Duality (The Hitchhiker Strain #2) by Kellie Sheridan - Ashley's Review

*I received an eARC of this book from Patchwork Press on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Duality (The Hitchhiker Strain #2)
Author: Kellie Sheridan
Publication Date: February 21st, 2014

My End Dayz (#0.5) Review
My Mortality (#1) Review
My Mortality (#1) Pre-Reading

Synopsis: The end of everything came quickly, but the road back is endless and full of heartbreak. 

After months of only death and loss, Veritas may be the answer everyone has been searching for—a cure. Savannah wants nothing more than to begin rebuilding, but with both the Initiative and the United Militia vying for power, there are no easy answers. Ending the threat for good could mean becoming something far worse than the monsters she is fighting against. 

The infected will not go quietly. For Chelsea, the choice to step back into the world of the living is anything but simple. No miracle can erase the memories of the things she saw or the people she killed. While the girl she was struggles against the beast she became, Chelsea must make a choice—succumb or fight.

-----------------------------------------------------

Review: I really enjoyed Mortality. It takes the whole zombie trope and makes it something new and unique. The characters were (mostly) likeable, and I really wanted to know how things were going to play out for Savannah and her friends. Even though we no longer have Zarah's story to follow, we still get to see things from the zombie perspective, which is always a welcome change of pace.

Although I did like Savannah in the first book, I think I liked her even more in this book. She's less obnoxious, and she's trying to make the best decisions for herself, her friends, and her world. She just wants to do right and save as many people as she can, and I think she's doing a fairly decent job of it. There was a little bit of romantic drama going on that just annoyed me more than anything, but it's not the main focus of the book and it gets easier to ignore as the book goes on. I also thought having Savannah in both books are the anchor of the series was a really smart idea, especially since our zombie narrator gets switched up. 

In this book, we get to see things from Chelsea's perspective. She's a new kind of zombie - smart and fast, still hungry for human brains and human meat in general, but still aware of what "The Beast" is doing. Human Chelsea takes a kind of backseat to her own life, and can only watch as her body and the virus kill more and more survivors. She keeps count of how many people "The Beast" kills, but she's nearly powerless to stop it. There are some times when Chelsea is able to gain control, but these moments are short lived and few and far between. Like with Zarah's sections in the first book, I think Chelsea's were my favorite chapters in this book. 

It's rare to find a book that tells the story from the perspective of the monster, and I think Kellie Sheridan does a great job of showing us the world from opposing sides. Veritas has its pros and cons, and I think its easier to see things like that when we're not restricted to just one character on one side of the war. Duality ends well and I was actually kind of happy that the ending was so open. Sometimes it's nice to be able to imagine what happens next and not be told exactly who goes where and does what. 

I'd definitely recommend this series to anyone looking for a fun, easy, zombie read. This one does kind of feel like a second book though, and there were times when I thought the pacing was a little slow, but it does a nice job of wrapping up the series. I didn't think it was as great as the first book, but  I still really enjoyed it! 3.5/5


--Ashley

The Lost Locket of Lahari Anthology from Patchwork Press - Ashley's Review

*I received a copy of this book as an eARC from Patchwork Press on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: The Lost Locket of Lahari Anthology

Authors: Erica Crouch, Terra Harmony, Janna Jennings, Ruth Silver, Kellie Sheridan, Kara Baird

Release Date: September 9th, 2014

Synopsis: In a dusty, dilapidated stall tucked away in an alcove of a bustling Bazaar in India, a man with a rickety spine and a spindly beard bends over his work bench, forging a locket with accidental magic. There’s power in a wish, and there’s nothing he wants more than for his children to return home. The locket was intricately crafted, adorned with one dragonfly for each of his children—and the power to find them.

With the guidance of fate, the locket skips through time and journeys across oceans, traveling from person to person in a constant search for the souls whispered into its vessel. Centuries after the magical old man in the Bazaar became near-forgotten myth and whispered legend, the locket has fallen into the hands of those with echoes of the six dragonflies: the empath, the dreamer, the confidant, the adventurer, the dancer, and the mystery.

In the hands of its new owners, the power of the locket adapts, bending and remaking itself to answer need. While the locket never found the children of Lahari, it found the next best thing… Their spirits.

