The Reading Hideaway

Title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Author: Ken Kesey Publisher: Signet Rating: 4 Synopsis (via Goodreads): In this classic of the 1960s, Ken Kesey's hero is Randle Patrick McMurphy, a boisterous, brawling, fun-loving rebel who swaggers into the world of a mental hospital and takes over. A lusty, life-affirming fighter, McMurphy rallies the other patients around him by challenging the dictatorship of Nurse Ratched. He promotes gambling in the ward, smuggles in wine and women, and openly defies the rules at every turn. But this defiance, which starts as a sport, soon develops into a grim struggle, an all-out war between two relentless opponents: Nurse Ratched, back by the full power of authority, and McMurphy, who has only his own indomitable will. What happens when Nurse Ratched uses her ultimate weapon against McMurphy provides the story's shocking climax. Review: *backstory time* My awesomesauce AP Literature teacher, Ms. R, challenged my class at the b...

Title: Delirium Author: Lauren Oliver Publisher: HarperCollins Rating: 4 Synopsis (via Goodreads):  Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.   Review: "Hearts are fragile things.  That's why you have to be so careful." I think that my love for the dystopian genre has been apparent in some previous blog posts of mine, so you may assume that I enjoyed Delirium right up to the last page.  If you made this assumption, then you are correct... to a certain extent.  Lauren Oliver's concept of love being a disease that everyone had to be cured from was genius.  I mean, we'...

Title: Soul Inferno   Author: Aprille Legacy  Publisher: Smashwords Edition  Rating: 4  Synopsis (via Goodreads): War threatens the country. With King Phoenix taking control of the North, Sky heads to the Tsalskinese Empire to treat with the Emperor, hoping to gain his support in the coming conflict. Can Sky negotiate her way through the long standing prejudice against her country and prove herself worthy of the Emperor’s assistance? New aspects of her power and a mysterious Pirate Queen are just a few of the obstacles standing in the way of an alliance.  But little does she know, betrayal is only a whisper away...  As both the North and the South clash in fiery warfare, Sky has to make the ultimate choice to ensure the reincarnation cycle is broken for good...  Even if it means saying goodbye.  Soul Inferno is the final instalment in the Soul Trilogy. Review: " Soul Inferno is the final instalment in the Soul Trilogy."...

Waiting on Wednesday is a daily meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine . It highlights what newly released books us bloggers are most excited to read.  Title: Breakaway Author: Kat Spears  Synopsis (via Goodreads): From Kat Spears, author of Sway , comes a new novel that asks the question: when a group of four best friends begin to drift apart, what will it take to bring them back together? When Jason Marshall's younger sister dies, he knows he can count on his three best friends and soccer teammates — Mario, Jordie, and Chick — to be there for him. With a grief-crippled mother and a father who's not in the picture, he needs them more than ever. But when Mario starts hanging out with a rough group of friends and Jordie finally lands the girl of his dreams, Jason is left to fend for himself while maintaining a strained relationship with troubled and quiet Chick. Then Jason meets Raine, a girl he thinks is out of his league but who sees him for everything he wants t...

Title: The Breeding Tree Author: J. Andersen Synopsis (via Goodreads): Is the opportunity to create the next generation of life a dream come true or a deadly nightmare? When seventeen year old Katherine Dennard is selected to become a "Creation Specialist" in Sector 4, the opportunity sounds like a dream come true. But Kate soon discovers the darker side of her profession - the disposal of fetal organs and destruction of human life. It makes sense, really. In a society where disease and malformations don t exist, human perfection demands that no genetic "mutants" be allowed to live. For Sector 4, "survival of the fittest" is not just a theory - it's The Institute's main mission. When Kate discovers that The Institute is using her DNA to create new life, her work gets personal. In order to save her unviable son, she'll have to trust Micah and his band of underground Natural Born Rebels. The problem is, if The Institute discovers her bet...

Title: 1984 Author: George Orwell Publisher: Signet Rating: 5 Synopsis (via Goodreads): Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. While 1984 has come and gone, Orwell's narrative is more timely than ever. 1984 presents a "negative utopia", that is at once a startling and haunting vision of the world — so powerful that it's completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of entire generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions — a legacy that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time. Review: "Two and two make five."  "Freedom is slavery."  "War is peace." Can you see how this book screwed with my mind?!  Not only is this a more advanced piece of literature that is often used for a lesson of AP English classes, but it was way out of my league... and I liked it! Although slow at first, Winst...

Title: Hang a Thousand Trees With Ribbons Author: Ann Rinaldi Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers Rating: 5 Synopsis (via Goodreads):  Kidnapped from her home in Senegal and sold as a slave in 1761, Phillis Wheatley--as she comes to be known--stuns her adopted country by becoming America's first published black poet. Review: I tend to forget how much I love historical fiction, especially the slave era.  Although, my favorite time period happens to be the 1920's.  If time travel was a thing, that's what year I'd be in...  Once I started reading the story of Phillis Wheatley, I couldn't stop.  The first couple of chapters start out with teenage Phillis who has a special meeting with "the most noble men in Boston" to prove her reading and writing skills.  Before the important committee reveals their thoughts, the story flashes back to January of 1761 when Phillis was just a child growing up in a tiny village with her mother and infamous ...

