Under Different Stars (Amy A. Bartol)

Synopsis: 
Winner of four 2014 utopYA Awards, including Best Book of the Year and Best Sci-Fi Book of the Year
Kricket Hollowell never wished upon stars. She was too busy hiding in plain sight, eluding Chicago’s foster care system. As her eighteenth birthday approaches, she now eagerly anticipates the day she’ll stop running and finally find her place in the world.
That day comes when she meets a young Etharian soldier named Trey Allairis, who has been charged with coming to Earth to find Kricket and transport her to her true home. As danger draws close, he must protect her until she can wield the powers she cannot use on Earth…and he soon realizes that counting a galaxy of stars would be easier than losing this extraordinary girl.
Kyon Ensin knows the powerful depths of Kricket’s gifts—gifts he’ll control when he takes her for his tribe and leads the forces that will claim Ethar and destroy his enemies, starting with Trey Allairis. Now, Kricket faces the most difficult choice of her life: whether to wage a battle for survival or a fight for love.

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review.
First of all, I have to admit that I first requested this book because of the cover. Whoever was in charge of that nailed it!
The plot also seemed extremely interesting and I was imediatly hooked when I started reading this.
Overall, Under Different Stars was a fascinatingly compeling and enjoyable read. It was fast paced and explosive and funny. Very funny, although also a little predictible at times.
I had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Kricket, the main character. Even though she was a bit annoying at times, and I still can't really figure out why, she came through as really strong, witty and intelligent. And, mostly, really sarcastic - that was my favourite thing about this book. The funny dialogue and deep characters. I particularly loved the main male character and his crew, Trey, Jax and Wayra. They were so lovable and, well, tall, dark and handsome aliens. The romance was expected, of course, and insta-love usually frustrates me to death, but Bartol was able to create an environment so perfect and ideal that we could help but fall in love with their love.
Lastly, I absolutely adored the writing. It made what could have been a quite okay book into a fantastic and adventurous story, making us root for the characters, want to get to know them and their world and read on, and on and on. I honestly couldn't put this book down and Amy A. Bartol is entirely to blame for that.
I will definitely be continuing this series, as that ending left me wanting and crying for more.
In the end, I must admit that this was a bit of a guilty pleasure kind of book, but I enjoyed it so much I don't even care. Recommend to anyone who loves a bit of romance in outer space.

The Room (Jonas Karlsson) UPDATED

Release Date: January 15th 2015

Synopsis:  
A quirky and unsettling tale, of dark humour and strange realities, about a bureaucrat, an open plan office and a secret room..
The Authority looks favourably upon meticulousness, efficiency and ambition. Bjorn has all of this in spades, but it's only in the Room that he can really shine. Unfortunately, his colleagues see things differently. In fact, they don't even see the Room at all.
The Room is a short, sharp and fiendish fable in the tradition of Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett and Charlie Kauffman. If you have ever toiled in an office, felt like the world was against you or questioned the nature of reality then this is the novel for you.

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review. 
This is nothing like I usually read and I was positive I wasn't going to enjoy it that much. I was right and so wrong at the same time.
On one side, the characters were all detestable and extremely unreliable narrators, but I absolutely loved every minute of this book.
A little introduction in the beginning of the book compares the style of 'The Room' to that of Kafka, and I totally agree. It has the same gift of being able to mess with your mind, leaving everything out of place, while making you question everything you thought was true and everything you believed in.
It points a finger at the reader directly, making sure we see our own faults in these flawed characters and that makes us uncomfortable, the best kind.It's a psychological journey through a story were nothing is certain and, by the end of the book, we get to take our own conclusions, based on what we got out of it. That's the magic of books of this kind (and books in general, but this one takes it to levels is almost impossible to describe).
Honestly, I read this in a day. It kept me wanting more, I couldn't think about anything else but to know how it ended, even though I knew, deep down, that the ending would only raise even more questions, as it did.This was just an immensely mind blowing, surral and desconcerning story that deserves to be read by everyone.

Plus, the publisher was kind enough to offer me some extra material to share on the release date!

First of all, Vintage hosted a competition for an animation promoting the novel, and I must say that the winning video is absolutely fantastic and captures the book so well. You can watch it here: http://youtu.be/4ssVuB2ALCE

And here is my favourite part of the email they sent me: audio links of the author, Jonas Karlsson, reading from his book! I will leave the links below, you can just click the name of the scenes to listen to this amazing gift from the publisher.

1 - Reprimand
2 - What are you doing?
3 - Door/Wall
4 - The meeting