Catherine StineRecensioni

Wayland is seeking revenge on a rival pack after his entire family is murdered. He runs into a childhood friend whom he realizes he still has feelings. A well-written story of love, loss, and plenty of suspense. I highly enjoyed this Romeo and Juliet shifter story from the Royal Alpha Wolves Club series.

I would like to thank the author for the review copy in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ruby is 17 years old and has already been promised to an older man in her cult, Fireseed, since she was just a child. On the night when she is to consummate that promise, she grabs her little brother and goes on the run. She ends up at a school for orphaned teens in the middle of nowhere and thinks that finally she and her brother are safe. As you can imagine, things rarely go according to plan, and Ruby is no different.

The world building in this book was done very well, the characters were likeable, and the plot was interesting and kept me engaged until the very end. This was the second book in the Fireseed series but could be read as a standalone and easily followed.

Recommended.

4/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Dorianna is a plain simple girl from Indiana, but after her father is arrested, she’s sent to live with her aunt in New York. She sees this as a fresh start, she won’t have what her father did hanging over her head. Her first day of school she meets Ander, the former high school soccer star. He invites her to Coney Island, and although she is curious about his motives, she tosses all misgivings and decides to join him. There she meets his friend Wilson Warren, the guy has an obsession with his camcorder and keeps filming her. She complains but he insists people don’t look the way they think on video and shows her. In the video she’s so beautiful; she can’t believe it’s her. At Wilson’s apartment he shows them how he can manipulate the background and make everything look amazing. While Ander is out of the room briefly, Wilson asks her the one question that will change her life forever; what would she trade to be pretty and popular?

I have always loved the book The Picture of Dorian Gray, this is similar with a Stephen King’s Carrie twist. This is truly an amazing modern remake. The characters are believable and pretty accurate for teenagers. I thought the descriptions of everything was absolutely perfect, I even scared myself picturing portions. This story is definitely not for the faint of heart, but it’s a perfect Halloween read!

Indigo is a lonely mermaid who vows to remain alone. Bay is a Royal merfolk Keeper who works alongside Indigo in her research. Though he's engaged his feelings start to change for Indigo. Can she resist falling for her partner, solve a past mystery, and keep her secret?

Wayland wants revenge for the murder of his pack including his mate and unborn child. Life means nothing, the only thing keeping him going is that he is going to murder those that took his family's lives. Stormy has known Wayland since they were little but her brother plans to kill him. There is life and death, love and hate, war and peace plus lies and truth. Who will help Wayland, will he find allies or will he be alone. Will Stormy and Wayland ever have a chance to be together? Someone else has been thinking about Stormy for 20 years, but who could that be.

Wayland LeBlanc wants revenge on the pack responsible for the destruction of his as well as his mate and unborn baby. He just doesn't expect to see an old friend and fall for her. Stormy is the sister of the alpha who destroyed Wayland's life. Can their star-crossed love survive?

A magical, intriguing journey under and above the water. Forget what you knew about mermaids, Stine has brought a fresh new twist to them. I absolutely fell in love with Indigo from the start. There's just something about her that draws you in. Bay stays by her side as she works to unearth the truth of the tablet, even when it places their lives in danger. With an intriguing mystery woven in, this paranormal romance will keep you turning pages for hours. Highly recommend!

The Romeo and Juliet of shifters mixed with a little revenge. Wayland's pack was snuffed out on the orders of Stormy's brother, but Stormy and Wayland have an undeniable pull to each other. I wish the story had a little more consistent pacing, but I really enjoyed both story lines (revenge and love), and how they mixed together. Great shifter romance.

I was excited to see a twist on The Picture of Dorian Gray and happy to dive into this read.

After watching her father land in prison, Dorianna's mother sends her to live with her aunt for awhile. Dorianna isn't certain things will go well but is ready for a fresh start where no one knows of her father's horrible past. Determined to make life better, she hits the new high school and tries to remake herself into what she thinks she should be. Of course, things don't run as planned, but she discovers help in a cute guy and his very eccentric, video-making-master friend. Agreeing to give up anything to become popular, the dark new friend transforms her into an internet star. But the more popular she becomes, the more she turns into something she definitely doesn't like.

