Release Date: April 16th, 2013
Genre: Romance, Dystopia
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 360
Rating:
Amazon Link*: Click here
Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary:

There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends…and he’s gone.

They call it the Heist.

Gray Weathersby’s eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he’s prepared to meet his fate–until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he’s been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets. The Heist itself. And what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot–a structure that no one can cross and survive.

Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken–or risk everything on the hope of the other side?

Review: (Keep in mind that I read this in one day, and almost EVERY book I read in one day I say "goes too fast" but I think this one really did regardless of how fast I read it)

This book started off great! It started really interesting because it posed lots of questions that none of the characters considered "questions." Why is there a wall around our village that we can't cross? Why do 18-year-old boys disappear? The characters ask these questions, then shrug and move on.

What I initially loved about this story was that it actually GAVE US ANSWERS! I get so tired of books that string you a long with question after question and just expect you to keep reading even though you're NEVER given ANY answers! Not with TAKEN. Not long after questions were asked, they were answered. And then more questions were asked an answered. And then... we started getting answers to questions we hadn't asked... And by the end I found myself wishing that the author had held SOMETHING back. Because now that I've finished it, all my questions have been answered, and the only thing that might motivate me to read the second book is the love triangle.

But here's the thing about the love triangle. It's an interesting one (since it's two girls and one boy), but I never really connected with either of the girls. Perhaps it's because I read the book too fast, or perhaps it's because the book was full of "one week later"s and "two months later"s. I'm not a huge fan of books that skip so far forward in time. I want to SEE what happens there! Put your big breaks in between books!

But even though I've listed what I think are the books 2 faults (answers too many questions and goes too fast), it has many more virtues. I love the story, I love the setting, I love the premise, I love the main character (Bowman does a GREAT job writing from a male perspective [said a female]). And I certainly will read the second book. But am I dying to get my hands on it? No. The ending to this one left me perfectly content. Hopefully that doesn't mean that it also made this book perfectly forgettable.

EDIT: I initially wrote this review on April 24th. About a week ago I was trying to decide what to read and I saw this on my shelf and thought "Oh yeah! I really want to read Taken! Why haven't I read that yet?" I even picked it up and put it in my purse before I realized "Wait... I have read that." So, forgettable? Apparently.

Other Reviews:

• Xpresso Reads (Loved it!)
• Speculating on SpecFic (It was okay)
• A Girl, a Boy and a Blog (REALLY Didn't Like It)

*I am an amazon affiliate. If you purchase this book using my link, I will get a tiny fraction of the purchase, which goes toward contests.

Release Date: May 7th, 2013
Genre: Sci-fi, Apocalypse
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Pages: 480
Rating:
Amazon Link*: Click here
Goodreads Page: Click here
Summary:

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

Blurb: I will never trust another human being again.

Review: Ho. Ly. Crow. This book blew my mind! And I hadn't realized it until I read it that there has been a distinct lack of aliens in the YA world (when compared to other paranormal creatures). NOT ANYMORE! The 5th Wave fills that hole and THEN some!

This was the kind of book that kept me up until 1 or 2 in the morning because I just kept saying "one more chapter. Okay. One more." Hence it's "Squeaky Book" designation. I found the characters compelling, the story absolutely engrossing, and the morality wonderfully complex.

I was especially pleased that Yancey did a wonderful job switching points of view and still keeping me engaged in EVERY story. Oftentimes switching PoV just frustrates me because there's only one story I care about. Not so with this book. Every time it switched viewpoints I thought, "Yay! They're back!"

If there's one thing that I have to say against this book (and the reason it got 4.5 flowers instead of 5) is that it does have quite a bit of profanity. Actually, it doesn't have all that much, but what it does have is extreme. The reason why that didn't totally throw me off is because my big problem is with pointless profanity. Now, I don't like profanity ever, but I can at least understand/tolerate it when the characters are under duress. And these characters were under a lot of duress.

All in all a FAAAABULOUS book. Yancey doesn't disappoint!

Other Reviews:

• Xpresso Reads (Loved it!)
• Speculating on SpecFic (It was okay)
• A Girl, a Boy and a Blog (REALLY Didn't Like It)

*I am an amazon affiliate. If you purchase this book using my link, I will get a tiny fraction of the purchase, which goes toward contests.

Release Date: May 28th, 2013
Genre: Apocalypse
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 212
Rating:
Amazon Link*: Click here
Goodreads Page: Click here
Series: Monument 14 #2 (Review of #1)
Summary: (Spoilers, highlight to view)

The world hasn't ended...yet.

