Wake and Fade by Lisa McMann

"Your Dreams Are Not Your Own" Wake and Fade by Lisa McMann are about a girl named Janie and her unique ability to enter people's dreams...whether she wants to or not. Wake did not sound like a book I would normally read because it is not about preternatural creatures but it was recommended on a Twilight fan site I frequent, twilightseriestheories.com, so I thought I would check it out. I am glad and upset that I did. Glad because the book was phenominal, upset because I want the third book, Gone, to come out already. These books are short and fast reads, but McMann definitely packs a punch in these 200+ page books. Here is the synopsis from Wake:

"For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting suked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.
She can't tell anybody about what she does--they'd never belive her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.
Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant...."

Wake is unexpectedly good and I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I can't give it a 5 out of 5 because there was a little too much normality to the random dream sequences, but not enough to take away fully from the story. Maybe I think that because my dreams are usually so crazy and weird that other people's dreams are too boring. Janie is a somewhat typical highschool student eventhough her mother is a drunk and she doesn't know her father. She gets through her day hoping nobody falls asleep in her classes and works evenings at a local nursing home. There she finds an unlikely confidant that seems to know more about Janie than Janie does. She also stumbles upon an unlikely friend, Cabel. I don't want to give too much away, but I love Cabel! Anyway, Janie soon finds that her strange ablility can actually be useful.
After Wake, McMann presents us with Fade, which is just as good as the Wake, but a little different. Janie still uses her ability in her usefull way, but it takes her down a strange path. She also finds out some disturbing things about her ability that may make her think twice. She also sees a different side of Cabel, one that she may not like.
I really recommend these books to anyone that likes a good mystery. They are suspenseful and edgy. I really like the characters, especially Cabel, and I can't wait for Gone to come out in February 2010. If you crave more from McMann and need something before Gone comes out to fill your Wake series void, click here to read Wake in Cabel's point of view.

Fever Series By Karen Marie Moning

I am a huge fan of the HBO TV series True Blood because I am a huge fan of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series. Therefore I listen to a weekly podcast called Last Bite. At the end of the podcast, the hosts do a segment where they tell the listeners about the books they are reading at the moment. One of the hosts' was talking about The Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. It sounded ok and when I heard that you could download the first book, Darkfever, for free here or here, I immediately did just that. I read it in about a week. I give it a 5 out of 5 stars. Darkfever was not like anything I had ever read. This series is in the romance section, but I am confused as to why. It has more action and suspense and you only get romance in Faefever and Dreamfever. I finished Dreamfever in less than a week. The next day I was at Borders with my coupon in tow ready to buy Book 2, Bloodfever, but they were sold out of it! So I ordered it and had it shipped to the store. It was the longest wait EVER! Not really, it was only 3 days, but it seemed like it took forever. When I went to pick up Bloodfever, I also bought Faefever since I was there. I finished both over the next three days. Luck would have it, Borders sent out a 40% off coupon the next day and after work, I picked up Dreamfever. I am a little obsessed with this series. The characters are so intricate and intriguing that I could NOT put these books down. Here is the synopsis of Darkfever:

"MacKayla Lane's life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she's your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman. Or so she thinks...until something extraordinary happens.
When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death-a cryptic message on Mac's cell phone-Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister's killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed-a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae..."

I know what you are thinking, Fae? Not exactly my favorite book subjects either, but man o man did I forget about my predjudice fast! MacKayla is thrust into a world she was not ready for and completely not expecting. She meets a "man" named Jericho Barrons that helps her along the way and a fae prince named V'lane that may or may not be on her side. Both of them will melt your pants off, no kidding. You will see what I mean when you read this. The story line builds and builds throughout each book. The characters are ever changing and little bits of their true identities get revealed in each book. By the end of Faefever, which ends in a horribly intense cliffhanger, you are so in love with these characters, they are all you think about. Dreamfever was unbelievable. So much happens in this book, it is a little overwhelming, but in a good way. It is funny, sad, shocking, sexy, adventurous, and irresistible. I can't say enough about it, but I don't want to give anything away. Anything that I could tell you specifically about the plot line will give something away that adds to the suspense of the book. And if I thought Faefever ended in a cliffhanger, Moning will have you falling off the cliff at the end of Dreamfever. Who is it?!!. Sorry, I am all in a tizzy about the end I just can't control myself. This is definitely one series I will be reading multiple times. Just download the first book because it is free and then I guarantee you will be at the library or bookstore trying to get your hands on the rest of the series. Shadowfever is the next and last book of this series. I don't know when the release date is, but rest assured, I will be at Borders that day waiting for it to open.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Sparks are igniting. Flames are spreading. And the Capitol wants revenge. Catching Fire is the second in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins and was recently released on September 1, 2009. Knowing how much I enjoyed the first book, I was waiting outside Borders with a co-worker the morning of the release date. I read the book in two afternoons. It was amazing! Definitely a 5 out of 5 stars. Here is part of the synopsis from the inside cover:

"Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol--a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create."