The six novellas of the Lost Locket of Lahari anthology pause a moment in time when the locket finds the ripples of its ancestry. From the Victorian-era to the Roaring Twenties, the 1940s to modern day and beyond, this anthology is a collection of stories as dynamic as the authors themselves.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Review: I have yet to be disappointed by a Patchwork Press title, so I was really looking forward to reading this anthology as soon as I heard about it. I've loved what I've read from these authors, and the idea behind this anthology is really interesting and unique. When the description says that the stories are "as dynamic as the authors themselves," it isn't kidding at all! 

As with every anthology, there are certain stories and moments that stand out as exceptional and unforgettable. Erica's story, The Empath, is probably my favorite. I've loved everything I've read from Erica, and The Empath was just as exciting and heartbreaking as the rest of her books even though it was a short story. I also really enjoyed Ruth's story, The Adventurer. I'm always looking for a good sci-fi story, and Ruth really hit the nail on the head with this one. 

A few of the stories had parts that just seemed really slow to me, which I think made me like them a little less. I also couldn't connect with some of the characters and it made it hard for me to care what happened to them. The main girl in The Confidant, for example, was really annoying to me and I felt like someone just needed to slap her. The world and the story itself were exciting and exactly what I hoped they would be, I just didn't like the girl. 

For the most part, though, all of these stories could definitely stand on their own. The characters are pretty much all well developed and go through quite a bit in their respective short stories. I enjoyed that I could read one story, put the anthology down, and come back to it later without having missed anything, but I also enjoyed that the stories are all interconnected and represent each of the children. I enjoyed learning the history of the locket in the prologue and seeing the echoes of the people who made it in the characters in the stories. Overall, this anthology was really well done. I'm really looking forward to reading the next anthology from these talented authors soon! 4/5.


--Ashley

COVER REVEAL: Polaris Awakening - A Patchwork Press Anthology

We're so excited to be a part of the cover reveal for Polaris Awakening, the second anthology from the authors at Patchwork Press, today! Before we get to the cover, how about a little bit of information about the book?

About the Book

ZEUS PROTOCAL 000101: REBOOT, SCAN.

DANGER DETECTED.

THREAT LEVEL: UNKNOWN.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: INCREASE MILITARY PRESENCE.

There’s trouble brewing on Polaris. Under the watchful eye of the space station’s supercomputer, Zeus, the lower classes are awakening to the corruption of their wealthy, privileged, and protected leaders. When the quiet voices of protest get louder and alliances form, change dawns on the horizon. But the small acts of resistance won’t be enough to subvert the system for long. Zeus is alert to the growing threat level, and he will do whatever’s necessary—including purging the lower levels of Polaris—to preserve stability for all.

Inspired by the mythology of the constellations hung around Polaris, the seven stories in Polaris Awakening reimagine the classic characters in a futuristic world where alien creatures are commonplace, combat arenas are used for entertaining foreign dignitaries, slaves and soldiers stand side by side, and music orchestrates a revolution. And their first acts of defiance are just the beginning. Polaris will never be the same.

ZEUS PROTOCAL 000099: ENGAGE THREAT.



There are seven stories contributing to the anthology. And our authors (in order of appearance) are: Kellie Sheridan, Erin Latimer, Erica Crouch, Janna Jennings, Hannah Davies, Terra Harmony, and Meghan Jashinsky.

Are you ready for the cover now? 

So, what do you think? Do you love it as much as we do? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! 


--Ashley & Paul

COVER REVEAL: Four of a Kind by Kellie Sheridan

Hello! We have a really exciting cover reveal for you today from the lovely folks over at Patchwork Press! Kellie Sheridan's newest book, Four of a Kind, is the first in a YA family saga following the Donovan sisters—identical quadruplets over the course of four (or more!) books.

This week is also the launch of the new website, FourofaKindSeries.com, where you can sign up to be a member of the series street team!

 

Title: Four of a Kind

Author: Kellie Sheridan

Publication Date: November 4, 2014

Cover Design: Erica Crouch

Synopsis: The odds of giving birth to identical quadruplets: 1 in 13 million.

The population of Fairview, a town so small that all anyone talks about is the Fairview Four returning after fourteen years: 7208.

The chance of Reagan blending in with the crowd after a boy in her new town starts to see her for who she really is: zero.

Following in the footsteps—and all too often, the shadows—of her sisters was nothing new to Reagan. But after fifteen years of fading in to the background, she’s finally finding her own way. Amidst all the gossip and assumptions, one person sees Reagan for what she’s always wanted to be. One of a kind.

