[KINDLE KANDY] MG scifi + YA horror

"Kindle Kandy" is a weekly event hosted at The Book Dame where we share our forgotten owned books

Series: The Accelerati Trilogy #1
Author: Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman
Genre: middle grade, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, adventure, juvenile, humor, magic

Tesla's Attic is the first book in a brilliantly imagined and hilariously written trilogy that combines science, magic, intrigue, and just plain weirdness, about four kids who are caught up in a dangerous plan concocted by the eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla. 

After their home burns down, fourteen-year-old Nick, his younger brother, and their father move into a ramshackle Victorian house they've inherited. When Nick opens the door to his attic room, he's hit in the head by a toaster. That's just the beginning of his weird experiences with the old junk stored up there. After getting rid of the odd antiques in a garage sale, Nick befriends some local kids-Mitch, Caitlin, and Vincent-and they discover that all of the objects have extraordinary properties. What's more, Nick figures out that the attic is a strange magnetic vortex, which attracts all sorts of trouble. It's as if the attic itself has an intelligence . . . and a purpose. 

Ultimately Nick learns that the genius Nikola Tesla placed the items-his last inventions-in the attic as part of a larger plan that he mathematically predicted. Nick and his new friends must retrieve everything that was sold at the garage sale and keep it safe. But the task is fraught with peril-in addition to the dangers inherent in Tesla's mysterious and powerful creations, a secret society of physicists, the Accelerati, is determined to stop Nick and alter destiny to achieve its own devious ends. It's a lot for a guy to handle, especially when he'd much rather fly under the radar as the new kid in town. 

Fans of intrigue, action, humor, and nonstop surprises are guaranteed a read unlike any other in Tesla's Attic, Book One of the Accelerati Trilogy.

[MINI REVIEWS] The Book of James + Mama Cried

Series: N/A
Author: Ellen J. Green
Genre: adult, mystery, thriller
Published: June 30, 2015
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Purchase: Amazon

After a devastating car accident, Nick whispers his last words to his wife, Mackenzie: “As soon as they know I’m dead, they’ll come after you.”

Frightened and bewildered, Mackenzie travels to Philadelphia for the reading of her late husband’s will. To her shock, she learns that Nick’s mother, Cora, is not dead as he always claimed—rather, she is living as a recluse in the family’s gloomy nineteenth-century mansion. Desperate to understand why her husband lied to her for so many years, Mackenzie accepts Cora’s invitation to stay as her guest.

As the women come together in the same house, their stories entwine, each driven by an agenda. Cora clings to her memories and will do anything to protect her family’s secrets, while Mackenzie struggles to uncover a terrible truth long denied. But as she brings to light the darkness in her husband’s past, is Mackenzie putting her own future at risk?

Revised edition: This edition of The Book of James includes editorial revisions.

[WAITING ON WEDNESDAY] Career of Evil

Series: Cormoran Strike #3
Author: Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
Genre: adult, mystery, crime fiction, contemporary, thriller, detective
Expected Publication: October 22, 2015

When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.

Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.

With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…

Career of Evil is the third in the highly acclaimed series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, it is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives. 

Cormoran Strike is back, with his assistant Robin Ellacott, in a mystery based around soldiers returning from war.

*             *             *

I’m Waiting Because: I LOVE THIS SERIES, I LOVE Strike, I LOVE Robin. Do I need to say more? If you haven't read this series, I'd say you start NOW! :D

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming can't wait to read.

[REVIEW] A Batter of Life and Death

full tour schedule can be found at CBB Book Promotions

Series: A Bakeshop Mystery #2
Author: Ellie Alexander
Genre: adult, contemporary, mystery, cozy mystery
Published: June 30, 2015
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Indiebound

Welcome to Torte–a small-town family bakeshop where the coffee is hot, the muffins are fresh, and the cakes are definitely to die for… 

It’s autumn in Ashland, Oregon–’tis the season for a spiced hot apple cider with a serving (or two) of Torte’s famous peach cobbler. It’s also the perfect time for Jules Capshaw to promote her family’s beloved bake shop by competing in The Pastry Channel’s reality show, Take the Cake. The prize is $25,000. But as Jules quickly learns, some people would kill for that kind of dough. Literally. 

Then, just as Jules dusts off her Bavarian Chocolate Cake recipe and cinches up her apron, the corpse of a fellow contestant is discovered–death by buttercream. What began as a fun, tasteful televised adventure has morphed into something of a true-crime detective show for Jules and everybody else on set. Who could have killed Chef Marco, and why? Can Jules sift out the killer before someone else gets burned?

JUNE ROUNDUP: Back to School!!

Hello,

A couple of weeks ago, I went back to school. I'm finally on my (yet again) third year in college. This advertising major isn't putting so much stress on me as much as my previous major (BS Computer Engineering) had which is really good. It tells me that in some ways, I'm actually enjoying it. I guess this means I made the right choice (in terms of shifting to my new major).

I'm currently enrolled in 3D Design, Creative Copywriting, and Color and Line Appreciation (aka Painting) Classes which I'm enjoying so far. Hopefully I'll be able to develop my drawing and painting skills soon :)

June was a really decent month for me in terms of both reading and blogging. I'm ahead of my Goodreads reading challenge and have become a bit consistent on my posting. But since school is back, I'm really hoping to manage my time better this time around.

{ BOOK REVIEWS }

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han | The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey | The Secret Ingredient by Stewart Lewis | Secret of the Sevens by Lynn Lindquist | Evil Games by Angela Marsons | Rumors by A.C. Arthur | The Cure by Stephanie Erickson | You Can't Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet by Juliette Harper | Sugar by Deirdre Riordan Hall

{ PROMOTIONAL POSTS }

Rumors by A.C. Arthur | You Can't Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet by Juliette Harper

[REVIEW] And Then There Were None

Series: N/A
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: adult, classics, mystery, thriller, suspense, detective
Published: November 27, 2013
Purchase: Amazon

"Ten . . ."
Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island mansion off the Devon coast by a mysterious "U.N. Owen." 

"Nine . . ."
At dinner a recorded message accuses each of them in turn of having a guilty secret, and by the end of the night one of the guests is dead. 

"Eight . . ."
Stranded by a violent storm, and haunted by a nursery rhyme counting down one by one . . . one by one they begin to die. 

"Seven . . ."
Who among them is the killer and will any of them survive?