June Random Reads - Talented by Sophie Davis and After the Parch by Sheldon Greene

It's time for my June Random Reads (a fun meme hosted by I'm Loving Books). The idea is to pick one random book from your Goodreads To-Read list (using Random.org) to read within the month.  

As I mention every month, I am in love with this meme!  This is such a great way to make sure that I actually read some of those books that have been in my TBR list for eons.

This month I decided to once again choose two Random Reads.  For the first, I limited my Random Read choices to books that I actually own since I have so many of them that I've been wanting to read.  (I did this by just creating a Random Reads shelf on Goodreads).  For the second choice, I used the books I got from BEA!

Because of BEA, I'm running a bit behind this month.  Even though I managed to read both of my May Random Reads, I didn't get reviews up until yesterday and today.  Both picks were great reads. The first was Of Stardust by February Grace.  You can check out my review here.  The second selection was The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker.  Read my review here.

So, here was my first June choice:

#113 - After the Parch by Sheldon Greene 

Synopsis:

It's 2075. California is nothing like we know it. The USA has broken up and California has become an independent refuge dominated by a single omnipotent corporation. Eighteen-year-old Bran, a shepherd, is given a mission to traverse the California republic in ten days, in order to save his rural community from forfeiting its land. On the way, he teams up with a seventeen-year-old girl who has the skills and prowess of a warrior, an eleven-year-old wild boy with uncanny survival skills, and a wandering musician with a secret revolutionary agenda. After the Parch is a fast-paced, vivid, dystopian fantasy with a chilling resemblance to the way we are, and a vision of what we might become. It's a well-crafted story and the plot flows naturally from one crisis to another, with three-dimensional characters right up to the taut and positive climax. 

I got a paperback of this book from the author for review, so I needed to read it soon anyway.  With all of my shiny BEA reads to distract me, it's probably a good thing that Random.org chose this one for me!

Selection 2 - BEA Pick

Here's my next selection:

#138 - Talented by Sophie Davis

Synopsis:

Block it out. Impossible for Talia Lyons. When you’re a Mind Manipulator, it’s hard enough to block the thoughts of others, let alone your own.

Block it out. The pounding, siren-ready world Talia inhabits as she trains with her fellow Hunters, the country's top-secret covert operatives. The physical demands. The emotional toll.

Block it out. The secrets that Talia’s boyfriend is hiding. Talia’s unbidden feelings of frustration and annoyance toward her teammate, the Casanova of the compound. The wondering why she cares what he thinks.

Block him out. Ian Crane. The man behind the bloodshed marring Talia’s memories of her murdered parents. The man she’s determined to kill.

Block it all out. Focus.

Talented is an emotionally raw dystopian romance, about the life of a girl with extraordinary psychic powers, and what happens when a heart is torn between love and rage.

Doesn't this one sound great?!  This was one of those random finds at BEA.  I hadn't heard of it and wasn't specifically looking for it, but when I spotted it on the BEA floor I just had to check it out.  It's not a new book - it first came out in 2012 I guess, but it's new to me!  Looking forward to reading it!