Reviews

A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy

*Spoiler free*

Thank you so much to HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray and Edelweiss for the e-ARC!

Emmett Maguire wants to be country music’s biggest gay superstar – a far reach when you’re seventeen and living in Illinois. But for now, he’s happy to do the next best thing: Stay with his aunt in Jackson Hollow, Tennessee, for the summer and perform at the amusement park owned by his idol, country legend Wanda Jean Stubbs. Luke Barnes hates country music. As the grandson of Verna Rose, the disgraced singer who had a famous falling out with Wanda Jean, Luke knows how much pain country music has brought his family. But when his mom’s medical bills start piling up, he takes a job at the last place he wants: a restaurant at Wanda World. Neither boy is looking for romance, but sparks fly when they meet – and soon they’re inseparable. Until a long-lost secret about Verna and Wanda comes to light, threatening to unravel everything.

With a cover this adorable, and about country music and queerness, of course I wanted to read it. I had also heard a whole lot of love for it online, and it sounded freaking amazing.

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Reviews

Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor

*Spoiler free*

Thank you so much to WednesdayBooks and Edelweiss for the e-ARC!

Beatrice Quinn has spent sixteen very serious years studying to get into Oxford University. Homeschooled and a whiz at statistics, Beatrice knows that she belongs at Oxford, where she will finally find people who understand her. She thought the hardest part would be getting in, not convincing her parents to let her go. They’ve put a halt to her plans until she can prove she’s able to make friends with people her own age and function in social situations. Their solution: Shakespearean theater camp and a detailed list of teenage milestones to check off. She has six weeks to show her parents she can pull off the role of “normal” teenager and won’t spend the rest of her life hiding in a library. Unfortunately, hearts and hormones don’t follow any rules, and there is no textbook for teenage interactions. When she’s adopted by a group of eclectic theater kids, and immediately makes an enemy of the gorgeous popular son of the camp founders, she realizes that relationships are trickier than calculus. As the summer draws to an end, and with Oxford on the line, this girl genius stumbles through illicit parties, double dog dares, and more than your fair share of Shakespeare. But before the final curtain falls, will Beatrice still feel like Oxford alone is enough?

I’m not sure what drew me to this book. Maybe the pink cover, maybe the the Shakespeare theatre camp, maybe the awkward main character who has to show her parents that she can function like a normal teenager. Maybe everything combined. But I was curious about this book, and I was curious to see what I would think of it.

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Reviews

Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor

*Spoiler free*

Thank you so much to Scholastic Press and Edelweiss for the e-ARC!

Flare is power. With only a drop of flare, one can light the night sky with fireworks . . . or burn a building to the ground — and seventeen-year-old Ingrid Ellis wants her fair share. Ingrid doesn’t have a family fortune, monetary or magical, but at least she has a plan: Rise to the top on the arm of Linden Holt, heir to a hefty political legacy and the largest fortune of flare in all of Candesce. Her only obstacle is Linden’s father who refuses to acknowledge her. So when Senator Holt announces his run for president, Ingrid uses the situation to her advantage. She strikes a deal to spy on the senator’s opposition in exchange for his approval and the status she so desperately craves. But the longer Ingrid wears two masks, the more she questions where her true allegiances lie. Will she stand with the Holts, or will she forge her own path?

I’ve wanted to read this book since I learned it was about a terrible girl, hungry for the things she does not have. The cover also absolutely enchanted me, because seriously, it is gorgeous. Throw in some cooking the rich, and I was completely ready to read it as soon as possible.

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Reviews

The New Girl by Jesse Q. Sutanto

*Spoiler free*

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Lia Setiawan has never really fit in. And when she wins a full ride to the prestigious Draycott Academy on a track scholarship, she’s determined to make it work even though she’s never felt more out of place. But on her first day there she witnesses a girl being forcefully carried away by campus security. Her new schoolmates and teachers seem unphased, but it leaves her unsure of what she’s gotten herself into. And as she uncovers the secrets of Draycott, complete with a corrupt teacher, a golden boy who isn’t what he seems, and a blackmailer determined to get her thrown out, she’s not sure if she can trust anyone…especially when the threats against her take a deadly turn.

After reading and loving The Obsession, I was incredibly eager to read this spinoff of sorts! It sounded like a fantastic thriller, with all the twisty darkness that Jesse excels at! I couldn’t wait to see what this book would hold.

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Reviews

Nightrender by Jodi Meadows

*Spoiler free*

Thank you so much to Holiday House and Edelweiss for the e-ARC!

In the middle of nothingness is the continent of Salvation. Reality bends easily here. Villages disappear. Forests burn forever. Pockets of inconsistent time are everywhere, their boundaries strung with yellow ribbon. And the three kingdoms of Salvation have been at war for a thousand years. But the greatest threat is the Malice, an incursion from the demon plane slowly tearing its way through the world’s weakest seams. Seams that–once split–will lead to the total unraveling of night and day, light and dark, life and death. Not that the human world takes much interest. Of more concern is the upcoming marriage of Rune Highcrown, Prince of Caberwill, and Johanne Fortuin, Princess of Embria–the serpent bride, a girl of famous cunning–which offers a possible end to the ancient conflict. But Rune has noticed the growing darkness, and he is determined to summon mankind’s only defense: Nightrender, the hammer of the gods, an immortal warrior more weapon than girl. There is only one problem. The last time she was summoned, she slaughtered every royal in Salvation, and no one knows why. Will she save humanity from the Malice… or plunge it deeper into the fires of eternal war?

