Feature Follow Friday: Paper vs EBook (AKA, the FF where I just repost something I already wrote)

Every Friday Parajunkee and Alison Can Read hosts Feature Follow Friday. It's a great way to get to know the blogging community and they ask fun questions!

This week's Question is:

Hard print (real thing) or Kindle/Nook, which is your favorite?

So...I already wrote a post about this. So I will just quote myself for the rest of this post. If you want to read my original post go here (I reference a pretty cool study about how e-readers ain't no thang aka are harder to emotionally connect to compared to hard print books).

To be honest, I buy most books on my e-reader now because I live in the city and it's easier to carry around my tablet/phone to read than a million books. Also, I read about four books at a time so I like to have them all handy because I'll never know which one I'm in the mood to read.

However, studies have now been done on whether we should read from an e-reader or a hard copy paper book.

And the winner is: Paper Books!

The study was done by Anne Mangen at the University of Stavanger. Apparently e-readers make us less able to absorb information and readers can't remember the order of events in their stories.

According to Mangen, studies suggest that using screen devices (like iPads, kindles, nooks) might impact readers' cognitive abilities and it affects the emotional aspect of reading. What does all this mean you ask. It means that e-readers are turning us into emotionless zombie readers! (noooo) J/K it's not that serious, but it could mean that we aren't connecting to our stories in an emotional way and we're not processing story details well since we're reading it on e-readers. 

Why is this happening? Apparently we need to be able to feel the pages and physically turn them, having the option to flip back and forth, fold over pages (blasphemy!), and have a tactile experience of feeling the pages during reading helps steep us in the experience of reading.
I personally have always said that the smell of books is a huge part of reading, so I can see what this study is getting at. I just didn't know that the feel of books could make me empathize with the characters more.

Dive Into Diversity Reading Challenge

So, I am already taking part in the Diversity on the Shelf Reading Challenge. That reading challenge is books about and by people of color. So I thought I would look into other challenges that support other diverse reading too (and luckily My Little Pocketbooks provided us with nice linkies to other challenges). Because I want to diversify my diverse reading challenges and found Dive into Diversity. 

(haha, say that five times fast).

It is hosted by Reading Wishes and Rather Be Reading Blog.

Here's a blurb about it from the site:

The challenge:
We want to keep this stress-free and fun, so all we challenge you to do is read and review diverse books in 2015. However many is up to you. But remember: the more you read, review, discuss, the better!

I've signed up. Now what?
1. Come January, start reading diverse books!
2. Once you've written your diverse book review, add it to the monthly linky, which will post in the first week of every month.
3. Don't forget to use #DiversityDive to chat, share book recs, let others know what you're currently reading and more on Twitter.
4. Have fun!

Important challenge details:
- Dive into Diversity runs from January 1st, 2015 to 31st of December 2015.
- You can sign-up anytime throughout the year.
- Any book format is allowed - hardback, paperback, ebook, ect.

So, I will update this list as I read more books. Here are the books I plan to read (when I finish I will put up the date I read it and possibly a link to a review I write):

1. Secret (Elemental, #4) by Brigid Kemmerer (LGBTQ, Jan 18, 2015)
2. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
3. Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
4. Coda by Emma Trevayne
5. More Than This by Patrick Ness
6. The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun Hutchinson
7. Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Book Club Books

The Broke and the Bookish host a weekly meme of Top Ten Lists.

This week's question is:

Ten Books I'd Love to Read With My Book Club/If I Had A Book Club (or you could pick a specific kind of book club -- like if you had a YA book club or an adult book club or a science fiction book club etc.)

I JUST started reading books with my cousin in our own personal (two-person) book club. The theme is diverse books.

Proxy by Alex London 

Knox was born into one of the City’s wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want—the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.
Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own.
Then again, neither is Knox’s. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when Knox and Syd realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox’s father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test both boys’ resolve, and shine a blinding light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid. 

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe 
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

Prophecy by Ellen Oh

Kira’s the only female in the king’s army, and the prince’s bodyguard. She’s a demon slayer and an outcast, hated by nearly everyone in her home city of Hansong. And, she’s their only hope...
Murdered kings and discovered traitors point to a demon invasion, sending Kira on the run with the young prince. He may be the savior predicted in the Dragon King Prophecy, but the missing treasure of myth may be the true key. With only the guidance of the cryptic prophecy, Kira must battle demon soldiers, evil shaman, and the Demon Lord himself to find what was once lost and raise a prince into a king.
Intrigue and mystery, ancient lore and action-packed fantasy come together in this heart-stopping first book in a trilogy. 

