Reawakened by Colleen Houck

****

From Delacorte (Random House Children's):

The first book in a new multi-book series from New York Times bestselling author, COLLEEN HOUCK, about a teenage girl entangled in an epic Egyptian quest full of romance, adventure, and mythology! 
  

Author Colleen Houck's first series, The Tigers Curse, was a New York Times Bestseller, a USA Today Bestseller, A Publisher's Weekly Bestseller, and A Parents' Choice Award Winner. The Tigers Curse series is also being made into a movie! Adapted by Julie Plec, creator of The Vampire Diaries, and directed by Shekhar Kapur, who directed the Academy-Award winning, Elizabeth.   

When seventeen-year-old Lilliana Young enters the Metropolitan Museum of Art one morning during spring break, the last thing she expects to find is a live Egyptian prince with godlike powers, who has been reawakened after a thousand years of mummification. 
And she really can't imagine being chosen to aid him in an epic quest that will lead them across the globe.
 
But fate has taken hold of Lily, and she, along with her sun prince, Amon, must travel to the Valley of the Kings, raise his brothers, and stop an evil, shape-shifting god named Seth from taking over the world. 
 
From New York Timesbestselling author Colleen Houck comes an epic adventure about two star-crossed teens who must battle mythical forces and ancient curses on a journey with more twists and turns than the Nile itself.
  

I adore books based upon mythology - greek, norse, egyptian - doesn't matter.  I love the myths.  Rick Riordan is the king of mythology (and I'm dying to read his new series based upon Norse myths in the fall!), but I will read just about anything based upon mythology.  Egyptian is a bit more complicated - gods with three parents, chopped up gods, cat gods, sphinxes (is that the plural of sphinx?), but still I love it.  

Houck's take on Egyptian myth is fantastic.  The mythology is great, but also the story and the characters kept me completely enthralled.  The interactions between Lily and Amon are hilarious.  Add in two other roguish demi-gods and I'm in love!  Reawakened is action packed and thoroughly entertaining.  Well done Ms. Houck!

~ Shel

Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham

* * *

A voice-driven mystery perfect for fans of Veronica Mars.

Meet Scarlett, a smart, sarcastic, kick-butt, Muslim American heroine, ready to take on crime in her hometown of Las Almas. When a new case finds the private eye caught up in a centuries-old battle of evil genies and ancient curses, Scarlett discovers that her own family secrets may have more to do with the situation than she thinks -- and that cracking the case could lead to solving her father's murder.

Jennifer Latham delivers a compelling story and a character to remember in this one-of-a-kind debut novel.

This is a story driven by a smart, sassy and fearless young woman who knows what to say and how to get her way. Scarlett is often nonplussed when things don’t go exactly as planned. She manages to make the most out of situations and get to the point.

Scarlett is hired by a young girl who is worried about her older brother’s strange behavior as of late. She suspects that her brother has something to do with the recent death of a friend. This person’s death was all over the news and at first Scarlett's instinct is to decline the case. But when she sees how scared this little girl is, she can’t turn her back. After meeting this brother and getting strange vibes off of him, Scarlett thinks that her client may actually be on to something.

Scarlett is a resourceful young detective who isn’t afraid to seek out the truth. And as she digs further into this mystery, she becomes a target. It turns out that this case may hit closer to home than she realized as she starts to make connections between a cult-like group of kids and her father’s murder. Here the story branches out into the paranormal with some intriguing myths and history.

This was a fun mystery to read but in all honesty, I was drawn to this story after hearing that the heroine was a Muslim-American. I was curious to see how that would factor into the story itself. If anything, it exposes the reader to some of the customs and how those are integrated into their every day lives. Scarlett to a certain extent is more progressive with regards to her religion. Scarlett’s older sister, who’s studying to become a doctor, has found comfort in many of the traditions since the death of their parents. Both girls show a healthy respect for their beliefs though both practice differently.

However, this is only a small part of the person Scarlett is. She’s a compassionate person who looks after her client. She’s a fighter who refuses to be shut down. She's a snarky opponent who sees through people's bull. She's loyal to her family and friends. And she’s a young girl in love. All these aspects combined make Scarlett a fine role model for young readers everywhere. Scarlett Undercover is a fun read and I’m excited to introduce my daughters to this!

~ Bel

Evertrue (Everneath #3) by Brodi Ashton

* * * * 

Now that Nikki has rescued Jack, all she wants is to be with him and graduate high school. But Cole tricked Nikki into feeding off him, and she’s begun the process of turning into an Everliving herself... which means she must feed on a Forfeit soon — or die.

Terrified for her survival, Nikki and Jack begin a desperate attempt to reverse the process using any means possible. Even Cole, who they expected to fight them at every turn, has become an unlikely ally — but how long can it last? Nikki needs to feed on Cole to survive, Cole needs Nikki to gain the throne in the Everneath, Jack needs Nikki because she is everything to him — and together, they must travel back to the Underworld to undo Nikki’s fate and make her mortal once more. But Cole isn’t the only one with plans for Nikki: the Queen has not forgotten Nikki’s treachery, and she wants her destroyed for good. Will Nikki be forced to spend eternity in the Underworld, or does she have what it takes to bring down the Everneath once and for all?

In this stunning conclusion to the Everneath trilogy, Brodi Ashton evokes the resiliency of the human spirit and the indomitable power of true love.

