[REVIEW] The Long Walk

title: The Long Walk
author: Richard Bachman (Stephen King)
genre: adult fiction, dystopia
published: April 19, 2016 by Pocket Books (first published July 1979)
format: paperback, 400 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads

In this #1 national bestseller, “master storyteller” (Houston Chronicle) Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman, tells the tale of the contestants of a grueling walking competition where there can only be one winner—the one that survives. 

In the near future, when America has become a police state, one hundred boys are selected to enter an annual contest where the winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life. Among them is sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty, and he knows the rules—keep a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings and you’re out—permanently.

and I thought a book about walking will be boring.

This is one of the Stephen King books I've been hoping to read and I'm so glad that I finally did. The premise itself really is something. It's simple yet knowing that it's written by Stephen King assures me that the psychological aspect of the characters will be its best asset.

[REVIEW] The Last Day of Emily Lindsey

title: The Last Day of Emily Lindsey
author: Nic Joseph
genre: adult fiction, mystery, thriller
published: October 3, 2017 by Sourcebooks Landmark
format: Paperback, 327 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3.5 / 5 stars
goodreads

She doesn’t know him, but the symbol she draws on her skin has always been in his nightmares  

Detective Steven Paul has had the same nightmare for as long as he can remember, a strange symbol figuring prominently into his terror. He decided long ago that the recurring dreams are nothing more than an unfortunate side effect of his often traumatic profession. Until, that is, he's assigned to the case of Emily Lindsey, the beautiful, elusive, and controversial blogger found alone, holding a hunting knife and covered in someone else's blood.  

As Steven questions Emily, she repeatedly scratches out the same odd symbol he sees when he closes his eyes. A thrilling suspense ensues as Steven must get inside Emily's head to solve a mystery without a crime—a mystery that is connected to him in ways he can't even begin to fathom.

Had me at: WTH's the connection?

I really like mysteries. It's like I LIVE for mysteries! Okay, no. That's overstating. But mysteries are my thing and I love reading them and guessing things, and hyping myself for the big reveal. We've talked about this on my review of Girl in Snow. lol.

[REVIEW] The Season of You & Me

title: The Season of You & Me
author: Robin Constantine
genre: young adult, contemporary, romance
publish: May 10, 2016 by Balzer + Bray
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads

Cassidy Emmerich is determined to make this summer—the last before her boyfriend heads off to college—unforgettable. What she doesn’t count on is her boyfriend breaking up with her. Now, instead of being poolside with him, Cass is over a hundred miles away, spending the summer with her estranged father and his family at their bed-and-breakfast at the Jersey Shore and working as the newest counselor at Camp Manatee.  

Bryan Lakewood is sick of nevers. You’ll never walk. You’ll never surf. You’ll never slow dance with your date at prom. One miscalculated step and Bryan’s life changed forever—now he’s paralyzed and needs to use a wheelchair. This is the first summer he’s back at his former position at Camp Manatee and ready to reclaim some of his independence, in spite of those who question if he’s up for the job.  

Cass is expecting two months dealing with heartbreak.
Bryan is expecting a summer of tough adjustments.
Neither of them is expecting to fall in love. 

fluffy, cliché romance.

YA contemporary romance is not my usual read. I got this book from Bookworms Unite 2.0 last year. But I was only able to read this last week because of #bookentine. Thank the stars for read-a-thons and reading challenges!

[REVIEW] NEED

title: NEED
author: Joelle Charbonneau
genre: young adult, contemporary, mystery, thriller
publish: November 3, 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 2.5 / 5 stars
goodreads

What do you really need? 

One by one, the teens in Nottawa, Wisconsin, join the newest, hottest networking site and answer one question: What do you need? A new iPhone? Backstage passes to a concert? In exchange for a seemingly minor task, the NEED site will fulfill your request. Everyone is doing it. So why shouldn’t you? 

Kaylee Dunham knows what she needs—a kidney for her sick brother. She doesn’t believe a social networking site can help, but it couldn’t hurt to try. 

Or could it? 

After making her request, Kaylee starts to realize the price that will have to be paid for her need to be met. The demands the site makes on users in exchange for their desires are escalating, and so is the body count. Will Kaylee be able to unravel the mystery of who created the NEED network before it destroys them all?.

one of those it's-not-you-it's-me books.

I really, really like the idea of NEED -- a social media site that asks what you 'need' and at the same time actually granting it after completing a certain task. But we all know that there's always a catch.