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.
But all that changes when the Lynburns return.
The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang (illus. Sonny Liew)

A VIBRANT HOMAGE TO A CLASSIC COMIC FROM TWO MASTERS OF THE MODERN GRAPHIC NOVEL. 
The Shadow Hero is based on golden-age comic series The Green Turtle, whose hero solved crimes and fought injustice just like any other comics hero. But this mysterious masked crusader was hiding more than your run-of-the-mill secret identity...The Green Turtle was the first Asian American superhero.
Now, exactly seventy years later, New York Times-bestselling author Gene Luen Yang has revived this nearly forgotten, pioneering character in a new graphic novel that creates an origin story for the golden-age Green Turtle. 
With artwork by the unmatched Sonny Liew, this hilarious and insightful graphic novel about heroism and heritage is also a loving tribute to the long, rich tradition of American superhero comics. 

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Darcy Patel has put college and everything else on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. Arriving in New York with no apartment or friends she wonders whether she's made the right decision until she falls in with a crowd of other seasoned and fledgling writers who take her under their wings… 
Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, a suspenseful thriller about Lizzie, a teen who slips into the 'Afterworld' to survive a terrorist attack. But the Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead and as Lizzie drifts between our world and that of the Afterworld, she discovers that many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. And when a new threat resurfaces, Lizzie learns her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she loves and cares about most.

I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister by Amelie Sarn

Eighteen-year-old Sohane loves no one more than her beautiful, carefree younger sister, Djelila. And she hates no one as much. The two have always shared everything. But now, Djelila is embracing her life as a secular teen, and Sohane is becoming more religious.  Every choice has a price. When Sohane starts wearing a head scarf, her school insists that she remove it or she’ll be expelled. Meanwhile, Djelila is repeatedly harassed by neighborhood bullies for not following Muslim customs. Sohane can’t help thinking that Djelila deserves what she gets. She never could have imagined just how far things would go. I love I hate I miss my sister. In the year following Djelila’s tragic death, Sohane struggles with her feelings of loss and guilt, revealing a complex relationship between two sisters, each girl’s path to self-discovery, and the consequences they face for being true to themselves.

Coda by Emma Trevayne

Ever since he was a young boy, music has coursed through the veins of eighteen-year-old Anthem—the Corp has certainly seen to that. By encoding music with addictive and mind-altering elements, the Corp holds control over all citizens, particularly conduits like Anthem, whose life energy feeds the main power in the Grid.
Anthem finds hope and comfort in the twin siblings he cares for, even as he watches the life drain slowly and painfully from his father. Escape is found in his underground rock band, where music sounds free, clear, and unencoded deep in an abandoned basement. But when a band member dies suspiciously from a tracking overdose, Anthem knows that his time has suddenly become limited. Revolution all but sings in the air, and Anthem cannot help but answer the call with the chords of choice and free will. But will the girl he loves help or hinder him?

More Than This by Patrick Ness

A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies.
Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive.
How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?
As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?
From multi-award-winning Patrick Ness comes one of the most provocative and moving novels of our time. 

The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman

Jade Moon is a Fire Horse—the worst sign in the Chinese zodiac for girls, said to make them stubborn, willful, and far too imaginative. But while her family despairs of marrying her off, she has a passionate heart and powerful dreams, and wants only to find a way to make them come true.
Then a young man named Sterling Promise comes to their village to offer Jade Moon and her father a chance to go to America. While Sterling Promise's smooth manners couldn't be more different from her own impulsive nature, Jade Moon falls in love with him on the long voyage. But America in 1923 doesn't want to admit many Chinese, and when they are detained at Angel Island, the "Ellis Island of the West", she discovers a betrayal that destroys all her dreams. To get into America, much less survive there, Jade Moon will have to use all her stubbornness and will to break a new path... one as brave and dangerous as only a Fire Horse girl can imagine.

Diversity on the Shelf 2015 Reading Challenge

So I am taking part in the Diversity on the Shelf reading challenge hosted by My Little Pocketbooks.

It runs all of 2015 and the rules are simple.

1. Read diverse books.

(about and by POC)

Done.

