ARC Review: Future Shock by Elizabeth Briggs

I received an eARC copy through NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thanks, Albert Whitman & Company!

eARC, 272 Pages
Release Date: April 1st, 2016
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company

Elena Martinez has hidden her eidetic memory all her life--or so she thinks. When powerful tech giant Aether Corporation selects her for a top-secret project, she can't say no. All she has to do is participate in a trip to the future to bring back data, and she'll be set for life.

Elena joins a team of four other teens with special skills, including Adam, a science prodigy with his own reason for being there. But when the time travelers arrive in the future, something goes wrong and they break the only rule they were given: do not look into their own fates.

Now they have twenty-four hours to get back to the present and find a way to stop a seemingly inevitable future from unfolding. With time running out and deadly secrets uncovered, Elena must use her eidetic memory, street smarts, and a growing trust in Adam to save her new friends and herself.

Thoughts:
I'm ashamed it took me so long to finish this book, especially since I read the last 50% in one sitting.

Future Shock is a great book with time travel, suspense and an intriguing mystery. It's hard to talk about much of it, since even mentioning the main plot would constitute a spoiler (so stop reading if you don't want to know). The summary only hints about the main characters discovering that they die within 24 hours of returning to their own time period. I honestly think the publisher should have included that little tidbit in the summary because it's way more interesting than the vague "seemingly inevitable future" Elena has to prevent.

Despite that, Ms. Briggs wrote a fast-paced, fun read that kept my eyes glued to the page. The mysterious element of who caused the "inevitable future" kept me wondering with each new development. I loved that I didn't expect the culprit, but I also think it would've been nice to feel betrayed by one of Elena's teammates. Since the culprit was a minor character, I wasn't connected to them and didn't feel much about what they did.

To be honest, I was secretly hoping Elena would fail at preventing her future. I would've upped this book to five stars if it had ended with mass murder. But, alas, it didn't and I had to make do with a happy ending (which I didn't mind.... much).

Would I recommend this book? Yup

Would I re-read it? No

Would I read a sequel? I would, but I don't know how there would be one

Waiting on Wednesday: Dove Arising by Karen Bao

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at her blog, Breaking The Spine, spotlighting anticipated upcoming releases. Here’s mine for this Wednesday:

 

Release Date: February 24, 2015

Publisher: Viking Juvenile

Phaet Theta has lived her whole life in a colony on the Moon. She’s barely spoken since her father died in an accident nine years ago. She cultivates the plants in Greenhouse 22, lets her best friend talk for her, and stays off the government’s radar.

Then her mother is arrested.

The only way to save her younger siblings from the degrading Shelter is by enlisting in the Militia, the faceless army that polices the Lunar bases and protects them from attacks by desperate Earth-dwellers. Training is brutal, but it’s where Phaet forms an uneasy but meaningful alliance with the preternaturally accomplished Wes, a fellow outsider.

Rank high, save her siblings, free her mom:  that’s the plan. Until Phaet’s logically ordered world begins to crumble...

Add it on Goodreads!

I heard about the book from the six-figure deal announcement on Publishers Marketplace. Do I fear it's over-hyped because the author is young? Hell, yes. But it could also be spectacular. I'm hoping for spectacular.

What are you waiting on this Wednesday?

Waiting on Wednesday: Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at her blog, Breaking The Spine, spotlighting anticipated upcoming releases. Here’s mine for this Wednesday:

Hardcover, 336 pages

Release Date: October 14, 2014

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Princess Snow is missing.

Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back-but that's assuming she wants to return at all.

Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.

When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane's arrival was far from accidental, and she's pulled into the heart of a war she's risked everything to avoid.

Add it to Goodreads!

This book sounds like a wonderful blend of sci-fi and fantasy. I can't wait until October!

What book are you waiting on this Wednesday?

Series Binge: Archetype duology by M.D. Waters

Binge-eating? Binge-watching? How about binge-reading? Sometimes, you just can’t put a book down. You need the sequel. Then you need its sequel. Before you know it, you’ve read a seven-book series in under a week. I confess, I need help. This week, my addiction was…

Archetype

Hardcover, 384 pages

Publisher: Dutton Adult

Source: Toronto Public Library

Emma wakes in a hospital, with no memory of what came before. Her husband, Declan, a powerful, seductive man, provides her with new memories, but her dreams contradict his stories, showing her a past life she can’t believe possible: memories of war, of a camp where girls are trained to be wives, of love for another man. Something inside her tells her not to speak of this, but she does not know why. She only knows she is at war with herself.

Suppressing those dreams during daylight hours, Emma lets Declan mold her into a happily married woman and begins to fall in love with him. But the day Noah stands before her, the line between her reality and dreams shatters.

In a future where women are a rare commodity, Emma fights for freedom but is held captive by the love of two men—one her husband, the other her worst enemy. If only she could remember which is which. . . .

Prototype

ARC, 372 pages

Publisher: Dutton Adult

Source: Penguin Canada

Emma looks forward to the day when she can let go of her past—both of them. After more than a year on the run, with clues to her parents’ whereabouts within her grasp, she may finally find a place to settle down. Start a new life. Maybe even create new memories with a new family.

But the past rises to haunt her and to make sure there’s nowhere on the planet she can hide. Declan Burke wants his wife back, and with a little manipulation and a lot of reward money, he’s got the entire world on his side. Except for the one man she dreads confronting the most: Noah Tucker.

Emma returns to face what she’s done but finds that the past isn’t the problem. It’s the present—and the future it represents. Noah has moved on and another woman is raising their daughter.

Thoughts:
I devoured these books! I cancelled plans for these books! I forgot to eat for these books!

Needless to say, I loved the Archetype duology.

I never would have heard of this series if it wasn't for the Goodreads First Reads giveaway of Prototype. Therefore, all the thanks in the world goes to Goodreads for hosting the giveaway, to Penguin Canada for sending me the ARC, and to M.D. Waters for writing the book. I'm glad I submitted my name, even though it was for book two, because I had a great time reading!

When I first read the summary for Archetype, it brought to mind Margaret Atwood's The Handmaiden's Tale. While they have similarities, with the foremost being the systematic breeding of women, Emma is a modern, kickass heroine. She has an incredible journey not only involving her sexuality, but also memory loss, cloning and a revolution. There were so many layers and twists in this series! I especially loved that I couldn't guess all of them.

Why couldn't I stop reading? It was the guys, Declan and Noah. I love how Waters made me love one and hate one at the start just to switch it around by the end. If an author can make you feel, they're doing a great job. Emma's relationships were the highlights of the series, with a close second being the exciting plot itself.

Sometime Emma's voice was "choppy" (contractions weren't always used), but that didn't stop me from flipping the pages at light speed. I almost wish there was another book in the series, that's how good it was! The story ended where it needed to, though. It didn't drag for a moment. It was fast-paced and amazing. Truly amazing. I can't think of any other word.

I'll miss you, Emma Wade!

Would I recommend this series? Hell, yeah!

Would I re-read it? I want to read it again right now... *picks up book*

Next Monday... I'll be reviewing an e-ARC copy of The House of the Four Winds!