[COVER REVEAL] Spark – Holly Schindler

This post is part of the official cover reveal of Holly Schindler’s Spark.

Now Available for US Pre-Order

Tara Altebrando: THE LEAVING: 7th June 2016: Buy (US)
Lenore Appelhans, Lydia Kang, R. C. Lewis, Demitria Lunetta, Mindy McGinnis, Phoebe North, Kate Karyus Quinn, Beth Revis et al: AMONG THE SHADOWS: 14th September 2015: Buy (US)
Kelley Armstrong: CITY OF THE LOST: 10th May 2016: Buy (US)
Jennifer Lynn Barnes: THE LONG GAME: 7th June 2016: Buy (US)
Kady Cross: SISTERS OF BLOOD AND SPIRIT (paperback): 29th March 2016: Buy (US)
Kady Cross: SISTERS OF SALT AND IRON: 29th March 2016: Buy (US)
Darynda Jones: THE DIRT ON NINTH GRAVE (mass market paperback): 31st May 2016: Buy (US)
Jenny Martin: MARKED: 17th May 2016: Buy (US)
Katie McGarry: WALK THE EDGE: 29th March 2016: Buy (US)
Amanda Panitch: DAMAGE DONE (paperback): 17th May 2016: Buy (US)
Veronica Roth: FOUR (paperback): 19th January 2016: Buy (US)
Madeleine Roux: THE WARDEN: 2nd February 2016: Buy (US)
Holly Schindler: SPARK: 17th May 2016: Buy (US)
Amanda Sun: HEIR TO THE SKY: 26th April 2016: Buy (US)
Paul Tremblay: A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS (paperback): 10th May 2016: Buy (US)
Alison Umminger: MY FAVORITE MANSON GIRL: 7th June 2016: Buy (US)

[REVIEW] Spark – Amy Kathleen Ryan

Amy Kathleen Ryan
Spark (Sky Chasers, Book 2)
Macmillan (US: 17th July 2012; AU: 1st August 2012; UK: 2nd August 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Behold: a trilogy with a middle book that doesn’t dip in quality compared to Book 1. Straight off the bat, you’ve got to give the author points for that.

What I love most about the Sky Chasers series is the setting: a generational spaceship on the way to a new planet. Also, the rival spaceship, and the space between. Love it, fascinated with it, want more of it. Book 3 can’t come soon enough.

And life inside the Empyrean and the New Horizon involves conflict upon conflict, and all this tension forms an awesome page-turner.

But here’s where things get difficult: I really don’t like the main characters. They piss me off so much. Which I guess is better than “meh” characters to whom I feel indifferent, but still – annoying characters downgrade what would have otherwise been a five-star read. Kieran is power-hungry and Waverly is trigger-happy, and Seth’s more of a plot device so he doesn’t really have a personality.

Kieran Alden is acting Captain, and still trying to push religion upon the Empyrean’s residents. He’s a real pain in the arse until after the elections, when he matures preparing for peace talks with the New Horizon. Here we come to understand Kieran and appreciate his efforts, because as a leader he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. His decisions aren’t popular, even if they’re the right ones.

Waverly Marshall is one pissed-off special snowflake, convinced that Kieran is a dictator and she’s the one to call an end to his regime. She leads the push for elections and gets on the Command Council. But plans for a bloodless coup to retrieve the parents from New Horizon go astray when it’s clear Waverly has violence in mind. It’s hard to remember she’s on the side of good when she gets such a kick out of torturing suspected terrorists. Waverly would’ve loved working at Guantanamo Bay.

P.S. One character remarks that stalking isn’t creepy “if you’re doing it for a good reason”. I laughed my arse off at that. How wrong he is…

August 2012 Releases

Done with July 2012 Releases? Here are August 2012 Releases. Fur future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

17th July 2012 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Amy Kathleen Ryan
Spark (Sky Chasers, Book 2)
Macmillan St. Martin’s Griffin (US: 17th July 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
After a desperate escape from the enemy ship, Waverly has finally made it back to the Empyrean. The memory of home has been keeping her alive for the past months…but home is nothing like she left it. Forced to leave their captive parents behind on the New Horizon, she’s returned only to find that Kieran has become a strict leader and turned the crew against Seth. What happened to the Kieran she thought she knew? Now Waverly’s not sure whom she can trust. And the one person she wants to believe in is darkly brilliant Seth, the ship’s supposed enemy. Waverly knows that the situation will only get worse until they can rescue their parents – but how? Before they have time to make a plan, an explosion rocks the Empyrean, and Seth and Waverly are targeted as the prime suspects. Can they find the true culprit before Kieran locks them away…or worse? Will Waverly follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk? Now more than ever, every step could bring them closer to a new beginning – or a sudden end.

July 2012 Releases

Done with June 2012 Releases? Here are July 2012 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

7 New Covers (Armstrong, Arthur, Caine, Cooper, Cross, Edwards, Ryan)