Title: Soul Blaze Author: Aprille Legacy Publisher: Smashwords Edition Rating: 4 Synopsis (via Goodreads): After a year at the Academy, Rose is sent back to Ar Cena - minus her memory of the past year. As she tries to fit back in to her human life with relative success, her magic returns. An unsuccessful kidnap attempt by rogue mages of the North sends her back to Lotheria, where she is taken prisoner by the Academy Masters. Confused and manipulated, she bargains a way home with the Masters by guaranteeing the only thing they want from her; the death of Phoenix. But the Masters are yet to realise what they've truly unleashed... As Sky's destiny returns to haunt her once again, she realises she can't ignore who she is any longer. Review: YES, YES, YES! Why did I wait so long to read this book? I mean, for starters, it took me a while to get back into the series because I read Soul Fire a year ago. (That's right, a year ago). Is it sad that I have little t...

Title: We Can Work It Out Author: Elizabeth Eulberg Publisher: Point Rating: 3 Synopsis (via Goodreads): When Penny Lane started The Lonely Hearts Club, the goal was simple: to show that girls didn’t need to define themselves by how guys look at them, and didn’t have to value boyfriends over everything else. Penny thought she’d be an outcast for life…but then the club became far more popular than she ever imagined it would be. But what happens when the girl who never thought she’d date a good guy suddenly finds herself dating a great one? She doesn’t need a boyfriend… but she wants it to work out with this particular boyfriend. And he wants it to work out with her. Only, things keep getting in the way. Feelings keep getting hurt. Words keep getting misunderstood. Penny Lane worked hard to declare her independence. Now she needs to figure out what to do with it — and how to balance what she wants with what everyone else wants. In We Can Work It Out , Elizabeth Eulberg return...

Title: The Princesses of Iowa Author: M. Molly Backes Publisher: Candlewick Rating:  2 Synopsis (via Goodreads): What does it mean to do wrong, when no one punishes you? A smart and unflinching look at friendship, the nature of entitlement, and growing up in the heartland. Paige Sheridan has the perfect life. She's pretty, rich, and popular, and her spot on the homecoming court is practically guaranteed. But when a night of partying ends in an it-could-have-been-so-much worse crash, everything changes. Her best friends start ignoring her, her boyfriend grows cold and distant, and her once-adoring younger sister now views her with contempt. The only bright spot is her creative writing class, led by a charismatic new teacher who encourages students to be true to themselves. But who is Paige, if not the homecoming princess everyone expects her to be? In this arresting and witty debut, a girl who was once high-school royalty must face a truth that money and status can...

Title: Eleanor & Park Author: Rainbow Rowell Publisher: St. Martin's Press Rating: 5 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   Two misfits.  One extraordinary love. Eleanor ... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.  Park ... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.  Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.  Review: "There's no such thing as handsome princes, she told herself. There's no such thing as happily ever after. She looked up at Park. Into his golden green eyes. You saved my life, s...

Tit le:  Pirate Cinema Author:  Cory Doctorow Publisher:  Tom Doherty Rating:  1 Synopsis   (via Goodreads):   Trent McCauley is sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from the net. In near-future Britain, this is more illegal than ever. The punishment for being caught three times is to cut off your entire household from the internet for a year - no work, school, health or money benefits.  Trent thinks he is too clever for that to happen, but it does, and nearly destroys his family. Shamed and shattered, Trent runs away to London, where slowly he learns the ways of staying alive on the streets. He joins artists and activists fighting a new bill that will jail too many, especially minors, at one stroke. Jem introduces him to the Jammie Dodgers, beautiful brilliant "26" to love and cemetery parties.  Things look bad. Parliament is in power of a...

Title: Insignia Author: S.J. Kincaid Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books Rating: 4 Synopsis (via Goodreads):   The earth is in the middle of WWIII in   Insignia , the first entry in S. J. Kincaid's fast-paced sci-fi adventure trilogy perfect for fans of   Ender's Game .  The planet's natural resources are almost gone, and war is being fought to control the assets of the solar system. The enemy is winning. The salvation may be Tom Raines. Tom doesn't seem like a hero. He's a short fourteen-year-old with bad skin. But he has the virtual-reality gaming skills that make him a phenom behind the controls of the battle drones.  As a new member of the Intrasolar Forces, Tom's life completely changes. Suddenly, he's someone important. He has new opportunities, friends, and a shot at having a girlfriend. But there's a price to pay. Review: I don't normally read sci-fi, but the beauty of Battle of the Books is that I get to explore different genres. N...

Title: The False Prince Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen Publisher: Scholastic Rating: 5 Synopsis (via Goodreads): I n a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.  As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.  An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truth...