Book Review: Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs

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Powerless
The Hero Agenda #1
Author: Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: June 2nd 2015
Review Source: Sourcebooks Fire

Kenna is tired of being "normal". The only thing special about her is that she isn't special at all. Which is frustrating in a world of absolutes. Villains, like the one who killed her father, are bad. Heroes, like her mother and best friend, are good. And Kenna, unlike everyone else around her, is completely ordinary— which she hates.

She’s secretly working on an experiment that will land her a place among the Heroes, but when a Villain saves her life during a break-in at her lab, Kenna discovers there’s a whole lot of gray area when it comes to good and evil and who she can trust.. After all…not all strength comes from superpowers.

I so did not expect this book in more ways than one. Powerless is the story of an ordinary girl in a world full of heroes and villains. This, amongst other subjects throughout the novel, make for pretty common themes, however this book holds its own. I am a huge fan of both Marvel and DC, so I am not new to the superhero world but I don’t think I’ve read many, if at all, novels about superheroes and villains and I’m glad this was my first.

Kenna, our main protagonist, is the ordinary girl who lives surrounded by individuals with superpowers. To Kenna, these heroes are the protectors of the ordinary humans like her, and have a great responsibility to use their powers wisely. As much as Kenna admires these heroes, she can’t help but feel a little resentful at the fact that she’s so well, plain. However, just because she doesn’t have powers doesn’t mean she’s powerless. The one ability Kenna has is that she is immune to all powers, this in fact is her most guarded secret because that shouldn’t be possible. On an ordinary night at the lab, a research facility run by the supers where her mother works for, Kenna’s night becomes not so ordinary and her life and everything she knows turns completely upside down.

Without giving away anything too detailed, the premise of this novel is that the good guys aren’t always good and the bad guys aren’t always the vile villains everyone makes them out to be. Kenna will be forced to acknowledge some hard truths and face the fact that everything is not black and white, there’s a whole grey area that she is about to discover.

Full of action, adventure, and a quest to figure out the truth, Kenna will make unlikely allies, new enemies, and maybe (possibly) get a chance at love in the midst of all this craziness. I very easily became attached to these characters (cough Draven cough) and I cannot wait to read the sequel and see what else is in store for this mismatched team of heroes and villains.

Blog Tour: Relentless by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs | Guest Post | Giveaway

Welcome to the first stop on Relentless tour for Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs. 

This tour is hosted by Sourcebooks.

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Relentless
The Hero Agenda #2
Author: Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Horror
Released: May 17 2016
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Revenge is easy, but justice is worth fighting for…

Kenna is tired of being lied to—and hunted by the very allies she once trusted. Unearthing the dark secrets of the superhero world has not only endangered her life, now her boyfriend faces execution for crimes he didn’t commit and her mother is being held captive in a secret governmental prison.

Kenna is determined to stand up for what’s right and save those she loves from unspeakable fates. It’s time for the betrayal to end. It’s time for the real criminals to face justice.

But the truth is even more terrifying than Kenna could imagine. A conspiracy threatens the fate of heroes, villains, and all of humanity. If Kenna’s going to survive, she must draw on her deepest strength: her resilience. Because when Kenna’s pushed to the limit, she doesn’t break down. She fights back.

What YA books do you recommend for new readers?

Oh, wow, this is a really hard question. There are so many brilliant YA novels out right now that it’s hard for me to even think about narrowing it down. But I’ll try to list only my absolute favorites and see where that gets me!!!

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson—I read this book for the first time four or five years ago and I still think it’s one of the best young adult novels ever written. The story of a teenage girl trying to recover from her older sister’s very unexpected death all while torturing herself with what should have been, The Sky is Everywhere is beautiful, poignant, and both sad and exhilarating by turns. I can’t tell you how much I love it!!!

Illuminae by Amie Kaufmann and Jay Kristoff—This book is set in a galaxy far, far away and is totally Space Opera meets Top Gun, all with a psychopathic computer at the helm. Told as a case study after the fact, it is a fascinating book to look at with its redacted files and computer generated graphics. It’s also an incredibly compelling read, one that had me languishing in a bathtub of long gone cold water one winter night because I couldn’t stop reading it long enough to get out of the tub and get warm.

The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett—I don’t even know what to say to express how much I love this book. I read it on a whim a few months ago and I love, love, love, love, love it. It’s the story of a very talented artist who is trying to win a very competitive scientific art scholarship so she can pursue her dream of being an anatomical illustrator. She’s a girl who plays by the rules, who totally believes in playing it safe, and who—somehow—manages to fall for a boy who is the exact opposite of everything she believes in. Disclaimer: I have a soft spot for graffiti artists, so Jack totally made my heart go pitter-pat.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (and it’s follow up, Homeland)—I love these books. I mean, I REALLY LOVE THESE BOOKS. But then, I love everything that Cory Doctorow writes, so that’s not a surprise. These two books take place in the near future San Francisco and start with a bang when someone plants a bomb in the city. The main character, Winston, has skipped school to do an advanced kind of geocaching/Larping with his friends and is mistaken by Homeland Security as a terrorist who might have planted the bombed. They kidnap him, then hold him without representation as they interrogate and torture him for days. When he is finally released, he is scared and suffering from PTSD. But as the fear fades, anger grows and Winston uses his very advanced hacking skills to take on a dystopian government that has far exceeded its jurisdiction.

