WOAH. Just WOAH. // REVIEW: Reality No-Show by Kiersten White (ReMade S01E06)

Title: Reality No-Show (ReMade Season 1 Episode 6)
Author: Kiersten White
Publication Date: October 19th 2016
Publisher: Serial Box Publishing
Part of a Series?: Yes, Episode 6/15 of ReMade Season 1
I Got A Copy Through: The Publisher (THANK YOU!)

Buy Links: Episodes are available in text and audio and can be enjoyed through the Serial Box App, at SerialBox.com, or wherever eBooks are sold.

Blurb Description:You live. You love. You die. Now RUN.
Every minute, 108 people die. On October 14th, 2016, from 9:31-9:32 p.m. EDT, 23 of those deaths will be teenagers. Now they are humanity’s last hope for survival. Awakened in a world they barely recognize and hunted by mechanical horrors, these teens search for answers amidst the ruins of civilization. Fate, love, and loyalty face off in this adrenaline -pumping YA adventure.    Team-written by some of today’s most popular YA authors, ReMade is brought to you by Matthew Cody (Super), Andrea Phillips (Revision), Kiersten White (And I Darken), Gwenda Bond (Girl on a Wire), Carrie Harris (Bad Taste in Boys), and E. C. Myers (The Silence of Six).

Teddy, a teenage heart-throb and reality TV star, is used to being followed by cameras and waking up in strange beds with strange girls. But robot cameras with no operators, beds made of plastic, and girls that have no desire to be in bed with him? That he very unused to. Suddenly trapped in a weird alt-version of his own life – with a rare definitively non-fangirl – the teen star seeks questions, and a way out.

This episode written by Keirsten White.

 Season One will unfold across 15 episodes beginning September 14^th, with a new installment dropping every Wednesday until the season finale on December 21^st. Jump into this digital serial, available in both text and audio, and find out what the future of fiction holds.

Before you start this review, you should download you FREE copy of Book One in this AWESOME season here.

Or, you can read my review of Episode 1, Shadows and Dreams, written by Matthew Cody here,  Episode two, Hungry by Andrea Philips here, Episode Three, Home, Perilious Home here, Episode 4, The Most Dangerous Game here and Episode 5, Umta here.

After that EXPLOSIVE Episode 5 ending, I could not WAIT to sink my BookDragon talons into Episode Six. 

While it unfortunately didn't pick up the second it left off, the entire season did take a very different turn.

In fact, Episode Six is told from a POV we haven't even seen before - a reality TV Star names Teddy who's convinced that living in this world - which looks exactly like the set he lives in for the "reality" show but also is very different - is all in his head, and he's pretty much gotten all his genes from his father and goon CUCKOO.

He's stranded with a girl who looks like his "girlfriend" on the "reality" show, one who just wants to go home and so they devise a plan.

I really really love where this series is taking us, with each episode giving me MORE questions and VERY FEW answers, but it is so adrenaline filled, and the world builds a little more on itself every episode that I'm thoroughly enjoying every second of it.

While this ending wasn't as bloodthirsty as Episode 5, it was still wonderful, connecting all the previous five episodes to this one in a way YOU CANNOT IMAGINE! After all, where does a reality TV star/ Jock fit into a post-apocalyptic world with barely any civilization?

Despite have only a few pages in Teddy's POV, he has quickly become one of my favourite ReMade characters, and I CANNOT WAIT TO DIVE INTO SEVEN!

EEEK!

 ReMade is a serial presented episodically in 15 parts by Serial Box Publishing.

In one moment the lives of twenty-three teenagers are forever changed, and it’s not just because they all happen to die.  Remade in a world they barely recognize – one with robots, space elevators, and unchecked jungle – they must work together to solve the mystery and stay alive. They came from different places, backgrounds, and families, and now they are our only hope. Lost meets The Maze Runner in this thrilling serial that combines contemporary YA with classic Science Fiction to fling you headfirst into adventure.

Kiersten White is the NYT bestselling author of the Paranormalcy trilogy, the Mind Games series, Illusions of Fate, The Chaos of Stars, In the Shadows with artist Jim Di Bartolo, and the upcoming historical reimagining, And I Darken. She has one tall husband and three small children and lives near the ocean, where her life is perfectly normal. She also gives the world’s most awkward hugs. kierstenwhite.com. @KierstenWhite.

