two friends and too many books
***Disclaimer: I received a free early access copy of The Sword and the Dagger by Robert Cochran from NetGalley and Tor/Forge for review purposes. Thanks so much!
What initially drew me to this book was the title and cover. Once I read the summary, the historical fiction aspect drew me in, especially since takes place during the Crusades which is a time period you just don’t see much of in young adult fiction.
***Disclaimer: I received a free early access copy of Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for review purposes. Thank you so much!
Wicked Saints is one of the most anticipated reads of the year with good reason. It’s been compared to Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse, but I feel like that’s where the surface similarities end. The world in Wicked Saints is very eastern European inspired and also very dark, which is extremely fitting.
I have never read a Chuck Palahniuk book before. Many of my friends have a really love his stuff so I finally bit the bullet and got one. All of his books are rather intense and make you think. Lots of irony and there’s a lot of social messages in them. Beautiful You was no exception by far.
**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn through NetGalley for review purposes. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this opportunity.
You’d Be Mine is the story of Annie Mathers and Clay Coolidge. Clay is the quintessential country rockstar. He sings songs about beer, babes, and trucks; he’s a superstar. Annie, on the other hand, is an up and coming country star whose deceased parents are country royalty. Clay, who has a bit of a bad boy reputation, is charged with recruiting Annie, and her band, to play on his summer tour so that he can put himself back in his label’s good books. She reluctantly agrees and they end up touring the United States together. But while touring, country music isn’t the only thing that’s brewing. Could there be a bit of love in the air?
***Disclaimer: I received a free early access copy of Slayer by Kiersten White from NetGalley and the publishers for review purposes. Thank you to them!
I was late to the Buffy-verse. I never watched the show when I was growing up, and I still haven’t seen the movie. I started watching the show in university thanks to a friend who had all of the seasons on DVD and got through several seasons which inspired me to go out and seek the rest of the show myself. I still haven’t seen all of Angel, and I haven’t ready any of the comics, and I’ve only watched through the show once, but I loved it. I fell in love with the characters and the stories that they were telling, so when I heard that Kiersten White was writing a novel set in the Buffy-verse, I was super excited. When I saw it on NetGalley, requested it, and actually received an eARC, I was so excited.
***Disclaimer: I received a free, early advanced reader copy of The Curses from the publishers and NetGalley for review purposes.
This is going to be a different kind of review. The Curses by Laure Eve is the second novel in a series; it follows the events of The Graces, though it takes on a different point of view. This is not a review for The Graces, but as the The Curses is a sequel, and I don’t want to spoil any of the events of first novel if you haven’t read it, so I won’t be doing a synopsis like I usually do and I will try to be vague about textual details. I will admit that I was really excited to read this one. I finished The Graces in the summer and I was super impressed, so I wanted to read the sequel immediately. Imagine my disappointment when I saw that it wasn’t coming out until December 31st. However, imagine my excitement when I realized that I had been given permission to read the eARC. I was super happy.
**Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of This Lie Will Kill You from NetGalley and the publishers for review purposes. Thank you to them for letting me read the book.
This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher is a YA mystery novel. The main characters are five teenagers: Juniper, Ruby, Gavin, Brett, and Parker, who are all in their final year of high school and who have all been invited to compete for a mysterious $50000 scholarship by participating in a murder mystery party. Each teen is asked to bring something to the party. The competition is held at a creepy semi-abandoned mansion. Pretty quickly it is revealed that things are not what they seem and perhaps this scholarship isn’t quite as legitimate as it might have seemed. Could it be connected to the fiery death of one of their classmates the previous year? Who knows.
***Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of The Similars from Net Galley and the publisher for review purposes.
The Similars is a Sci-Fi novel set in the future of Earth. The story follows Emmaline who attends the prestigious Darkwood Academy. It is a boarding school for the elite of the elite. Each student is special in some way in that they have some talent that helped them get admitted past just being extra smart. Emma is returning to Darkwood for her senior year but there are two things she is going to have to cope with: the suicide of her best friend, Oliver, and the fact that six clones (the similars) will be attending Darkwood with her. This was fine until it turned out that one of the clones is Oliver’s. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the clones and initially Emma couldn’t be bothered about it. However, she quickly gets sucked into the conspiracy surrounding them and the school.
The prose novel, Doctor Strange: The Fate of Dreams by Devin Grayson has made me a fan of her writing. It’s also wonderful that she was the first female to be a regular writer for Batman. I love seeing progress being made in a prominently male dominated profession because there are just as many female comic readers out there that can give an action-packed storyline.
**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Sea Breeze Academy by Bryant A. Loney from the publishers for review purposes
Sea Breeze Academy by Bryant A. Loney is an interesting story. The basic premise is that it is about these students at a fancy boarding school in California called Sea Breeze Academy. These students are the subject of a television show that gives me a very Zoey 101 vibe. The protagonist of the show is Brooklyn Rivers who is your quintessential main girl: she’s smart, pretty, girly but also tomboyish. Essentially she checks all of the boxes. However, the twist in this story is that the characters are starting to release that they are on a television show.