[REVIEW] This is Where the World Ends

title: This is Where the World Ends
author: Amy Zhang
genre: young adult, contemporary
publish: March 22, 2016 by Greenwillow Books
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 2.5 / 5 stars
goodreads

A heart-wrenching novel about best friends on a collision course with the real world from Amy Zhang, the critically acclaimed Indies Introduce and Indie Next author of Falling Into Place. 

Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie. That’s how it’s been ever since elementary school, when Janie Vivien moved next door. Janie says Micah is everything she is not. Where Micah is shy, Janie is outgoing. Where Micah loves music, Janie loves art. It’s the perfect friendship—as long as no one finds out about it. But then Janie goes missing and everything Micah thought he knew about his best friend is colored with doubt. 

Using a nonlinear writing style and dual narrators, Amy Zhang masterfully reveals the circumstances surrounding Janie’s disappearance in an astonishing second novel that will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver and Jay Asher.

this was an okay read.

This book has several disappointed and negative reviews that I pushed it down my tbr pile until #cramathon came. I read Falling Into Place last year and I fell in love with Amy Zhang's writing. I love her short and broken sentences and I love her non-linear writing.

[REVIEW] Resthaven

title: Resthaven
author: Erik Therme
genre: young adult, contemporary, suspense
publish: April 12, 2016 by Kindle Press
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3 / 5 stars
goodreads

2016 Kindle Scout Winner  

The last thing Kaylee wants to do is participate in a childish scavenger hunt--especially inside the abandoned retirement home on the edge of town. When she finds a bruised, deaf boy hiding inside one of the rooms, she vows to lead him to safety . . . only to discover the front doors are now padlocked, and her friends are nowhere to be found. Kaylee is about to learn that not everything that goes 'bump in the night' is imaginary, and sometimes there are worse things to fear than ghosts.

I really wanted to love this book.

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. And I really, really wanted to love this because I loved his first novel, Mortom. It was suspenseful and the mystery was really well put together and the revelation was just amazing.

[REVIEW] Twenty Questions for Gloria

title: Twenty Questions for Gloria
author: Martyn Bedford
genre: young adult, contemporary
publish: April 12, 2016 by Wendy Lamb Books
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3 / 5 stars
goodreads

It started with an appearance, not a disappearance. 

Gloria is tired of her ordinary life. An unadventurous teenager, she barely remembers the free-spirited child she used to be. So when a mysterious new boy strolls into school, bent on breaking all the rules, Gloria is ready to fall under his spell. 

Uman is funny, confident, and smart. He does what he wants without a care for what anyone thinks. The only people for him, he says, are the mad ones, the ones who never say or do a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn. 

He is everything Gloria wants to be. He can whisk her away and show her a more daring, more exciting life—one in which the only limits are the boundaries of her own boldness. 

But Uman is not all he seems. And by the time she learns the truth about him, she’s a long way from home…and the whole country wants to know: Where’s Gloria?

runaway kids. then what?

I bought Twenty Questions for Gloria because of the blurb. When I read it, the first thing that came to my minds was my oh-so boring life and how much I wish I'd be more adventurous but too scared to actually make a move. And I am like, oh hey this book could be an exciting read -- this boring girl and this confident guy and a mystery.

[REVIEW] Girl in the Blue Coat

title: Girl in the Blue Coat
author: Monica Hesse
genre: young adult, historical fiction
publish: April 5, 2016 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads

Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days finding and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the German army invaded. Her illegal work keeps her family afloat, and Hanneke also likes to think of it as a small act of rebellion against the Nazis. 

On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants meat or kerosene, Hanneke is shocked by the older woman’s frantic plea to find a person: a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished without a trace from a secret room. Hanneke initially wants nothing to do with such a dangerous task but is ultimately drawn into a web of mysteries and stunning revelations—where the only way out is through. 

Beautifully written, intricately plotted, and meticulously researched, Girl in the Blue Coat is an extraordinary, unforgettable story of bravery, grief, and love in impossible times.

a beautiful story of love, friendship, and bravery during war times

Girl in the Blue Coat was an auto-buy for me simply because: (1) it's historical fiction (because I HAVE to read ALL the historical books out there. lol.), (2) it's set in WWII (it may be the most widely written historical period but there are still too much we do not know about it!!), (3) that cover is too bEAUTIFUL (GAH! I just know I need this in my shelf the moment I saw it!!)!!