{Review} The Chosen Ones by Tiffany Truitt

The Chosen Ones
by Tiffany Truitt
Series: The Lost Souls #1
Published: June 12th 2012
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
ISBN: 1620610000 (ISBN13: 9781620610008)
Pages: 400
Source: Bought Myself
Reading Level: 17 and up
Shelf Award: Original, 2012 Favorites
Rating:  5 Stars

Where To Buy: TBD ChaptersIndigo

Goodreads Summary:

Life is bleak but uncomplicated for sixteen-year-old Tess, living in a not-too-distant future where the government, faced with humanity's extinction, created the Chosen Ones, artificial beings who are extraordinarily beautiful, unbelievably strong, and unabashedly deadly.
When Tess begins work at Templeton, a Chosen Ones training facility, she meets James, and the attraction is immediate in its intensity, overwhelming in its danger. But there is more to Templeton than Tess ever knew. Can she stand against her oppressors, even if it means giving up the only happiness in her life?

My Thoughts: 

Cover Love: I admit it. I first fell in love with the cover. It has a beautiful desperation feel to it. 5 out 5 cover stars!

Review: I went into this book with high hopes! And I was not disappointed! I mean, finishing any book in a single day is an ode to it's awesomeness!
In The Chosen Ones we meet Tess who at first seems like an emotionless bitter young woman who's forced into a life of servitude to the Chosen Ones (genetically engineered supermen), but as I read on I realized it was a mask, an identity Tess puts up so she doesn't follow in her sister's footsteps, fall in love, get pregnant then ultimately die. She is a perfectionist and likes to think she is a logical and rational person but really she is a sweet and caring young woman. Not once did her behaviour annoy me because I was able to connect deeply with her early on in the book and so I understood why she sometimes acted cold and distant.
Plot-wise, it was one of the most awe-inspiring books I had the chance to read in 2012. It was wonderfully executed with twists and turns you couldn't have seen coming from a foot away!
The world building was also flawlessly done! In this world humans/naturals are cast aside so the Chosen Ones can save their world. But with the birth rate of Naturals virtually at a 0 the Chosen Ones are taking over, rendering the Naturals irrelevant.
Locally; Templeton is a chilling world, the place were the Chosen Ones are created, educated and housed Templeton is a compound shrouded in mystery some of which light starts to be shed upon during the book.
And of course no dystopia would be complete without a resistance of some sort... But I don't want to give up too much so read this book if you haven't already!

Bottom Line:

A wonderful dystopian thriller fuelled by individuality, freedom and of course, love.

{Review} The Mephisto Kiss by Trinity Faegen

The Mephisto Kiss
by Trinity Faegen
Series: The Mephisto Covenant #2
Published: September 25th 2012
Publisher: EgmontUSA
ISBN: 1606841718 (ISBN13: 9781606841716)
Pages: 448 (ARC)
Source: Received from Author in exchange for honest interview
Reading Level: 17+
Shelf Award: All Time Fave, Deserves Its Own Shelf
Rating:  5 Stars

Where To Buy: TBD ChaptersIndigo

Goodreads Summary: 

The eyes never lie. No one’s eyes are darker than Eryx. Not even the Devil’s.
When Jax and Sasha first see Jordan Ellis, they know she is no ordinary teenager. She’s the daughter of the President after all, but she’s also Anabo – a descendant of Eve.
What they don’t know is that Eryx plans to kidnap Jordan and force President Ellis to pledge his soul. If Eryx’s plot succeeds, the consequences would be catastrophic.
But the Mephisto brothers do know about Jordan’s secret identity. And for one of them, she could be the match that leads to their soul’s salvation.
Now it’s a desperate race against time to save Jordan and prevent Eryx’s haunting eyes from discovering her true identity.
A thrilling story of romance, danger, and intrigue, THE MEPHISTO KISS continues the marvelous mythology that began in THE MEPHISTO COVENANT.

My Thoughts:

Cover Love: I am a confirmed "Girl In Dress" book cover lover. So of course I swooned over this one! As much as there are flagrant similarities to book #1 the colour scheme and softness of the cover delivers an altogether different albeit strong message. (Yes that's right, I used "albeit"!)

Review: With The Mephisto Kiss, Trinity Faegen has cemented herself on my "Will Always Read From This Author" category. First off, she knows how to make your heart start pumping at the first page. Then you turn to the next and BOOM! You have HEART-PUMPING INTESITY! It is honestly much different from so many YA novels. The characters are truly three-dimensional, meaning that you can easily connect with each of them. While reading I found myself thinking how sad I'll be once I am done because I don't want the characters to leave me!
Jordan Ellis, our heroine, is lovable, loyal, selfless and dutiful! All that without feeling like you are reading a flawless, little-miss-perfect type character. She can be naive but you just love her for it. Key is a Man's Man and if it weren't for the darned ponytail I'd be all over him like flies on sugar. In the mean time I remain a Jax Girl! The alternate POV's were flawlessly executed and also had me reconsider my stance on male POV. Thank you Trinity!
It's a book that follows very nicely with the first one (you get some sort of closure and reunite with the story from the first book. It's so nice to see Jax and Sasha!) but is its own book in a way since the main characters are new. In this way it makes me think of J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series.
Then the plot... It was more heart pumping (What with explosions and intense fight scenes that gets you to the edge of your seat) and more fast paced than the first book. Which just adds to Trinity Faegen's author level. Reading The Mephisto Kiss made me realize how versatile the author can be. She'll always keep her readers on their toes and that is AWESOME!
OK... I am starting to write an Author Review, back to the book.
All along the way I was making my own (predictable) theories on where the story would go but I was wrong almost every time! A wonderful ride!
Now the only downside... If you read the first one you'll know of the controversy about the infamous "Sex Scene". And I think (I am making an unbased assumption here) the controversy may have intimitaded the author into omitting one in this book. Now I am not saying "Oh lets read about teen sex" only that I had first admired Trinity for it and I think the pre-conceived taboo of teen sex is being taken too far. Now, it's not like it was a flagrantly visual scene, It simply depicted the importance of it WITHIN the story. Which, honestly, is not a big deal. Not even a deal to begin with!
Rant over. Read This Book. Thank God for This Book!
Give 5 Stars because it's worth it.