Haha, well there's a little bit more. Here's a more detailed description straight from the source:

Pick a Level

Choose how many diversity centered books you would like to add to your “read” shelf in 2015:

1st Shelf: Read 1-6 books

2nd Shelf: Read 7 -12 books

3rd Shelf: Read 13 - 18 books

4th Shelf: Read 19 -24 books

5th Shelf: Read 25+ books

Once you pick a level you can go higher and read more books but you cannot go down a level.

So, I will update this list as I read more books. I am choosing 2nd Shelf level and trying to get at least 12 books read, but I would love to read more. Here are the books I plan to read (when I finish I will put up the date I read it and possibly a link to a review I write):

1. Prophecy by Ellen Oh
2. The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang (illus. Sonny Liew)
3. I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister by Amelie Sarn
4. The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman
5. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
+

I am also taking part in the Dive into Diversity Challenge. And I will be posting co-reviews with Books Are Bread as part of our new diversity book club.

Waiting on Wednesday: In A World Just Right by Jen Brooks

Breaking the Spine features a weekly event where we talk about the books we can't wait to read.

In A World Just Right

By: Jen Brooks

Release Date: April 28, 2015

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

High school senior Jonathan Aubrey creates worlds at will. In Kylie-Simms-is-my-girlfriend, he’s given himself everything he doesn’t have in real life-–the track team, passing grades, and his dream girl–-until one day he confuses his worlds and almost kisses the real Kylie Simms. Now his girlfriend Kylie and the real Kylie are changing, and Jonathan must solve the mystery of his own life to save his love from a gruesome fate.

This book sounds almost creepy, but still so interesting. In my mind Creepy + Interesting = Great potential for Awesome. I'm hoping this is a more than him just living in a dream world, but even if that's all it is, if it's written right it could be great.

Top Ten Tuesday: FREEBIE (Top Ten Books That Broke My Heart A Little)

The Broke and the Bookish host a weekly meme of Top Ten Lists.

This week's question is:

FREEBIE

So, I chose to go back to one of The Broke and the Bookish's old TTT's that I didn't get to partake in:

Top Ten Books That Broke My Heart A Little

The Time Traveller's Wife

I know that this book was never supposed to have a happily ever after into the sunset. And to be fair there is a "happy" ending of sorts, but this book just kills me. But it is a book that taught me that even though sometimes it's easier and funner to believe in fairytales it's the real, raw relationships that are worth working hard for. Maybe that's why I reread it like once a year.

Where the Red Fern Grows

Oh man, those dogs were so loyal. They were literally "under dogs" and they overcame so much and then at the end...well, I don't want to give anything away.

The Outsiders

I loved this whole book. I loved Ponyboy, I loved Sodapop, I loved Dallas and I loved Johnny. But these characters live a hard life. It broke my heart.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It was the end of an era! (enough said)

Ender's Game

This book will wrench your emotions around, partly because of the emotional pain Ender goes through. But all of that is nothing compared to an ending known as one of the best twists in Sci-fi.

The Death Cure

This book really ups the ante to the series. It's both a good series ender and a final book that really messes with my head. Nothing gets easier for Thomas and the gladers. And in such a harsh dystopian world not all of them will survive (one of my favorites dies and I just...I can't talk about it anymore *goes into corner and cries*)

Animorphs #54: The Beginning

This is the ending of a series that just killed me! Let's just say there was a lack of closure. And when I was 14 I didn't know what "closure" was, so it just left me feeling empty inside for a few years until I understood that concept.

The Lovely Bones

This book was practically written to be a tear-jerker. I mean, the main character dies in the very beginning. However, watching the aftermath of her death from heaven is what makes it so heartbreaking.

Brave New World

This book does not end happily, like super not happy. And I was super not happy in my heart when I finished it.

Water for Elephants

This book was a wonderful look back at a time when carnivals were in their heyday. However, it is not all sparkles and magic.

Monday Musings: Writing about Diverse Characters (AKA How not to describe your diverse characters)

[Turns from sniffing a flower and notices readers]

Oh hi, I didn't see you there. Welcome to the post where I go on a bit of a rant.

So everyone knows that there have been big pushes to get more diverse books and authors out in kidlit (yay! #WeNeedDiverseBooks). I am 100% behind this. I love diversity in all of my entertainment, so I am down for some great reads that have diverse characters, worlds, cultures, etc.

The downside (and it sucks that there is one) is when an author tries to write about these diverse characters they come across the problem of explaining that the character is...well...not white.

(Note: diverse characters should also refer to sexuality, transgender, characters with disabilities. But this post will concentrate on the race of a character).