This is definitely an original, exciting twist on one of my more favorite classics. The author uses modern day internet/social media platform craziness as the base and lets it lure in and transform. Dorianna's desire to become beautiful and popular are understandable, and especially teens will easily identify with this wish. Unfortunately, I found Dorianna hard to like most of the time, even before she 'transformed', which already broke off the needed sympathy for me. Her past was harsh, her hopes understandable, but her behavior was often selfish, especially when it came to her aunt. The other characters fit well into their cliches—hot popular guy, jerky popular girl and such. Bailey, a friend of Miss Not-nice-popular, was a treat and by far my favorite character. Also the evil, dark Wilson, who lures Dorianna in, was well done and interesting.

The plot runs along at a nice pace and does a pretty good job at keeping the tension high. Dorianna's changes demonstrate that popularity and the desire to be liked aren't always a wonderful thing, and can do more harm than good. It is a nice message woven into an original tale, which is sure to interest audiences of darker fiction with a few thrilling moments thrown in.

I received a complimentary copy through Netgalley and found the tale entertaining.

Eighteen year old Evalina Stowe watched in horror as her customer, Dr. Dowdrick strangles Evalina's brother for dropping his suit at the tailor shop they work for in nineteenth century Philedelphia. Evalina stabs Dr. Dowdrick with scissors as a swarm of angry wasps descends upon him. After her brother's death, Evalina is on the run. She finds work scaring birds from a field, but finds it is easier to befriend the birds. When her boss confronts her, one of Evalina's birds chokes him and Evalina is imprisoned at Eastern State Penitentiary for murder. While imprisoned, Evalina practices controlling her emotions to call upon the animals that visit her cell. Soon she is able to give directions to mice, birds and bugs. Evalina also discovers that Dr. Dowdrick is still alive and is running cruel experiments on prisoners, including Evalina's cell neighbor. With the help of her animals friends and other inmates including a Welshman named Birdie, Evalina hatches a plan to use her gifts as well as Dr. Dowdrick's greed for his own demise while gaining her freedom back.
I was really pulled in by the premise of Witch of the Wild Beasts, a 19th century witch in America who is in Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary. Evalina's character is strong, smart and resourceful. While her powers were integral to the story, they weren't a magic cure all to her problems, Evalina still had to think on her own and use her own willpower. I was very interested in the setting of Eastern State Penitentiary and the medical advancements of the time, especially with women's health. The author uses rich historical detail and elements of the time period to create the setting of Eastern State Penitentiary. The descriptions of the prison's special architecture allowed me to easily envision the space that Evalina was in. I was amazed that Charles Dickens actually did visit the Penitentiary as well as medical advancements in sanitation, midwifery, and plastic surgery that were developed in this time period. The writing and plot moves very quickly, which didn't lead to a lot of character development other than Evalina herself, but did keep the pace moving very swiftly and kept my interest high. With this, the romance wasn't as developed, however this was not the focus of the story. Overall, Witch of the Wild Beasts is a historical fantasy with a strong female lead and touches of magic and romance.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

Enjoyable paranormal romance set on the Jersey Shore in 1934.

While romance is not my genre, I do love historical fantasy, especially novels featuring real people and events, with the supernatural portrayed as a secret undercurrent or cause. So I loved the inclusion of the famous Moro Castle shipwreck as a key plot element. Salvador Dali and Bela Lugosi playing bit parts? Fabulous.

The 1930s setting is well-researched and convincing. The bleakness of the Great Depression, and the glittering remnants of the Jazz Age, all come vividly to life. Catherine Stine has a gift for sparkling language and knows how to tell a good story.

I enjoyed this witchy novel!

This is an excellent read for fans of H/F and the occult. Setting is detailed expertly, and the tempo progresses with each page nicely. I’m not particularly fond of the hero, but he started to grow on me towards the end. I’m a sucker for the details, anything including witches, and historical fiction. This was my cup of tea.

A fun read!

I received a copy in exchange for an hones review.