Bottom Line:

 It's a book that will surprise you from start to finish. PUT ON YOUR TBR PILE NOW!!

Bout Of Books 5.0 GOALS!

TIME DEVOTED TO READING

I plan on reading everyday! A minimum of 3 hours? Yes sure!

MY GOALS

Last time I Participated in the Bout of Books readathon I totally set goals that were WAY to high so I will challenge myself to 3 books this week (Plus the one I need to finish: Wildefire by Karsten Knight) I also plan to read one Adult PNR! I am going to Focus on sequels this time.

BOOKS TO READ

• Wildefire by Karsten Knight (TO FINISH)
• Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward
• Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer
• Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

UPDATES

Monday
Number of books I've read today: 1*
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Books:  Wildefire (*56 pages)

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We Want More Sweet Evil!

You Do Don't You!?


Hey read-a-holics! This being my first post in a while (due to personal and health issues) you should know that it is for an important reason.

That reason being: SWEET EVIL by Wendy Higgins (Kaidan, obviously, and Anna are alsoa BIG part of the reason...)

The travesty: HarperTeen has yet to pick up books 2 and 3 of the series!

I for one simply CANNOT leave this story unfinished. It was creative, brilliant, original, SWOONY (oh gosh yes!) and a simple pleasure to read. Now, I have created a petition HERE so HarperTeen knows how badly we want Sweet Hope and the following untitled 3rd book. If you agree with me I am asking you to please spread the word through Twitter, a blog post, Facebook so we can hopefully get the message through to the wonderful people over at HarperTeen  and make them fall in Love with the world of Sweet Evil as much as we did!

Guest Post With The Literary Explorer

For my last day of Blogversary Festivities Anna AKA Lit_Explorer from www.literaryexploration.com Stopped by to give us her take on Blogging and The First Year. Anna has been a blast to chat with on Twitter, we have rendered many of our conversations slightly on the "That makes no sense but we are awesome anyways" side. We always have a blast! She's an established blogger whom I look up to! "When I grow up I want to be like the Literary Explorer"!! Enjoy her post and tell us what YOU thought of your first year or if you aren't there yet, tell us what it's like. 

Clicking this will direct you to Anna's book blog

ANNA:I've been blogging for a little over a year now and I absolutely love it. I first started blogging in order to share my love of books as well as keep up with my writing over summer, so my abilities wouldn't diminish. I never knew it would lead to something as big as it has. I've developed so many great relationships with amazing people (bloggers, authors, publishers, etc.) and I've really fallen in love with the community as a whole. In fact, some of my best friends now are people I've met through blogging, and I can't tell you how rewarding that is. I know these people will always have my back when the drama strikes, and it has. The lowest moment during that first year was probably the first time I found out someone was talking about me behind my back. I thought, “No way, the blogging community is so tight-knit, no one would ever say something bad about someone else!” Of course, that was just me being ignorant and naïve, because there is always going to be drama in life! I immediately ran to a couple of my blogging friends, ranting to them about this person who was saying rude things about me, and they did everything in their power to comfort me. I really appreciate having people like that around, because it makes blogging, and the drama around it, so worth it.
I also remember my first review request. I think was about a month into blogging and a woman emailed me asking if I wanted to review her book. It was a self-published ebook, and I didn't have an e-reader, nor did I know what self-published even meant, but I had no idea people would even ask me to read their books so I jumped on the chance! I didn't do any research, read the synopsis, anything before agreeing to read it. Of course, that was a huge mistake. I read about 5 pages of it, on my computer, and thought, “Wow, this is awful! Why am I reading this?” And that was my first DNF as a blogger! I grew to realize that I didn't have to accept every book pitched to me, nor did I have to review every book I accepted. I try to only accept books I know I will love, but sometimes those DNFs slip through and I've let go of feeling bad when I can't get through it. Because of this, I've also grown more honest with my reviewing. I'm not afraid to write a negative review for a book I just didn't like. I've grown a lot in my year as a blogger, and I am grateful for every up and down I've had because it's made me a stronger, more honest, and better person. I never knew blogging could affect me in such a way, but it has and I have to thank the entire community for that.
The best advice I can give to any blogger, new or old, is to have fun. Don't let blogging become a chore. Don't focus on the numbers. Let yourself shine through and be who you are, the rest will come. I get a lot of emails from people who want to know how to build their blog up, get review copies, work with publishers, and all that jazz. You have to work for it, but you can't make it a priority. When you take the fun out of blogging, it just becomes another hobby that falls by the wayside. There have been plenty of times when I've thought, “Blogging is too much. I can't do it. I can't make all these commitments and I don't want to post a teaser tomorrow!” So you know what? I didn't. If I didn't want to post, I didn't because it's my blog and I can run it the way I want. I think my first year of blogging was the hardest, but since I've gotten through it I've learned how to schedule my blog around my life, and not the other way around.

Anna @ Literary Exploration
Twitter: @Lit_Explorer
Blog: www.literaryexploration.com