Unmade - A Interesting Mesh of Fun and Excitement

Title: Unmade (Entangled #2)
Author: Amy Rose Capetta
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers 1/13/15

Unmade is book two in the Entangled series and really needs to be read in order.  It continues the story of Cade and her friends as they try to defeat the Unmakers and find a new home for the humans.  It is very reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica at times with a little bit of Firefly thrown in when it comes to the crew.

There is some tragedy - people die that I really, really didn't want to die and it tears the remainder of the crew apart.  At times it went a little over the top with the drama, especially with Mother - but this does allow us to see a different side to many people, a darker emotional side that we really didn't know existed at first.

This is a great sci-fi series for young adults that may be new to the genre.  The types characters and a lot of the emotional concepts will be familiar to them, while the story will show them how much fun it can be to visit new an far away places.

*ARC provided by Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review*

Reconnaissance - When Sci-Fi Meets YA the Right Way

Title: Reconnaissance (Paradise Reclaimed #2)
Author: Aubrie Dionne
Publisher: Inkspell Publishing 4/5/13

Nova Williams has lost her one shot at Lieutenant hood and at love. Lieutenant Crophaven has promoted her rival, Andromeda, all because her lifemate, Sirius, sacrificed their mission to win back Andromeda’s love.

While sneaking out to prove Andromeda is a fake, Nova finds an alien ship hovering over their colony. Lieutenant Crophaven assigns her to a reconnaissance mission, giving her a second chance to redeem herself. Sirius must fly her and a research team to the vessel to decide if they are a threat. Thrown together with the lifemate that betrayed her, she battles with her own jealousy while her team battles for their lives.

Can she forgive Sirius in order to save her team and warn her colony?

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This was an amazing sequel. The story has a lot of classic science fiction elements paired with a great cast of main characters. Book one flows directly into book two with a shift in perspectives from Andromeda to Nova - rivals since school. There is a hint of a love triangle - but it dissolves very quickly and is more of a school age crush finally ending than anything.

Most of the story takes place on the alien ship that Nova has discovered hanging out nearby. These aliens are not nice creatures. They were written brilliantly and gave me the heebie-jeebies everytime that skittered (yes, they skitter) into a room or scene. There was quite a bit of suspense as Nova and Sirius explore the ship and I loved every word of it.

The romance was really on the back burner most of the time. I knew it was there hovering in the background waiting for the right time to pop up again. It was nice not having teenage love shoved in my face every few minutes. I would highly recommend this to any sci-fi YA lovers out there.

The Story of a Real Life Secret Santa and How They Changed One Family's World

The 13th Gift: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle by Joanne Huist Smith

Book received through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

Just about everyone has heard of the Secret Santa tradition.  One where we get together. give gifts anonymously, and throw an office party.  But this Secret Santa was something really special and very unique.  They reached out to a family falling apart.  A family that didnt seem like it was going to survive through the Christmas season without some very serious emotional fallout.

When gifts start showing up at their doorstep (along with cute little verses that I lvoed), the mom is initially quite upset.  Upset in a way that I really didn't understand until about half way through the story.  These gifts from strangers brought a holiday to her that she was trying desperately to erase from her life.  A holiday that brought so many bittersweet memories with it.

Thankfully, her youngest won't let her throw the gifts away, and even manages to make a game of trying to catch Santa in the act.  Slowly but surely these gifts - one for each of the 12 days before Christmas - begin to draw the family not only into the holiday spirit, but it brings them back together.  For the first time in a long time, they find themselves working on a common project - a who-dun-it (in a good way) type of mystery.

In the end, things are still not normal, but the family has learned to come together to deal with all the things life throws at them.  They have also built some amazing memories together that they continue to share through the years.  This is what a Christmas story should be all about.