Stung - Bethany Wiggins (Guest Review)

Review by Emily Ritter

Synopsis: There is no cure for being stung.
Fiona doesn’t remember going to sleep. But when she opens her eyes, she discovers her entire world has been altered—her house is abandoned and broken, and the entire neighborhood is barren and dead. Even stranger is the tattoo on her right hand—a black oval with five marks on either side—that she doesn’t remember getting but somehow knows she must cover at any cost. She’s right.
Those bearing the tattoo have turned into mindless, violent beasts that roam the streets and sewers, preying upon the unbranded while a select few live protected inside a fortress-like wall, their lives devoted to rebuilding society and killing all who bear the mark.
Now Fiona has awakened branded, alone—and on the wrong side of the wall.

Fiona wakes up in an abandoned house with a tattoo on her right hand. She can’t remember how she got there or why she has the mark. What’s stranger is that it’s her old house, but it’s been destroyed, and she is no longer the thirteen year old she last remembers being. Fiona is thrust into a violent world where those bearing the mark have turned into senseless beasts, and the rest of humanity stays huddled inside a wall, venturing out only to hunt the beasts down. In this dystopian re-telling of Sleeping Beauty, Fiona finds herself marked for dead on the wrong side of the wall with little hope of survival.

What first drew me to this book is that Fiona wakes up on the wrong side of the dystopia. It’s not a long drawn-out choice to be there. Instead, she’s thrown into the action and must figure out who she is at the same time she’s figuring out how to survive. And woah is the world violent! I’m willing to go so far as to call this a dystopian/horror mash-up because of the disastrous state of the world in this book.

Stung was a very compelling read. The danger and action are non-stop, and I was glued to the page to find out if Fiona had a chance. And of course I wanted more of the handsome anti-hero helping Fiona survive. Who wouldn’t!? (Don’t worry, you get plenty of handsome anti-hero action!)

If you’re into dystopians, loose fairy tale-retellings, or survival stories, Stung is for you. 

*Make sure you check out Emily's amazing blog, (YA)y Books! 

Going Vintage - Lindsey Leavitt (Guest Review)

I'm so excited to have the amazing Emily from (YA)Y! Books on the blog today sharing her thoughts on Going Vintage!

Synopsis: When Mallory’s boyfriend, Jeremy, cheats on her with an online girlfriend, Mallory decides the best way to de-Jeremy her life is to de-modernize things too. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in1962, Mallory swears off technology and returns to a simpler time (when boyfriends couldn’t cheat with computer avatars). The List:
1. Run for pep club secretary
2. Host a fancy dinner party/soiree
3. Sew a dress for Homecoming
4. Find a steady
5. Do something dangerous
But simple proves to be crazy-complicated, and the details of the past begin to change Mallory’s present. Add in a too-busy grandmother, a sassy sister, and the cute pep-club president–who just happens to be her ex’s cousin–and soon Mallory begins to wonder if going vintage is going too far.

When Mallory’s boyfriend cheats on her online, she swears off technology and decides to live like they did in the 1960s. Inspired by a list found in her grandmother’s diary from 1962, Mallory decides to make her life simpler. But of course, little goes according to plan, and going vintage makes everything more complicated.

This book was a quick, adorable read. At first, I thought it was a little too simple: Mallory thinks she can fix all things by returning to a “simpler” decade. But she forgets to factor in things like using the internet for research at school, and an ex-boyfriend who doesn’t understand what he did wrong.  Going back to the 60s is supposed to be a quick-fix.

Which of course is absurd. The History major in me is screaming injustice. But as Mallory learns, teenagers in every decade had their share of problems, and we’re not just talking fashion.

What I really loved about this book were the side-characters. Mallory’s younger sister was my favorite, and it’s so refreshing to read about a modern pair of sisters who are best friends. Mallory’s parents were also pretty great in the parents-are-always-crazy kind of way. And of course, the drama/romance with the ex-boyfriend’s cousin, Oliver (what a great name!), was adorable.

In the end, while the premise may seem kind of simple, the book definitely redeemed itself with a great cast of characters and much deeper meaning.

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About Emily: Emily Ritter found her dream job working in the marketing department of a children's publisher. When she's not reading books, she's watching sports and eating ice cream. She blogs about YA books at yay-books.blogspot.com and general NFL shenanigans at aeryssports.com/aerys-offsides. One time she married a trophy!