Blend a classic Faustian Bargain (deal with the devil) with a remodeled Picture of Dorian Gray, shake gently, and you have a haunting tale of ambition and aftermath for the Internet age. Carefully crafted sentences and brilliant verbs combine to create delicious prose that drew me in from the first pages. I couldn't put down this thrilling ride. Everyone who has ever had a dream that they wanted more than anything will find themselves in this story, in which Dorianna's voice is endearing and captivating.

I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Dorianna is a plain simple girl from Indiana, but after her father is arrested, she’s sent to live with her aunt in New York. She sees this as a fresh start, she won’t have what her father did hanging over her head. Her first day of school she meets Ander, the former high school soccer star. He invites her to Coney Island, and although she is curious about his motives, she tosses all misgivings and decides to join him. There she meets his friend Wilson Warren, the guy has an obsession with his camcorder and keeps filming her. She complains but he insists people don’t look the way they think on video and shows her. In the video she’s so beautiful; she can’t believe it’s her. At Wilson’s apartment he shows them how he can manipulate the background and make everything look amazing. While Ander is out of the room briefly, Wilson asks her the one question that will change her life forever; what would she trade to be pretty and popular?

I have always loved the book The Picture of Dorian Gray, this is similar with a Stephen King’s Carrie twist. This is truly an amazing modern remake. The characters are believable and pretty accurate for teenagers. I thought the descriptions of everything was absolutely perfect, I even scared myself picturing portions. This story is definitely not for the faint of heart, but it’s a perfect Halloween read!

What if plants were more than just plants? What if they did more than provide you with food? What if they could talk to you and you to them? Imagine the excitement such a plant would create in our world.

Author Catherine Stine’s latest science fiction novel, RUBY’S FIRE, takes the reader to a futuristic world where seventeen-year-old Ruby and her younger brother, Thorne, have fled from their home to escape Stiles, the man that claimed Ruby when she was a child and who she fears will kill her. As Ruby and Thorne seek a new place to live, they meet others their age and soon are caught up in a life Ruby never had imagined. The author describes their world in such detail that I could feel the heat of the land. (And I thought Texas was hot.) I could picture the fields of Fireseed and hear their whispers as the plants talked to Ruby and Thorne.

The relationship between Ruby and her brother is one of the most beautiful parts of the story. She’s so gentle and caring with him, and, even though he seldom speaks, he clearly loves her. And he knows things about the Fireseed others do not know. As Ruby struggles to keep them safe, she faces one challenge after another, not knowing who to trust. She’s also falling for one of the young men she’s met at the school where she and Thorne have been taken in. RUBY’S FIRE is a story about greed and evil. It’s also a story about friendship and love. I highly recommend it for science fiction lovers and for readers who enjoy a good story with characters that make you hope their lives have happy endings.
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http://sarityahalomi.blogspot.com/search/label/Review?updated-max=2014-04-12T08:...

Futuristic world where the temperature gets close to 200 degrees and people have to wear protective clothing- The Hotzone (once known as the United States). If you live in the Hotzone, it's a tough life. Daytime temperatures can kill you and also sand storm and radiation. The Hotzone residents must ware a special suits (burn suits) and masks or stay indoors and come out at night. when the children forage for beetles with long sticks, and insect meat loaf is the result. It's alleged to be delicious once you get used to the idea. Hotzone residents who try to escape to the North had earned the derogatory nickname "refs," not only for themselves but for all Hotzone residents.Varik's father an genius inventor succeed to create an hybrid between Agar plant and Fireseed and this hybrid used as food source all over the Hotzone.

