Unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me. Something about the writing style and my preferences just clashed too much and I didn't enjoy this book the way i had hoped I would.
It felt a little too YA for me, like it was written by some teen who was verbally telling a story to another teen, it was a little rushed, messy, and had lots of dialogue but not much substance. There was not too much descriptive imagery given and not much life breathed into characters, if i look back and try to picture the characters of this book, i can only really picture the aliens, the author didn't really paint an image of anyone else. I can't even imagine what the main character looked like !
The premise was a really interesting one but the writing style just wasn't my cup of tea. I do appreciate what the author was trying to convey, it was a cool thought but maybe younger crowds, 10-14 year olds will like this book because it is a quick and easy read.

I still want to thank the publishers and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Really long book… I am reading this book as an ARC. It is absolutely wonderful! I can't say that I've ever read anything exactly like it. No zombies, no vampires, just something totally fresh. The main characters are very likeable and there are many not-so-main characters that are likeable, also. It does seem to be rather long, but enjoyably so. I assume that there will be another book, since this one is called book 1. The book doesn't really end in a cliffhanger, though. It just sort of ends.

My Review: I really wanted to like this one, this cover is just so pretty and I want to tell you that this book was amazing but sadly it was just so totally boring. I think this one needs to be reworked just a lot. I could see it being an amazing title with some clean up.


Go Into This One Knowing: Aliens

NetGalley provided me with a free e-copy of this book to review.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 since GR doesn't do half stars.

The concept was interesting. Finding out you're a human-alien hybrid has to be disorienting. Trying to figure out who in your life is telling you the truth sounds even more difficult, when both sides are telling wildly different (and completely unbelievable) stories. Poor Harper has to do both of these things, and her confusion definitely reigns in this book.

The thing is, I really just didn't love it. I can't say I've read it before, because I haven't, and can't think of anything else I've heard of that's similar. But for some reason it just didn't elicit any real emotions from me. I was disconnected from just about all of the characters. I worried more about the people left on earth than I did the hybrids in the Base of Ki. From the moment Harper's human body was dissolved and she became more Ancient than anything else, I had a general sense of unease about the Ancients that never went away. Everything was creepy, all of the Ancients' interactions with the hybrids were strange and condescending, and I just could not get past it all. Of course this was intentional, we were supposed to question the Ancients, but I just felt weird about it.

One thing I noticed (and mentioned in my reading notes) was that one of the hybrids who told his tragic story mentioned that his pregnant wife was executed right in front of him. But a big deal was made previously about the fact that hybrids were sterile. Was this an oversight, an error that was meant to be written out? Or were the Ancients lying about that, too?

The ending wasn't a satisfying ending, not even a cliffhanger. It was like the book just stopped, like there was supposed to be more but it got left out. After the however many pages (seriously it felt like 1000 pages), I think there could have been a couple more devoted to Harper thinking about what was going to happen next. Or at least something to make me clamor for book 2.

I have no idea where this is going to end, but I'm not sure I'll pick up the next book to find out. 2.5 stars because it wasn't a bad book and it was an OK read, I rounded up to 3 because I didn't feel like 2 was enough. But again, no spark for me. I guess it just wasn't the right book for me.

3.5 stars Just finished reading Glow by Aubrey Hadley. This is a science fiction story about a teenage girl, Harper, and her family. She lives with her mother, sister, Olivia and her brother, Brett. Starts out routinely enough with Harper clashing with her mother and typical teenage problems. But soon the story takes an ominous turn when an illness, which has occurred in some other places in the world with severe loss of live, hits her hometown of Reno. Harper is in their house under quarantine. The story then focuses on Harper as she wakes up in a different world , how she learns about this new world, herself, and how she hopes to return to her family. The book was interesting and I enjoyed it. Will likely look for the next book.

I think maybe I was expecting something different when I started this book. The description sounded really intriguing, but a plot twist part of the way in just turned the whole story into something completely different. I finally stopped at 40% because I struggled with the dialogue and the fact that nothing had really been happening for probably the last 15% I’d read. I’m not usually one to give up without finishing but I really struggled with understanding where the plot was going.

I will say I did like where the story was going at first, but a major plot turning point threw me off and I never was able to get back into it.

In the not-too-distant future, there are humans and alien-human hybrids. There is also a deadly virus that is killing people. Harper, a teenager who lives by some very strict rules set down by her worried mother, is our narrator. Through her eyes we see what happens when the CDC locks down her town after the virus hits them.

I liked the character of Harper - a typical teen who wants to be independent and an adult already - but I felt like her recklessness wasn't smart. In a world like this, I would imagine the teens would be old beyond their years, perhaps a bit wiser.

Still, it was an intriguing start to a series. Thanks to NetGalley for the arc to review.

What would happen if you found yourself all alone in a quarantined neighborhood where all your neighbors were dying of sleeping sickness, and your mother and brother and sister had escaped prior to the quarantine? What if you started noticing glowing creatures out in the desert near your house? While I think most of us would freak out, our protagonist, Harper somehow manages to keep it all together.