This sequel is just as good as the original if not better. It has the same heroic characters and immensely detailed and fascinating world created by Collins. However, this book is about 5 times more suspenseful and has about 10 times more action. The story begins right where Hunger Games left off. Katniss and Peeta are back at District 12 after being brought back by the train from the Capitol. They are enjoying some down time in their new houses and money for a while before they begin their Victory tour through each District. Some unexpected things happen to Katniss, but one visit from someone in her past really puts her on edge. Then comes the tour. Peeta and Katniss are paraded through each District doing speeches and dining with the higher ups in each. Collins does not go into detail about what occurs in each District visited on the tour, but what we do get to read about is utterly shocking. Collins really knows how to pull at your heartstrings. After the tour Katniss and Peeta return to District 12 to find some interesting changes. A lot happens in a short amount of time and I have never been so disbelieving as when I read what this years Hunger Games entails. I am not going to spoil it for you so I am going to skip to the end. Gale says the last line of the book and it is a bigger cliff hanger than the end of the first book. I am just completely ticked off that I don't know when the next book comes out.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman was a novel that I randomly picked while perusing Amazon one day. The reviews were good and it sounding like a very interesting read. As stated on the back cover of the book:

"Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart--and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed--a dark subculture flourishing in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city--a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known..."

Summary
The main character in this book is Richard Mayhew, a somewhat boring man that has recently settled in an apartment in London. He has a controlling fiance whom is constantly ordering him around. He works in an office and has a collection of troll dolls on his desk. One evening Richard and his fiance are walking to London to eat dinner with her boss when they find a badly beaten young woman named Door lying on the sidewalk. Richard insists on helping the woman, but his fiance wants to leave her for dead. Ultimately, Richard decides that he should help the woman regardless of what his fiance says and he takes the woman back to his apartment. Once home, Richard offers the woman clothing, a shower and first aid because she is adamant about not going to the hospital. While at his house, Richard learns some interesting, but hardly believable things about Door. After some visitors and a favor from Richard, Door leaves his apartment. Richard then goes to work and realizes nobody recognizes him or even know he exists. Richard goes on a journey to find Door to see if she can help him get his life back. The only question is, does he really want to leave this new world he was so unwillingly thrust into?

Review
The world Gaiman has created for this book is like nothing I have ever read before. In fact, it kind of grossed me out because it just sounded really dirty. Especially since most of the time the main character Richard is tromping around in the undergrounds of London. Richard often has foreshadowing dreams that feature him in an awesome battle, however, when the battle finally commences, it turns out to be very anticlimactic. Door is an peculiar character whom has been through a very terrible ordeal. The entire time I was reading, I was trying understood the relationship between Door and Richard. I sort of wanted them to be romantically involved, but I really wasn't sure if that would have worked out.

The other characters in this book range from other world creatures, to crazy homeless people. There are bounty hunters/assansins, rats, angels, warriors, vampires, witches, and creatures that I can't even explain. The best parts of Neverwhere were the monks and the Floating Market. Throughout the book, there are slow parts that seem to drone on forever. However, there are also very suspenseful moments that make you not want to put it down. Overall, I am giving Neverwhere 3 out of 5 stars.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My first review is going to be on The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games is a book that was recommended by a podcast that I listen to and I was glad for the recommendation. This book was an amazing read and I have loaned it out to several of my friends and they have all loved it as well. I definitely give it a 5 out of 5 stars.

DESCRIPTION:
Per the inside sleeve of the book:

"In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV."

The main character's name is Katniss and she is a sixteen-year-old girl that lives with her mother and little sister, Prim, in District 12. After her fathers death, her mother is devastated which forces Katniss to take over the role of head of the household to provide food and money for her family. At the annual drawing to see who will participate in the Hunger Games, Prim's name is drawn, so Katniss volunteers to replace Prim in the Games. The boy chosen is Peeta, a boy Katniss knows from her past. Once the journey to the Capitol begins, Katniss and Peeta are given a coach of sorts and are thrust head first into the game that neither one may come out of alive.

REVIEW:
Katniss, is a very strong independent heroine and she is very inspiring. The author really delivers the desperation and determination that Katniss is experiencing throughout the book. There is something for everybody in these 374 pages including action, adventure, blood and guts, romance, friendship, and futuristic, sci-fi creatures. While reading, I often found myself wondering what I would do in Katniss's situation and decided that I never wanted to find out. The story builds up to the biggest tormenting cliff hanger that I literally threw the book across the room. I just could not believe that was the end. Good thing the sequel, titled Catching Fire, comes out September 1st.