Serial Box produces and publishes fiction serials, blending story production and distribution practices from television, book publishing and narrative podcasting. These team-written original serials span a range of genres including sci fi / fantasy, espionage, contemporary and historical drama, post-apocalyptic, etc. Serial Box delivers episodes to fans’ digital devices every Wednesday over the course of 13-16 week seasons. Each episode is available in ebook and audio and takes about 40 minutes to enjoy. Learn more at Serial Box.com. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and our blog. 

Have you heard of Serial Box Publishing? What do you think of Episode Books, and would you read them? 

What do you think of ReMade so far? 

I think this is all SO COOL, and I'm dying for more!

EMOTIONAL TORTURE (The BEST kind) // Dead of Winter by Kresley Cole

Title: Dead Of Winter (The Arcana Chronicles #3)
Author: Kresley Cole
Publication Date: January 6th 2015
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Part of A Series?: Yes Book 3/5 of the Arcana Chronicles
I Got A Copy Through: Sullivan and Partners (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon US || Amazon UK || Amazon IN || Barnes and Noble || Wordery || The Book Depository

Blurb Description: Can Evie convince her rival loves to work together? Their survival depends on it in this third book of #1 New York Timesbestselling author Kresley Cole’s Arcana Chronicles, a nonstop action tale of rescue, redemption, and a revenge most wicked.
Heartbreaking decisions Evie was almost seduced by the life of comfort that Death offered her—until Jack was threatened by two of the most horrific Arcana, the Lovers. She will do anything to save him, even escape Death’s uncanny prison, full of beautiful objects, material comforts…and stolen glances from a former love.
Uncertain victory Despite leaving a part of her heart behind with Death, Evie sets out into a perilous post-apocalyptic wasteland to meet up with her allies and launch an attack on the Lovers. Such formidable enemies require a battle plan, and the only way to kill them may mean Evie, Jack, and Death allying. Evie doesn’t know what will prove more impossible: surviving slavers, plague, Bagmen and other Arcana—or convincing Jack and Death to work together.
Two heroes returned There’s a thin line between love and hate, and Evie just doesn’t know where she stands with either Jack or Death. Will this unlikely trio be able to defeat The Lovers without killing one another first...? 

ENDINGS LIKE THAT NEED TO BE OUTLAWED.

BECAUSE I’M DYING AND YET, THE HOPE OF MORE OF THIS MIGHT BE THE ONLY THING KEEPING ME ALIVE.

Actually, scratch that. I’m most definitely DEAD inside because this book – this series – is EVERYTHING and it just killed me.

The Arcana Chronicles is about a game. (OF MURDERING EVERYTHING IN ME. I’m kidding.) A game where twenty two teenagers handpicked by the Gods and gifted with supernatural abilities depicted on Tarot Cards play for immortality. The winner doesn’t age in the centuries between games, but only at the price at killing all the other Arcana.

Of course, each game has to have obstacles apart from the actual ‘bad guys’ themselves and this one consists of bagmen – zombies that eat blood and whose touch turns you into one of them – and slavers and armies and the plague.

In the middle of a post-apocalyptic world, is Evangeline Greene. The Empress, the Poison Princess, the Red Witch has formed an alliance for everyone to step out of the game – to not kill but to take control of their own fates and live their lives out.

Except in a centuries long killing game for immortality in a post-apocalyptic world, can you really just stop killing?

I LOVE THIS STORY OH MY GOD.

I’m a sucker for bad boys (see: Rhysand from ACOTAR) so, if you throw TWO BAD BOYS IN THE PICTURE, and one of them DEATH himself, I will be in love, before I ever started reading. ALSO, THEY’RE BOTH AWESOME. AND SLIGHTLY MESSED UP. AND GORGEOUS. AND WONDERFUL FIGHTERS. AND POWERFUL. (I could go on.)  

While I loved the boys, however, Evie and the boys and the fact that they were basically in a pissing/ marking their territory contest and the fact that she didn’t say anything was UGH. Like STAND UP FOR YOURSELF. You’re not property to be owned, just because you married someone in a past life doesn’t mean you’re married now. MEH.

