Review: Consume (Devoured, #2) by Shelly Crane

Eli and Clara's story continues as she tries to finish high school. Eli is as over protective as ever and Tate and his group of friends are no help. They wait for the Horde, always looking over their shoulder. But the ever annoying but strangely prophetic bird begins to become more of a chatter box and Eli learns something that could change some things. Not just for him and Clara, but Devourers everywhere.

Then an unexpectedness guest comes forcing Eli to flee with Clara, leaving her temporary family behind. She is thrown into his world of underground 'traitors' and learns much of his past. They meet many new people and creatures along the way to freedom. But when tragedy strikes the two, will Clara see the monster in Eli? Can she handle his strange world and awful past? Will one of them lose their life forever...

I'm jumping right in, much the same way Crane picked up in this sequel where she left off in the opener.  Just a warning, reviews of sequels and any installments that follow a series opener are hard to put together without spoilers, so if you haven't read this series opener yet, just know that it's a series you should get on board with immediately and come back to check out the reviews later, but if you're already finished with the first installment read on. 

Clara of course was ever hopeful that she'd be able to finish off high school and maybe tie a neat bow around everything but with the Horde an ever present threat a lot of that was out of her control.

Eli on the other hand has two priorities...keep Clara safe being the first and most important to him and then of course trying to ensure her happiness.  It's a tough job, but clearly one he wasn't walking away from.  Once these two were forced to flee, his goals start to become harder to maintain, but the action and suspense sure do get your heart pounding.  The new character additions were interesting and certainly threw curve balls into the mix, but who doesn't enjoy it when an author spices things up, right?

I know a lot of readers will be sad to see Crane end Eli and Clara's story after just two books, but at least we have a chance to see some more of them in Enoch's story, Altered.  I for one am really looking forward to getting more from Enoch.  I'm curious to see if he'll surprise us when he's center stage and I'm eager to find out.

In My Mailbox (133)

This is a meme that I first heard about from Kristi over at The Story Siren and immediately wanted to jump on board. I'm always picking up new books, because I never tire of reading, but the other thing I like about this meme is that it gives everyone an opportunity to check out what other book fanatics, bloggers, etc... got for themselves. I've gotten great recommendations from this meme and hope that keeps up in the future.

Here's what I got, what did you guys get this week?

  

For Review:

 

Feuds by Avery Hastings (Thanks to St. Martins Griffin)

 

In this breathless story of impossible love, perfection comes at a deadly cost.

For Davis Morrow, perfection is a daily reality. Like all Priors, Davis has spent her whole life primed to be smarter, stronger, and more graceful than the lowly Imperfects, or “Imps.” A fiercely ambitious ballerina, Davis is only a few weeks away from qualifying for the Olympiads and finally living up to her mother’s legacy when she meets Cole, a mysterious boy who leaves her with more questions each time he disappears.

Davis has no idea that Cole has his own agenda, or that he’s a rising star in the FEUDS, an underground fighting ring where Priors gamble on Imps. Cole has every reason to hate Davis—her father’s campaign hinges on the total segregation of the Imps and Priors—but despite his best efforts, Cole finds himself as drawn to Davis as she is to him.

Then Narxis, a deadly virus, takes its hold--and Davis’s friends start dying. When the Priors refuse to acknowledge the epidemic, Davis has no one to turn to but Cole. Falling in love was never part of their plan, but their love may be the only thing that can save her world...in Avery Hastings's Feuds.

 

Consequence (Significance, #4.5) by Shelly Crane

 

Maggie and Caleb are married, leaders of their people, parents to their children, and happier than they ever dreamed, even with the visions they saw of it to prove it so. The council is still rebelling against Maggie’s changes, but this time it’s different. It’s almost as if something…or someone is behind them, pulling the strings and making decisions for them.

And Maggie is having strange visions that only she can see, leaving Caleb helpless to help her. But when her visions start to warn her that their daughter, Ava, will one day be in danger, they’ll do anything it takes to find out what’s going on and how to stop it, even paying a visit to a previous Visionary.

Maggie and Caleb must find out who or what is behind it all and stop them before Maggie is one vision too late.

 

Altered (Devoured, #3) by Shelly Crane

 

Enoch is tested.

His brother is human, the thing he hates. He watches as the brother he knew is stripped away by his love for Clara. He's never hated someone as much as he hated her...but the bond forced him to not only want to protect her, but feel things he never had before.

When a girl needs his help, that split second decision changes his whole world in one instant.

A Devourer's Fate...

 

Beautiful Oblivion (Beautiful, #3) by Jamie McGuire

 

The Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster phenomenon continues in the first heart-pounding new adult romance in The Maddox Brothers series.

Fiercely independent Camille "Cami" Camlin gladly moved on from her childhood before it was over. She has held down a job since before she could drive, and moved into her own apartment after her freshman year of college. Now tending bar at The Red Door, Cami doesn’t have time for much else besides work and classes, until a trip to see her boyfriend is cancelled, leaving her with a first weekend off in almost a year.

