Ruthless by Carolyn Lee Adams

Title: Ruthless
Author: Carolyn Lee Adams
Length: 256 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Classification: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Release Date: July 14, 2015
Source: e-galley via Edelweiss (Thank you, Simon Pulse!)

A spine-tingling debut about the ultimate game of cat-and-mouse in reverse as a teen struggles to retain hope—and her sanity—while on the run from a cunning and determined killer.
Ruth Carver has always competed like her life depends on it. Ambitious. Tough. Maybe even mean. It’s no wonder people call her Ruthless.
When she wakes up with a concussion in the bed of a moving pickup truck, she realizes she has been entered into a contest she can’t afford to lose.
At a remote, rotting cabin deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Ruth’s blindfold comes off and she comes face-to-face with her captor. A man who believes his mission is to punish bad girls like Ruth. A man who has done this six times before.
The other girls were never heard from again, but Ruth won’t go down easy. She escapes into the wilderness, but her hunter is close at her heels. That’s when the real battle begins. That’s when Ruth must decides just how far she’ll go in order to survive.
Back home, they called her Ruthless. They had no idea just how right they were.

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review***

Lock & Mori by Heather W. Petty

Title: Lock & Mori
(Lock & Mori #1)
Author: Heather W. Petty
Length: 256 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Classification: Young Adult, Mystery, Retelling, Crime
Release Date: September 15, 2015
Source: e-galley via Edelweiss (Thank you, Simon & Schuster!)
Read: September 2015

In modern-day London, two brilliant high school students, one Sherlock Holmes and a Miss James "Mori" Moriarty, meet. A murder will bring them together. The truth very well might drive them apart.
Before they were mortal enemies, they were much more.
FACT: Someone has been murdered in London's Regent's Park. The police have no leads.
FACT: Miss James "Mori"Moriarty and Sherlock "Lock" Holmes should be hitting the books on a school night. Instead, they are out crashing a crime scene.
FACT: Lock has challenged Mori to solve the case before he does. Challenge accepted.
FACT: Despite agreeing to Lock's one rule--they must share every clue with each other--Mori is keeping secrets.
OBSERVATION: Sometimes you can't trust the people closest to you with matters of the heart. And after this case, Mori may never trust Lock again.

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review***

After Hours by Claire Kennedy

Title: After Hours
Author: Claire Kennedy
Length: 256 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary
Release Date: June 16, 2015
Source: e-galley via Edelweiss (Thank you Simon Pulse!)
Read: June 2015

Isa, Xavi, Peter, and Finn know that a job at the high-end Waterside Cafe isn't just about waiting tables. It's about the gossip, the hook-ups, the after-hours parties and, most of all, it's about Tips.
Tips--the high-stakes game based on dares. Whoever completes the most dares wins the collected money. A sum that could change a wasted summer into a Summer to Remember.
Isa is the new girl with an embarrassing secret, and as long as she stays on top of her game, she sees no reason why anyone could ever find out.
Xavi will do anything for the money...absolutely anything.
Peter, Xavi's stepbrother, has been in love with her for years, and he thinks the game is the perfect time to confess his feelings.
Finn is in the game just for the thrill. He has enough tips coming in to keep him happy...even if those tips come with some conditions.
From seduction to stealing to threats, the dares are a complete free-for-all, and only the best can win.
The sophisticated Waterside Cafe is anything but classy behind the scenes...and things are about to get dirty. 

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review***

Last Year's Mistake by Gina Ciocca

Title: Last Year's Mistake
Author: Gina Ciocca
Length: 256 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: June 9, 2015
Source: e-galley via Edelweiss 
(Thank you, Simon Pulse!)
Read: April 2015

Before: Kelsey and David became best friends the summer before freshman year and were inseparable ever after. Until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke, and everything around her crumbled—including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey's parents decided to move away, she couldn't wait to start over and leave the past behind. Except, David wasn't ready to let her go...
After: Now it's senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David's family moves to town and he shakes up everything. Soon old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey's second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never truly let him go. And maybe she never wants to.
Told in alternating sections, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE is a charming and romantic debut about loving, leaving, and letting go.

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review***

Hello, I Love You by Katie M. Stout

Title: Hello, I Love You
Author: Katie M. Stout
Length: 304 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: June 9, 2015
Source: e-galley via NetGalley (Thank you St. Martin's Griffin!)
Read: May 2015

A teen escapes to a boarding school abroad and falls for a Korean pop star in this fun and fresh romantic novel in the vein of Anna and the French Kiss.
Grace Wilde is running—from the multi-million dollar mansion her record producer father bought, the famous older brother who’s topped the country music charts five years in a row, and the mother who blames her for her brother’s breakdown. Grace escapes to the farthest place from home she can think of, a boarding school in Korea, hoping for a fresh start.
She wants nothing to do with music, but when her roommate Sophie’s twin brother Jason turns out to be the newest Korean pop music superstar, Grace is thrust back into the world of fame. She can't stand Jason, whose celebrity status is only outmatched by his oversized ego, but they form a tenuous alliance for the sake of her friendship with Sophie. As the months go by and Grace adjusts to her new life in Korea, even she can't deny the sparks flying between her and the KPOP idol. 
Soon, Grace realizes that her feelings for Jason threaten her promise to herself that she'll leave behind the music industry that destroyed her family. But can Grace ignore her attraction to Jason and her undeniable pull of the music she was born to write? Sweet, fun, and romantic, this young adult novel explores what it means to experience first love and discover who you really are in the process.

