The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, #3) by Julie Kagawa

My name is Meghan Chase. In less than twenty-four hours I'll be seventeen. Although technically, I won't actually be turning seventeen. I've been in the Nevernever too long. When you're in Faery, you don't age. So while a year has passed in the real world, age wise I'm probably only a few days older than when I went in.

In real life, I've changed so much I don't even recognise myself.

I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.

This time, there will be no turning back.

• Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary,Urban fantasy, Magic, Paranormal, Romance, Supernatural
• Creatures: faeries
• Age: mature young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from May 12 to 15, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Lying Season (Experiment in Terror #4) by Karina Halle

Ama­teur ghost-hunter Perry Palomino has bat­tled ghosts, fought off skin­walk­ers and skirted the fine line between life and death. 

But can she sur­vive bunk­ing down in Seat­tle for a week with her partner (and man she secretly loves) Dex and his perfect girl­friend, Jennifer? 

And can she do so while being tor­mented by a mali­cious spirit from Dex’s increas­ingly shady past? 

With love and life in the bal­ance, Perry must dis­cover the truth among the lies or risk los­ing every­thing she's ever cared about.

• Genre: Paranormal Romance, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery
• Age: new adult / adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from February 16 to 17, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★★/★★★★★

Dead Sky Morning (Experiment in Terror #3) by Karina Halle

With the Experiment in Terror show finding some success, amateur ghost hunters Perry Palomino and Dex Foray embark on their most terrifying investigation yet. 

A tiny, fog-shrouded island in the rough strait between British Columbia and Washington State has held a dark secret for decades: It was a former leper colony where over forty souls were left to rot, die and bury each other. 

Now a functioning campground, Perry and Dex spend an isolated weekend there to investigate potential hauntings but as the duo quickly find out, there is more to fear on D’Arcy Island than just ghosts. 

The island quickly pits partner against partner, spiraling the pair into madness that serves to destroy their sanity, their relationship and their very lives.

• Genre: Paranormal Romance, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery
• Age: mature young adult / adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from February 14 to 16, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

The Benson (Experiment in Terror #2.5) by Karina Halle

A short, sexy and scary read.

The Benson hotel in Portland, Oregon might look like your ordinary, swanky turn-of-the century hotel, but deep in the heart of this historic icon, lie a few restless souls with secrets that won't stay buried.

Amateur ghost hunters (and your favorite "will they or won't they" pair) Perry Palomino and Dex Foray spend an evening exploring the hotel for their Internet show "Experiment in Terror" - but this is no ordinary hotel and this is no ordinary episode. There's someone here in the Benson, someone dead, who will push the boundaries of what the duo know about ghosts and challenge Perry's very notion of the truth.

The Benson is a short novella in the Experiment in Terror Series. It occurs between books #2 (Red Fox) and #3 (Dead Sky Morning) but can also be read as a standalone and is the perfect primer for anyone interested in the best-selling series.

• Genre: Paranormal, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery
• Creatures: ghosts
• Age: mature young adult / adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Note: short story
• Read in February 13, 2013
   

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★

Red Fox (Experiment in Terror #2) by Karina Halle

 

With Book Two of the Experiment in Terror Series, Perry Palomino and Dex Foray trade in the stormy Oregon coast for the unforgiving deserts of New Mexico.

In the for­got­ten town of Red Fox, a Navajo cou­ple is tor­tured by things unseen and by motives unknown. Wild ani­mals slink through their house in the dark, a bar­rage of stones pound their roof nightly, and muti­lated sheep car­casses are turn­ing up on their prop­erty. Armed with a cam­era and just enough to go on, Perry and Dex travel to the des­o­late locale, hop­ing to film the super­nat­ural occur­rences and add cred­i­bil­ity to their flail­ing web­cast. 

Only their show has a lot more work­ing against them than just grow­ing pains. Tested by dubi­ous ranch hands, a ghost from Dex’s past, and shapeshift­ing decep­tion, the ama­teur ghost hunters must learn to trust each other in order to fight the most ancient of myths…or die trying.

• Genre: Paranormal, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery
• Age: mature young adult / adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from February 11 to 13, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

Darkhouse (Experiment in Terror, #1) by Karina Halle

 

Enter the world of the highly-acclaimed Experiment in Terror Series by visiting...the Darkhouse:

There’s always been something a bit off about Perry Palomino. Though she’s been dealing with a quarter-life crisis and post-college syndrome like any other twenty-something, she’s still not what you would call “ordinary.” For one thing, there’s her past which she likes to pretend never happened, and then there’s the fact that she sees ghosts.

Luckily for her, that all comes in handy when she stumbles across Dex Foray, an eccentric producer for an upcoming webcast on ghost hunters. Even though the show’s budget is non-existent and Dex himself is a maddening enigma, Perry is instantly drawn into a world that both threatens her life and seduces her with a sense of importance. Her uncle’s haunted lighthouse provides the perfect catalyst and backdrop for a mystery that unravels the threads of Perry’s fragile sanity and causes her to fall for a man, who, like the most dangerous of ghosts, may not be all that he seems.

• Genre: Paranormal, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery
• Age: mature young adult / adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from February 8 to 11, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

The Iron Daughter (The Iron Fey, #2) by Julie Kagawa

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen.

As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. 

Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

• Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary,Urban fantasy, Magic, Paranormal, Romance, Supernatural
• Creatures: faeries
• Age: mature young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from May 10 to 12, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★

Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman

Sixteen-year-old Blake and his younger brother, Quinn, are exact opposites. Blake is the responsible member of the family. He constantly has to keep an eye on the fearless Quinn, whose thrill-seeking sometimes goes too far.