Finally feeling like she belongs, Reagan wants to enjoy every possibility her new life has to offer, but things aren’t going as smoothly for her sisters. How can Reagan possibly let herself be happy—or maybe even fall in love—when her family is finally turning to her for support?

About the Author

I have been in love with stories in all of their forms for as long as I can remember. Admittedly, sometimes that means falling into places like Stars Hollow and Sunnydale, but books have always been my true love. In early 2011 I began writing a book blog in order to share my favorite reads with book lovers. From there, the bookish community encouraged me to stop sitting on my own stories and share them instead. Since then I’ve been madly devouring everything I can about digital publishing.

For the past two years I have been mainly obsessed with young adult books, but my favorite stories still come from the adult fantasy genre. As far as I’m concerned, Briggs, Bishop, Vincent and Vaughn are all must reads.

I spent part of my twenties living in Galway, Ireland and swooning after various lilting accents but am now back home in Ontario, Canada. My family includes two Glen of Imaal Terriers and a Green Cheek Conure.

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Thanks for stopping by!


--Ashley & Paul

COVER REVEAL: The Lost Locket of Lahari Anthology!

We're really excited to be a part of the cover reveal for The Lost Locket of Lahari Anthology today! The five authors of Patchwork Press - Erica Crouch, Terra Harmony, Janna Jennings, Ruth Silver, and Kellie Sheridan - have come together to write this anthology and it definitely sounds like one you won't want to miss.

Before we show you the cover, how about a little bit about the book?

Title: The Lost Locket of Lahari Anthology

Authors: Erica Crouch, Terra Harmony, Janna Jennings, Ruth Silver, Kellie Sheridan

Release Date: September 9th, 2014

Synopsis: In a dusty, dilapidated stall tucked away in an alcove of a bustling Bazaar in India, a man with a rickety spine and a spindly beard bends over his work bench, forging a locket with accidental magic. There’s power in a wish, and there’s nothing he wants more than for his children to return home. The locket was intricately crafted, adorned with one dragonfly for each of his children—and the power to find them.

With the guidance of fate, the locket skips through time and journeys across oceans, traveling from person to person in a constant search for the souls whispered into its vessel. Centuries after the magical old man in the Bazaar became near-forgotten myth and whispered legend, the locket has fallen into the hands of those with echoes of the six dragonflies: the empath, the dreamer, the confidant, the adventurer, the dancer, and the mystery.

In the hands of its new owners, the power of the locket adapts, bending and remaking itself to answer need. While the locket never found the children of Lahari, it found the next best thing… Their spirits.

The five novellas of the Lost Locket of Lahari anthology pause a moment in time when the locket finds the ripples of its ancestry. From the Victorian-era to the Roaring Twenties, the 1940s to modern day and beyond, this anthology is a collection of stories as dynamic as the authors themselves.



Are you ready to see the cover now?  We won't make you wait any longer!

Patchwork Press | Goodreads

So, what do you think of the cover? Are you as excited to read these stories as we are? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by to check out the cover and support these authors!


--Ashley & Paul

Follow the White Rabbit (Beautiful Madness #1) by Kellie Sheridan - Paul's REVIEW

***I received this novella as an eARC from Patchwork Press on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Follow the White Rabbit (Beautiful Madness #1)
Author: Kellie Sheridan
Year Published: 2013

Ashley's REVIEW

Synopsis: For centuries, Wonderland thrived as the domain of beautiful bedlam and unapologetic madness. It was a place like no other. All it took was one girl slipping in through the cracks of the universe to start chaos spiraling toward order. In the 150 years since Alice’s visit, the realm has become tainted—almost normal. Rabbits in waistcoats and playing card minions are little more than creatures of myth, and Wonderland is literally falling to pieces.

For Gwen, Rose, and Lucky, Wonderland is home, and yet they know little of its former glory. When the Alice prophecy resurfaces, they’ll have one chance to use Wonderland’s own legends to bring a little mayhem back into their reality. For she who controls Alice controls the fate of Wonderland.

Review: I always love Alice in Wonderland retellings. There are so many ways the story has been told. Many times new characters take the place of the traditional ones. In this instance, the characters know they will represent the classic characters. I like that these characters are self aware of the original story. I think it leads for a better story. Often times, the characters in a retelling don't know anything about the source material. It is just the same story in a different time and/or place. This story leads to an even more meta feeling. 

