Book Review: Hover by Melissa West

On Earth, seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander was taught to never peek, but if she hopes to survive life on her new planet, Loge, her eyes must never shut. Because Zeus will do anything to save the Ancients from their dying planet, and he has a plan.

Thousands of humans crossed over to Loge after a poisonous neurotoxin released into Earth's atmosphere, nearly killing them. They sought refuge in hopes of finding a new life, but what they became were slaves, built to wage war against their home planet. That is, unless Ari and Jackson can stop them. But on Loge, nothing is as it seems...and no one can be trusted.

Best Bits: I liked the forward movement of the plot for Ari. She's now on Loge, and there is a lot that comes with that. She has to adjust to a new place, and come to terms with the choices that her family and friends are making on Earth. She's now accepting why people see her as a leader. She's basically been trained for it by her father. She also doesn't shy away from her responsibilities. That doesn't mean she has no "OMG why me?!" moments, but she handles them well. Plus, she also has to deal with the constant physical and emotional threat of Zeus. I appreciated getting to see more of how Zeus became a ruthless leader. Perhaps that's George R.R. Martin's influence on me, or my age, but lately I've really enjoyed feeling some empathy for the baddies.

Nit Picks: Okay, I can't fault the actual book for this, but my review copy had places where almost entire paragraphs were glitched and I couldn't read them. It was particularly frustrating because it felt like I was missing extremely crucial information. I'm not sure if this was a wide-spread problem, but I had to make guesses about the content of sentences that looked like this "XSOSIGH OSIRH SOSI." It made the reading process kind of a bummer. I do think that Hover was a bit of a victim to the middle book phenomenon. Yes, the characters were expanded upon, but I felt like I was waiting for more to happen.

Hover
By Melisa West
Published by Entangled Teen
352 pages
Received for Review

 

Stacking the Shelves (August 10)

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews! It's a way to highlight the books that everyone got throughout the week.

Pride and Prejudice and Kitties by Jane Austen, Pamela Jane, and Deborah Guyol

 What if Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was told from a cat's point of view? On the heels of smash hits like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I Can Has Cheezburger, this hilarious mash-up by children's author Pamela Jane and photographer Deborah Guyol spins a fresh, quirky take on two of the things we just can't get enough of: classic cats and classic Jane.

Pride and Prejudice and Kitties juxtaposes wacky photos of cats with the wicked humor of Jane Austen, and it's just in time for the 200-year anniversary of the publication of the original Pride and Prejudice. Soulful Mr. Darcy gazes at Elizabeth Bennet in fascination; hysterical Mrs. Bennet yowls that no one understands her; somnolent Mr. Hurst passes out on the sofa after dinner; arrogant Lady Catherine hisses at Elizabeth. Each photo includes a hilarious caption that goes along with the text of Pride and Prejudice, told from a feline perspective.

Pride and Prejudice and Kitties is a book for cat-lovers, Austen-lovers, and people who love to laugh--in other words, just about everyone. The adorable meets the absurd!

Published by Skyhorse Publishing

Hover by Melissa West

On Earth, seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander was taught to never peek, but if she hopes to survive life on her new planet, Loge, her eyes must never shut. Because Zeus will do anything to save the Ancients from their dying planet, and he has a plan.

Thousands of humans crossed over to Loge after a poisonous neurotoxin released into Earth's atmosphere, nearly killing them. They sought refuge in hopes of finding a new life, but what they became were slaves, built to wage war against their home planet. That is, unless Ari and Jackson can stop them. But on Loge, nothing is as it seems...and no one can be trusted.

Published by Entangled Teen
Release Date: August 13, 2013

Week in Review:

ARC Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas 

Waiting on Wednesday: Relativity by Cristin Bishara 

Fall Festival Sign-ups

Waiting on Wednesday (July 4)

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This weekly meme shares the upcoming books that I'm most excited about.

Gravity by Melissa West

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed—arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.
Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know—especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war. 

Published by Entangled
Release Date: October 16, 2012


Happy 4th of July to all of those celebrating in the US!