 But the stakes get higher when Blake has to chase Quinn into a bizarre phantom carnival that traps its customers forever.In order to escape, Blake must survive seven deadly rides by dawn, each of which represents a deep, personal fear -- from a carousel of stampeding animals to a hall of mirrors that changes people into their deformed reflections.

 Blake ultimately has to face up to a horrible secret from his own past to save himself and his brother -- that is, if the carnival doesn't claim their souls first!

• Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Dark, Suspense,Mystery
• Age: Young Adult
• Source: owned ebook
• Read on November 29, 2012

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★

The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

• Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary,Urban fantasy, Magic, Paranormal, Romance, Supernatural
• Creatures: faeries
• Age: mature young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from May 05 to 09, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★☆/★★★★★

The Child Thief by Brom

Peter is quick, daring, and full of mischief--and like all boys, he loves to play, though his games often end in blood. His eyes are sparkling gold, and when he graces you with his smile you are his friend for life, but his promised land is not Neverland.

Fourteen-year-old Nick would have been murdered by the drug dealers preying on his family had Peter not saved him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him to a secret place of great adventure, where magic is alive and you never grow old. Even though he is wary of Peter's crazy talk of faeries and monsters, Nick agrees. After all, New York City is no longer safe for him, and what more could he possibly lose?

There is always more to lose.

Accompanying Peter to a gray and ravished island that was once a lush, enchanted paradise, Nick finds himself unwittingly recruited for a war that has raged for centuries--one where he must learn to fight or die among the "Devils," Peter's savage tribe of lost and stolen children.

There, Peter's dark past is revealed: left to wolves as an infant, despised and hunted, Peter moves restlessly between the worlds of faerie and man. The Child Thief is a leader of bloodthirsty children, a brave friend, and a creature driven to do whatever he must to stop the "Flesh-eaters" and save the last, wild magic in this dying land.

• Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Dark Fantasy, Urban fantasy, Magic, Fairy Tales
• Creatures: faeries, Zombies (?)
• Age: mature young adult/adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from January 08 to 09, 2013

 FINAL RATING: ★★★★★★/★★★★★

Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, #2) by Marissa Meyer

The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth...

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

• Genre:Paranormal, Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Dystopia,Science Fiction
• Creatures: Robots, Aliens, genetic manipulations, werewolves
  
• Age: young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from February 10 to 12, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

 

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population.

 From space, the ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. 

But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction.

 Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

• Genre:Paranormal, Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Dystopia,Science Fiction
• Creatures: Robots, Aliens, genetic manipulations
  
• Age: young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from December 15 to 20, 2012

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★

The Space Between (The Book of Phoenix, #1) by Kristie Cook

 When Life Falls to Pieces, Answers Lie in the Space Between

After a month-long dance tour through Italy, 20-year-old Leni Drago returns to Georgia to care for her great-uncle, only to find him gone, the home they shared empty and any evidence he ever existed wiped out. All that’s left is a journal she can’t open.

Jeric Winters has been searching for a piece of his past for over a year, only to reach a dead-end in Georgia. When an urgent and magnetic pull draws him out of his hotel room, he comes face-to-face with the beautiful dancer who’s been haunting his dreams day and night.

Jeric’s one to stay away from—a bad-boy, hit-it-and-quit-it type—but Leni can’t escape the fervent feelings between them. As their own existences begin to crumble around them and shadowy forms that are more monsters than men attack, they realize there’s more to the connection between them than physical fascination.

To solve the riddle their lives have become, they must embark on a journey that requires them to face their pasts and release their true souls. And they must do it fast—dark ones from another world are closing in, intent on killing them. Permanently.

• Genre:  Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Mystery
• Age: mature young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from April 19 to 21, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★

Raphael/Parish (Bayou Heat, #1-2) by Alexandra Ivy & Laura Wright

  

RAPHAEL

The brilliant and dangerous diplomat of the Pantera shapeshifters, Raphael has devoted his life to discovering the key to the infertility that is threatening the extinction of his puma race. Creating a vast network of spies worldwide, he never expected to discover that the answer might be beneath his very nose. But when Ashe, a beautiful human female, crosses his path, his most primitive instincts are stirred. Unable to resist, he takes her to his bed, and is shocked when she becomes pregnant with his child. It’s a miracle that might prove to be the salvation of his people, but only if he can keep her safe from the mercenaries determined to kill her.

PARISH 

Untamed and undeniably sexy, Parish, leader of the Pantera hunters, rarely leaves the magic of the Wildlands to deal with the humans he despises. But with the prized and risky Pantera birth on the way, puma shifter, Parish must travel to New Orleans to find and bring back a human doctor. The moment he sees the lovely, talented and all too human Dr. Julia Cabot he cannot resist the wild, potent drive to make her his. Betrayed and destroyed by love, Julia will not let her heart choose her path again. But as she and Parish fight to save the life of an unborn child, a fierce and overwhelming bond develops between them, threatening her frozen heart with the secret hope and ultimate temptation of love and family.

• Genre: Novella, Erotica, Paranormal Romance
• Age: Adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read in January 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Unwind (Unwind, #1) by Neal Shusterman

 

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them.

Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed - but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life - not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive.

• Genre: Horror, Dystopia, science fiction, fantasy, adventure, thriller, survival
• Age: mature young adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from June 10 to 11, 2012

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★★/★★★★★