Pay no attention...

Pay no attention to the current reads list at this particular moment.

It is blank.

This is because I finished reading the two books I had going. Finishing them both made me sad. I want more! I can only hope for sequels…and that they will be published very soon.

Actually, I do need to update the current reads list, as I am listening to a book (Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder).

But, back to those recently completed novels.

First I finished The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan. This is the sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which was on my list of fave books read that year. The sequel does not disappoint.

Time has passed. Mary is grown with a daughter of her own, named Gabry. Gabry is a fearful teen, but one night allows her friends – including Catcher, the boy that she likes – talk her in to climbing over the barriers and exploring the desolate ruins of an amusement park. At first all is well. Then the group pays the ultimate price, as they are attacked by a Breaker – a Mudo (Unconsecrated) who is super fast and is compelled to infect as many humans as she can. Quickly Gabry sees several of her generation infected – and destroyed by the others.

At Catcher’s urging, she runs and escapes. Her guilt over escaping causes her to return to the ruins, and ultimately, to enter the Forest of Hands and Teeth, where she struggles with her guilt over that one night, her feelings for Catcher and for Elias – a boy she meets in the ruins, and for her very survival.

I love how Gabry grows through the novel, from a frightened girl to a strong woman. She is still frightened. How could she not be? But, she also realizes that she is able to do what is needed to survive. I also enjoyed seeing Mary later in her life, and finding out what happened to her village.

I just read on the author’s website that there is a third book that will be published next spring. Yay!!

I also finished Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan, but that review will have to come later.