Helena Christodoulo

“Time Bomb” is a standalone novel written by Joelle Charbonneau. The novel follows six different characters, who are trapped inside their school after a bombing. They eventually all meet up and soon after they hear that someone inside the school is the bomber, this novel is a mystery. 

The novel was a fast and easy read. It was an okay novel.

‘The Viking's Chosen' is the first novel in the ‘Clan Hakon' series written by Quinn Loftis. This novel is about a romance between a Viking warrior named Torben and an English princess, named Allete. The only problem besides from the fact that their people are enemies is that Allete is engaged to marry the King of Tara, who is a total a**hole.

There was magic in the novel, some of which did not make much sense. The only magic that did make sense was the prophesy, that was that Torben is prophesized to take a foreign bride and rule his people, but other than that, I did not understand the magic, that was used in the novel. The book was a fast and easy read and I gave it an 3/5 stars.

“The Revolution of Ivy” is the last novel in the duology written by Amy Engel. Ivy now abandoned by her family and she is also separated from her husband Bishop. She is also now beyond the fence and is alone. She needs to find out how to survive with countless dangers, both human and natural, as she is alone in a place that she does not know.

Throughout this novel Bishop and Ivy's relationship is explored after the events of the first novel, they work through their problems. Bishop fought to keep his marriage to Ivy from being annulled, showing that he still loves her. This novel was just as romance heavy, and the novel was also fast and quick as the first one. I gave this novel a 3/5 Stars, like the first novel.

“The Last Namsara” is the first in a trilogy written by Kristen Ciccarelli. The novel follows Asha, the King of Firgaard's daughter. Asha is a dragon slayer, and she brings the slayed dragon heads back to her father. She is betrothed to a cruel commandant, and when she is offered the chance to gain her freedom from her betrothed in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard. 

There is a romantic relationship between Asha and her betrothed's slave named Torwin. I quite enjoyed the story, there are chapters that are about the old myths that exist in Asha's world. These myths are very interesting. I gave this novel a 3.5/5 stars.

“The Hazel Wood” is the first in a duology written by Melissa Albert. The novel follows seventeen-year-old Alice, who has spent most of her life on the road with her mother, but when Alice's grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, passes away alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood. After her grandmother's death, Alice's mother is stolen away - by a figure who claims to have come from the Hinterland, which is the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

The novel was quite enjoyable and the novel had some dark elements. I gave the novel a 3/5 Stars.

“Invictus” is a standalone novel written by Ryan Graudin. The novel follows, Farway Gaius McCarthy who was born outside of time, he is the son of a time-traveling Recorder from 2354 AD and a gladiator living in Rome in 95 AD, and his birth defies the laws of nature. Farway wants to explore history himself, but after failing his final time-traveling exam, he takes a position commanding an illegal ship, to steal valuables from the past and sell them on the black market. During a heist on the Titanic, Farway meets a mysterious girl who is armed with knowledge that will bring Farway's existence into question, she will lead Far and his team on a race through time to discover a frightening truth which is that History is not as steady as it seems.

I found this interesting, but not the best. I had gotten confused at parts of the story. I gave the novel a 3/5 Stars.

“The Chalk Man” is a standalone mystery thriller written by C.J. Tudor. The novel is set in two contrasting years. The first being 1986 and the second being 2016. The novel follows the same character, Eddie, in both years. Eddie tells the story of the Chalk Man (Mr. Halloran), a murderer who gave Eddie the for the chalk drawings which was a way to leave secret messages for his friends and it was fun until the chalk men led them to a body, this was in 1986. But thirty years later, an envelope slips through the letterbox. It contains a stick of chalk and a drawing of a figure. So is Mr. Halloran the real killer, or is the real one still walking free?

This novel is fast and has some ‘taboo' things happening in 1986, and all these led to a murder. The story was interesting, especially learning about the town and all its secrets. I found the main character strange and weird, especially at the end of the novel. It was a good mystery I didn't guess who the real killer was, so I gave the novel a 3/5 stars.