Another cool thing I did love was the different Arcana and their powers. I MEAN HOW COOL IS TIME TRAVEL AND ELECTRICITY AND POISON AND WINGS AND A KILLING TOUCH AND MIND CONTROL? Powers have ALWAYS fascinated me and I love everyone’s powers, even if there really was only one scene where we saw a lot of them use it.

I’m craving more action, less romance in book four.

I want Evie to UNLEASH the Red Witch.

I want more of this series, I want more from this series, - I JUST WANT EVERYTHING, OKAY?

Yes, I make no sense.

But you should go DEFINITELY read this. NOW.  

Have you ever used Tarot Cards? 

Do you believe in Tarot Cards? 

If you could have ONE superpower, what would it be?

HAVE YOU READ THIS SERIES, BECAUSE I NEED TO RANT AND SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME.

Brutally Fantastic // Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles #1) by Kresley Cole

Title: Poison Princess

Author: Kresley Cole
Publication Date: August 19th 2014
Publisher: Simon And Schuster Books For Young Readers
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 1 of 5 of the Arcana Chronicles
I Got A Copy Through: Sullivan and Partners (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon US || Barnes&Noble || Wordery || The Book Depository 

Blurb Description: #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole introduces The Arcana Chronicles, post-apocalyptic tales filled with riveting action, the dark mysticism of Tarot cards, and breathtaking romance.
She could save the world-or destroy it.Sixteen year old Evangeline "Evie" Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future-and they're still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Derveaux.
But she can't do either alone.With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can't totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?
Who can Evie trust?As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it's not always clear who is on which side...

I’ve taken a couple of days to sit down, pause, process and then write this review.

If you asked me my opinions on Friday, when I finished this book, there were: “AJIOFSJIPFA, WHAT EVEN HAPPENED?”

And now, three days later, despite my attempts at rational thought, they still are: “AJIOFSJIPFA, WHAT EVEN HAPPENED?”

Poison Princess, the first book in the Arcana Chronicles, BLEW MY MIND. It was brutal, swoon-worthy, filled with questions that made me go slightly insane, an amazing plot and had the best line-up of characters ever. 

Things I LOVED about this book:

1. EVERYTHING COMPLICATED // THE AMAZING PLOT: This plot line was GORGEOUS, okay? I don’t usually read post-apocalyptic dystopian novels, but Poison Princess was just BEAUTIFUL. I loved the sheer detail of the plot line, setting it up for the next few books and answering a few questions while leaving SO MANY left for book two.

2. Jackson Derveaux: I CANNOT RESIST THE BAD BOYS, OKAY? Especially ones that are secretly soft on the inside but on the outside are gruff and non-caring and I LOVED HIM, OKAY? Through the book, he stayed who he was but he changed and totally won my heart! He was EVERYTHING.

3. The Tarot Cards: I THINK THIS WAS A BEAUTIFUL IDEA, OKAY? I’ve never really been into Tarot Cards, and the most I’ve seen of them is in the Just My Luck movie, BUT THIS HAS ME SO INTERESTED OMFG.

4. The Ending: Before that final scene, I was seriously considering pulling all of my hair out because of THE QUESTIONS and the UNCERTAINITY but that ending was WONDERFUL, and I am so happy the second book has already been published and *grabby hands*

5. The Parent Factor: Know how the parents are mysteriously ALWAYS gone in these novels, conveniently killed off before you get to know them? Well, for about half of this book, IT WAS NOT THE CASE! I loved that Evie and her mum stuck together, and after her mother was always a source of inspiration for her.

6. The Other Tarot Cards: Since everyone in the book – or rather the game - signifies a tarot card, the characters that Evie meets along the way – Matthew (The Fool), Selena (The Moon), Finneas (The Magician) – were all AMAZING and equally frustrating and I can’t wait to read more with them!

ALL IN ALL, A book you should DEFINITELY read for its brilliant characters and brutal plot lines! 5 stars!

Any Post-Apocalyptic Novels I should be reading? Have you read this series? What did you think of it?

I can't WAIT to talk to all of you lovely bookdragons!