ARC August Week 3 Update - Vivian Apple, If You Wrong Us, Vengeance Road, Alice

Here is an update for ARC August hosted by Octavia and Shelly from Read, Sleep, Repeat. My goal was to read twelve ARCs this month. Including the four that I read this week, I have read eleven. Yay! So I will be able to exceed my goal. And I only have two more to read that have September 1 publication dates.

Here are mini-reviews of the ones I read this week:

Title And Author: Vivian Apple Needs A Miracle (Vivian Apple #2) by Katie Coyle
Source: NetGalley/Edelweiss
Scheduled Publication Date: September 1, 2015
Goodreads Synopsis:  The predicted Rapture by Pastor Frick’s Church of America has come and gone, and three thousand Believers are now missing or dead. Seventeen-year-old Vivian Apple and her best friend, Harpreet, are revolutionaries, determined to expose the Church’s diabolical power grab . . . and to locate Viv’s missing heartthrob, Peter Ivey. This fast-paced, entertaining sequel to Vivian Apple at the End of the World challenges readers to consider how to live with integrity in a disintegrating world. 

Review: There were so many aspects of this book that were better than the first one. For one thing, I liked Vivian better in this book than the first one. Vivian was much more of a take charge bad ass in this one and I loved that. Of course that led to some really stupid decisions. There were times in the book where I wanted to yell at her for some of the decisions she was making. But then again, she was a teenager dealing with the possibility of an apocalypse. I would probably make some stupid decisions myself. There were characters introduced in this book that added a lot of depth to the story. Also, there were a lot more explanations about who was behind the supposed Rapture and the point of it all. It was crazy madness. I loved the social commentary on cults and religion. It's hard for me to give more details without giving spoilers. I thought the ending was great. Yes, it was a bit open ended and there were still some unanswered questions, but I was okay with that. I don't think there is another book coming. If that is the case, this was a great way to end the story! Buy/Borrow/Skip: Buy! If you enjoyed the first one, you will love this one. And actually, you will probably like this one, even if you weren't a big fan of the first one.

Title And Author: If You Wrong Us by Dawn Klehr
Source: NetGalley
Scheduled Publication Date: October 8, 2015
Goodreads Synopsis: Becca and Johnny become entangled after a car crash steals the lives of two people they love. Officially, the crash is an accident. But Becca and Johnny are convinced: someone did this. As they plot revenge against the person responsible, a bond—intense, unyielding, and manic—takes hold of them. And in an unexpected turn of events, they fall for each other. Or so they think. In an upside-down world where decay is beautiful and love and hate become one, Becca and Johnny find themselves grappling with reality. Nothing is exactly what it seems, including what they've come to believe about the crash. Question is: will they learn the truth before it's too late? 

Review:  This was basically a YA version of Gone Girl, but not nearly as interesting. The book jumps between Johnny's POV in the present and Becca's POV in the past. Six months ago, there was a horrible car accident where Becca's twin sister and Johnny's mom dies. Becca becomes obsessed with getting revenge on the person who responsible and she brings Johnny into her plan. There was no real distinction between the two voices. There were a few times where I actually had to look at the beginning of the chapter for the name of the person talking because I couldn't tell who was who. One of the two narrators was a bit disturbed and completely unreliable. That part was interesting. But I just couldn't get behind the plan they concocted. Once I figured out what they were doing, I was baffled about how they thought they would get away with it. There was also this website where people anonymously confessed their sins. This website was a useless addition to the story that went absolutely nowhere. The ending seemed as if it were hastily thrown together. I kept reading because I wanted to know how it would end, but it just left me a bit baffled and not in the good way.  Buy/Borrow/Skip: Skip this one!

Title And Author: Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman
Source: NetGalley
Scheduled Publication Date: September 1, 2015
Goodreads Synopsis: When Kate Thompson's father is killed by the notorious Red Rose Gang for a mysterious journal that reveals the secret location of a gold mine, the eighteen-year-old disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers and justice. What she finds are devious strangers, dust storms, and a pair of brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, she gets closer to the truth about herself and must decide if there's room for love in a heart so full of hate. 

Review: This was so different from the usual YA literature. I have never seen a YA Western before. I am not usually into Westerns, but I was intrigued by this premise. I am so glad I gave this one a shot because I loved it! When Kate's father is killed by a gang known as the Rose Riders, she doesn't hesitate to go after them for revenge. Her quest for vengeance is fierce and unstoppable.  Kate was such a bad ass character. She wasn't afraid of anything and she didn't shy away from doing what was necessary. Some of the scenes were pretty brutal; Erin Bowman did not pull any punches just because it was YA. This book is set in Arizona in 1877 and Erin Bowman did an amazing job describing the dusty landscape Kate was crossing. From the dust storms to the gunfights to the poker game in the old saloon, everything was described in exquisite detail. Bowman's writing and her love of the genre was fantastic. I could not put this book down. The gunfights were exciting and tense and heartbreaking and pretty much everything that you would expect in a Western. There was a great twist at the end that I did not see coming. And don't worry: there is a touch of romance in between some of the gunfire. I loved Jesse from the very beginning and I loved the slow and gradual progression of their relationship. Buy/Borrow/Skip: Buy this one!

Title And Author: Alice by Christina Henry
Source: NetGalley
Scheduled Publication Date: August 4, 2015
Goodreads Synopsis: In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place. Just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood. Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago. Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful. And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice.


Review: This is a very dark, very adult version of Alice in Wonderland. It is so dark that I honestly struggled with the rating a bit. But in the end, the author does an amazing job of building this twisted, disturbing world. After spending eight years in an asylum, Alice and her friend, Hatcher are able to escape. But a monster they call the Jabberwocky also gets free. Alice and Hatcher set out to destroy this monster. Along the way, Alice also deals with her memories coming back and the possibility of the inevitable confrontation with the Rabbit. One thing Christina Henry did very well with this book was that she took some of the original characters from Alice in Wonderland, but she turned them into monstrous versions of themselves. One point of caution: there is a lot of rape in this book. In this fictional world that Henry has created, very, very bad things happen and it can be a lot to take in. This is no fairy tale. If there was one issue I had, it is that some of the confrontations between Alice and some of the evil characters were a bit anticlimactic. The book didn't end on a cliffhanger, but it was a bit open. t know there is a sequel that is supposed to come out next year and I will be very excited to read it. Buy/Borrow/Skip: If you are okay with the tough subject matter, I say buy it!