Weekly Reading List #56

By Cynthia Ayala

Hey there avid readers! The summer has gone and fall is on the winds. I’m back at school for my final semester at Emerson College and I can’t believe it. Now i just need to pass all my classes and all will be well. God it’s nerve wracking. I’m so nervous I find myself shaking, literally, thinking about it. I’m a little scared. That’s a lie, I’m very scared. But I just need to pass, that’s all I have to do. 

Anyway, here’s my weekly reading list, hopefully I’ll have some time to read outside of school. Already have my first 2 page paper due Tuesday….yikes.
Continue reading “Weekly Reading List #56”

Weekly Reading List #52

Woah, 52 weeks, a whole year of reading and book sharing, seems crazy that a whole year has passed but a year has passed indeed. Anyway, I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and a lovely weekend. I’m getting my eyes checked out this weekend for a new prescription and such, so here’s hoping that that goes well. Anyway, here is my weekly reading list, a list of books to get your book senses tingling. Happy reading.
Continue reading “Weekly Reading List #52”

A Thrilling yet Frustrating Read | Review of ‘Ten’

By Cynthia Ayala

Ten by Gretchen McNeil
Balzer & Bray
Image Credit: Goodreads

No parents, no supervisions, just ten kids along on Henry Island for a party…but the party never came. Alone with no way to contact the outside world, the teens are left only with a DVD containing a sinister message saying “Vengeance is mine.” Now the kids are dying and it’s up to Meg to put the clues back together, to find the killer who may be closer than she thinks.

Ten, published on September 18, 2012, by Balzer & Bray, is a young adult thriller by Gretchen McNeil that is a retelling of Agatha Christie‘s classic mystery/thriller And Then There Were None.
Continue reading “A Thrilling yet Frustrating Read | Review of ‘Ten’”

Review: Post-Apocalyptic Thriller “Nightfall” Has a Slow Start – Emertainment Monthly

By Cynthia Ayala ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Nightfall_Cover-1-326x245No one stays on the island once the sun leaves, but for Marin, Kana, and Line, they didn’t have a choice and they were forgotten […]
Continue reading “Review: Post-Apocalyptic Thriller “Nightfall” Has a Slow Start – Emertainment Monthly”

‘Nightfall’s Thrilling Concept is Dulled by Uncharacteristic Writing | Review of ‘Nightfall”

By Cynthia Ayala

'Nightfall' by Jake Halpern & Peter Kujawinski  G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
‘Nightfall’ by Jake Halpern & Peter Kujawinski
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

The sun doesn’t set for twenty-four years, and when it does, the darkness rises, bringing the nightmares and monsters of the night alongside it. No one stays on the island once the sun leaves, but for Marin, Kana and Line, they didn’t have a choice and they were forgotten. Now the trio need to not only survive the night, but make it off the island and swim south towards the desert lands. But it may be to late for them to save themselves…

Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski is a post-apocalyptic young adult thriller, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers on September 22, 2015. It follows three young teenagers as they traverse their home island Bliss, seeing it in ways they never had before. Continue reading “‘Nightfall’s Thrilling Concept is Dulled by Uncharacteristic Writing | Review of ‘Nightfall””

A Delightfully Deep Ghost Story | Review of ‘The Accident Season’

By: Cynthia Ayala

The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
Corgi Childrens

Every year, it is the same. In October, bones break, skin scrapes and danger haunts every step. Every year Cara and her family become inexplicably accident-prone, and with each passing year, the season becomes one of obsession and fear. However, Cara has a haunting feeling that something else is connected, something that may connect to a missing friend. Are they connected or is the family obsession driving her mad?

Published August 18, 2015 by Corgi Childrens, The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle is a contemporary young adult paranormal mystery that follows young Cara as she and her family navigates growing up while surviving the curse that plagues their family every October.
Continue reading “A Delightfully Deep Ghost Story | Review of ‘The Accident Season’”

Review: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes – Emertainment Monthly

By: Cynthia Ayala

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly is an amazing novel that will touch the readers and grab them by their emotional heartstrings. Based loosely on the Grimm fairy tale The Handless Maiden, this novel will embed the reader with strong emotions within the unforgettable imagery[…]
Continue reading “Review: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes – Emertainment Monthly”

A Painful and Beautiful Story of Identity and Hope | Review of ‘The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly’

By: Cynthia Ayala

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes
Dial/Penguin

Stephanie Oakes’s debut novel The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly is a tale loosely based on the Grimm Fairy Tale The Handless Maiden. Published June 9, 2015 by Dial/Penguin, the novel follows one Minnow Bly, as she escapes from the cult her family dragged her to only to be thrown into a murder investigation of the man who took her hands: the so-called Prophet of the religious commune.
Continue reading “A Painful and Beautiful Story of Identity and Hope | Review of ‘The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly’”

An ‘Unbelievable’ Novel | Cyn’s Book Review ‘Unbelievable’ (Pretty Little Liars, #4)

By: Cynthia Ayala

Unbelievable brings the first story arc of the Pretty Little Liars series to an unbelievable turn with amazing suspense and thrill to reveal just who is stalking these four girls.  A solid premise that has evolved to an extraordinary series. Read on for the full review.

Continue reading “An ‘Unbelievable’ Novel | Cyn’s Book Review ‘Unbelievable’ (Pretty Little Liars, #4)”