Return to the Black Farm (The Black Farm #2) by Elias Witherow

 

Return to the Black Farm (The Black Farm #2) by Elias Witherow - 255 pages

RETURN TO THE BLACK FARM is a direct sequel that follows Nick as he is forced to confront the aftermath of his actions. The Farm is in ruins. The Pig has vanished. Everything Nick loves hangs in the balance unless he can find a way to make things right. But at what cost? And can he really survive the terrors, new and old, that await his return?

Wow, what a great sequel!  I was not sure how the author would pull this one off but holy crow he did!  He does a great job of introducing new characters as well as keeping the old ones.  Fans of extreme horror definitely need to check out this series!

The Fifth to Die

 

The Fifth to Die by J.D. Barker    543 pages

In the thrilling sequel to The Fourth Monkey, a new serial killer stalks the streets of Chicago, while Detective Porter delves deeper into the dark past of the Four Monkey Killer.

Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds. When the body of a young girl is found beneath the frozen waters of Jackson Park Lagoon, she is quickly identified as Ella Reynolds, missing three weeks. But how did she get there? The lagoon froze months earlier. More baffling? She’s found wearing the clothes of another girl, missing less than two days. While the detectives of Chicago Metro try to make sense of the quickly developing case, Porter secretly continues his pursuit of 4MK, knowing the best way to find Bishop is to track down his mother. When the captain finds out about Porter’s activities, he’s suspended, leaving his partners Clair and Nash to continue the search for the new killer alone.

Obsessed with catching Bishop, Porter follows a single grainy photograph from Chicago to the streets of New Orleans and stumbles into a world darker than he could have possibly imagined, where he quickly realizes that the only place more frightening than the mind of a serial killer is the mind of the mother from which he came.

An interesting crime read. Lots of storylines going on at once. Just more torturing and killing of young girls. It ends abruptly as a TO BE CONTINUED to The Sixth Wicked Child.

Christmas Blessing by Donna Van Liere

Christmas Blessing by Donna VanLiere 212 pages I have seen this movie before and wanted to read the book. I usually read the book before I see the movie, but this time I did it backwards. Of course the book was so much better than the movie. The story was so insprirational and just right for the holiday. I recommend this to anyone who would like a light hearted Christmas story. It is the sequel to The Christmas Shoes, but even if you haven't read that book, this one will still make sense to you. In The Christmas Shoes, young Nathan Andrews was a child who lost his mother to cancer. Now his deepest wish is to become a doctor. When a stranger named Robert gave him the money to buy his mother a pair of shoes for her last Christmas, both Robert and Nathan learned the deepest lessons of love and giving. Now a medical student in his third year, Nathan realizes there are still things to be learned about faith, blessings, and sacrifice. Lessons he will learn from Meghan Sullivan-a young woman born with a hole in her heart that has not kept her from becoming a champion runner. And lessons learned from a young boy named Charlie, who teaches how to live a life of true courage. Together, they will help guide Nathan through the darkest period in his life. The Christmas Blessing is an inspiring story about hope existing in the darkest places, and love is always the greatest gift of all.

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout - 637 pages

*** CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THE FIRST BOOK FROM BLOOD AND ASH***

Poppy has just found out that everything she has ever known was a lie. In the continuation of the From Blood and Ash series, she must make choices that will determine the fates of the entire kingdom. She wants to  free herself from Hawke, who is really Casteel, Prince of Atlantia - the Dark One - the one she has been taught to fear for her entire life. Casteel expects her to marry him, but she feels inclined to decide her own fate and to finally make her own choices in life. Poppy must make her decision before the Ascended discover that she has been taken by the one that they fear most.

After reading the predecessor to this book, From Blood and Ash, I didn't really think it could get better than that - but this sequel blew me out of the water. It was even better than the first and I cannot wait for the next book in the series to come out in April. I've already pre-ordered it and placed both From Blood and Ash and A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire on my all-time favorites list. Phenomenal writing, world-building and storytelling from JLA makes this a book that you simply can't put down. I finished it over the course of two days because I genuinely couldn't get enough. I would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone who is a fan of YA fantasy!

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli - 343 pages

Leah feels as if she doesn't fit in.  Her family is just her mom who is obsessed with Leah and her friends high school experience.  Her friends are paired off into couples making her always feel like a third wheel.  And she can't seem to let anyone know that she is bisexual . . . especially Abby the girl she's had a crush on for a couple years.

This is the sequel to Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.  It focuses on Leah and Abby, two of Simon's best friends.  While I did enjoy this story, I didn't like it as much as the first story.  This is probably because Leah just isn't as likable a character.  She's very awkward and uncomfortable in her skin.

Perry's Killer Playlist by Joe Schreiber

Perry's Killer Playlist by Joe Schreiber
Sequel to Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick

Perry has finally gotten his life back after the crazy adventure with Gobi, the foreign exchange student his family hosted last year.  He's taken a year off before college to try to make it with his band and it looks like it has paid off.  They're booked for a European tour.  Unfortunately, in Venice he once again runs into Gobi and it's another crazy adventure with her.

This is the sequel to Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick.  It's another humorous, rollicking adventure -- this time through Europe.  I really enjoyed this sequel and am a little sorry I waited so long (5 years) to read it after the first book.

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen - 296 pages

In Sarah Addison Allen's sequel to Garden Spells, First Frost begins ten years after Claire Waverly's wild half-sister Sydney returned and Claire met her now-husband Tyler. It is an inspiring story of the trouble with hanging on too long, and the magic that happens when you finally let go. Autumn has arrived in the small town of Bascom, North Carolina, along with a strange old man carrying a beat-up suitcase. He has stories to tell, stories that could change the lives of the Waverley women forever. But the Waverleys have enough trouble on their hands. Quiet Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley's Candies (made with natural ingredients like lavender and honey). Unfortunately, it's nothing like she thought it would be, and it's slowly taking over her life. Sydney, still trying to leave her past behind, is about to combust with her desire for another new beginning. And Sydney's fifteen-year-old daughter, Bay, has lost her heart to the boy she knows it belongs to, if only he could see it, too. First Frost is magical realism at its best, taking readers back into the lives of the gifted Waverley women--back to their strange garden and temperamental apple tree, back to their house with a personality of its own, back to the men who love them fiercely--proving that a happily-ever-after is never the real ending to a story. It's where the real story begins.

Necromancing the Stone by Lish McBride

Necromancing the Stone by Lish McBride - 344 pages

Sam's life isn't getting any better.  He's just getting used to being a necromancer with a ghost, werewolves, and a werebear as friends.  Now his mentor has been killed and it looks like another necromancer did it. 
This is the sequel to Hold Me Closer, Necromancer.  I liked this one better.  It did take the first third of the book for setup.  It jumped right into the story.  I did think the characterization of the enemy was off - especially considering his past.