Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Janelle's life is fairly normal: she has a crush on a boy, an ex-friend for an enemy, a best friend, and an average job as a lifeguard. It is normal, in fact, until she gets hit by a car and dies; and gets brought back to life by--a stoner at her school? Add to that a bunch of mysterious deaths and a countdown to who-knows-what and you end up with a life that is certainly not normal. But why, and how, was she brought back to life and what is this mysterious countdown to?
I thought Unraveling was a good read. It has an engaging plot and interesting characters and relationships. At first I was worried that it was going to be another lame teen romance with little involvement in the plot but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not. It's also nice to have a previously-unknown character become a big part of the plot. I was disappointed, however, at the lack of information given about Janelle's best friend Alex. He is present during the entire story yet we never really learn anything about him other than his intimidating mother and his role in Janelle's life. The information given about him is equivalent to that of a much less important character. I was really hoping there would be some insight into his character but it never happened. I believe that Elizabeth Norris plans to make the book into a trilogy but I'm worried that they are going to be written just to make more money and to drag out the story for as long as possible because there really didn't seem to be much more to write about at the end of the book. Hopefully Norris will surprise me and pull off some really excellent sequels. In summary I'd say that Unravelling is enjoyable and worth a read if you like that kind of story.

A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont

Emma is a scholarship student stuck at a school full of snobbish rich kids. Her miserable school life is only made worse by the fact that her roommate--the other scholarship student who is Emma's only possible ally--dislikes her. That combined with the wrath of the queen-bee Elise leaves her with just a leather-bound copy of Jane Eyre to keep her company. Little does she know what those old pages hold...
Though the book had great potential with the interesting idea of going into a book, Mont unfortunately did not do a very good job in the execution. In addition to way too much cheesy spiritual junk (not that I have anything against spiritual stuff--it's just that it was unskillfully thrown in in an attempt to explain certain events in the book), the story seemed somewhat pointless. I think Mont was so intent on using her interesting idea that she totally ignored the rest of the story. It was like two stories that did not fit were slapped together to create one. Add to that a melodramatic, cliché love story and you end up with a big mess. I'm not saying that it's totally unenjoyable, just that it is very flawed. I would absolutely love to see Mont's idea executed well (I suppose a similar idea is used in Inkheart... I'll have to re-read that one) but the story just didn't quite cut it for me, which is such a shame. Mont is planning to write two more books to follow this one, but based on the summary, the next looks like it will be a repeat of the first, just with another book. I might have been inclined to read the sequel if there had been a hint dropped about why this happened to Emma, but as it is I don't plan on reading any of the others.

The Mistborn Series: Books Two and Three by Brandon Sanderson

Out of the sheer exhaustion of my mind due to the reading of these two books I have decided to clump them together and to omit summaries of what they are about (they are continuations of the series anyways). If you want to figure out all of the secrets from the first book (not to mention the undermining of everything you thought you knew), then reading these books is a must. I have never read a book/series that has thrown so many surprises around before (I know I said that about The Emperor's Edge series, but the surprises in these two books easily top those). Anyways, the books are incredible. The characters continue to develop throughout the books quite believably and several new characters are introduced. I personally felt overwhelmed by the huge number of surprising events but I thought the books were enjoyable nonetheless. There is a fourth book, but the first three pretty wrap up the story very nicely (except for a bit of a hint dropped at the end about a discovery that still hasn't been made). I'd say that if you've read the first book and liked it well enough, you'd be missing out not to read these as well if only to have everything you thought you knew turned upside down and become something totally different.

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

In an oppressive society under the immortal, tyrannical Lord Ruler, nobles and skaa coexist. The nobles need fear little as long as they do not defy the Lord Ruler. The skaa, however, are essentially slaves, condemned to miserable lives due to the actions of their ancestors. Vin, a girl in a thieving band of skaa, has a special ability which she calls Luck. Without it she would have died long ago. Kelsier is something of a hero. He is called the survivor and known to all of the skaa. His goal? To cause as much trouble as he can, and for his latest plan he needs a team. Little does Vin know that she's going to become involved.

