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Wolf by Wolf #02: Blood for Blood

February 19, 2018 / 05 STARS, RG YA WOLF BY WOLF

Blood for Blood Book Cover Blood for Blood
Wolf by Wolf
Ryan Graudin
Young Adult Fiction
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
November 1, 2016
Hardcover
496

"Wild and gorgeous, vivid and consuming. I loved it! I can't wait for the sequel."--Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, on Wolf by Wolf The action-packed, thrilling sequel to Ryan Graudin's Wolf by Wolf. There would be blood.Blood for blood.Blood to pay.An entire world of it. For the resistance in 1950s Germany, the war may be over, but the fight has just begun. Death camp survivor Yael, who has the power to skinshift, is on the run: the world has just seen her shoot and kill Hitler. But the truth of what happened is far more complicated, and its consequences are deadly. Yael and her unlikely comrades dive into enemy territory to try to turn the tide against the New Order, and there is no alternative but to see their mission through to the end, whatever the cost. But dark secrets reveal dark truths, and one question hangs over them all: how far can you go for the ones you love? This gripping, thought-provoking sequel to Wolf by Wolf will grab readers by the throat with its cinematic writing, fast-paced action, and relentless twists.

WrensReads Review:

This series deserves more hype and I am hoping that those who read this will give this duology a chance.

This is a retelling of a very real thing that happened: World War II.

Before I start, I want to shut down those who believe this series is insulting to what actually happened. Wolf by Wolf and Blood For Blood DO NOT GLORIFY the Nazis and what they did to innocent people. If anything, it helps see the hurt and pain that can come from such a horrible event. If retelling such an event is insulting in your eyes, I assume you don’t watch anything involving Captain America, or movies such as Inglorious Bastards, or even video games such as Call of Duty? How about episodes of shows like Doctor Who?

None of these movies/comics/games insult the events that actually happened. I just see the makers and authors trying to making something beautiful out of something so horrible, if that makes sense. They still hold true to the horrible things that happened. Some, like this book I am reviewing, take the experiments done on said innocent people, and twist it into something vengeful.

Yael failed to kill Hilter. In fact, she came into the realization that there are other skin shifters out there like herself, and some are even working for the Fuhrer himself. How many times have they tried to take the tyrants head off and it just ends up being someone else entirely?

Change faces. Keep changing. Always changing.
They are after Adele, not Yael. Keep running. Always running.

Yael has failed. Everything she has worked for since escaping the clutches of the Nazis, has meant nothing. Nothing? No, she must make it right. She has held people at arm’s length to make sure nothing got in the way of ending this nightmare. She will not let it all be for nothing. She must find the Resistance.

Little does she know that her fate is still intertwined with Luka’s and Felix’s. Each one plays a role in how this book ends.

Yael: Realizing that even though she kept people at arm’s length, doesn’t mean they kept her at the same distance.
Lukas: Finding himself having feels for Not-Adele, someone on the opposite side of the train tracks. Also seeing the ugh truth of the war and what his father worked hard on.
Felix: Doing whatever he can to save his family. But who has his family and who can he trust?

This book is a slower paced book and has a lot of character development. A lot of people didn’t like that aspect of it and expected it to be exactly like the first book. Well, sorry, not all books are the same and you have to have character development in order to keep the book interesting.

Personally, I thought Felix had the most interesting story line. He never knew who to trust. He was playing tug-a-war the whole time, but he was the rope. He was an emotional wreck the whole time because one moment he would trust Yael and the next he would be doing everything he could to destroy her. I mean, wouldn’t you be if you found out who you thought was your sister was not actually your sister and then where are your parents who has them and who would actually protect them? WHO DO I TRUST THE ANSWER IS EVERYONE AND NO ONE LETS DO EENY MEENY MINY MOE.

Yael meets some from her past, saves people she doesn’t need to save but wants to and finds out the horrible yet welcoming truth of what really happened to her friend.

The last like twenty chapters of this book are intense. I can’t even describe it. It’s a lot like this meme:

I have such a love for this book. Any types of real-historical-event-driven books always catch my attention. I highly recommend this book for history nerds, fantasy lovers and action junkies.

WARNING: Your heart will break at the end.

NARRATOR: Christa Lewis
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I would go as far as to compare Christa Lewis to Lauren Fortgang. She does voices and she actually grabs your attention. I absolutely will listen to more books read by this narrator!

But, as always, the applause goes to Ryan Graudin! Such a beautiful, heartbreaking tale!