While I hadn’t read any Jodi Meadows books yet, I was incredibly eager about this one. A book where the world is swathed in darkness, but humanity is more interested in the royal wedding that is about to take place between two kingdoms that have a long history of fighting. It sounded darkly thrilling, and I was very, very intrigued.

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Reviews

Castles In Their Bones by Laura Sebastian

*Spoiler free*

Thank you so much to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Empress Margaraux has had plans for her daughters since the day they were born. Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz will be queens. And now, age sixteen, they each must leave their homeland and marry their princes. Beautiful, smart, and demure, the triplets appear to be the perfect brides—because Margaraux knows there is one common truth: everyone underestimates a girl. Which is a grave mistake. Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no innocents. They have been trained since birth in the arts of deception, seduction, and violence with a singular goal—to bring down monarchies— and their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother’s grand vision: to one day reign over the entire continent of Vesteria. The princesses have spent their lives preparing, and now they are ready, each with her own secret skill, and each with a single wish, pulled from the stars. Only, the stars have their own plans—and their mother hasn’t told them all of hers. Life abroad is a test. Will their loyalties stay true? Or will they learn that they can’t trust anyone—not even each other?

While I didn’t completely love Ash Princess, I absolutely adored Half Sick Of Shadows. This made me incredibly intrigued about Laura’s next YA trilogy, especially since it’s about triplets, all married off to different countries, to try and bring them to their knees for their mother. It sounded intricate and twisted, and I was very curious to see what it would hold.

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Reviews

Love From Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill

*Spoiler free*

Thank you so much to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

This summer, Reese Camden is trading sweet tea and Southern hospitality for cold brew and crisp coastal air. She’s landed her dream marketing internship at Friends of Flavor, a wildly popular cooking channel in Seattle. The only problem? Benny Beneventi, the relentlessly charming, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing culinary intern–and her main competition for the fall job. Reese’s plan to keep work a No Feelings Zone crumbles like a day-old muffin when she and Benny are thrown together for a video shoot that goes viral, making them the internet’s newest ship. Audiences are hungry for more, and their bosses at Friends of Flavor are happy to deliver. Soon Reese and Benny are in an all-out food war, churning homemade ice cream, twisting soft pretzels, breaking eggs in an omelet showdown–while hundreds of thousands of viewers watch. Reese can’t deny the chemistry between her and Benny. But the more their rivalry heats up, the harder it is to keep love on the back burner… 

I mean, a romcom about two interns at a company that posts food videos online fighting it out for the one job being offered in the fall. Heck yes I wanted to read that book. And the cover is adorable!

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Reviews

This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke

*Spoiler free*

Thank you so much to Knopf Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

In the middle of Budapest, there is a river. Csilla knows the river is magic. During WWII, the river kept her family safe when they needed it most–safe from the Holocaust. But that was before the Communists seized power. Before her parents were murdered by the Soviet police. Before Csilla knew things about her father’s legacy that she wishes she could forget. Now Csilla keeps her head down, planning her escape from this country that has never loved her the way she loves it. But her carefully laid plans fall to pieces when her parents are unexpectedly, publicly exonerated. As the protests in other countries spur talk of a larger revolution in Hungary, Csilla must decide if she believes in the promise and magic of her deeply flawed country enough to risk her life to help save it, or if she should let it burn to the ground.

I’ve been looking forward to Katherine’s next YA since it was announced! They are one of my favorite authors, and I was siked to see what their next historical fiction would bring. And a story about a magic river, an angel of death, and a city that is deeply flawed, with a girl struggling to figure out if it is worth fighting for.

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Reviews

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

*Spoiler free*

When August learns that his best friend, Jack, shows signs of degenerative hallucinatory disorder, he is determined to help Jack cope. Jack’s vivid and long-term visions take the form of an elaborate fantasy world layered over our own—a world ruled by the Wicker King. As Jack leads them on a quest to fulfill a dark prophecy in this alternate world, even August begins to question what is real or not. August and Jack struggle to keep afloat as they teeter between fantasy and their own emotions. In the end, each must choose his own truth.

After reading Darling, I was ready to devour all of this author’s other books. I had The Wicker King on my shelf, so that was the one I gravitated towards. Plus, a boy experiencing hallucinations of an elaborate fantasy kingdom and his best friend trying to unravel what is real and what is not. I knew this book would cause me a lot of pain and was ready to see what this book would have in store for me.

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Other

A Show For Two by Tashie Bhuiyan

*Spoiler free*

Thank you so much to Inkyard Press and Edelweiss for the e-ARC!

Mina Rahman has a plan for her future: • Finally win the Golden Ivy student film competition • Get into her dream school across the country • Leave New York City behind once and for all Mina’s ticket to winning the competition falls into her lap when indie film star—and known heartbreaker—Emmitt Ramos enrolls in her high school under a secret identity to research his next role. When Mina sets out to persuade Emmitt to join her cause, he offers her a deal instead: he’ll be in her short film…if she acts as a tour guide to help him with a photography contest. As Mina ventures across the five boroughs with Emmitt by her side, the city she grew up in starts to look different and more like home than it ever has before. With the competition deadline looming, Mina’s dreams—which once seemed impenetrable—begin to crumble, and she’s forced to ask herself: Is winning worth losing everything?

After absolutely adoring Counting Down With You, I was ready to read whatever it was that Tashie was going to write next. And a book, inspired by Tom Holland going undercover at a highschool, about a girl who ropes the undercover celebrity at her school into being into her film project, even though they can’t stand each other, sound freaking amazing. And I was so, so eager to read it. Trigger warnings: emotional abuse, depression

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