“The Call” is the first in a duology written by Peadar Ó Guilín. The novel is set in a time when the humans had banished the Sidhe, which are like Fae, to a horrible land, and teenagers are ‘Called' to this place, in the human world, the ‘Call” lasts three minutes, but in the Sidhe's world, the ‘Call' lasts twenty-four hours. During the ‘Call' the human teenagers have to fight to survive, because most of the people who had been ‘Called' either come back dead and mutilated, or if your ‘lucky' you come back alive and mutilated.
The novel follows Nessa is determined to survive the ‘Call', even though people think that she would die due to her polio-twisted legs. Nessa is currently going to school, learning how to survive. Throughout the year she witnesses, a few of her classmates get ‘Called'.
I thought the novel would be bloodier, but it wasn't that gruesome, the novel was interesting. I did not like the novel as much as I thought, it was okay, I gave the novel a 3/5 Stars.

“The Book of Ivy” is the first novel in a duology written by Amy Engel. This novel is set in a dystopian America, after a brutal nuclear war, a small group of survivors eventually banded together, but there was conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The novel follows Ivy Westfall, who is the daughter of the losing family, the Westfalls. Ivy must marry the son of the winning side, the president's son, named Bishop Lattimer. After marrying Bishop, Ivy has a mission to kill him and restore her family name.

The novel was entertaining, and the plot is heavy on the romance, the novel was a fast and quick read, I gave the novel a 3/5 Stars.

“The Cruel Prince” is the first novel in a trilogy written by Holly Black. The novel is set in a fae world. The novel follows Jude, one of three sisters, and out of those three sister she is one of two human's and the third sister is half-fae. Jude wants a place within the fae world and would do anything to be a part of it.

The characters were weird, the world wasn't fully developed, but there was interesting politics within the novel. Through out the novel we were told that Jude was trained, by her kidnapper to fight, but sometimes it really did not feel or seem like she knew what she was doing. The romance was just weird. Didn't like it, but the book was just okay to me, I don't really care, I gave it a 3/5 stars.

This manga is the second volume in the series. This volume explained and fleshed out more of the world building. This volume was just better than the first volume, but the romance is a bit strange and I don't know how I feel about it.

I gave this volume a 5/5 Stars much like the first volume.

‘Tales from the Front' is a novella in the ‘Air Awakens” series written by Elise Kova. This novella has 12 stories told from different perspectives that take place between book 2, ‘Fire Falling', and book 3, ‘Earth's End'.

I enjoyed most of the perspectives, that were explored throughout the novella. Though some of the perspectives seemed unnecessary. But it was nice to see the perspectives of Baldair, Elecia, Aldrik, and Fritz. I gave the novella 4/5 Stars due to the fact that there were a few new characters that I didn't know, or care about.

“Sky in the Deep” is a standalone novel written by Adrienne Young. The novel follows Eelyn a female Viking warrior, who while fighting alongside her Aska clansmen, sees her older brother (who died five years ago) fighting with her peoples rivals the Riki clan.

Eventually, she gets captured by the Riki clan and must live and survive the winter in the mountains with her enemy. She stay's as a ‘slave' with her brother and his new family, basically, the guy who nearly killed him five years ago, they became best friends and the guy, named Fiske, his family, was okay adopting someone, who tried to kill their kid.

I found the fighting scenes cool and bloody, most of the time. But most of the book was learning about the different cultures, mainly the Riki culture from Eelyn's point of view, which was interesting. Near the end of the novel the two clan's unit and fight together against a common foe, which means that these two clans create peace. The romance was was slow, but nice. We learn why someone would turn their back on their own clan. I really enjoyed this book, so I gave it 4/5 stars.

“Ringer” the last in a duology written by Lauren Oliver. This novel continues the story about Lyra and Gemma, and the Haven Institute. This novel is filled with action, adventure and romance.

