Review: The Future We Left Behind by Mike A. Lancaster

Title: The Future We Left Behind
Author: Mike A. Lancaster
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: 13th November 2012
Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

Quick Review: Thousands of years in the future the divide between humanity and technology has become nearly unrecognizable. Each thought, each action is logged, coded, backed up. Data is as easily exchanged through the fiber-optic-like cables that extend from fingertips as it might be through ordinary conversation. It's a brave new world: A world that the Straker Tapes say is a result of many human "upgrades." But no one is sure whether the Straker Tapes are a work of fiction or an eerie peek into an unimaginable past. 

Nearly sixteen-year-old Peter Vincent has been raised to believe that everything that the backward Strakerites cling to is insane--an utter waste of time and potential. Since his father is David Vincent, genius inventor of the artificial bees that saved the world's crops and prevented massive famine, how could Peter believe anything else?

But when Peter meets Alpha, a Strakerite his own age, suddenly the theories about society-upgrades don't sound quite so crazy, especially when she shows him evidence that another upgrade is imminent. And worse, there may be a conspiracy by the leaders of the establishment to cover it up. A conspiracy spearheaded by Peter's own father.

Gripping and full of unexpected twists, The Future We Left Behind takes the unsettling questions raised in Human.4, and flips them entirely. What if we knew that the very way we live was about to be changed in an instant, and we could stop it? And what if everything we are sure we know is entirely wrong?

Detailed Review: This book has so many surprises! Honestly that just managed to blow my head off a few   times! 

I didn't get to read the first book in the series but this book itself also works as a standalone.

Would you want to know how it feels like when your memories are tampered by an unknown person? Because this is what happens to the people in the book, including the main character, Peter. What if your mind is not controlled by you but by some alien programmers that can decide when the next upgrade is? You probably wouldn't want to know the answer to that.  

A conspiracy that involves Peter Vincent's mother's appearance and an unknown upgrade that is arriving that can leave some people behind and bring others with them, as in the case with Kyle Straker and many others a hundred thousand years ago is just the ideal plot to make your head spin. Plus if your mother is willing to disappear just for your father's psychotic project, you find it even harder to believe that she loves her husband more than her son. 

It hurts to know that, isn't it?

Betrayal and love are all mixed into this one spectacular story that will leave readers wondering the same things as Peter and Alpha ( his companion and girlfriend) trudge through their parents' secret pasts to find a truth that is both devastating and scary.

This follows the Kyle paradigm. ( Read the book to find out more! I highly encourage it because you won't know what I'm talking about!)

Brief Review: This book was unexpected in many ways that I lost count. The world that the author has created never ceases to amaze me.

Final Rating: 5/5 'Totally Amazing!'

Your Reviewer:

Special Thanks to: 

TGIF - Feature & Follow #130

FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY is a blog hop that is designed to provide as much exposure towards other bloggers as well as yourself, and to expand following. It's hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each whom feature a chosen blog for a week, it's also an interesting way to get to know one another bloggers.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

What New Years blogging or writing resolution have you placed on yourself? 

For me, I've placed a resolution to start writing up more reviews as last year was such a busy year and the start of our blog, Girl In The Woods Reviews! Hopefully this comes with new followers and more comments! 

Hope it will happen because this is my resolution! 

New Year Celebration: Books We Loved in 2012

It's the New Year! 2012 has passed with mistakes and fond memories. To show how much we loved 2012, we want to list the top 10 books we loved in 2012!

Rebel Heart by Moira Young

 City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare 

Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl 

 Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

 Insurgent by Veronica Roth 

 Hallowed by Cynthia Hand 

 Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Rapture by Lauren Kate

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Legend by Marie Lu 

Waiting on Wednesday: The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by us, that highlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication 'can't-wait-to-read' selection is:

Title: The Moon and More

Author: Sarah Dessen

Release Date: June 4th 2013

Publisher: Viking Juvenile 

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

Emaline works at her family's vacation rental company the summer before she leaves for college. She must confront her values, goals and choices as her relationship with city-boy Theo evolves and she's forced to say goodbye to the beach town where she grew up.

The description is really short so I'll just have to make do with the resources I have currently - I love the cover. I've read other books by Sarah Dessen and they're all really good so I'm guaranteed that this book will be a good read for you guys who love contemporary romance! 

So I can't wait till it comes out :)

Review: A Shimmer of Angels by Lisa M. Basso

Title: A Shimmer of Angels
Author: Lisa M. Basso
Release Date: 29th January 2013
Publisher: Month9Books
Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

Quick Review: Sixteen-year-old Rayna sees angels, and has the medication and weekly therapy sessions to prove it. Now, in remission, Rayna starts fresh at a new school, lands a new job, and desperately tries for normalcy. She ignores signs that she may be slipping into the world she has tried so hard to climb out of. But these days, it’s more than just hallucinations that keep Rayna up at night. Students are dying, and she may be the only one who can stop it. Can she keep her job, her sanity, and her friends from dying at the hands of angels she can't admit to seeing?

