Category: YA

Evermore by: Sara Holland

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It picks up where Everless leaves off. Jules is on the run for the murder of Roan and the Queen. With Liam’s unsolicited help, she learns that she is the Alchemist on her 12th life. Jules takes off running and ends up back in Crofton hiding out in Amma’s chicken shed. Amma finds her in there and at first is afraid of her, until Jules gets her to listen and explains everything. Amma tells her she should be safe there for the night since the soldiers have already came through looking for her.

Jules left behind some blood iron when she ran, and Caro has had someone mix it up in a way that will give her some of Jules’ power without killing her, along with sanctioning a tracking spell. When Caro finds Jules, she burns the village down, making everyone run for their lives, killing those who don’t escape in time. Jules runs to the butcher shop looking for Amma and finds her dead. The soldiers capture her and takes her to Shorehaven to see Caro. After a few days worth of travel they make it there, and Caro is there to meet her at the gate. They get into a fight and Jules ends up stabbing Caro and making a run for it to try to find her sister Ina so she can explain what happened. When she finally finds her, Ina doesn’t believe her and calls for help so Jules ends up getting recaptured and held in a cell until a commander and Liam free her.  Liam has a plan for them to escape but they have to fit in, which requires them to go to the coronation of the new queen, Ina Gold, and to mingle and dance like everyone else. The plan doesn’t go according to plan and they get found out before they make their escape. After a harrowing escape, they end up at their destination.

The Thief’s Fort is glamoured to look like a rotten place unless you have something of the Alchemist’s. They stay there for a little bit trying, to figure out where to go next on their hunt for the rubied dagger that will kill Caro. Jules tracks Steph, a hedge witch, down to have her do a blood regression spell to unlock more memories. When Jules spoke of what she saw, Steph thinks something is wrong because, “memory can take many forms-but it’s never blank, empty, and altered as you described.” Steph, while looking through Jules journal, wants to try on old trick of putting blood on a page. Blood forms the words, “Seek the river of red”. This just leads them to more clues, but no answers.

They start following clues that they find, growing closer together. It becomes time to force Liam to go back to Everless, so Caro won’t suspect him of helping Jules and kill him to break her heart. Jules, with Elias’ help, gets the next clue that will lead her to her way back to Everless.

I gotta say when you reach about 70% of the book you start turning pages and reading faster than you knew you could so you can see what happens and when Jules gets her memories back OMG.

Publication December 31, 2018 Pages: 346 YA Fantasy, Myths, Legends

The Impact Zone by: Jordan Ford

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Where to start. This is book two in the Ryder Bay series and follows Savannah a.k.a. Savvy and Griffin. May contain spoilers.

Savannah has had a lot on her plate the last couple of days, starting with her breaking up with Aiden, to her best friend Sklyar falling into the water, ultimately ending with Sklyar suffering a head injury leading to her coma. Griffin is a nomad surfer running from his past. He starts to have feelings for Savannah but keeps telling himself he is not allowed to because by the end of the summer he will be gone again off to somewhere new.

Savannah’s dad, Dr. Kevin, tells her she needs a summer hobby that will get her out of the house and away from being “mom” to her two younger siblings and that she’s not allowed to sit at the hospital everyday waiting on Skylar to wake up. After debating about what she would enjoy, she lands on surfing. Harley is the only surfer she knows, Savannah finally get the courage and asks her to teach her.

Griffin spots Savannah about to go surfing by herself one evening and stops to explain why it’s not safe to go surfing alone-especially at night.  He offers to join her and they surf and hang out for a while, ending their night with a steamy kiss. Griffin follows this kiss by giving her the cold shoulder. He finally gets the nerve to call and apologize to her, only to find out something has happened to Harley and she had broken up with Aiden via text with no warning whatsoever. While  at the hospital, Savannah runs into Jed and fills him in on what’s going on. He tells her Harley’s mom’s boyfriend must be back in the picture and that he has tried to touch her inappropriately, that she probably took off. The last time it happened, she left and hitchhiked her way to San Diego. They all go in a different direction looking for her, Griffin finally finding her and convincing her to get in his truck and go to Savannah’s.

They finally get to go on that first date, and what better date than grabbing burgers and going to an overlook of the beach while sitting in the back of his truck watching the sun set.

The next day, while Savannah is out buying groceries, she runs into Craig, who is Skylar’s on-again off-again. He tells her that his dad thinks she was pushed and a witness even came by and told him it was a man with dreads. Thinking of Griffin, Savannah tries to find him and after driving around forever she gives up. When she gets home, she finds him sitting on the curb by her mailbox. Since her dad is gone for the evening, she invites him inside and they fall asleep on the couch. They’re woken by her dad coming in, slamming doors and yelling at them. After Griffin leaves, Savannah and her dad get into a fight. The next day, she stays in bed all day and when her dad gets home they go on a walk to talk and work through things. While walking along the beach, they spot a body they believe is dead, but upon further inspection they discover it’s Griffin and he’s been beaten badly. Once they get him back to their house and Kevin doctors him up, he confesses all his dark past. And after that, well let’s just say all kinds of shit hits the fan, and things come to light

The ending left me speechless. Oh how I can’t wait for April 12 to come and book 3 to come out so we get Skylar’s story. I love how they all get along. Normally ex’s and new girlfriends are enemies but in this story they are all friends.

Publication: March 1, 2019 Pages: 354  YA Romance