The Farm by Emily McKay—This, too, is a dystopian novel, but it’s all horror. A virus has taken over the population of America, and it’s rapidly turning everyone infected into a Tick—a kind of hybrid vampire/zombie that is more terrifying and destructive than you can even imagine. The teenagers who aren’t infected are shipped to farms where they are supposed to be safe. But it’s not long after getting there that they realize the true reason these farms exist—not to protect them, but to provide the rampaging Tick population with food. This is the story of Lily, a girl determined to break herself and her twin, autistic sister, out of The Farm before their seventeenth birthdays, when they will stop being blood donors and become actual live prey. It’s horrifying and terrifying and I love it so, so much!

There are dozens more books that should make this list, but these are my favorites from five different subgenres of YA. I’d love to hear what you think—about these books, if you’ve read them, or other books that you’ve read that make your own favorites list!!!

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Tera Lynn Childs is the RITA-award-winning and bestselling author of teen fiction about a mythological high school, mermaid princesses, monster-hunting triplet descendants of Medusa, and dark fae princes.

Tracy Deebs is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling and critically-acclaimed author who writes under many pseudonyms, including young adult novels about surfing mermaids and technological armaggeddon.

Thanks to Sourcebooks, we have TWO copies of Powerless, the first book of The Hero Agenda series.

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Blog Tour: Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs | Except | Giveaway

We are thrilled to be part of this tour for author Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs. This tour is hosted by Sourcebooks Fire!

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Powerless
The Hero Agenda #1
Author: Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: June 2nd 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Kenna is tired of being "normal". The only thing special about her is that she isn't special at all. Which is frustrating in a world of absolutes. Villains, like the one who killed her father, are bad. Heroes, like her mother and best friend, are good. And Kenna, unlike everyone else around her, is completely ordinary— which she hates.

She’s secretly working on an experiment that will land her a place among the Heroes, but when a Villain saves her life during a break-in at her lab, Kenna discovers there’s a whole lot of gray area when it comes to good and evil and who she can trust.. After all…not all strength comes from superpowers.