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi

Title: The Night We Said Yes
Author: Lauren Gibaldi
Length: 304 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: June 16, 2015
Source: e-galley via Edelweiss (Thank you, HarperTeen!)
Read: April 2015

A fun, romantic read, perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen and Susane Colasanti!
Before Matt, Ella had a plan. Get over a no-good ex-boyfriend. Graduate from high school without any more distractions. Move away from Orlando, Florida, where she’s lived her entire life. 
But Matt—the cute, shy, bespectacled bass player who just moved to town—was never part of that plan.
And neither was attending a party that was crashed by the cops just minutes after they arrived. Or spending an entire night saying “yes” to every crazy, fun thing they could think of.
Then Matt abruptly left town, and he broke not only Ella’s heart but those of their best friends, too. So when he shows up a year later with a plan of his own—to relive the night that brought them together—Ella isn’t sure whether Matt’s worth a second chance. Or if re-creating the past can help them create a different future. 
In alternating then and now chapters, debut author Lauren Gibaldi crafts a charming, romantic story of first loves, lifelong friendships, uncovered secrets, and, ultimately, finding out how to be brave.

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review***

Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham

Title: Scarlett Undercover
Author: Jennifer Latham
Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Little Brown Books For Young Readers
Classification: Young Adult, Mystery, Paranormal
Release Date: May 19, 2015
Source: ARC via the NOVL Newsletter 
(Thank you, NOVL!)
Read: March 2015

A voice-driven mystery perfect for fans of Veronica Mars.
Meet Scarlett, a smart, sarcastic, kick-butt, Muslim American heroine, ready to take on crime in her hometown of Las Almas. When a new case finds the private eye caught up in a centuries-old battle of evil genies and ancient curses, Scarlett discovers that her own family secrets may have more to do with the situation than she thinks -- and that cracking the case could lead to solving her father's murder.
Jennifer Latham delivers a compelling story and a character to remember in this one-of-a-kind debut novel.

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***I received an ARC of this book from the NOVL Newsletter in exchange for an honest review***

Material Girls by Elaine Dimopoulos

Title: Material Girls
Author: Elaine Dimopoulos
Length: 336 pages
Publisher: HMH Books For Young Readers
Classification: Young Adult, Dystopian
Release Date: May 5, 2015
Source: e-galley via NetGalley (Thank you, HMH!)
Read: April 2015

In Marla Klein and Ivy Wilde’s world, teens are the gatekeepers of culture. A top fashion label employs sixteen-year-old Marla to dictate hot new clothing trends, while Ivy, a teen pop star, popularizes the garments that Marla approves. Both girls are pawns in a calculated but seductive system of corporate control, and both begin to question their world’s aggressive levels of consumption. Will their new “eco-chic” trend subversively resist and overturn the industry that controls every part of their lives?Smart, provocative, and entertaining, this thrilling page-turner for teens questions the cult like mentality of fame and fashion. Are you in or are you out?

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey

Title: The Girl at Midnight
(The Girl at Midnight #1)
Author: Melissa Grey
Length: 365 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Classification: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Source: e-galley via NetGalley (Thank you, Random House/Delacorte Press!)
Read: March 2015

For readers of Cassandra Clare's City of Bones and Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, The Girl at Midnight is the story of a modern girl caught in an ancient war.
Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she's ever known.
Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she's fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it's time to act.
Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, but if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it's how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.
But some jobs aren't as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

An Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Title: An Ember in the Ashes
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Length: 443 pages
Publisher: Razorbill
Classification: Young Adult, Fantasy
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Source: e-galley via Penguin First to Read (Thank you so much!)
Read: March 2015

Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.
LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.
ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.
When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via Penguin First to Read in exchange for an honest review***

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Title: We All Looked Up
Author: Tommy Wallach
Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary
Release Date: March 24, 2015
Source: e-galley via Edelweiss (Thank you Simon & Schuster!)
Read: February/March 2015

Four high school seniors put their hopes, hearts, and humanity on the line as an asteroid hurtles toward Earth in this contemporary novel.
They always say that high school is the best time of your life.
Peter, the star basketball player at his school, is worried “they” might actually be right. Meanwhile Eliza can’t wait to escape Seattle—and her reputation—and perfect-on-paper Anita wonders if admission to Princeton is worth the price of abandoning her real dreams. Andy, for his part, doesn’t understand all the fuss about college and career—the future can wait.
Or can it? Because it turns out the future is hurtling through space with the potential to wipe out life on Earth. As these four seniors—along with the rest of the planet—wait to see what damage an asteroid will cause, they must abandon all thoughts of the future and decide how they’re going to spend what remains of the present.

