0.4 by Mike Lancaster

Genre: Sci Fi | Young Adult

Series: Point 4 #1

Publisher: Egmont UK

Buy the book: Book Depository 

Source: Bought

'It's a brave new world. 'My name is Kyle Straker. And I don't exist anymore.'
So begins the story of Kyle Straker, recorded on to old audio tapes. You might think these tapes are a hoax. But perhaps they contain the history of a past world. If what the tapes say are true, it means that everything we think we know is a lie. And if everything we know is a lie does that mean that we are, too?

This book is about Kyle Straker, who has told his story on three tapes. During a local talent show, he volunteers in a hypnotising act with three others. When they wake up they find everybody else frozen. Whilest trying to figure out what happened to them, everybody else 'wakes' up again, but everybody is acting weird including his parents. As one of the 0.4 he is now on the run with the three others, trying to figure out what happened.
Now his story is written down, but if what Kyle is speaking of is the truth that will change the way we will look at things or thought we knew.

From the Ashes by Jeremy Burns

Genre: Thriller
Buy the book: Amazon
Source: I received an e-copy from the author

A DEADLY CONSPIRACYGraduate students Jonathan and Michael Rickner, sons of eminent archeologist Sir William Rickner, are no strangers to historical mysteries and archeological adventures. But when Michael is discovered dead in his Washington, D.C. apartment, Jon refuses to believe the official ruling of suicide. Digging deeper into his brother's work, he discovers evidence that Michael was murdered to keep his dissertation research buried.A DEVASTATING NATIONAL SECRETJoined by Michael's fiance Mara Ellison, Jon travels to New York where he uncovers the threads of a deadly Depression-era conspiracy - one entangling the Hoover Administration, the Rockefellers, and the rise of Nazi Germany - and the elite cadre of assassins that still guard its unspeakable secret.THE LABYRINTHINE PATH TO THE TRUTHFinding themselves in the crosshairs of the same men who killed Michael, Jon and Mara must navigate a complex web of historical cover-ups and modern-day subterfuge, outwitting and outrunning their all-powerful pursuers as they race through the monuments and museums of Manhattan in a labyrinthine treasure hunt to discover the last secret of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., before their enemies can bury the truth - and them - forever

I am one of those people who loves a good conspiracy theorie. And From the Ashes does give a good (political) conspiracy.

Interview with D.A. Adams

Today I welcome D.A. Adams to the blog. He is the author of The Brotherhood of Dwarves series and I had the pleasure of asking him some questions about this series and his writing.

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*Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m pretty boring, actually. My family is from the foothills of the Smokies in Tennessee, and most of my childhood was spent playing outdoors. Those experiences help me tremendously when I’m writing in a fantasy setting because I have a wealth of firsthand information from which I can draw. Also, pretty much everyone I knew was either a farmer or a laborer, so my writing reflects that red and blue collar upbringing because I have a deep appreciation and understanding of the nobility of labor. That’s why I gravitated towards dwarves; they are the blue collar class of fantasy fiction.

*Could you tell us in short what this series is about?

I’m interested in camaraderie, self-sacrifice, redemption, and perseverance, so each book revolves around those themes. The central plot revolves around a young dwarf named Roskin who leaves his peaceful kingdom to seek adventure and the ordeals he faces in a world torn apart by racial strife and war. However, I’m trying to allow each main character to grow and mature as unique individuals, so they often take the story off in unexpected tangents. There’s also a sub-context of the importance of interpersonal relationships over materialism, but I try not to be too heavy-handed with it.

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Genre: Historical Paranormal Romance YA
Series: The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1
Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
Buy the book: The Book Depository
Source: Won an ARC from Wendy over at The Midnight Garden

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship--or an early grave. 
Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with six months to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word... especially after she finds her mother's diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate stars scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra. 
If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood -- not even from each other.

I must say this story actualy surprised me, well not the story itself, but that I actually finished it. When I was 90 pages in I was sure that I knew what was going to happen further on in the story. And for a few not so important surprises, that was exactly what happened. But Jessica Spotswood's writing style kept me reading. Also at first I was terified all I was going to get was a love triangle and quarreling sisters, but both weren't all too bad.