EXCERPT

If I could have any superpower, right now, I’d choose the ability to reach through glass. One thin, little pane is all that separates me from bliss…of the midnight-snack variety, to be exact. The chocolate bar hangs halfway to freedom but refuses to take the plunge, as if the vending machine is mocking me, taunting me.
As if it knows I’m powerless.
Annoyed, I slam my palms against the glass. Everything inside shudders. My chocolate bar—pure Swiss milk chocolate dotted with toasted hazelnuts—doesn’t budge.
“Come on,” I beg as if the candy can hear me. “Just a little farther.”
No such luck.
Then again, when have I ever been lucky? I’m just glad no heroes are around to see me lose a battle with a vending machine. I would be the punch line to every joke for a year.
Thankfully, the lab is pretty much empty at this time of night. Even Mom went home two hours ago, leaving me to transcribe the notes from today’s sessions. I prefer to work when no one is around. My experiments fall into a gray area in the Superhero Code of Conduct, and even though I’m not technically a superhero—yet—I try not to piss off the powers-that-be. The last thing I need is to lose my lab privileges before I’ve perfected my formula.
Copying down Mom’s scribblings is like deciphering some previously unknown ancient language. It isn’t exactly the most glamorous summer job ever, but it pays okay and gives me access to the facility.
I’m almost done with tonight’s transcription from the digital white board Mom and her team spent all day filling with chemical equations for her newest power-enhancing formula. Maybe twenty more minutes, and then I can get back to my test samples.
My stomach rumbles in protest, reminding me that I skipped dinner. I really want that stupid chocolate bar. But since I just used my last quarters, my only hope is that one of the security guards upstairs has change for a ten.
I turn away from the vending machine alcove and start back around the corner to grab my wallet from the lab.
Right before I make the turn, I hear hurried footsteps. Not wanting a repeat of last week’s collision with Dr. Harwood—my favorite jeans still smell like sulfur—I hang back a step.
But the boy who rushes around the corner looks nothing like the balding, old scientist who works nearly as many late nights as I do.
No, this guy is tall and lean, but not too skinny. He’s got major biceps and I can see the outline of some pretty impressive muscles beneath his shirt. Yum. He’s probably about my age or a little older, eighteen or nineteen maybe. And everything about him is shrouded in black—his tee and jeans, his heavy-duty boots, his shoulder-length hair—everything but his eyes.
If we weren’t in superhero central, I’d say he looks like a stereotypical villain.
You’d think with all that darkness, he’d be nothing more than shadow. But he’s all angles: his cheekbones, his jaw, even the collarbones I can see peeking out from the low neckline of his tee. Light seems to reflect off him like moon glow at midnight. Surrounded by all that sculpted darkness, his icy blue irises burn like the hottest flames.
Our gazes collide, and though I know it’s vain, I instantly wish my hair wasn’t pulled back in a messy braid and that I was wearing something—anything—more appealing than my dad’s ratty old 1996 Stanley Cup Champions tee.
Hot guys in the underground lab are few and far between—Who am I kidding? Hot guys in my life are few and far between—so most of my wardrobe choices involve comfort and whether I mind if the garment gets ruined by acid, dye, or any of a million other compounds we work with every day.
If my best friend, Rebel, were here, she’d be doing an I-told-you-so dance because she’s been wanting to give me a makeover forever. That, and she’d already have his number and email address, and they’d be making plans for their date this weekend. Me, I can’t even manage a simple “hello.”
The fact that he’s scowling at me, those dark brows slashing low over those bright eyes, isn’t helping anything.
“The lab is supposed to be empty,” he says.
His voice is flat, but his comment almost feels like an accusation.
“I’m working late,” I answer, trying not to sound defensive. “What are you doing here?”
He lifts an eyebrow. “You’re working in the hall?”
“I needed a break to come get chocolate,” I say, gesturing at the vending machine behind me.
He nods down at my empty hands. “You don’t have any chocolate.”
“That thing hates me. Took my money and kept the candy bar.”
In a graceful movement that looks almost choreographed, Dark-and-Scowly steps around me and up to the greedy machine. He presses his palms to the glass, just like I did. Hey, maybe he has the power to reach through glass. After all, around here pretty much everyone but me has some kind of super ability.
When his hands don’t immediately sink through the surface, I say, “I tried smacking it already. Didn’t work.”
Moving his hands closer to the edge, he curls his fingers around the frame. Then, with his boots braced on the floor, he gives the whole machine a solid shove. The heavy hunk of metal rocks back once, then comes forward, its front legs hitting the tile floor with a sharp thud. On impact, the chocolate bar sails against the glass before falling into the trough below.
He turns to face me, a cocky smile twisting one side of his mouth. “Takes a special touch.”
I duck down and reach through the hinged door to grab the candy bar.
“You’re my hero,” I joke.
He snorts. “Right.”

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Tracy Deebs is a national bestselling and criticially-acclaimed author who writes under many different pseudonyms. Tera Lynn Childs is the RITA-award-winning author of two mythology-based novels (Dutton’s Children’s), and a kick-butt trilogy about monster-hunting descendants of Medusa (Katherine Tegen).

 

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Book Tour: Tempest Rising Book Review

Tempest Rising

Author: Tracy Deebs

Pages: 352 pgs

Reading Level: YA

Published: May 10th 2011

Review Source: Purchased

Available: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Borders

Summary: (from goodreads) Tempest Maguire wants nothing more than to surf the killer waves near her California home; continue her steady relationship with her boyfriend, Mark; and take care of her brothers and surfer dad. But Tempest is half mermaid, and as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she will have to decide whether to remain on land or give herself to the ocean like her mother. The pull of the water becomes as insistent as her attraction to Kai, a gorgeous surfer whose uncanny abilities hint at an otherworldly identity as well. And when Tempest does finally give in to the water's temptation and enters a fantastical underwater world, she finds that a larger destiny awaits her—and that the entire ocean's future hangs in the balance.

Mermaids! Did I capture your attention? Tempest Rising brings you that and a whole lot more. Tracy delivers a book full of fun your way. If you are looking for a new and exciting take on Mermaids then read this book. Its unique and very entertaining. The beginning is a tad slow but then picked up for me quickly. This could just be due to the book I had just finished reading beforehand. So yes go out and grab this book, and read it on a sunny day or at the beach. Maybe you'll be lucky and spot a mermaid. 

Birthdays are suppose to be the best days of you life, well not so much for Tempest on her 17th birthday. She has to make the decision of a lifetime for her. Does she stay on land with her father and brother or does she go with what her hearts tells her is home, The Sea. The thing is if she choose the sea that mean she is picking her Mother's side, the mother who she has been upset with since she left when she was young. While dealing with all this she also is having the usual boyfriend problems with Mark. Now what happen when a new boy enters the picture named Kai. Kai just happens to be everywhere and things begin to build. One more thing not to be left out, Sea Witch. Add all those elements together and you have Tempest Rising, Pick up your copy today.