The two stories intertwined nicely, and the duology finishes fairly nicely. It was not as amazing as the first in the duology, but I enjoyed it. I gave this a 3/5 Stars.

“My Life as a White Trash Zombie” is the first in a series written by Diana Rowland. The novel follows, Angel Crawford, who lives with her alcoholic deadbeat dad. Angel is a high school dropout with an addiction and a criminal record who's been fired from more jobs than she can count. Now on probation for a felony, it seems that Angel will never pull herself out of the downward spiral her life has taken. One day, she wakes up in the ER after overdosing, even though Angel clearly remembers being in a horrible car crash, but she doesn't have a mark on her. To add to the weirdness, she receives an anonymous letter telling her there's a job waiting for her at the parish morgue, while working at the morgue she starts craving human brains.

I love zombies, the novel is fun and interesting. There is a serial killer on the prowl, so the novel includes a mystery on the serial killer and who turned her. I also found the romance quite interesting and fun. I really enjoyed the novel, so I gave this a 4/5 Stars.

“The City of Brass” is the first in a trilogy written by S.A. Chakraborty. This novel follows Nahri, who lives in 18th century Cairo. One night while working on one of her cons, she accidentally summons a mysterious djinn warrior. The warrior takes Nahri to Daevabad, which is the legendary city of brass, which is the city that Nahri is permanently bounded to. The city's walls are walls laced with enchantments, and behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are festering.

I found the setting quite interesting. I also enjoyed learning about the djinn and the different beings of the four elements. The story was very interesting, and I enjoyed the novel, I gave the novel a 4/5 stars.

“Love, Life and the List” is a standalone novel written by Kasie West. This novel follows Abby who is a teenage artist whose paintings are not accepted into an art show because she does not “have enough heart,” so Abby decides to make a list of things to do that will apparently give her the depth that she needs to become a better artist.

The novel also includes a romance as she does have a not-so-secret but definitely unrequited crush on her best friend, Cooper. This novel is filled of romance, which is cute and fluffy. The book is a fast and quick read. I gave the book a 3/5 Stars.

“The Book of M” is a standalone novel written by Peng Shepherd. The novel is set in a near future world, where people are losing their shadows and with that they also start to lose their memories. The novel follows Ory and his wife Max, they are living an as normal life as they can after the ‘forgetting', but everything goes wrong when Max loses her shadow, and eventually, she runs away to protect Ory as, the more she forgets, the more dangerous she will become. Ory goes after her, hoping to find her before her memories fade completely.

The novel was interesting, with the shadows disappearing, and that causing peoples memories to fade as well, it was very interesting, I really enjoyed the first part of the novel, but I started not to care for some of the characters. We also don't find anything out about why the shadows were disappearing. So, in the end, it was a good novel, so I gave the novel a 3/5 stars.

“The Loneliest Girl in the Universe” is a standalone novel written by Lauren James. This novel follows main character Romy Silvers who is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship that is travelling to a new planet, on a mission to start a second home for humanity amongst the stars. Romy is alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth and aboard the ship is a single passenger, a boy called J. Romy and J's only communication with each other is via email which is due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit across space. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love.

This novel was fast paced. I, at times felt bad for Romy, due to her being alone, having lost her parents and that she has no new tv series and movies, which must really suck. Romy is somewhat annoying at times. I also had a feeling that J was not really who he seemed to be. It was a pretty average book, so I gave the novel a 3/5 stars. 

“The Heart of Iron” is the first novel in a series which is written by Ashley Poston. The novel follows Ana, who was found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a space captain and his crew, that she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him. Ana's desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But, a spoiled boy beats Ana to the coordinates. When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.

