I honestly did not need during these real world events. Okay?

And that aside this story itself is just… a garbage pile of rats and cats and science and. Ugh. My head hurts again just thinking about it. Apologies to my junior high self for feeling bad about not finishing this book five times over the course of three years.

Final Rating: 1 out of 5 stars. This story was a mess from start to finish with impromptu science lessons thrown in. New strain. Old strain. Rats. Cats. I really hated this novel, and I don’t say this lightly. This really makes me wary about re-reading the Uglies series now. Maybe some books should stay in time periods of my life.

Bookshelf worthy? Read something else. Trust me.

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

Title: Kingdom of the Wicked
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Date Started: February 17
Date Finished: February 23
Format: Hardcover from book subscription box

Two sisters. One brutal murder. A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself…And an intoxicating romance.

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost-even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked-princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems…

The Girl King by Mimi Yu

Title: The Girl King
Author: Mimi Yu
Date Started: February 12
Date Finished: February 20
Format: ebook from the digital library

Sisters Lu and Min have always understood their places as princesses of the Empire. Lu knows she is destined to become the dynasty’s first female ruler, while Min is resigned to a life in her shadow. Then their father declares their male cousin Set the heir instead—a betrayal that sends the sisters down two very different paths.

Determined to reclaim her birthright, Lu goes on the run. She needs an ally—and an army—if she is to succeed. Her quest leads her to Nokhai, the last surviving wolf shapeshifter. Nok wants to keep his identity secret, but finds himself forced into an uneasy alliance with the girl whose family killed everyone he ever loved…

Alone in the volatile court, Min’s hidden power awakens—a forbidden, deadly magic that could secure Set’s reign…or allow Min to claim the throne herself. But there can only be one Emperor, and the sisters’ greatest enemy could turn out to be each other.

A Tale of Witchcraft… by Chris Colfer

Title: A Tale of Witchcraft…
Author: Chris Colfer
Sequel to: A Tale of Magic…
Date Started: February 10
Date Finished: February 12
Format: ebook from the digital library

Brystal and her friends have saved the world from the evil Snow Queen and secured worldwide acceptance for the magical community.

However, when a mysterious new witch arrives at the academy, the celebrations are cut short. As the witch begins recruiting faeries into her rival school of witchcraft, it becomes clear she has dark intentions. And soon Brystal’s friend Lucy becomes embroiled in an ominous plot against mankind.

Elsewhere, the fragile peace is on the brink of shattering. Outrage has spread throughout the kingdoms in opposition to the legalization of magic. And, a dangerous and centuries-old clan known as the Righteous Brotherhood has resurfaced, with one goal in mind: to exterminate all magical life forever…starting with Brystal….

The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi

Title: The Silvered Serpents
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Sequel to: The Gilded Wolves
Date Started: February 6
Date Finished: February 10
Format: ebook from the digital library

Séverin and his team members might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but victory came at a terrible cost — one that still haunts all of them. Desperate to make amends, Séverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long lost artifact rumoured to grant its possessor the power of God.

Their hunt lures them far from Paris, and into the icy heart of Russia where crystalline ice animals stalk forgotten mansions, broken goddesses carry deadly secrets, and a string of unsolved murders makes the crew question whether an ancient myth is a myth after all.

As hidden secrets come to the light and the ghosts of the past catch up to them, the crew will discover new dimensions of themselves. But what they find out may lead them down paths they never imagined. A tale of love and betrayal as the crew risks their lives for one last job.

The Brightest Night by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: The Brightest Night
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Origin
Previous Books in the Series:
1. The Darkest Star
2. The Burning Shadow
Date Started: January 31
Date Finished: February 6
Format: ebook from the digital library

Less than a year ago, Evelyn Dasher was a normal girl, living an unremarkable life.

Now, she’s on the run, under the protection of the beautiful, deadly inhuman Luc. She’s been betrayed by those who were closest to her. And she’s learned truths about herself that she never saw coming–things she once knew, and was made to forget. Truths with devastating consequences. She’s caught in the eye of the storm. She is the eye of the storm.

Master of One by Jaida Jones

Title: Master of One
Authors: Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett
Date Started: January 21
Date Finished: January 30
Format: Hardcover from Book Subscription Box

Rags is a thief—an excellent one. He’s stolen into noble’s coffers, picked soldier’s pockets, and even liberated a ring or two off the fingers of passersby. Until he’s caught by the Queensguard and forced to find an ancient fae relic for a sadistic royal sorcerer.

But Rags could never have guessed this “relic” would actually be a fae himself—a distractingly handsome, annoyingly perfect, ancient fae prince called Shining Talon. Good thing Rags can think on his toes, because things just get stranger from there…

The Camelot Betrayal by Kiersten White

Title: The Camelot Betrayal
Author: Kiersten White
Sequel to: The Guinevere Deception
Date Started: January 17
Date Finished: January 22
Format: ebook from the digital library

EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE IN CAMELOT: King Arthur is expanding his kingdom’s influence with Queen Guinevere at his side. Yet every night, dreams of darkness and unknowable power plague her.

Guinevere might have accepted her role, but she still cannot find a place for herself in all of it. The closer she gets to Brangien, pining for her lost love Isolde, Lancelot, fighting to prove her worth as Queen’s knight, and Arthur, everything to everyone and thus never quite enough for Guinevere–the more she realizes how empty she is. She has no sense of who she truly was before she was Guinevere. The more she tries to claim herself as queen, the more she wonders if Mordred was right: she doesn’t belong. She never will.

When a rescue goes awry and results in the death of something precious, a devastated Guinevere returns to Camelot to find the greatest threat yet has arrived. Not in the form of the Dark Queen or an invading army, but in the form of the real Guinevere’s younger sister. Is her deception at an end? And who is she really deceiving–Camelot, or herself?

Seasons of the Storm by Elle Cosimano

Title: Seasons of the Storm
Author: Elle Cosimano
Date Started: January 4
Date Finished: January 15
Format: Hardcover from Book Subscription box

One cold, crisp night, Jack Sommers was faced with a choice—live forever according to the ancient, magical rules of Gaia, or die.

Jack chose to live, and in exchange, he became a Winter—an immortal physical embodiment of the season on Earth. Every year, he must hunt the Season who comes before him. Summer kills Spring. Autumn kills Summer. Winter kills Autumn. And Spring kills Winter.

Jack and Fleur, a Winter and a Spring, fall for each other against all odds. To be together, they’ll have to escape the cycle that’s been forcing them apart. But their creator won’t let them go without a fight.

Deathcaster by Cinda Williams Chima

Title: Deathcaster
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Series: Shattered Realms
Previous Books in the Series:
1. Flamecaster
2. Shadowcaster
3. Stormcaster
Date Started: January 6
Date Finished: January 10
Format: ebook from the digital library

SPLINTERED ALLEGIANCE.Warrior Alyssa ana’Raisa would do anything to protect her home, the Fells, and her legacy, the Gray Wolf Line. But as a prisoner of Empress Celestine, Lyss is forced to turn her fearsome talents as an army commander against her beloved homeland. Refusal would swiftly lead to her death, and her death would end the Gray Wolf Line.

ANCIENT DANGER.In Lyss’s absence, Fellsmarch Castle swarms with intrigue, deception, and a primordial threat. Destin Karn, a Southern spymaster with a hidden agenda of his own, might be the queendom’s only hope of defeating the forces aligned against the Seven Realms… as well as the enemies within the castle. THE DEADLY COST OF PEACE.