Author: Marie Rutkoski

Pages: 416

Published by: Farrar Straus Giroux

Published on: March 3rd 2015

Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love. The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement... if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret. As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

The war rages on between Gemma and Hallie in the second installment of the Broken Hearts and Revenge series. After the humiliating events on the 4th of July, Gemma's trying to handle the fact that Hallie knew who she was all along, and she was the one who stole Teddy from her. Gemma vows revenge, but things get more complicated than she planned. Ford, Gemma’s long-time crush, has arrived in the Hamptons cuter than ever. Josh is refusing to speak to her after she lied to him, and Teddy is playing champion to his beloved Marsh Warbler (in Gemma's backyard, no less). Gemma and Hallie find themselves locked in an escalating revenge cycle. Just when Gemma thinks she has the upper hand, the biggest bombshell of all is dropped. And it’s one that threatens to change her life forever. This exciting sequel to Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things To Mend will leave you begging for the third installment. 

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This book, this trilogy! I really enjoyed this book. Katie Finn has the whole thing so carefully planned and it just amazes me how a little detail can change the whole entire book. Just ugh so cool. In my review of Broken Hearts and Fences I mentioned how Gemma seemed like she had no character but in this book I was able to find more of that from her. The plot was just fun, mischievous, and got me so pumped for the last book!

This book picks up right after Broken Hearts and Fences and we really see Gemma put her foot down in the situation she is in. I really enjoyed getting to know more about her and her qualities because in the last book, I felt a lack of that. Gemma is understanding, very smart, sneaky, and at times, bit immature for her age. However, based on the ending of this book I am hoping for some changes in that issue. I am excited to finish this trilogy and see the wonderful character development Gemma goes through because it was just for the very very best. Gemma does go through a bit of change in this book. She does something somewhere in the book and that really reflects on the person she will become. I am excited to see how this change will affect the next book.

I really enjoyed the plot. After what happened in Broken Hearts, I would understand why Gemma did what she did. It just really gave her an opportunity to get back at Hallie for what she did. (That doesn't make it okay though.) This book a huge all out war between Hallie and Gemma and it was really funny to read the things they would do to each other. I really do hope this revenge war is going to stop because two books of that is already enough. I if I were to have to go through another book of the revenge war

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I highly doubt there will be more of this revenge-ing war because of what happened in the end of the book. Plus, like I mentioned Gemma is hopefully goes through a change and that may very much affect the book. If anything, I hope Hallie and Gemma finally make amends and move on with life.

I mentioned that I felt as though Gemma was immature and I am here to explain my reasoning on that. *may be a bit spoilery* Not only did I feel as though Gemma was immature, Hallie came off a bit immature as well. People these days are doing "bigger" things. Teenages are really making their mark on media and they develop a fanbase and all that jazz. So when I see two 16 year olds getting into "cat fights" and buying things like dissolving bikinis and giving it to their enemy all I can do is shake my head. Like Hallie still holding a grudge for something Gemma did 5 years ago is just ridiculous. Girl, let it go already. Move on. So Hallie doing all this revenge stuff really brought out the immature side of Gemma and this immature side was really brought out during the whole entire Revenge, Ice Cream book. Like I said, I am expecting things to change in the next book and hopefully, both Hallie and Gemma will get out of their immatures personalities.

I gave this book 4 stars because even though I loved the plot and really enjoyed the characters, I had small problems with two of the characters.

Author: Lynne Matson 

Pages: 432

Published by: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Published on:  May 12th 2015
Review for Nil

On the island of Nil, the rules are set. You have exactly 365 days to escape—or you die. Rives is now the undisputed Leader of Nil City, but keeping the City united is tougher than ever. Raiders have grown bolder, supplies are dwindling, and non-human inhabitants have taken a turn toward the deadly. New arrivals cause rifts within the City, putting the Search system at risk, and calling everything Rives knows into question. Desperate for answers, he teams up with the only other person searching for them: Skye, a new arrival with a mysterious past of her own. Soon the duo find themselves locked in a desperate race to save all the residents of Nil—and possibly destroy the island forever. But at what cost? And who will pay the price?

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Ahhh ever since I have finished Nil I have been dying to read Nil Unlocked! Nil had action, twists, turns, and we were just getting to know Nil. Ohhh but Nil Unlocked really did unlock Nil. I learned so much about Nil and this book was great. I have to say I enjoyed Nil a lot better because that one had more action and twists and turns but Nil Unlocked was a great book in it's own way though. Nil Unlocked brought information, mystery, and just so many questions to the island. I mentioned in my Nil review how the island itself was a character and the island become more of a character in Nil Unlocked. Lynne definitely did a great job with this sequel.

The characters in this book are very interesting. We have Rives, who we saw in Nil, and Skye. Skye is kind of like a Nil expert, except she hasn't had the first hand experience. I loved Skye, she was so prepared and ready to take action if necessary. In this book we also get to know a lot more about Rives. More about his past and personality. I really enjoyed reading from both Rives and Skye's point of view because it gave me a taste of two different personalities. Rives: the leader and Nil explorer and Skye: the person who knew all the Nil facts. It was also so cool to see Skye recognize things from her uncle's journals to things on Nil. Other characters, like Jason, Jillian, and Sy, were so great to read about again and it just brought back so much nostalgia! ;) The new characters were also a great addition.

I loved this plot. I loved how the more I read, the more I was learning about Nil. I love how there is more to Nil that meets the eye and learning that information kept me reading. I just loved everything about this plot; the way it was set up to discover facts about Nil was so great to read about! There was a lot less action than Nil but it was all good because of how much we were learning about Nil and the history behind it. Then the ending, oh the ending was just glorious! So much action and suspense then everyone was happy and it just set up a great base for book three, which I am dying to read!

I gave this book 5 stars because I just loved everything about it.

Well one thing is for sure, it matched the other two covers. Good! I like how they were, again, able to incorporate the sword/dagger into the title, I like that! I really like the fonts they used on this series as well. Really love it. The dress is beautiful. I think the dresses on the cover of this series is probably the most important thing. The Winner's Curse was beautiful, The Winner's Crime was beautiful, this dress is definitely beautiful along with it's sisters. The model though! How she just stares into your soul and is looking fierce! Yes! :D

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Author: Marie Rutkoski

Pages: 352

Publishing by: Farrar Straus & Giroux

Publishing on: March 1st 2016 

War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it, with the East as his ally and the empire as his enemy. He’s finally managed to dismiss the memory of Kestrel, even if he can’t quite forget her. Kestrel turned into someone he could no longer recognize: someone who cared more for the empire than for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she cared for him. At least, that’s what he thinks. But far north lies a work camp where Kestrel is a prisoner. Can she manage to escape before she loses herself? As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover unexpected roles in battle, terrible secrets, and a fragile hope. The world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and Kestrel and Arin are caught between. In a game like this, can anybody really win?