Detailed Review: When I finished reading this book, my first thoughts were 'Wow, this is just totally amazing.' This book has such a relaxing feeling to it that I feel like I'm out in the park once again, breathing in some fresh air. In other words, this book is original.

Nowadays, among mythology, many authors choose angels, or Nephillim, so it's getting quite suffocating with all these angel stuff in your head.

But to be honest, I didn't feel like that when I read this book. 

This book is about a girl called Rayna, who because of her ability to see angels, was considered insane enough to be entered into a rehabilitation center. Nobody knows this but her sister and father, not even her best friend Lee. Her mother died in an accident a few years back.

Angels, Rayna was told didn't exist, and she suffered a sickness called schizophrenia, where the 'hallucinations' happened to convinced the patient that the people they loved, who had died  was in heaven. Or rather there was such place called heaven.

But she wants to start once again. She wants a new life, untainted by angel sightings. She's still in remission but at least she was free from daily therapies. She managed to convince her family that she's changed. That is, until she saw the blonde-haired angel, who also goes to her school, with gleaming white wings that reflect the sun and feel soft underneath her touch. His name is Cam, or Camael.

That's when she starts to lose her sanity all over again, and to keep it in check, she writes everything in a notebook. 

Add another angel with black wings, who feasts on human souls when he's hungry, and she just might as well die. His name is Kade, or Kassade. He's like the bad guy, BUT not quite. The real baddie hasn't shown up. Yet.

But something else is happening. The first thing:

She finds Alison Woodward, a fellow classmate in Art in a bathroom, with her blood pooling on the floor. 

You know what happened before that? Alison had drawn an ANGEL without a face but with black wings, with a blue background. 

And if you're wondering, no it's not Kade. 

It's Azriel, one of Lucifer's worshippers. Lucifer is the king of the Underworld. I'm sure you should know that by now if you read the Bible.

But what he wants are not the students that die under his grip, including Lee, but Rayna herself. She is a weapon to both heaven and hell, armed with the ability to see and locate angels, something that she herself won't even accept. Angels like Cam, the good guys actually can't see the Fallen Ones like Kade or Azriel since they weren't able to see each other's wings. That purpose is to avoid slaughter between both parties when they meet on Earth. 

Torn between the one that is good and the one that is bad, her confused feelings are muddled as she finds herself attracted to the angels that she has learnt to take from granted when they are actually real. 

I just think that previous paragraph is really what makes the book good. The unrequited love between Cam and Rayna, and between Kade and Rayna is what will draw our attentions the most, along with the mystery of the deaths of the students in the story. 

Brief Review: Just amazing. Best Angel book I've ever read. I'd give anythig to read the sequel! This book has brought me to another level of understanding of angels. This book has absolutely shown how much effort the author has put into it. Armed with its own originality and freedom, this book has completely charmed my heart.

Final Rating: 5/5 'Totally Amazing'



Your Reviewer:


Special Thanks to: 

TGIF - Feature & Follow Friday #129

FEATURE & FOLLOW FRIDAY is a blog hop that is designed to provide as much exposure towards other bloggers as well as yourself, and to expand following. It's hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each whom feature a chosen blog for a week, it's also an interesting way to get to know one another bloggers.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

What book do you think everyone should read? If you could gift the entire population with one book? 

This is a pretty hard question. Hmm... I don't really - it all depends on the culture and what type of book everyone is interested in... so I guess the book that I chose is... The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern! I don't know why but it's a book that I would love to share to the world! 

If you haven't read it, you should - it's one of most fav books! 

Waiting on Wednesday: Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by us, that highlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication 'can't-wait-to-read' selection is:

Title: Level 2

Author: Lenore Appelhans

Release Date: 15th January 2013

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads'

In this gripping exploration of a futuristic afterlife, a teen discovers that death is just the beginning.

Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia Ward has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow drones, Felicia passes the endless hours reliving memories of her time on Earth and mourning what she’s lost—family, friends, and Neil, the boy she loved.

Then a girl in a neighboring chamber is found dead, and nobody but Felicia recalls that she existed in the first place. When Julian—a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life—comes to offer Felicia a way out, Felicia learns the truth: If she joins the rebellion to overthrow the Morati, the angel guardians of Level 2, she can be with Neil again.

Suspended between Heaven and Earth, Felicia finds herself at the center of an age-old struggle between good and evil. As memories from her life come back to haunt her, and as the Morati hunt her down, Felicia will discover it’s not just her own redemption at stake… but the salvation of all mankind.

Ahhh! I totally want to read this right now. Afterlife is so seldom used in YA books nowadays that this is just a breath of fresh air. The cover! Must have it!

Never ignore good books such as this. My advice.