Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful
by Arwen Elys Dayton

Synopsis:

For fans of television shows Black Mirror and Westworld, this compelling, mind-bending novel is a twisted look into the future, exploring how far we will go to remake ourselves into the perfect human specimen and what it means to be human at all.

Set in our world, spanning the near to distant futures, Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is a novel made up of six interconnected stories that ask how far we will go to remake ourselves into the perfect human specimens, and how hard that will push the definition of "human."

PH Blog Tour: Films That Remind Me of LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff

Listen up, sprogs! Today is the glorious day of my stop for the PH Blog Tour of LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff and I am so excited to welcome you all. Huge thank you to Rafael of The Royal Polar Bear Reads for hosting. 

Reading is like watching a film in your head using the author’s words and your own imagination, true cert'. So for my stop, I will be dishing out a list of 20C virtch that are a lot like reading LIKEL1K3. Fizzy, eh? (Ok guys, sorry if I am using too much of the book slang here. Blame book hangover.)

Review: The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik by David Arnold

The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik
by David Arnold 

Synopsis:
This is Noah Oakman → sixteen, Bowie believer, concise historian, disillusioned swimmer, son, brother, friend.

Then Noah → gets hypnotized.

Now Noah → sees changes—inexplicable scars, odd behaviors, rewritten histories—in all those around him. All except his Strange Fascinations . . .

Mini-Reviews: YA Backlist Titles # 1

Um yes, hi. I know there is no excuse and proper explanation for my unplanned absence these past few weeks, -er months, -er what?! Oh wow is 2017 over? Yeah, it seems so. And looking around the reading community, everyone seems pretty settled in with 2018 already. Well, except me of course. Gah, I wasn’t even able to make any New Year’s post or anything!

Okay, I will process and panic privately about this later. In the meantime, let me unceremoniously drop mini-reviews of some books that I’ve read while I was away from this blog. It’s my first time doing mini-reviews and it’s basically just bullet points of bookworm blabber, not my usual word wall style of reviews. You probably know how I’m a proponent of do-not-abandon-your-TBR-of-backlist-titles movement, so these mini-reviews are all for YA backlist books.

Review: Satellite by Nick Lake

Satellite
by Nick Lake

Synopsis:
A teenage boy born in space makes his first trip to Earth.

He’s going to a place he’s never been before: home.

Moon 2 is a space station that orbits approximately 250 miles above Earth. It travels 17,500 miles an hour, making one full orbit every ninety minutes. It’s also the only home that fifteen-year-old Leo and two other teens have ever known.

Born and raised on Moon 2, Leo and the twins, Orion and Libra, are finally old enough and strong enough to endure the dangerous trip to Earth. They’ve been “parented” by teams of astronauts since birth and have run countless drills to ready themselves for every conceivable difficulty they might face on the flight.

Review: Beyond the Red by Ava Jae

Beyond the Red
by Ava Jae

Summary:

Alien queen Kora has a problem as vast as the endless crimson deserts. She’s the first female ruler of her territory in generations, but her people are rioting and call for her violent younger twin brother to take the throne. Despite assassination attempts, a mounting uprising of nomadic human rebels, and pressure to find a mate to help her rule, she’s determined to protect her people from her brother’s would-be tyrannical rule.

Eros is a rebel soldier hated by aliens and human alike for being a half-blood. Yet that doesn’t stop him from defending his people, at least until Kora’s soldiers raze his camp and take him captive. He’s given an ultimatum: be an enslaved bodyguard to Kora, or be executed for his true identity—a secret kept even from him.

Review: More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

More Happy Than Not

by Adam Silvera

Summary:
The Leteo Institute's revolutionary memory-relief procedure seems too good to be true to Aaron Soto -- miracle cure-alls don't tend to pop up in the Bronx projects. But Aaron can't forget how he's grown up poor or how his friends aren't always there for him. Like after his father committed suicide in their one bedroom apartment. Aaron has the support of his patient girlfriend, if not necessarily his distant brother and overworked mother, but it's not enough.

Then Thomas shows up. He has a sweet movie-watching setup on his roof, and he doesn't mind Aaron's obsession with a popular fantasy series. There are nicknames, inside jokes. Most importantly, Thomas doesn't mind talking about Aaron's past. But Aaron's newfound happiness isn't welcome on his block. Since he can't stay away from Thomas or suddenly stop being gay, Aaron must turn to Leteo to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he is.

Review: In The Beginning There Was Us by Ingrid Jonach

In The Beginning There Was Us

by Ingrid Jonach

Summary:

What would you do if you were God? If you had the power to not only give life, but take it away in the blink of an eye? These are the questions that haunt fifteen-year-old Abbey Baxter after she resurrects a boy, long lost to the ages.

The achingly beautiful and eternally melancholy Cole not only serves as a welcome distraction from her long-time crush, Elwin, but also eases the heartache that persists since the sudden passing of her younger brother, Junior, four years earlier.

As the intrigue of her relationship with Cole deepens, so too does the mystery that surrounds a growing phenomenon sweeping through her small West Virginian town, transforming the lives of its residents. Around her, two bedroom cottages are transforming into mansions without explanation and residents are waking up to bank balances that have tripled overnight, all under the watchful gaze of the sinister American Laboratory for Particle Physics, located on the outskirts of town.

Review: The Blemished by Sarah Dalton

The Blemished

by Sarah Dalton

Summary:

A beautiful world comes at a price...

In a world filled with stunning clones Mina Hart is Blemished. Her genes are worthless and that takes away her rights: her right to an Education, her right to a normal life and her right to have a child.

Mina keeps a dangerous secret which she never thought she could share until she meets Angela on her first day at St Jude's School. But their friendship is soon complicated by Angela’s adoptive brother Daniel. Mina finds herself drawn to his mysterious powers and impulsive nature. Then there is the gorgeous clone Sebastian who Mina is forbidden from even speaking to…