I took a bit of a gamble on this book. I usually don't read fantasy books that are quite this obscure (and by obscure I mean with extremely different, elaborate societies and totally different worlds). But this turned out quite well. I was pleasantly surprised that I could follow along with all of the invented terms and such because they were explained adequately. The story is told from mostly Vin's point of view, but also Kelsier's and others' as needed. It is done quite proficiently, as each change of view reveals information that you wouldn't have gotten otherwise. The book does start off in that mysterious way that leaves you completely confused, but everything is explained quickly enough for it to add to rather than detract from the story telling. What I loved the most about the book was the creativity of the skills that Vin has and the clear descriptions of their use (no, I will not expand on that. I don't want to spoil the story). Vin's and Kelsier's personalities are developed very nicely and the change is noticeable (though that is probably made more obvious by Vin's commentary now that I think about it...). But in any case, I enjoyed the story and will probably read the next one. Stay tuned!

Encrypted by Lindsay Buroker

Language expert Tikaya Komitopis is gifted. So gifted that she was recruited to be her country's cryptanalyst. With the war finally coming to an end and her skills no longer needed, Tikaya returns home to live in peace. For a year. Then she's swiped from her home, kidnapped by Turgonians. Turgonians who are perfectly aware of her role in the war, a role that prevented their complete win. But now that they've found her, they need her help. And will get it whether she's willing or not.
Set in the same world as The Emperor's Edge, Encrypted holds much of the same charm. An intelligent woman, her intelligent male counterpart, an interesting plot, what's not to like? I had a great time imagining all of the interesting places and events but the best part was probably making all of the connections to The Emperor's Edge series. It gave me a lot of insight into some of the stranger parts of the series. I totally recommend reading both this book and the series, because neither one is as satisfactory alone as with the other, even though they can be read independently. This book takes place roughly 15 years before The Emperor's Edge but both include Sicarius as a character. In any case, I found Encrypted very enjoyable and expect Lindsay Buroker's other books to be just as good.

Conspiracy by Lindsay Buroker

Conspiracy picks up right off from where the last one left off: preparing to rescue/kidnap the emperor. Of course it will be extremely dangerous and tricky, but the team has Amaranthe to cook up some crazy plans (as usual). In addition to the usual crew, there's one more addition for their latest adventure. This time we hear the story from Akstyr's point of view (and Amaranthe of course), and get some more information about his past. The next book is going to be Maldynado's point of view. I'm hoping the last one will be from Sicarius' perspective (that would be SO incredibly interesting).
Something I need to say upon reflection of this book: Lindsay Buroker certainly has knack for tossing in ridiculous things without making them seem totally unbelievable (remember the kracken? This time it's more extreme). Perhaps it has something to do with Amaranthe's incredulous reactions to these bits... anyways, as per usual, this book keeps up the quality of the previous books. It just came out recently though so you're going to have to wait a little while for the next one. Oh, and unfortunately this one ends with a cliffhanger. An EXTREME cliffhanger. So, if that's going to absolutely kill you I'd say to wait a while before reading this one (of course I would never be able to follow that advice so it's totally up to you).
I also discovered that the first book (I'm not sure if the others are going to be done as well) is coming out chapter by chapter as a free audio recording. You can listen to it here.

Deadly Games by Lindsay Buroker

In the third book of The Emperor's Edge series, all of the old characters are back. This time the second-character-focus is on Basilard. The book starts off with everybody on vacation. However, their well deserved break is short lived. Training with Sicarius at the location of the soon-to-occur Imperial Games (essentially a smaller, deadlier version of the Olympics), Amaranthe discovers that athletes are disappearing! What does she do of course? Cut short everyone's vacation and go off in search of the missing athletes!
Deadly Games maintains the quality of the previous books in the series, continuing the character development and revealing more about the characters' pasts. One of the more interesting bits of the book is the relationship that develops between Akstyr and Basilard. I don't really have much more to say except that the book is just as enjoyable as the prior books and the ending will leave you wanting more (luckily the fourth book just came out a couple weeks ago so you won't have to wait).