Andye Reads

Review by Andye AND I DARKEN The Conquerors Saga #1 by Kiersten White Age Range: 12 and up Grade Level: 7 and up Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Delacorte Press (June 28, 2016) Goodreads | Amazon No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets. Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she...

Review by Jen THE LEAVING by Tara Altebrando Hardcover: 432 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens (June 7, 2016) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Eleven years ago, six kindergartners went missing without a trace. After all that time, the people left behind moved on, or tried to. Until today. Today five of those kids return. They're sixteen, and they are . . . fine. Scarlett comes home and finds a mom she barely recognizes, and doesn't really recognize the person she's supposed to be, either. But she thinks she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett, too, except they're entirely unable to recall where they've been or what happened to them. Neither of them remember the sixth victim, Max--the only one who hasn't come back. Which leaves Max's sister, Avery, wanting answers. She wants to find her brother--dead or alive--and isn't buying this whole memory-loss story. But as details of the disappearance begin to unfold, no one is prepared for t...

Review by Shannon THE WINNER'S KISS by Marie Rutkoski Series: The Winner's Trilogy (Book 3) Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (March 29, 2016) Audible Audio Edition Listening Length: 12 hours and 13 minutes Program Type: Audiobook Version: Unabridged Publisher: Listening Library Goodreads | Amazon | Audible War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people―and certainly more than she did for him. At least, that’s what he thinks. In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what t...

Review by Sara & Andye THE WINNER'S KISS by Marie Rutkoski Series: The Winner's Trilogy (Book 3) Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (March 29, 2016) Audible Audio Edition Listening Length: 12 hours and 13 minutes Program Type: Audiobook Version: Unabridged Publisher: Listening Library Goodreads | Amazon | Audible War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people―and certainly more than she did for him. At least, that’s what he thinks. In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what ...