I found the novel really fun as the novel is basically Anastasia, in space. The novel is a fast-paced and engaging novel. I found Ana quite annoying sometimes as she was a bit of a loose cannon, as she is willing to take all the risks and putting her own crew mates which are her so-called-family in harm's way to save D09 from permanently dying down due to his memory core glitch. I mean I get it, but he didn't want anyone to get hurt for him, so in a way she was disrespecting his wishes, but I did like the romance between Ana and D09. I also liked Jax as I found him a fun and enjoyable character with a cute romance. I gave the novel a 3/5 stars.

“Listen to Your Heart” is a contemporary, romance standalone novel written by Kasie West. The novel follows Kate, who is forced by her best friend, Alana, to join their high school's podcast. Now Kate is expected to be one of the podcast's hosts, and she will have to give advice to people, on air, which to her is a horrible idea. But to Kate's surprise, she turns out to be pretty good at the hosting gig. Then the advice podcast gets a call from an anonymous guy, who is asking for advice about his unnamed crush. Kate is pretty sure that the caller is Diego Martinez, and even surer that the girl in question is Alana. Kate is excited for her friend ... until Kate herself starts to develop feelings for Diego. 

The novel is a fast and quick novel, which I had finished within one day. I really enjoyed the novel, the romance was cute, sweet and fluffy. I gave this novel a 2.5/5 stars.

“The Thousandth Floor” is the first in a trilogy written by Katharine McGee. The novel is based in a thousand floor building in New York City, the richer you are the higher up you are in the tower. The novel follows five main characters who live in this tower. Throughout the novel the five teenage struggle to find their place at the top of this tower. The novel is a science fiction novel with high-tech luxury. Throughout the novel we are trying to find out who of the five had died at the beginning of the novel.

This novel was really odd for me. I found one of the romantic relationships kinda gross. I didn't enjoy this novel that much. I gave this a 2/5 Stars, I will not be continuing with this trilogy. I don't really care about anyone in this book.

“Love and Other Train Wrecks” is a standalone novel written by Leah Konen. The novel is a twenty-four-hour romance about two teenagers who meet on a train ride in the middle of a snowstorm. The novel follows two perspectives, one being Noah, who is heading home for one last chance with his first love, whom he broke up with when he went off to college. The second character is Ammy, she leaves her mother to attend her father's wedding, that is happening in Upstate New York.

The train the two are on suddenly breaks down due to a snowstorm and desperate to make it to their destinations, Noah and Ammy have no other option but to travel together. What starts off as a minor detour turns into the whirlwind journey of a lifetime, and over the course of the night they fall in love.

The novel was fast-paced, sweet and cute. Noah was also sweet, romantic and nerdy, while Ammy was a smart and loyal character. I gave the novel a 3/5 Stars, due to the fact that I didn't love the novel, and thought that it was just sweet and cute.

This novel is the first in a trilogy written by Maureen Johnson. This novel is set in Ellingham Academy which is a famous private school which is for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. This school is a place where the founders daughter and wife were kidnapped. The story follows Stevie Bell, who starts her first year at Ellingham Academy, she wants to solve the cold case, but the kidnapper of the founder's daughter and wife, makes a return.

I don't know why but I didn't really enjoy this novel. I don't know what it was, but for me personally, I really didn't like the book, the mystery was good I guess, but just didn't care for it, I gave this novel a 2/5 Stars.

“Immortal Reign” is the sixth and final novel in the “Falling Kingdoms” series written by Morgan Rhodes. The novel continues to follow the four main characters, Jonas, Lucia, Magnus and Cleo. Jonas continues to wilfully defy his own destiny. Lucia wants to protect her own daughter and she will do anything to protect her child. Magnus and Cleo still fighting to be together and are still trying to keep their kingdoms from falling apart. 

I found this conclusion pretty satisfying. I still do not like Lucia, she is still quite annoying. I really liked that Magnus and Cleo are still in love and that they are still very cute. I do not really care about Jonas's point of view or Lucia. I gave the novel a 2.5/5 Stars.