ARC Book Review: The Exchange By M.F. Lorson

Title: The Exchange
Author: M.F. Lorson
Release Date: September 25th, 2018
Available: Amazon
Add to Goodreads

 

**Disclaimer – I received an ARC copy via the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my review in any way.**

He came forward in time.

She changed his world.

What happens if he doesn’t want to go back?

Ari hates the Institute and everything it stands for. But to save her father’s job, she’s agreed to help host a time traveling exchange student. She only has to behave for 3 months while he’s here, then off he goes back to 1903 where he came from. Easy peasy, right? There’s just one problem. The more time Ari spends with James the harder she falls for him.

James is eager to leave behind his hard life as a farmer to escape to 2030 where he may actually have a future. His term at the Institute is three months, but he has zero plans of returning home ever again. In order to make sure that doesn’t happen, though, he needs an ally. Could his reluctant host, Ari, be the one to break the rules? 

Ari is not a stranger to breaking the rules. That is until her most recent attempt at rebellion places her father’s job with The Institute in serious jeopardy. In order for him to keep his job, Ari must help with exchange students being pulled from different points in history into this advanced future, get used to the world they are seeing.

This form of “exchange students” is an amazing new concept due to the fact all these teens are being pulled from the past. James is coming from 1903, right before WWI, another girl is coming from the 60’s, and so on. Despite only being able to remain in the year of 2030 for three months, these students are not there to only learn about the future but teach the current students about the past. Then they are sent back home without the memories of their previous three months in the future intact – yeah, not fair! That is, at least, what the students are told….

Ari is paired up with James and their connection is immediate and continues to develop through the story. James does not want to go back to his time due to his current placement of slaving away on his family farm. Ari begins not to want him to go back because of her attraction to him. Soon, them along with Ari’s best friend Michael and his exchange student Elizabeth go on the hunt of unraveling the mystery of The Institute’s hidden agenda concerning the exchange students.

This book is nothing short of brilliant! It’s a short, yet enticing ride. The action is well balanced with the other events in the book, uh, I could not get enough of it! For a time traveling, YA novel, you won’t be disappointed!

Happy Reading!

~C.C.

Xpresso Blog Tour & ARC Review: Evading the Dark By E.M. Rinaldi

 

Title: Evading the Dark
Author: E.M. Rinaldi
Series: The Cross Chronicles #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: April 24th, 2018
Available: Amazon/Goodreads

 

Synopsis

High school sucks. It doesn’t matter who you ask; jock, cheerleader, computer nerd, or band geek, they will all say the same thing: It’s a nightmare. But Casey is still wondering how she got the short end of the stick. Just a Sophomore at the prestigious Luthos Academy for Magical Beings, Casey already knows more about heartache and fear than any almost-sixteen-year-old should.

Orphaned and left to be raised by the Academy, she spends her days training to become a Guardian, but that dream is looking dimmer with every day that passes.Unlike the wand-waving heroines in all her favorite books, Witches in her world don’t cast spells, they are born wielding the power of nature: water, fire, earth, or air; powers Casey never developed. She’ll be lucky if they even allow her to take her final exams.

She is top of her training class, but that doesn’t keep her from being looked down upon by every other being at her school. All Casey wants is to be given a chance, instead she finds the only life she’s ever known targeted by an unfathomable evil. Thrust into the center of an age-old prophecy, a war is coming with Casey at the reins.

Will relying on her hard earned training be enough for her to make it out alive?

My Review

Evading the Dark takes us to a world where witches, vampires, fae, and shifters remain in secret. Their progeny are sent to hidden schools for the talented beings throughout the world. Casey, an orphaned child of notorious witch Carina, is taken into the Luthos Academy under the guise of her Guardian Eli in order to grow in her powers. The downside – Casey does not have any powers.

The witches at Luthos are held at an extremely high standard. Each one is drawn to one of the four elements (fire, water, air, & earth). Since Casey does not wield any of these powers, her fellow students (except her friends Cedric and Falon) go out of their way to torment her day after day for something she cannot control. I spent a good part of the book angry at her horrible treatment and the instructors turning a blind eye to it. How can you allow students harm an innocent one who cannot even fully defend herself? But, I digress. The turning point of the novel could not come at a better time when it did.

There are not many characters like Casey, period. Despite the torment, she still fights for herself even when others turn a blind eye and carries her addicting personality in tow. Even with a prophecy over her head, she doesn’t give up trying to discover her place and how she may succeed.

Wonderful story, well-thought out characters and enticing plot – one to keep an eye for sure!

Happy Reading!

~C.C.