**Unfortunately I didn't read the 1st book, so all my knowledge is based on tide bites along the 2nd one... but I still think that the 2nd book can stand all by itself as the characters are the next generation and have their story to tell. What we have now?
- the Fireseed desert cult - A cult of crazies who believe that the Fierseed is a god. In this cult the young daughters pledged, from a very young age. The problem is that age difference is not a factor in the equation and to the parents there is no saying in this matter.
- According to this - for Seventeen year-old Ruby, long-pledged to the much older Stiles from the the only chance to evade this destiny, is to escapes with only a change of clothes, a pouch of Oblivion Powder and her mute little brother, Thorn leaving he mother behind. The perfect time to this is when the moon is full and Stiles who is going claim her plan to execute the match (every full moon 2 girls had to go through this process).... later Ruby will learn that the name to this assault is rape.
- She don't know much about the world outside the cult beside the frightening stories that the elders use to tell, but in her escape they caught a ride with a corrupt glider driver and trying to escape from him they Arrived at The Greening, a boarding school for orphaned teens, she can finally stop running.
and how is she going to stop her dependence on Oblivion, when she has nightmares of Stiles without it?
- The Greening is not what it seems. there she meet Nevada who running the place and the other students (Blane, Bee, Jan, Radius, Vesper and ans another outsider like her but a one that share an history with Nevada - Armonk). Each of those students has a troubled history behind him that can explain his behavior. When Students are rampaging out of control they cross some lines and, Ruby and her brother experienced a frightening physical changes.
- Romance - Love triangle? Ruby long considered her great beauty a liability, a thing she’s misused in order to survive. She’s ashamed of her attraction to burly, hard-talking Blane, the resident bodyguard, and wonders why she can’t be happy with the gentler Armonk.
- George Axiom, wealthy mogul of Vegas-by-the-Sea come and convince the to take a part in a student contest to develop something based on the Fierseed plant. He offers a huge cash prize for the winner. each of the students has his own project, even her brother Thorn and Ruby is hopeful she might collect the prize to rescue her family and friends from what she now knows is a dangerous cult by using her talent as a maker of salves.
- Thorn - Ruby's brother don't talk at all. According to Ruby in the cult burned the words out his mouth. No one was sure if he is smart or not. with Ruby he could communicated sometimes with few words and she had to interpret the meaning all by herself. I must admit that here the author weren't clear enough and I couldn't understand what happened to him and why he had to behave as he behaved. Anyway, his project was the best one. So best that somebody try to steal it out of his head..... here I must stop the reader have to read this by themselves.

***Anyway - I liked the plot very much because, the main idea of it, place the book in the world of the classical sci-fi and remind somewhat of Arthur C. Clark. Well once Biologist always biologist - Give me science, plants and genetics to dwell on, and I'll be happy. But really, you don't have to be bio. to love it so I can recommend it with all my heart

You know when you get a book, and it's much better than you thought it was going to be? Well, Ruby's Fire by Catherine Stine was definitely one of those books! I absolutely loved it, and it's definitely one of my favorite books that I've read in 2013!

Ruby is a 17 year old girl who, with her 8 year old brother Thorn, escapes from a cult which pairs young girls with much older men. Ruby and Thorn arrive at a school known as The Greening. Here she meets a whole cast of characters. When an act of bullying goes horribly wrong, Ruby and her brother Thorn are left with extreme changes that alter their DNA. When a contest in announces with a prize of a hefty cash sum, all the students are The Greening are excited! However, this competition reveals that all is not what it seems.

I do like the title, and I find it very interesting! However, I don't really get the meaning of it. Maybe I'm just being thick, but it makes no sense to me.

I think the cover does an amazing job at depicting the plot of the book. In fact, this is one of the best book covers I've ever seen that is actually relevant to the book. Whoever came up with this idea for the cover is a genius!

I enjoyed the setting of this book very much! I like the futuristic/dystopian world that Stine has created. Catherine Stine does an awesome job at making this world come alive. The world in which Ruby lives has become unbearably hot, and people must wear masks and burn suits if they don't want to burn. The author paints a vivid picture of this throughout the book. I can very much see this happening in the future.

The pacing was done really well! Not once in the book did I feel like the pacing was going too slow or too fast for my liking. I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. If it was possible to eat books by reading them quickly because they are amazing, this would would've been gone in flash!

What an amazing plot! Besides the main plot, there were lots of sub-plots! Will Ruby figure out what is wrong with her and Thorn? Will she choose Armonk or Blane since she cares for both? Can she escape her past? That's just some of the questions answered in the book. Also, there is a fantastic plot twist that I didn't see coming!