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review***

Positively Beautiful by Wendy Mills

Title: Positively Beautiful
Author: Wendy Mills
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's
Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary
Release Date: March 3, 2015
Source: e-galley via NetGalley (Thank you Bloomsbury!)
Read: March 2015

In this heart-wrenching story of love and loss, a teen copes with the reality of a genetic mutation that could change everything.
Erin Bailey's life changes forever the day her mom is diagnosed with breast cancer. It's always just been Erin and Mom, so living without her is not an option. Life takes another turn when the cancer is linked to a rare genetic mutation, and Erin must grapple with the decision of whether or not to have her own DNA tested. Her only outlets are flying lessons, where looking to the horizon calms her deepest fears, and her new friend Ashley, a girl she met in an online support group. But when a flash decision has Erin flying away to find her new friend, she embarks on a journey from the depths of despair to new love and a better understanding of the true meaning of beauty. This thought-provoking story brings readers to the emotional brink and back again, as they experience Erin's fear, her frustration, and ultimately . . . her freedom. (From NetGalley)

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

When My Heart Was Wicked by Tricia Stirling

Title: When My Heart Was Wicked
Author: Tricia Stirling
Length: 192 pages
Publisher: Scholastic
Classification: Young Adult, Magic, Witches
Release Date: February 24, 2015
Source: e-galley via Edelweiss (Thank you Scholastic!)
Read: February 2015

"I used to be one of those girls. The kind who loved to deliver bad news. When I colored my hair, I imagined it seeping into my scalp, black dye pooling into my veins.
But that was the old Lacy. Now, when I cast spells, they are always for good."
16-year-old Lacy believes that magic and science can work side by side. She's a botanist who knows how to harness the healing power of plants. So when her father dies, Lacy tries to stay with her step-mother in Chico, where her magic is good and healing. She fears the darkness that her real mother, Cheyenne, brings out, stripping away everything that is light and kind.
Yet Cheyenne never stays away for long. Beautiful, bewitching, unstable Cheyenne who will stop at nothing, not even black magic, to keep control of her daughter's heart. She forces Lacy to accompany her to Sacramento, and before long, the "old" Lacy starts to resurface.
But when Lacy survives a traumatic encounter, she finds herself faced with a choice. Will she use her powers to exact revenge and spiral into the darkness forever? Or will she find the strength to embrace the light?

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review***

My Best Everything by Sarah Tomp

Title: My Best Everything
Author: Sarah Tomp
Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary
Release Date: March 3, 2015
Source: e-galley via NetGalley (Thanks Little Brown!)
Read: February 2015

You say it was all meant to be. You and me. The way we met. Our secrets in the woods. Even the way it all exploded. It was simply a matter of fate.
Maybe if you were here to tell me again, to explain it one more time, then maybe I wouldn’t feel so uncertain. But I’m going back to the beginning on my own. To see what happened and why.
Luisa “Lulu” Mendez has just finished her final year of high school in a small Virginia town, determined to move on and leave her job at the local junkyard behind. So when her father loses her college tuition money, Lulu needs a new ticket out.
Desperate for funds, she cooks up the (definitely illegal) plan to make and sell moonshine with her friends, Roni and Bucky. Quickly realizing they’re out of their depth, Lulu turns to Mason: a local boy who’s always seemed like a dead end. As Mason guides Lulu through the secret world of moonshine, it looks like her plan might actually work. But can she leave town before she loses everything – including her heart?
The summer walks the line between toxic and intoxicating. My Best Everything is Lulu’s letter to Mason – though is it an apology, a good-bye, or a love letter?

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***I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

When Reason Breaks by Cindy L. Rodriguez

Title: When Reason Breaks
Author: Cindy L. Rodriguez
Length: 304 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Classification: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Mental Health
Release Date: February 10, 2015
Source: e-galley via NetGalley (Thank you Bloomsbury!)
Read: January 2015

13 Reasons Why meets the poetry of Emily Dickinson in this gripping debut novel perfect for fans of Sara Zarr or Jennifer Brown.

A Goth girl with an attitude problem, Elizabeth Davis must learn to control her anger before it destroys her. Emily Delgado appears to be a smart, sweet girl, with a normal life, but as depression clutches at her, she struggles to feel normal. Both girls are in Ms. Diaz’s English class, where they connect to the words of Emily Dickinson. Both are hovering on the edge of an emotional precipice. One of them will attempt suicide. And with Dickinson’s poetry as their guide, both girls must conquer their personal demons to ever be happy.

In an emotionally taut novel with a richly diverse cast of characters, readers will relish in the poetry of Emily Dickinson and be completely swept up in the turmoil of two girls grappling with demons beyond their control.

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***I received an e-galley of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

My 2015 Challenges!

I really like participating in various Bookish Challenges. I participated in a few this year and really had fun doing it, even if I didn't reach my goals.

So here are the challenges that I am signing up for this year!