I cannot express enough how much I’d been looking forward to February knowing that this final in the series was coming out. I can remember clearly how I felt at the end of Everbound when Nikki made her solemn vow to destroy the Everneath. There was so much emotion, anger and bitterness tangled up in her simple statement which made me feel edgy as to how she would carry it out.

Once again, Cole and the Dead Elvises are nowhere to be seen as Nikki and Jack formulate plans with what combined information they have of the Everneath . They’re still very much in love, their commitment to each other intensified by what they both recently went through. They may have escaped the Everneath but both are undergoing some peculiar changes. Jack’s strength and physical form are becoming more pronounced while Nikki is slowly becoming weaker. It’s not until Cole finally returns that they understand the reason for Nikki’s ailment – because she fed off of Cole three times in the Everneath, she’s turning into an Everling. She has to feed off of him in order to survive. Now she’s royally pissed off!  And worse, Cole and Jack, sworn enemies , are both determined to make sure that no matter what happens, Nikki makes it through unscathed, even if it means she does become an Everling.

What’s great about this series is that Nikki never once stands back to wait for solutions to appear. She’s clearly a force to be reckoned with and doesn’t back down easily. Jack is the stalwart boyfriend who is her partner in this battle. Cole, as usual, is as arrogant and insufferable as ever. So of course, I puffy heart him. Ashton does introduce a nice little twist involving Cole which becomes an advantage to Nikki in her fight against the Everneath.

Nikki is waging war on two fronts – the outside war against the Everneath and her internal conflict regarding her feelings toward Cole. She’s constantly reminding herself about how he had betrayed her by making her think he was her friend when he was apparently manipulating her into serving his ultimate purpose, that of overthrowing the Queen.  At the same time, she’s reduced to feeling sorry for him because of his current predicament. However, this will not prevent her from reaching the ultimate end game. This time around she’s the one who’s doing the manipulating.  Even though she feels a pang of guilt about using him, she resorts to her arsenal of bitterness and betrayal to remind herself why she's doing this.

Evertrue is splendid! I devoured in within a day and a half and went through a mourning period when it was over. There’s really only one way it could end and Nikki stayed true to her conviction and the things she loved most to make it through.  Thank you Brodi Ashton for a wonderful series that introduced me to new mythology and a complicated world below!

~ Bel

Chaos of the Stars by Kiersten White

****

From HarperTeen:

Isadora's family is seriously screwed up.  

Of course, when you're the human daughter of Egyptian gods, that comes with the territory.

Isadora's sick of living a life where she's only worthy of a passing glance, and when she's offered the chance to move thousands of miles away, she jumps on it.  But as much as Isadora tries to keep her new world and old world apart, she quickly realizes there's no such thing as a clean break when it comes to family.

Chaos is filled to the brim with Kiersten White's trademark witty, snarky and fun characters.  Isadora, Ry, Tyler and the supporting cast are people you want to hang out with.  They are full of smack talk, sarcasm and foot-in-mouth syndrome.  Having spent her life secluded with only her family around, Isadora is desperate to get out from under her mother's thumb, so when her mother sees trouble, Isadora goes to stay with her brother in San Diego, where she gets herself a group of friends, the interest of a mysterious hot boy and an unidentified evil bent on destruction.

Isadora is bitter.  As a devout disbeliever in love and relationships, Isadora tries to keep her distance from everyone, and rebels by doing her best to disavow her heritage, but is drawn into a plot to destroy her family.  Can she learn to let people in and save her family?

I loved Paranormalcy, so it was with great trepidation I picked up Chaos.  I was delighted to enjoy it so much.  It's fast-paced, fun and a great way to spend an afternoon!  

Check out Kiersten's blog for more information and goofy good times!

http://kierstenwrites.blogspot.com

~Shel

Undeadly by Michele Vail

***

The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird…

Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper—and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she's shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite boarding school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath.

Life at Nekyia has its pluses. Molly has her own personal ghoul, for one. Rick follows her there out of the blue, for another…except, there's something a little off about him. When students at the academy start to die and Rath disappears, Molly starts to wonder if anything is as it seems. Only one thing is certain—Molly's got an undeadly knack for finding trouble….

The Bad:

I'm not a fan of zombies.  Vampires, wolves, shapeshifters - all these I get, but zombies just don't do it for me.  So when I realized that Undeadly was zombie-centric, I was disappointed.  (Here's the thing, I never read cover blurbs, reviews, etc when I choose books.  I don't want to know much of anything when I start a new book.  In fact, if I know things about books it generally makes me reluctant to pick them up.  Just ask Bel and Nat about trying to get me to read The Hunger Games or finish the Iron Fey and Mortal Instruments series').  The only other downside to Undeadly for me was that it is very similar to Jennifer Estep's Mythos Academy series, which I love, so for my money, Mythos Academy is better, but until Midnight Frost comes out, Undeadly will do.

The Good:

I love mythology.  Greek myths are my preference, but I do enjoy Egyptian mythology as well.  I thoroughly enjoyed Vail's portrayal of Anubis as a sarcastic, but caring god of the dead.  I also enjoyed Vail's (somewhat) realistic look at the vain, shallow teenage girl Molly was and admitted to being.  Undeadly was well written, well researched and a delightful way to spend a winter afternoon (and thankfully after the you get into the heart of the book, there aren't any zombies!).  I will definitely tune in for the next installment of the Reaper Diaries.  If you enjoy the Mythos Academy Series (Touch of Frost, Kiss of Frost, Dark Frost and Crimson Frost), then you should grab Undeadly.  

~Shel