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Wolf by Wolf #01: Wolf by Wolf

February 17, 2018 / 05 STARS, RG YA WOLF BY WOLF

Wolf by Wolf Book Cover Wolf by Wolf
Wolf by Wolf
Ryan Graudin
Juvenile Fiction
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
October 20, 2015
Hardcover
400

Code Name Verity meets Inglourious Basterds in this fast-paced novel from the author of The Walled City. The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule the world. To commemorate their Great Victory over Britain and Russia, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor's ball. Yael, who escaped from a death camp, has one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year's only female victor, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele twin's brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael's every move. But as Yael begins to get closer to the other competitors, can she bring herself to be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and complete her mission?

WrensReads Review:

What if Hitler won the war? What if Hitler tried to make everyone have blonde hair and blue eyes? What if this actually created a shape-shifter?

Yael was mutated. She was born a normal human being, got experimented on in a concentration camp, and can no take the shape of whomever she wants. Grant it, she doesn’t really change mass or anything so guys are harder for this small girl to take form, but she can still try.

After a series of events, Yael ends up in the hands of The Resistance, a group trying to kill Hitler and crumble his reign, and they have a plan: disguise herself as Adele Wolf, the only female to win the Axis Tour, and kill Hitler at the Victor’s Ball.

The Axis Tour is a motorcycle race. So she learns how to ride a bike in 9 months, and is good at it and better than any of her competitors who have been training all their lives (not a fan of that part, but moving on). She also studied Adele’s life and all who are in it. The only thing left is to win the Axis Tour and come face to face with the man she loathes the most.

The Fuhrer. Hitler himself.

As expected, a lot of things were not in the files she studied. Like the relationship Adele has with her brother Felix and how protective he is. Or the history she has with another Axis Tour winner Luka and the complicated relationship Yael forms with him as Adele.

All her studying won’t get her to the Victor’s Ball, she has to improvise.

Graudin has written a masterpiece.

Don’t let the fact that the setting is a motorcycle race. Usually, that would make me automatically go to sleep; but that isn’t what happened here. You are focused on the characters and Yael trying to figure out what Adele felt, how Yael herself feels and how to react and… it’s really hard to pretend to be someone else when that someone else has a lot of history with them that wasn’t in the folders.

I loved this series. It needs to get more hype than it has.

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When Dimple Met Rishi

February 10, 2018 / 04 STARS, 2018 JANUARY, SMENON YA NOVELS

When Dimple Met Rishi Book Cover When Dimple Met Rishi
Sandhya Menon
Young Adult Fiction
Simon and Schuster
May 30, 2017
384

When Dimple Shah and Rishi Patel meet at a Stanford University summer program, Dimple is avoiding her parents' obsession with "marriage prospects" but Rishi hopes to woo her into accepting arranged marriage with him.

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If you are needing some quirky girl and a love-struck boy to have a love story that keeps you giggling and grabs your attention (even if it is a little predictable), then you have come to the right book.

This book breaks away from a lot of the stereotypes that are out there for genders. Example, the girl is the one who wants the relationship or the boy is the one who never wants to settle down or the boy is the generous with technology and the girl is the cute artsy one.

I loved this book for what it truly was: a predictable love story that had me awe-ing and cheering for the couple to make it to the end.

“This is our life. We get to decide the rules. We get to say what goes and what stays, what matters and what doesn’t.”

There is a lot of other players in this, like rich kids who get what they want, someone who just wants to fit in with the popular crowd, someone who doesn’t want to follow in their families beliefs and life style, etc., and I feel as if those were really important to put in a book that wasn’t your typical young adult novel. The blend of culture and religion and reverse rolls was something that I found very enjoyable.

The only thing that knocked out a star was how predictable it was. I mean, if it didn’t end the way we all wanted it to, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be raved about as much as it has been. Sometimes though, predictable reads can be relaxing and fun because you don’t have to stress about it as a whole and can enjoy the ride to the last page.

Overall, this was super cute and super adorable and super fun. SUPER SUPER SUPER. Not sure what else you can expect from such a cute cover, am I right? I will definitely be reading more by this author.

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– – –

That was disgustingly adorable I loved it. RTC.

– – –

So quick note: I completely understand the “strange name” thing. My name isn’t too strange, but I’ve been called “Rān” “Rēan” “Reba” (yeah, idk) “Wēan” “When” “Ron” (you think I’m kidding) “Rue” and literally some people who gave up and gave me a new name… it’s kind of… hurtful.

And, my name isn’t that “weird.” Just uncommon.

Just keep that in mind when you talk to someone who has a “strange” name. 🙃

– – –

Excited to finally dive into this book to see what all the fuss is about!

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Meet Wren!

Meet Wren!

Hi my name is Wren and welcome to my page. I like to read books, listen to books, take care of my plants and pet cats and dogs.

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