In this sequel to MONUMENT 14, the group of survivors, originally trapped together in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, has split in two. Most of the kids are making a desperate run on their recently repaired school bus for the Denver airport where they hope to reunite with their parents, be evacuated to safety, and save their dying friend.

But the world outside is dark and filled with dangerous chemicals that turn people into bloodthirsty monsters, and not all the kids were willing to get on the bus. Left behind in a sanctuary that has already been disturbed once, the remaining kids try to rebuild the community they lost. But when the issues are life and death, love and hate, who can you really trust?

Blurb: AWESOME, but WAY too short.

Review: I want to avoid spoilers, so like most of my sequel-reviews, I'll keep this short.

I loved the first book in this series, and I loved the second book just as much. I found the characters just as engaging, and I loved getting to see more of the world. There were some moments that I was literally sitting ramrod straight because I was so excited about what was happening.

That's pretty much all I have to say in terms of a review. However, I do have one complaint: It was way too short. Not even an "I wish there was more" kind of short. It was a full-on "this isn't long enough." It read more like Monument 14 #1.5. A pre-sequel novella, or something. Maybe I've just become spoiled by big books lately, but anything under 300 (MAYBE 275) pages seems tiny. The first book was pushing it for me at 294 pages, but this one was just plum too short.

So, if you want my advice, I would read these back-to-back as if they were one book. Sky on Fire takes up immediately where the first book left off, so I don't even think it would feel weird. And if this were 1 500-600 page book I think it would be perfect. After all, when I love characters and a story this much, I want as much as I can! Hopefully book 3 (Savage Drift) will be bigger! But I'll definitely read it regardless of how long it is, 'cause this series is awesome!

Other Reviews (May have spoilers!):

• Chick Loves Lit (Loved it!)
• On the Wings of Books (It was okay)
• TBA (Didn't Like It)

*I am an amazon affiliate. If you purchase this book using my link, I will get a tiny fraction of the purchase, which goes toward contests.

I am so pleased to welcome Emmy Laybourne back to Squeaky Books! She was here last year for the Squeaky Books Birthday Bash and I love having her back! Check out her pretty awesome guest post, and then enter to win copies of her books!


It’s such a joy to be back here on Squeaky Books to kick off the Blog Tour for Sky On Fire!

One of the best things about being a writer is the strange and fascinating things you learn while doing research! While writing the MONUMENT 14 series, I’ve learned about Thermobaric bombs, the intricacies of Google Maps, field methods for purifying drinking water, and I’ve basically memorized the layout of the dorms at the University of Missouri at Columbia. (They will show up in Book Three: Savage Drift!)

Without giving you any plot spoilers, I thought that I’d show you a list of the things I googled while writing SKY ON FIRE.

When you know that MONUMENT 14 is about fourteen kids from Monument, CO who take shelter in a
superstore while civilization collapses outside the gates and that the second book in the series, SKY ON FIRE, follows two groups of these kids, as one group tries to survive inside the store while the other braves a violent and dangerous landscape in a battered school-bus, some of these questions take on a sinister significance!

The 8 Weirdest Things I Googled While Writing SKY ON FIRE

1. Can you put sleeping pills into soup?
2. Air force slang for “girl.” Air Force slang for “injured person.”
3. How can I set a dislocated shoulder by myself.
4. Do they make battery powered chainsaws?
5. What’s it called when you throw up from working out too hard?
6. Ingredients of Kingsford Lighter fluid?
7. What’s the Mexican slang for testicles?
8. Can someone actually use a grappling hook to climb a building?

Now the question goes to you! What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever googled when writing? I’d really love to know...

Thanks to Enna and Squeaky Books. Tomorrow my book tour will head over to Reading Teen. Join me there for an exclusive interview. And please keep in touch with me at www.emmylaybourne.com, on Facebook at the Monument 14 Fan page or on the Twitter @emmylaybourne.


Good news! I have TWO books to give away to ONE lucky winner! Somebody will get a paperback copy of the first Monument 14 book, as well as a hardcover of Monument 14: Sky on Fire. Enter the rafflecopter below to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I've been getting a TON of spam comments since I took off captcha. Now, it's worth it to me if y'all really hate captcha. But... let me know how much you hate it, please. If don't want me to turn it back on, I won't. If you don't care, I'm bringing it back.

Seriously. I will do whatever you tell me.

(Also, I've had a really crazy last few weeks since school got out, but I've got a lot of stuff scheduled for next week and the weeks following. So FOR REAL, I'm coming back in full force soon.)