Seriously, having mocha skin is not a compliment. Just because you use a generally well-liked food product to describe the person as different, you're still totally comparing them to food. Am I supposed to think that coffee colored skin is tasty? Also, olive toned skin means they're green right?

This Buzzfeed article perfectly turns that trope on it's head (and yes, I know Buzzfeed is not news, but still this article is spot on). I like this article a lot because it just points out how ridiculous it is when we describe diverse characters with euphemisms and weird food-comparisons. 

Some stand out favorites from the article:

11. She had brown, wiry hair and skin that can only be described as the color of the inside of an apple. The mushy ones not the cool, crisp ones.

2. She took off his shirt, his skin glistening in the sun like a glazed doughnut. The glaze part, not the doughnut part.

And my favorite:

3. His eyes looked like eyes because they were eye-shaped, not almonds.

And speaking of that...

When it comes to describing Asians the go-to is almond-shaped eyes. Almond eyes is actually based on a racist description originating from the 1700s when white merchants and explorers wanted to describe the exotic looks of Asians (mostly women). They probably thought it was a huge compliment at the time. But the fact that it's still used today is sad because it exotifies a whole continent of people who happen to have completely different shaped eyes from one another. It also points out something different as beautiful. The problem is that it still points out how different these people are.

I don't often talk about diversity in my reviews of books, however, my former co-blogger Axie does a great job in this review about pointing out where the story went a little sideways in how it spoke about diversity.

Don't get me wrong, I am very appreciative that there are characters in books that look like me. (Growing up my only role models were Sailor Moon and the yellow Power Ranger and Totoro). However, I think that the way we talk about race and culture sometimes contributes to the problem instead of helping it.

And in my desire to read more diverse books (particularly in YA/MG), I am doing the "Diversity on the Shelf 2015" Reading Challenge hosted by My Little Pocketbooks! So stay tuned for my upcoming post about it.

Feature Follow Friday: Book Doubles

Every Friday Parajunkee and Alison Can Read hosts Feature Follow Friday. It's a great way to get to know the blogging community and they ask fun questions!

This week's Question is:

Do you own any doubles of your books? What led to getting that second...or third or fourth...copy?

I own a lot of doubles. But there are many reasons why. Like I got a second copy as a gift. I got a second copy that was signed. Or I bought it as an ebook and loved it so much I had to get a hard copy.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy
So, I have a weird thing where I do not like the covers of books being the movie poster. I am all for books being made into movies. But I don't like that to be shown on my book. I can barely accept those little stickers that say "Now a Motion Picture" on my books. I also don't really like a trilogy packaged as one book. So I got this complete trilogy book for Christmas one year. And I was super grateful for such a nice gift. But I had to get the books separately and with not movie covers.

Harry Potter

I own three versions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (paperback, hardcover, Korean). The reason being that I need to have all of the books in a series as the same "version." So since I got the first HP book when the series wasn't finished yet, I knew that the newest books would be out as hardcover. I got the paperback while on vacation because it was cheaper. Then I immediately regretted it since I wanted a complete matching set. So, I bought a boxset of the first four in hardcover when I got back home (I know, I'm a weirdo).

Also I bought this Korean version when I was in summer school in Seoul.

Game of Thrones

Bought the first book as an ebook, then I loved it so much that I bought the hardcopy so I could buy the whole set in hardcopy.

Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, The Little Prince

I blame this 100% on my cousin Axie.

She showed me the beautiful Kim Minji covers of these books and I had to have them!

Also, they're all in Korean so I guess I wanted to try to read them. I'm on page 1(st word).

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten 2014 Releases I Haven't Read Yet

The Broke and the Bookish host a weekly meme of Top Ten Lists.

This week's question is:

Top Ten 2014 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To

This question is sadly easy for me to answer. Easy because I didn't get around to reading a lot of releases from 2014 and sad for the same reason. But a little bit happy because I still have so many great books to look forward to (glass-half-full yay!).