All of the characters were written superbly! I loved Ruby and how willing she was to take care of her little brother. Ruby was a very down to Earth character who had went through a lot of hardships. I believe this made her a better person. What I didn't like about her was the fact that she kept going on about how beautiful she was. However, this is probably just a personal thing. I found Thorn to be so cute!! It would've been interesting to see things from his point of view as the book is told from Ruby's point of view. Armonk seems like such a sweet guy, and I loved how he was willing to defend his friends. I feel like Armonk was an all around nice guy. I really loved Blane! I like how he grew as a person going from a mean brute to a gentle warrior. It was nice to see this change in him. Like Armonk, I loved how he was willing to protect his friends at all cost.

The dialogue was fantastic! It is told in a first person point of view with Ruby being the narrator. I usually don't enjoy first person reads as much as third person ones, but this one was done fantastically! Some books that take place in the future have really cheesy dialogue, but Ruby's Fire wasn't one of those books. The dialogue was also easy to understand with no futuristic terms getting in the way. There are a few swear words though.

Overall, Ruby's Fire by Catherine Stine is such an amazing and interesting read! While it is a part of a series, it can be read as a stand alone. I usually don't read books out of series order because I feel like I'll miss so much information, but this book can actually be read as a standalone without missing much. (The first book in the series talks about a minor character in this book).

I'd recommend this book to those aged 14+ who want some adventure in their life!

I'd give Ruby's Fire by Catherine Stine a 5 out of 5.

(I received a free paperback copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review)

Futuristic world where the temperature gets close to 200 degrees and people have to wear protective clothing- The Hotzone (once known as the United States). If you live in the Hotzone, it's a tough life. Daytime temperatures can kill you and also sand storm and radiation. The Hotzone residents must ware a special suits (burn suits) and masks or stay indoors and come out at night. when the children forage for beetles with long sticks, and insect meat loaf is the result. It's alleged to be delicious once you get used to the idea. Hotzone residents who try to escape to the North had earned the derogatory nickname "refs," not only for themselves but for all Hotzone residents.Varik's father an genius inventor succeed to create an hybrid between Agar plant and Fireseed and this hybrid used as food source all over the Hotzone.

**Unfortunately I didn't read the 1st book, so all my knowledge is based on tide bites along the 2nd one... but I still think that the 2nd book can stand all by itself as the characters are the next generation and have their story to tell. What we have now?
- the Fireseed desert cult - A cult of crazies who believe that the Fierseed is a god. In this cult the young daughters pledged, from a very young age. The problem is that age difference is not a factor in the equation and to the parents there is no saying in this matter.
- According to this - for Seventeen year-old Ruby, long-pledged to the much older Stiles from the the only chance to evade this destiny, is to escapes with only a change of clothes, a pouch of Oblivion Powder and her mute little brother, Thorn leaving he mother behind. The perfect time to this is when the moon is full and Stiles who is going claim her plan to execute the match (every full moon 2 girls had to go through this process).... later Ruby will learn that the name to this assault is rape.
- She don't know much about the world outside the cult beside the frightening stories that the elders use to tell, but in her escape they caught a ride with a corrupt glider driver and trying to escape from him they Arrived at The Greening, a boarding school for orphaned teens, she can finally stop running.
and how is she going to stop her dependence on Oblivion, when she has nightmares of Stiles without it?
- The Greening is not what it seems. there she meet Nevada who running the place and the other students (Blane, Bee, Jan, Radius, Vesper and ans another outsider like her but a one that share an history with Nevada - Armonk). Each of those students has a troubled history behind him that can explain his behavior. When Students are rampaging out of control they cross some lines and, Ruby and her brother experienced a frightening physical changes.
- Romance - Love triangle? Ruby long considered her great beauty a liability, a thing she’s misused in order to survive. She’s ashamed of her attraction to burly, hard-talking Blane, the resident bodyguard, and wonders why she can’t be happy with the gentler Armonk.
- George Axiom, wealthy mogul of Vegas-by-the-Sea come and convince the to take a part in a student contest to develop something based on the Fierseed plant. He offers a huge cash prize for the winner. each of the students has his own project, even her brother Thorn and Ruby is hopeful she might collect the prize to rescue her family and friends from what she now knows is a dangerous cult by using her talent as a maker of salves.
- Thorn - Ruby's brother don't talk at all. According to Ruby in the cult burned the words out his mouth. No one was sure if he is smart or not. with Ruby he could communicated sometimes with few words and she had to interpret the meaning all by herself. I must admit that here the author weren't clear enough and I couldn't understand what happened to him and why he had to behave as he behaved. Anyway, his project was the best one. So best that somebody try to steal it out of his head..... here I must stop the reader have to read this by themselves.