Harper is your mostly average teenager living in Reno, NV. She’s homeschooled, but plays soccer on a club team with her best friend Maria. She’s a brilliant science student, looking forward to studying biology in college. Her mom is rather protective and obsessive which drives Harper nuts. She adores her little sister Olivia and tolerates her older brother Brett.

When the sleeping syndrome first hits the United States, there isn’t much to worry about in Reno, but then it seems to be spreading. Harper’s mom becomes even more protective of her, not wanting her to even leave the house to play soccer. Harper and her mom argue. Harper runs out and finds weird black, glowing humanlike figures in the desert. She’s sure these things are after her. Then her family disappears without her, and the CDC and military lock down her neighborhood, which is really where the story begins.

This is a YA sci-fi/paranormal/fantasy novel that takes some interesting twists and turns. It was sometimes a slow read, but overall, the story was unusual enough to keep me going until the end. As this states it is book one, I would probably stick around to see what happens in book two.

Received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book!

Not really sure how to rate this book. Cover is beautiful, blurb sounded quite good: a mysterious virus, a young adult protagonist and maybe sci-fi. However I was exzessively bored throughout the entire book. I even skipped some pages after having read half the book. No immersion into the story, I do not care about the character, yet the world-building was quite interesting.

I'd say maybe 2, 5 stars.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was offered this by NetGalley, and thought it sounded in the line of the Death Cure or Hunger Games type books, so wanted to give it a try. This is not like those books though, and was very nearly a DNF. I had to force myself to finish it because I felt I should since I got it as an ARC, and that took me nearly a week, when usually I finish a book I a few hours. I’m not sure what the author was going for, but the result is a hot mess.

Harper is 17, home-schooled, with a strict mother (who stops her from doing absolutely nothing she wants to do) who is living in a world where a sleeping plague is staring to take hold. Her neighbourhood is taken over by the plague and she’s stuck there by herself until she’s rescued (sort of) and then abducted by the beings causing the plague, which reveals details about her and requires her to fight back. I’d give more details but that would give away the plot (such as it is) and seriously, there’s no need to read this at all, but especially if you already know most of the major ‘plot points’.

This plot could have been interesting but not the way it’s written here. All this book contains is pages upon pages of exposition. Lots of ‘tell’ very little ‘show’ (and it’s also way longer than it needed to be). I know it’s billed as book 1, so you have to lay the ground work, but there’s ways of doing that without boring the reader to tears. This may have been offset with a compelling lead character (or any compelling characters) but that was also sadly lacking.

This could have been such a great book and the concept is certainly strong, but I found there was way too much exposition that both slowed the narrative down and did more to confuse than to explain - just too much information to get my head around and no strong characters to take me through it. What a shame, as it looked so promising.

A teenager in the Nevada desert sees a glowing object as the world is watching a deadly virus killing people in Kenya and New York. When the Maasai Mara Sleeping Syndrome hits Reno, Harper finds herself home alone and her neighborhood locked down by the CDC.

Harper finds out that nothing is what she thinks it is, including her family and most importantly, herself.

Although the premise is great, the story does not come together. The characters are flat and the writing become plodding as soon as Harpers true nature is revealed. The way the author chose to reveal the history and the motivation of the Ancients was dry.

Although there were several interesting directions this book could have taken, none of the avenue were fleshed out and fully explored, it felt more like a collection of plot pieces derived from TV-shows from the 60’s-90’s that never got sewed together to make a solid piece.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very interesting idea that somehow just didn't make it all the way into fruition to me. It starts out as a typical YA sci-fi sort of story, but it devolves quickly and by the end I feel like I just read a nonfiction story about an alien society's foundations? This is clearly meant to be the first entry in a series, with Book I being in the title - it was an interesting story, but I don't think I'd pick up book II.

I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

If you aren’t a fan of science fiction, Glow is not the book for you! Despite a slow start that reads something like a lost chapter of the ’Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants’, Glow makes its way deep into alien culture revealing a secret history of aliens on earth and beyond. In the tradition of Bruce Coville’s brilliant ‘My Teacher is an Alien’ series, the aliens are deciding whether or not ending human life would be a boon for the rest of the universe. The beauty of Mr. Coville’s series was the tension of what they would decide and whether humankind deserves a continued existence and the process of that decision. Unfortunately, Glow doesn’t let the reader in much on what is happening. The nefarious forces are hinted at but not explained, the story often fueled by a hazy paranoia exacerbated by the confusion of memory loss. Harper, the narrator, has a very young voice. She rarely makes decisions of her own accord but is pushed along by outside forces and the central core of the book is an account of the drudgery that unfolds as a result. All in all, I had to work to suspend my disbelief in order to enjoy this book but I did get there. 2.5 stars out of 5

***Actual review 2.25 stars***

I can see why people gravitated towards requesting this book. The cover is gorgeous and the synopsis suggests a high engaging and action packed sci fi. Unfortunately the execution was very much off... this book was WAY too long and the middle section was far too content heavy and lacked any major story progression. I almost feel as if this could of actually been 2 separate novels or even reduced by about 200 or so pages. The idea was there and the writing style wasn't bad... it was just TOO LONG!