Trenton Maddox was the king of Eastern State University, dating co-eds before he even graduated high school. His friends wanted to be him, and women wanted to tame him, but after a tragic accident turned his world upside down, Trenton leaves campus to come to grips with the crushing guilt.

Eighteen months later, Trenton is living at home with his widower father, and works full-time at a local tattoo parlor to help with the bills. Just when he thinks his life is returning to normal, he notices Cami sitting alone at a table at The Red.

As the baby sister of four rowdy brothers, Cami believes she’ll have no problem keeping her new friendship with Trenton Maddox strictly platonic. But when a Maddox boy falls in love, he loves forever—even if she is the only reason their already broken family could fall apart.

In the first installment of the Maddox Brothers books, readers can experience the rush of reading Beautiful Disaster for the first time, all over again.

Countdown: A Mix (3)

You guys know the drill by now...I'm always on the lookout for new finds and exciting new reads and below are just a few that I've come across lately. With how busy everyone gets if I don't write the titles down immediately I'll never be able to remember them later when I'm ready to download a new book to my kindle, or in the store wondering which shelf to look on first. So by posting these countdowns I give myself one more place to look when I need to be reminded of the titles I'm looking forward to.

And as always if you guys hear of any that you haven't seen me post let me know. Like I said, I only have so much time to search for future reads on my own, and to be honest, the majority of my favorite titles I owe to friend/blogger/author recommendations. So leave a comment, shoot me an email, etc... if there are any books or authors you think I should have on my radar.

Countdown Pick #1: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1) by Sarah J. Maas (Fall 2012)

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Even with just this snippet to go on with this book, it's got me intrigued. Maas' blog lets on that this will be a fantasy retelling of Cinderella and to be honest I'm thinking it's going to flip the original classic on it's head. Is Cinderella the assassin she describes? How much fun would that be? I wonder if her fairy godmother will make an appearance and where does Prince Charming come into play?

Countdown Pick #2: Glitch (Glitch, #1) by Heather Anastasiu (2012)

Seventeen-year-old Zoe Gray is a cybernetically-enhanced teenager living in an underground society when her internal hardware begins to malfunction. She slowly realizes that her body is changing, that she’s developing powerful telekinesis, and that she’s not alone. Even though getting caught could mean reprogramming, or worse, deactivation, Zoe begins to seek out other glitchers in society, including a dreamer named Adrian who can see the future, a boy named Max who can mimic others' appearances, and a girl named Molly with x-ray vision. They work together to plan their escape, but soon learn there is another powerful faction at work whose ambitions could threaten all their carefully laid plans.

I love reading early review for books I'm already counting down for because they inevitably pump me up even more. Andrea Cremer said it was an "irresistible novel, [that] delivers a pitch-perfect blend of action, romance, and twists that take your breath away." So if hearing about cybernetically-enhanced teenagers with special abilities wasn't enough to sway you, Cremer's remarks will push you over the edge. She got me hook, line and sinker for this book.

Countdown Pick #3: The Selection (Selection, #1) by Kiera Cass (04/24/2012)

The trilogy beginning with The Selection, a dystopian romance pitched as "The Hunger Games" meets "The Bachelor," following 17-year-old America Singer, one of the eligible young women selected to compete to become the next queen, who finds herself falling in love despite only wanting to break her family out of the lower castes and leaving her boyfriend at home.

Oh April cannot come soon enough. I love love love this concept. We all know women can be catty, but I can only imagine the behavior that would come out of them if there was a competition to become queen, like Cass envisions here. Watch out ladies! I would think girls who were faint of heart would not be in the running. If they were I'm thinking they wouldn't last long. So I'm now counting down until the claws come out!

Countdown Pick #4: Altered by Jennifer Rush (Fall 2012)

Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them. Anna’s father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. 

Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away. 
I'm being sucked in by the comparisons these days. Loving both Dollhouse and most especially Prison Break, the idea that Rush's 2012 release may be similar in one way or another puts it on my TBR list. It also puts it up with pretty high expectations. I can only hope that it will live up to those great comparisons and give me another title to add to my favorites category. Now I just want to see the cover.


Countdown Pick #5: Struck by Jennifer Bosworth (5/8/2012)

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities, populated by millions of homeless. Downtown is a wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the attendees drawn to the destruction by a magnetic force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power in the wake of the disaster, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing prophecies. They know she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the worse storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but he’s hiding a more sinister truth. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must unleash the full horror of her strength to save them all.

Let's just say the main character and I are not going to have a lot in common. When there's a storm around me I run for cover, this girl sounds like she seeks them out. I hate lightning. It scares me senseless. So the idea of someone being addicted to the storms...crazy town if you ask me. But I'm hoping I can put the fear aside for the time it takes me to read this future release. I'll just have to make sure to only read when it's nice outside. Otherwise I'm liable to lose my sanity every time thunder booms or lightning strikes while turning the pages.