***Anyway - I liked the plot very much because, the main idea of it, place the book in the world of the classical sci-fi and remind somewhat of Arthur C. Clark. Well once Biologist always biologist - Give me science, plants and genetics to dwell on, and I'll be happy. But really, you don't have to be bio. to love it so I can recommend it with all my heart

What if only your very worst enemy could help you save the world?

Fireseed One, a YA thriller, is set in a near-future earth with soaring heat, toxic waters, tricked-out amphibious vehicles, ice-themed dance clubs and fish that grow up on vines. Eighteen year-old Varik Teitur, inherits a vast sea farm after the mysterious drowning of his marine biologist father. When Marisa Baron, a beautiful and shrewd terrorist, who knows way too much about Varik's father's work, tries to steal seed disks from the world's food bank, Varik is forced to put his dreams of becoming a doctor on hold and venture with her, into a hot zone teeming with treacherous nomads and a Fireseed cult who worships his dead father, in order to search for a magical hybrid plant that may not even exist. Illustrated by the author. Fans of Under the Never Sky and Feed will likely enjoy this tale, as well as those readers who like a dash of romance with their page-turners.

Fun, fun, fun with dogs and puppies and cats! Great for any kids who LOVE animals. The girls, including YOU, learn to train and care for the pets at Pet Palooza. This adventure has more than 20 different endings, and you get to choose your path. A couple of the endings go to an online game!

Two teenagers on opposite sides of the globe flee everything they know. In a world turned upside down by tragedy, they are refugees.

Sixteen-year-old Dawn runs away from her unhappy foster home in California and travels to New York City. Johar, an Afghani teenager, sees his world crumble before him. He flees his war-ravaged village and the Taliban, and makes a dangerous trek to a refugee camp in Pakistan. Thanks to his knowledge of English, Johar finds a job at the camp assisting Louise, the Red Cross doctor—and Dawn’s foster mother. Through e-mails and phone calls, Dawn and Johar begin to share and protect each other’s secrets, fears, and dreams, and a remarkable bond forms that gives each of them hope and the courage to find a path home.

Fireseed One is a captivating thriller set in a futuristic, toxic world teetering on chaos and crisis. Danger, loss, love, and redemption all tie together with rich characters to make for one imaginative blast.

Varik, a young man struggling to manage his family’s farm alone after his father’s death, finds himself thrust into a deadly mission to save the world’s future food source. It gets worse for him. He must do it with his father’s arch enemy’s daughter, Marisa, who wants to save the world’s food now – not later. Sworn enemies caught together in a quest to save the world, they must trust each other against instinct.

Stine creates a believable place full of dark wonder where one crop item is utilized to feed, clothe, and shelter the world. Now its extinction looms – and the only way to save the world is to find the one miracle plant Varik’s father engineered, Fireseed One. It’s been created to breed with other plants and miraculously grows in the deadly Hotzone. And Varik and Marisa must find it in the face of great odds.

Stine beautifully draws Varik and Marisa together as they learn to trust to survive. We suffer with them through a terrifying world where the land is an uninhabitable hot zone and the seas are poisonous sludge. A place that seems oh-so real. Once you put the book down it haunts you. You wonder if it could happen in your lifetime.

And as Varik begins to doubt his father, the secrets pile up and he questions what is truth and what is fiction. Did he ever really know his father? In this lies the seed that transforms Varik from child to man. We feel his pain, through Stine’s aching prose. And we want to follow his journey.

In a fiery, dying world Varik and Marisa come together in love and Stine’s lyrical language shines through. Can Varik and Marisa complete their mission in their darkest hour and if so, can they survive the journey back? No spoilers here but you will be in a race to find out.

In Fireseed One, Stine takes us on a painful but heartfelt coming of age story of two people discovering that sometimes your enemy can be your greatest friend, and all is not as it seems. Stine has created compelling, complex characters in Varik and Marisa.

