Mini-Review: The Taking

The Taking by Kimberly Derting
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: April 2014
Genre(s): YA, science fiction, mystery, romance

Synopsis (via goodreads.com)

A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing.

When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day.

Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men.

Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

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I came across The Taking during the Young Adult Scavenger Hunt this past October. YASH is a great way to discover new authors and expand your MUST READ list. The Taking was on mine.

Waiting on Wednesday #7: The City of Mirrors

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we bookish types are eagerly anticipating.

Whilst browsing my "to-read" list on goodreads.com to see what was coming out in the next little while, I had to suppress an actual squee of delight when I saw that MAY 24, 2016 is the release date for... [buh buh buh BUHHHHHH]

My Top 17[ish] Books Read in 2015

Here are my top seventeen-ish books I read in 2015. I get bonus points (in my head) if said book was RELEASED in 2015 by a new-ish author, but I get points taken away if I PURCHASED said book in 2015. Because I’m out of control. A Catch-22? Perhaps. But that book didn’t make this list, so my logic cancels it out… Onwards!!

From my most recent reads and looking back, here are the books that spun my head this year!!

Backlist Books Reading Challenge: January 1, 2016 - December 31, 2016: [Rage] UPDATE!

Wow. I just deleted 6 months of reviews in one fail swoop!... My stomach hurts...
On the plus side, it was an on-going post for a year-long challenge, and I've learned how to BACK UP my website, so.. learning!!... I hate learning...

TAKE TWO:

From January 1st - December 31st 2016 I'm listing ALL the books I read that were published at least one year before I read it. I [had] a short review, or a link to my longer review sur la blog... but now I'm going to list them all quick-like from January to May *gulp* and then separately post per month going on. And then I'm going to curl up in the fetal position and feel sorry for my blogging self. And listen to Sia on repeat.

On the plus side I just made Blogger my B and figured out (again) how to link to the cover of the book, which will take you to www.goodreads.com for all the book info.

IN MAY I READ:

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor (5 stars)

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1) by Phillip Pullman (5 Stars)

  The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos #2) by HRH Dan Simmons (5.5 stars)
[Full Review]

Inkheart (Inkworld #1) by Cornelia Funke (4.5 stars)











IN APRIL I READ:

 Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg (5 stars)

11/22/63 by HRH Stephen King (5 stars)
[Full Review]

Jessica Jones: Alias, Vol. 4 by Brian Michael Bendis (5 stars)

Jessica Jones: Alias, Vol. 3 by Brian Michael Bendis (4 stars)

The Retribution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #3) by Michelle Hodkin (4 stars)











IN MARCH I READ:

Radiance (Wraith Kings #1) by Grace Draven (4 stars)

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (5 stars)

Jessica Jones: Alias Vol. 2 by Brian Michael Bendis (5 stars)

A Great and Terrible Beauty by HRM Libba Bray (4 stars)

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (4 stars)
[Full Review]

The Spookshow by Tim McGregor (3 stars)

The Evolution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #2) by Michelle Hodkin (4 stars)

The Passage (The Passage #1) by Justin Cronin
[Full Review]










IN FEBRUARY I READ: 

Finders Keepers by Stephen King (3 stars)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (5 stars)
[Full Review]

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1) by Michelle Hodkin (5 stars)
[Full Review]










IN JANUARY I READ:

Jessica Jones: Alias Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis (4 stars)

The Taking by Kimberly Derting (4 stars)
[Full Review]

Hyperion by HRH Dan Simmons (4.5 stars) [read twice, Dec. & Jan.!]
[Full Epic Review]

 Lark Rising by Sandra Waugh (4 stars)

Hyperion: Amazing Sci-Fi Pumpple Cake! [Review]

Title: Hyperion
Author: Dan Simmons
Publisher: Bantam Spectra 
Published: 1989 
Genre: Science Fiction

 

 Synopsis:

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.

A stunning tour de force filled with transcendent awe and wonder, Hyperion is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention, the first volume in a remarkable new science fiction epic by the multiple-award-winning author of The Hollow Man.
(www.goodreads.com) 

Hyperion: My First Science Fiction Piece of Pumpple Cake

Holiday Hiatus (Holidatus?)

Hello, follower!

Thank you for loyally reading all of my posts! Unfortunately I SUPER HATE the holidays and they stress me out like a mofo. I will return to blog-nation in January. Until then, I will keep detailed notes on EVERYTHING I READ so as to tell you what to, or not to, read.

Adieu, fair follower, adieu,

~ Spinning Jenny

Sleeping Giants [Review]

Title: Sleeping Giants
Author: Sylvain Neuvel
Publisher: Del Ray
Expected publication date: April 2016

 Synopsis via www.goodreads.com

17 years ago: A girl in South Dakota falls through the earth, then wakes up dozens of feet below ground on the palm of what seems to be a giant metal hand. Today: She is a top-level physicist leading a team of people to understand exactly what that hand is, where it came from, and what it portends for humanity. A swift and spellbinding tale told almost exclusively through transcriptions of interviews conducted by a mysterious and unnamed character, this is a unique debut that describes a hunt for truth, power, and giant body parts.