Zodiac (Zodiac, #1)

By: Russell, Romina

Publication Date: Dec 09, 2014

At the dawn of time, there were 13 Houses in the Zodiac Galaxy. Now only 12 remain….
Rhoma Grace is a 16-year-old student from House Cancer with an unusual way of reading the stars. While her classmates use measurements to make accurate astrological predictions, Rho can’t solve for ‘x’ to save her life—so instead, she looks up at the night sky and makes up stories.
When a violent blast strikes the moons of Cancer, sending its ocean planet off-kilter and killing thousands of citizens—including its beloved Guardian—Rho is more surprised than anyone when she is named the House’s new leader. But, a true Cancrian who loves her home fiercely and will protect her people no matter what, Rho accepts.
Then, when more Houses fall victim to freak weather catastrophes, Rho starts seeing a pattern in the stars. She suspects Ophiuchus—the exiled 13th Guardian of Zodiac legend—has returned to exact his revenge across the Galaxy. Now Rho—along with Hysan Dax, a young envoy from House Libra, and Mathias, her guide and a member of her Royal Guard—must travel through the Zodiac to warn the other Guardians.
But who will believe anything this young novice says? Whom can Rho trust in a universe defined by differences? And how can she convince twelve worlds to unite as one Zodiac?
Embark on a dazzling journey with ZODIAC, the first novel in an epic sci-fi-meets-high-fantasy series set in a galaxy inspired by the astrological signs.

A Thousand Pieces of You(Firebird, #1)

By: Claudia Gray

Publication Date: Nov 04, 2014

Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.
Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.
Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.
A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

Talon (Talon, #1)

By: Julie Kagawa

Publication Date: Oct 28, 2014

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.
Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.
Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

Stitching Snow

By: Lewis, R.C.

Publication Date: Oct 14, 2014

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. With the galaxy’s future—and her own—in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival. 

To All the Boys I've Loved Before 

By: Jenny Han

Publication Date: April 15, 2014

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

I have no excuses for not having read this yet. The good news is that my cousin Axie over at Books Are Bread sent it to me so now I really have no excuses.

The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave #2) 

By: Rick Yancey

Publication Date: September 16, 2014

How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.
Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.
Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.

Salvage 

By: Alexandra Duncan

Publication Date: April 1, 2014

Ava, a teenage girl living aboard the male-dominated, conservative deep space merchant ship Parastrata, faces betrayal, banishment, and death. Taking her fate into her own hands, she flees to the Gyre, a floating continent of garbage and scrap in the Pacific Ocean. 

This is a sweeping and harrowing novel about a girl who can't read or write or even withstand the forces of gravity. What choices will she make? How will she build a future on an earth ravaged by climate change?
Named by the American Booksellers Association as a Spring 2014 Indies Introduce Pick.

Falls the Shadow

By: Stefanie Gaither

Publication Date: September 16, 2014

When Cate Benson was a kid, her sister, Violet, died. Two hours after the funeral, Cate’s family picked up Violet’s replacement. Like nothing had happened. Because Cate’s parents are among those who decided to give their children a sort of immortality—by cloning them at birth—which means this new Violet has the same smile. The same perfect face. Thanks to advancements in mind-uploading technology, she even has all of the same memories as the girl she replaced.

She also might have murdered the most popular girl in school.

At least, that’s what the paparazzi and the anti-cloning protestors want everyone to think: that clones are violent, unpredictable monsters. Cate is used to hearing all that. She’s used to defending her sister, too. But Violet has vanished, and when Cate sets out to find her, she ends up in the line of fire instead. Because Cate is getting dangerously close to secrets that will rock the foundation of everything she thought was true.

In a thrilling debut, Stefanie Gaither takes readers on a nail-biting ride through a future that looks frighteningly similar to our own time and asks: how far are you willing to go to keep your family together?

The Unhappening of Genesis Lee

By: Shallee McArthur

Publication Date: November 4, 2014

Seventeen-year-old Genesis Lee has never forgotten anything. As one of the Mementi—a small group of genetically-enhanced humans—Gena remembers everything with the help of her Link bracelets, which preserve memories perfectly. But Links can be stolen, and six people have already lost their lives to a memory thief, including Gena’s best friend.
Anyone could be next. Which is why Gena is less than pleased to meet a strange but charming boy named Kalan who claims that they’ve not only met, but that Gena knows who the thief is.
The problem is, Gena doesn’t remember Kalan, she doesn’t remember seeing the thief, and she doesn’t know why she’s forgetting things— or how much else she might forget. As growing tensions between Mementi and ordinary humans drive the city of Havendale into chaos, Gena and Kalan team up to search for the thief. And as Gena loses more memories, they realize they have to solve the mystery fast.
Because Gena’s life is unhappening around her.

The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus #5)

By: Rick Riordan

Publication Date: October 7, 2014

Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.
The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it "might" be able to stop a war between the two camps.
The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.

Man, making this list is almost making me wonder what I did all of 2014?! I really fell behind on my TBR list...