This book was not for me. I was hopeful as it sounded an interesting premise and I persevered with this , but sadly I just didn't enjoy it. It started off well but then it slows down and loses focus. I couldn't really connect with the protagonist, she felt a bit lack lustre.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

ARC provided by Netgalley.
Interesting read, but felt too long. I was honestly looking for a romantic interest the entire book but it was just not there. Very different and it didn’t keep my interest. I won’t be reading the sequel if there is one.

Oh boy. I don't even know where to start with this one. How could a book about aliens and alien-human hybrids be so boring?

Seventeen-year-old Harper is pretty much an average teen living in Reno, Nevada with her mom, older brother, and younger sister. Harper is homeschooled, and her mom is really strict, so Harper doesn't have much freedom, which is why she sneaks out to play soccer with her friends. It's summer vacation, but life isn't entirely carefree - a deadly virus has wiped out huge populations in Kenya and New York. The Maasai Mara Sleeping Syndrome is as mysterious as it is lethal - no one knows what it is, how it spreads, or how to treat it. Harper's life changes forever when the Sleeping Syndrome hits Reno. The CDC has Harper's neighborhood on lockdown, and Harper is alone in her house. Her mother and siblings were outside the area when the CDC shut the area down, so Harper is trapped, by herself, in her house.

At this point in the story, I was LOVING this book. It was like a YA version of <i>Contagion</i>. I love reading about diseases and was absolutely riveted by the story. Especially with the sci-fi twist:

Harper decides to make a run for it. Her neighbors are dying all around her, and she's terrified. But her escape plan goes wrong, and she ends up in the clutches of the ALIENS who are responsible for the Sleeping Syndrome. Not only was abducted by aliens, but it turns out that Harper is actually an alien-human hybrid. The aliens are collecting the hybrids as the other humans die from the disease, because the hybrids are immune due to their alien blood. The plan, of course, is to exterminate mankind. The rest of the book follows Harper as she learns about the aliens and their civilization, and as she ultimately fights to save humanity.

Like I said, I loved this book at first, but that changed right after Harper was picked up by the aliens. After that, I was bored to tears. Hadley has some great ideas for a sci-fi novel, but it's like she missed that day of school when you learn that writers should SHOW instead of TELL. This book is a whole bunch of telling, and it's exhausting. The alien world is never actually showed to us, but revealed in conversations. All the the dialogue about the great alien race, their civilization, and their plans is almost unreadable. I don't want to read dry passages about the aliens, I want to see their world and be <i>shown</i> what exactly is going on. Instead, the reader is forced to process pages and pages of Harper being told all about the aliens. The plot gets lost, and I found myself skimming a lot of the middle section of the book.

Harper herself turns out to be an extremely flat character. I mean, the girl was ABDUCTED BY ALIENS and sure, she's a little startled, but she got used to the situation pretty fast. All of the hybrids she's with are slowly losing their human memories, but Harper's attitude is more than just a result of the memory loss. She's so accepting of her fate and new identity - almost passive. Her fight to save humanity could have been so much better - there is a lot of scheming and plotting - but Harper's boring personality makes everything fall flat. And it's not just Harper's personality, but the plot itself - there is no suspense, no urgency. It's like Hadley is so focused on her worldbuilding that she neglected everything else. The characters are all completely forgettable and the plot was just underwhelming.

I really had to force myself to finish this book, but I'm giving it two stars instead of one because I did really enjoy the first hundred pages or so. It looks like <i>Glow</i> is going to have at least one sequel, but I won't be reading it. Even so, I really hope Hadley dedicates more time to her characters and the story itself in her subsequent books. She does seem to have some great ideas for a sci-fi novel, but she hasn't quite mastered how worldbuilding works yet. This book is 600 pages, and most of that was <i>telling</i>. I would like to see her actually stick her characters in that alien world and let her show it to us from their eyes. <i>Glow</i> didn't need to be 600 pages, but I think it ended up being that long because all of the action takes place in Nevada and in the spaceship (or whatever the Base of Ki was), and we never actually got to the alien world, so Hadley had to painstakingly describe it.

Unfortunately, I don't think I would recommend this book to anyone. There are so many other good YA sci-fi books out there. But all of the problems I had with the book are 100% fixable, and I sincerely wish Hadley the best of luck with the rest of this series!

A little slow at the beginning. The characters, the build up, the whole world building of the story is so unique!
I absolutely loved it. Cant wait to read more!

I’m sad to say this book was a DNF for me.

I’m a true believer that the first chapters should captivate you, and this is why I didn’t finish this book. I have to admit the first page was inticing. What was Harper so afraid of? But instead of continuing with that idea,the author went back to earlier that day! A bit of a pet peeve of mine.

I did try continuing the novel,but lost interest. I do hope others enjoy this book though,as the story line does seem very intriguing.