Release Date: February 25, 2014Published by: ScholasticFire & Flood, #1Source: PublisherFor fans of: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Action, Adventure, Thriller, Romance, YAA modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother’s life—and her own.
Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, and when a dozen doctors can’t determine what’s wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She’s lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she’s helpless to change anything.
Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It’s an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother’s illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there’s no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.
The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can’t trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?
*MY THOUGHTS*
“‘It’s a scene right out of a friggin Disney movie. Minus the green slime.“
pg 71 (ARC)
Ok, let’s start with the bad news first. I really didn’t like the MC. She was a girlie girl in the middle of a battle. Although I thought that would change her to bad ass in the end, she was still the same chick in the end. That irked me only because there were times that she was in so much actual danger, and she still didn’t want to harm that person or thing. I just thought that her wanting to keep her life would mean more to her than keeping other people safe…. I also didn’t like how similar this was to The Hunger Games. There’s no way to NOT think of that book when you read this. I think if I hadn’t read and loved it, I would’ve fallen in love with this book, but I just couldn’t stop thinking of that series.
“‘I have this strange half fear, half fascination going on with this guy. Like I’m not sire I want to watch the sun set together, or sleep with one eye open.“
pg 108 (ARC)
“‘Maybe he doesn’t need sleep like the rest of us do. Maybe he really is a machine. I’d like to cut him. Just a little bit. Just to see if he bleeds. Then I’d like t kiss the spot and take the hurt away.“
pg. 211 (ARC)