I liked the shortness of this novella. It was only the beginning of the story, but I look forward to reading the next novellas. It was a nice introduction to the characters. I have some ideas of who they will represent, but I think they will end up as unexpected characters. There are a lot of different POVs in this novella. At first, I was unsure what was happening, but I got sucked into Wonderland pretty fast. I always liked the side characters more than Alice anyway so I liked that Alice had a small part in this novella. 

This was a great start to an interesting retelling of Alice in Wonderland. I look forward to the next novella in this series. I give this novella a 4/5.


-PAUL

End Dayz (The Hitchiker Strain #0.5) by Kellie Sheridan - Ashley's Review

*I received this novella as an eARC from Patchwork Press on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: End Dayz
Author: Kellie Sheridan
Year Published: 2013

My Mortality Review

Synopsis: It's a month after the dead first began to walk. The miracle vaccine that was supposed to save us all has failed.

Now, four teens fight to stay alive as a stronger, smarter breed of zombie begins to appear, threatening to end humanity for good.

-------------------------

Review: I was really excited when I saw that there was a prequel short story collection for Sheridan's Hitchiker Strain series. The zombies were different and interesting, and I have been wanting to learn more about the world she created. I also absolutely love seeing things from minor characters perspectives, so this collection was absolutely fantastic for me. 

There's a little bit of background that's hinted at in Mortality but never really explained that really makes everything come together so much more cohesively. We get to see things that happen to Alex before he even meets Savannah and her friends, and we see how Pierce ends up in the US in the first place. And then there's  Zach and his adventures in the high school when it was being cleared, and Belle before her father took charge of the remaining survivors. I really enjoyed seeing things through their eyes, since they're all so radically different from Savannah and Zarah, and even each other.

The plot isn't really anything terribly exciting, but the expansion of the world and the characters makes this a must read for anyone who was read and loved Mortality. It's almost enough to tide me over until the next book in the series is released! I would give this collection a 3/5, although I do hope that we get more like this as the story progresses. Anyone who loves zombies and zombie culture should definitely check out this series!


--Ashley

Mortality (The Hitchiker Strain #1) by Kellie Sheridan - Ashley's Review

*I received this book as an eARC from Patchwork Press on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Mortality
Author: Kellie Sheridan
Year Published: 2013

My Pre-Reading

Synopsis: After surviving a deadly plague outbreak, sixteen-year-old Savannah thought she had lived through the very worst of human history. There was no way to know that the miracle vaccine would put everyone at risk for a fate worse than un-death. 

Now, two very different kinds of infected walk the Earth, intent on nothing but feeding and destroying what little remains of civilization. When the inoculated are bitten, infection means watching on in silent horror as self-control disappears and the idea of feasting on loved ones becomes increasingly hard to ignore.

Starving and forced to live inside of the abandoned high school, all Savannah wants is the chance to fight back. When a strange boy arrives with a plan to set everything right, she gets her chance. Meeting Cole changes everything. Mere survival will never be enough.

-------------------------

Review: It's been a really long time since I've read a good YA zombie book (the last one I can remember was Something Strange and Deadly), and I was really surprised that I enjoyed this one so much. A lot of times, the walking dead are overdone and unoriginal, but Sheridan took a popular theme and made it all her own. Everything about this book is excellent. 

Sheridan creates a world that's rich and different, and yet still very similar to our world. I loved how there were two kinds of zombies - the traditional, slow, stupid, walking dead who only look for their next meal and will probably end up dead (again) trying to get there, and the new, fast, intelligent, still very much alive-but-infected zombies that are more likely to kill you. I was terrified for Savannah and her friends and for Zarah and Liam, and their bravery throughout the whole book was really incredible. All of the characters are well written and very relatable, which really helped.

I really enjoyed reading this book from Savannah and Zarah's perspectives. It gives a complete picture of the world, and I don't think it would have been as good if we had only seen things from one side or the other. It's also really interesting how their stories merge and become one, especially when you can begin to recognize characters  without being told explicitly who they are. I do think my favorite sections were Zarah's even though there were fewer of them, since they end up being something I wasn't entirely expecting. 

