Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

"The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule the world. To commemorate their Great Victory over Britain and Russia, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor's ball. Yael, who escaped from a death camp, has one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler." -Goodreads synopsis

"She-wolf. An interesting choice."
"I didn't choose it," she told him. "It chose me."

In the 1940's Yael was living in a Nazi death camp where she was selected for an experiment. She starts receiving injection that are suppose to help erase her Jewish traits. They wanted to turn her into the perfect Aryan specimen. What they didn't expect was that it would turn her into something more.

Yael is now someone she doesn't even recognize. A girl who can't even remember her own face. She goes from living in the camp to living on the streets. Pick pocketing to survive, until she is recused by the resistance. Once she's with them she is 100% committed to the cause. She starts studying, training, and preparing. All of this so she can join a motorcycle race, in hopes that she'll win, so she can get in the presences of Hitler, and kill him.

Yael is one of the most unique females I've ever read. She is the perfect balance of all things. She is vulnerable but strong. She is smart but has moments of doubt. She is wild but knows when to be tamed. You'll feel like you know her without ever really knowing her at all. It's wonderful. She is as unique as the storyline. She is a character that has known true torture, has been willing to be patience, and is now ready to seek revenge. We get to go on the journey from her from start to finish. The side characters in this book do a good job of adding angst without overshadowing the true message of this story. Felix is the kind of brother most wish for and Luka is the mysterious hooded bad boy that we all love to read about.

This is what leads me to what was truly amazing about this book... A plot that is unlike any other. It was so unique. I usually hate stories that bounce back and forth from the past to the present. I always feel like they never flow well. This wasn't a problem for Wolf by Wolf. It flows back and forth seamlessly and always transitioned at the right time. I also thought that I was going to love the action packed race moments (I really enjoyed those moments), but I found myself looking forward reading about Yael's youth. Those moments were so heart-wrecking and real. Truly heart-punching. We get a look into how could have continued and would be if Hitler would have stayed in power.

"Not everything was gray ashfall, yellowing weeds, withered blue hands, crimson rivers of blood....There was still beauty in this world. And it was worth fighting for."

Wolf by Wolf surprised me. This was a slow burn of a book with so many twist and turns. With the ultimate betrayal that will come out of nowhere. It was suspenseful, gritty, and intriguing. All these things combined together bring for on a powerhouse jaw dropping ending that I did not see coming!

Wolf by Wolf has a writing style all it's own. Soul gripping metaphors. A tale like nothing I've read before. And brings something new and original with it's characters. I don't know where this story is headed, but I'm very excited to find out.

10/10
-Angela

Sea of Stars by Amy Bartol

According to Alameedan prophecy, one house will rise to power and the other will be completely wiped out, and Kricket is believed to be the weapon that will tip the scales. Kricket is forced to come face to face with finding out if her fate really is written in the stars.

THANK YOU AMY BARTOL FOR GETTING ME OUT OF MY READING SLUMP!!!

Sea of Stars literally picks up where Under Different Stars left off. We are still following Kricket's story as she continues to be a fugitive. Kricket in this novel much like the first, is still a force to be reckoned with. She is still so strong and insanely smart. The big difference between book one and two is that this one is over-packed with action (yes this is a good thing). You’ll find yourself barely having time to breathe with all the twist and turns that are happening. The first "OMG" moment happens so early on in the book that I’m still floored by it. All the action in this book has a snowball effect…. Gets going right away and as the novel continues just gets bigger and bigger.

We get to learn not just more about Kricket’s powers but more about her past. This making her an even stronger character than she was in the previous novel. The other character plus in this book is Trey. If you’ve read Under Different Stars than you know how amazing and swoon-worthy he was in book one… In Sea of Stars he just gets even better. As much as I did like him in the UDS I still wanted so much more out of his character and I got it in this book. We also get re/introduced to several characters. We still have Trey's boys, Jax and Wayra. I wish I would have gotten more of them in this book, but never was let down when they were present. We still have have Kyon as the villain. Loved him in this book! He is an amazingly written villain and I can't wait to get more of him in the next book. I loved getting a  little peek into his softer sides as well. We finally get to meet Charisma and Trey’s parents (Sadly kept calling his father Vaseline in my head, didn’t mean to but couldn’t stop myself). All were great sub characters, but none I have yet to connect with. Hoping that in book three we'll get more of them. My favorite however is a new one, Giffen. Too me he gives off this Rowan from Heir of Fire feel. Which I loved! He still has a lot of mystery surrounding him, but I look forward to seeing him in book three. I think he is going to add something so grand to this series. I want to go more into detail about him because I really liked his character, but for spoiling reasons I'll leave the convo about him at that.

On to my favorite book subject… The romance! BE STILL MY BEATING HEART! I’M SWOOING ALL OVER THE SOUTH! I loved that this book had a lot more Tricket moments (Yeah, I went there). I loved getting to see them on a more personal level, I loved their banter, and I love how they are towards each other. I feel like in a lot of books like this relationships are built of half truth and a lot of hidden secrets. This isn’t the case with them and I really enjoyed that.  

“I want to discover every thought… every look… every other freckle." "Why every other freckle? Why not all of them?”
“Well, I didn't want to sound obsessed, and also some freckles aren’t as good-natured as others" As I laugh harder, Trey rises on his elbows, smiling down at me. "That's the sound that I want to live in for the rest of my life."

Sigh, just loved it. Any and every moment these two are present was written to perfection. I'm on pins and needles waiting to see where their relationship goes next. I want NEED more of these two. 

The world building in Sea of Stars, is so on point. We get a deeper and move descriptive look into the universe. Amy paints a powerful picture of life in Ethar. We also get shown some super badass weapons. As far as the plot went, as I stated before, it's massively action packed. We never get a moment to rest our legs. It's just one insane moment after the next. *Small Spoiler ahead if you haven't read book one* My favorite thing about this book was how Kricket is learning more about her powers and how she can control them. I feared Kricket being able to see into the future would be hard to write and have play out well, but Amy does it flawlessly. I can't stress enough how much I absolutely loved how all the vision played out! Seriously did not see it coming! It's just great! Found myself having to pick my jaw up off the floor after everything is revealed and comes together. Oh and that ending... Seriously!!!! 

This is torture! How can you leave us hanging like that?!?! I mean, hey I'm super thankful for such an amazing ending, but I don't know how I'll be able to wait for the next book! Not only does this series have some of my favorite covers, it's steadily becoming one of my favorite series.

As one of my most anticipated reads of 2015 I wasn't let down.

10/10 Stars
-Angela 

(Sea of Stars BookDepo)