Stine has created a world as deep and layered as our own, where its own language flows into the story seamlessly. She gives us a beautiful, bittersweet story of survival and love, where two young adults come to terms with who their parents are and who they are. And they face it with the grace of an adult not the petulance of a child anymore. This unique, refreshing story reveals pioneers in a new age, willing to risk the unknown and death for a better life. They are the pioneers of a new frontier. And you want them to survive and succeed at all odds.
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Fireseed One took me into a futuristic realm where the world is divided into three parts; The Land Dominion, Ocean Dominion and the Hotzone. In this world, humans who live in the Hotzone was scorched to death, no ordinary plant can survive the intense heat of the sun and the only source of food came from the sea-farms in the Ocean Dominion.

Varik, inherited the biggest sea-farms in Ocean Dominion when his famous marine biologist father died and because of this inheritance that he met Marissa, a ZWC terrorist who tried to robbed his vault full of sea disks. Marissa knew something Varik didn't know. It's about a pet project of Varik's dad that he abandoned after the tragic incident which caused the death of Varik's mother.This plant is called Fireseed and it can survive without water and can crossbreed to other plants to create a super plant that can withstand anything.

Varik didn't believe it at first but when a mysterious calamity threatened to destroy the only food source in the world, Varik have no choice but to go on a quest to find the Fireseed.

I have a mixed emotions in the characters of this book. Varik was likable. He was responsible, sensitive, smart and courageous but I didn't feel a strong connection to his character. On the other hand, I feel the opposite with Marissa. There is an instant connection between us that I can't explain. She's a bit naive, rebellious and impulsive but she's not just that. She's also strong-willed and independent which are the qualities I liked about heroines.

The world Catherine Stine created was believable, I feel like I time-travelled into 2089. It's fascinating and haunting, both as the same time. The ideas from this book is so out of this world, my geeky side was amazed. I would love to see cross-breeds between plants and fish and a suit that can adapt to its environment like a chameleon.

Overall, it was a great read. Fireseed One will take you to a thrilling, action-filled adventure that you will never forget.

In Catherine Stine’s realistic fictional novel Refugees, two teenagers that live on opposite sides of the world have their lives flipped upside down by tragedy following the September 11, 2001 terrorists’ attacks. Dawn, a sixteen year old girl, runs away from her foster home in California to go live in New York with her best friend Jude. Meanwhile, a fifteen year old boy named Johar living in Afghanistan flees to a refugee camp in Pakistan, with hopes of escaping the Taliban and war going on back home. Their paths cross when Johar finds a job working at the Red Cross assisting Dawn’s foster mother, Louise. By phone calls and emails, Johar and Dawn begin to build an unbreakable bond that will bring each other the hope and strength they need to overcome any obstacles that get in their way of finding home. The book Refugees is based around the idea of belonging, unusual friendships and hardships. At home, Johar’s brother gets taken away and he is forced to flee in search of where he belongs. Dawn is sick of being treated as a toy that people can test out and bring back to the store. She’s hurt that her mother would just give her up and has her heart set on finding her again. For now, to get away from all the pain Dawn goes to pursue her music career along side her friend Jude’s acting one. Only on rare occasions do people find and form special bonds with one another across the globe, but this unbelievable relationship between Johar and Dawn could get the two of them through anything. Catherine Stine wants readers to focus on the message of following your dreams; never giving up hope and that sometimes all you need to get through something difficult is a friend standing by the whole way. This book is a fantastic example of American diversity and the way Stine writes it makes what is normally a boring subject, exciting. It’s interesting how someone on one side of the world can have one problem, and another person on the other side can be dealing with almost the same thing. People nowadays don’t think very much about the big picture and only about what is happening to them at that moment. Stine’s novel opened my eyes about how the world really isn’t that big of a place after all. We’re all people that all have struggles and I think if more countries across the world formed alliances with each other similar to the one Dawn had with Johar, the world would be a much better place. -M.C.

Dawn runs away from her foster parents in San Francisco bound for New York City just before the September 11th terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, her Mom is in Afghanistan working in the refugee camps with people fleeing the Taliban. After September 11th, Dawn calls her mother and ends up befriending an Afghani teen named Johar who lives in the camp and is helping her mother.