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for the next great YA zombie series. It would be such a shame for Mortality to be buried beneath all of the other "big name" books that might not be as good, and you should definitely give it a try. I especially think that fans of The Walking Dead would like this series. A 5/5 from me, and I can't wait for the next book to come out! 

--Ashley

Mortality (The Hitchiker Strain #1) by Kellie Sheridan - Ashley's Pre-Reading

*I received this book as an eARC from Patchwork Press on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Mortality
Author: Kellie Sheridan
Year Published: 2013

Synopsis: After surviving a deadly plague outbreak, sixteen-year-old Savannah thought she had lived through the very worst of human history. There was no way to know that the miracle vaccine would put everyone at risk for a fate worse than un-death. 

Now, two very different kinds of infected walk the Earth, intent on nothing but feeding and destroying what little remains of civilization. When the inoculated are bitten, infection means watching on in silent horror as self-control disappears and the idea of feasting on loved ones becomes increasingly hard to ignore.

Starving and forced to live inside of the abandoned high school, all Savannah wants is the chance to fight back. When a strange boy arrives with a plan to set everything right, she gets her chance. Meeting Cole changes everything. Mere survival will never be enough.

Why?: Zombies, a virus, adventure, romance, and mystery? Count me in! Also, I loved Sheridan's novella Follow the White Rabbit, so I really wanted to see what a full length novel from her would be like.

Expectations: I expect a zombie novel that takes place in an alternate version of our world. Plus a lot of running (one of the most important rules in a zombie apocalypse is cardio, after all), as well as some crazy disease that has caused people to become un-dead.  I'm also looking forward to a strong heroine who needs a little romance in her life.

Judging a book by its cover: I really love the cover. Two girls, one alive and one that looks pretty dead. I would probably pick this one up as soon as I saw it on a shelf 

--Ashley

Follow the White Rabbit (Beautiful Madness #1) by Kellie Sheridan - Ashley's Review

*I received this novella as an eARC from Patchwork Press on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Title:  Follow the White Rabbit
Author: Kellie Sheridan
Year Published: 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Synopsis: For centuries, Wonderland thrived as the domain of beautiful bedlam and unapologetic madness. It was a place like no other. All it took was one girl slipping in through the cracks of the universe to start chaos spiraling toward order. In the 150 years since Alice’s visit, the realm has become tainted—almost normal. Rabbits in waistcoats and playing card minions are little more than creatures of myth, and Wonderland is literally falling to pieces.

For Gwen, Rose, and Lucky, Wonderland is home, and yet they know little of its former glory. When the Alice prophecy resurfaces, they’ll have one chance to use Wonderland’s own legends to bring a little mayhem back into their reality. For she who controls Alice controls the fate of Wonderland.

---------------------------

Review: I've always loved Wonderland. and how it's so versatile that it can be taken to be so many different things by so many different authors. It's interesting how people pick and choose what parts they want to show, and how they take different things to be literal or figurative. The white rabbit is not always a rabbit, the mad hatter has a variety of different backstories, the card soldiers may not always be literal cards, and so on.  This story presents a unique version of  Alice's impact on Wonderland, and what Wonderland is really about.  Madness used to abound, but now it's become like any other world, and the only way to return it to its former glory is by controlling the new Alice.

I love the new characters that are introduced in this story, especially after I figured out who they were supposed to be in the traditional Alice story. All of our favorite classic characters are there, it just might take a while to figure out who they are. Gwen and Lucky were my favorites, and I can't wait to learn more about them in the next novella. It also amazes me how much world-building there really is. I mean, we all know the basics of Wonderland, but Sheridan takes them and warps them to make her own, new Wonderland.

The timeline is a little different than I was expecting, but I think it works well. We start near the end, and then are thrown into the past and work our way up to the present. But I don't think this story would have worked any other way, and it's pretty neat to see the characters become who they need to be to make the Alice prophecy come true. There are still a few characters that I'm unsure about, and I can't wait to find out who they are as the story progresses. Although I think this could have been a full novel, I'm actually kind of excited that it's going to be released as smaller novellas. I just feel like it's more effective as novellas. 

Overall, I think this was a nice little story set in a new and exciting Wonderland. The characters are well done, and the story is even better. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a quick read that gives a new take on a classic. I can't wait to continue the series, and I hope the next novella comes out soon! This short story gets a 4/5 from me. 


--Ashley