Mystery Book Review - Our Infinite Fates by Lara Steven

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Evelyn can remember all her past lives. She can also remember that in every single one, she's been killed before her eighteenth birthday by Arden, a supernatural being whose soul is tethered to hers. And it doesn't matter whether she kills them first - they both die.

The problem is that she's quite fond of the life she's in now, and more importantly, her sister needs her to stay alive for bone marrow transplants. So now Evelyn has to: a. find the centuries-old enemy who hunts her through each life and break their curse for good, b. figure out exactly why she's being hunted in the first place, and c. try quite hard not to fall in love with them. Again."

The Forbidden Wish - Jessica Khoury

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"When Aladdin discovers Zahra's jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn't seen in hundreds of years - a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra's very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes.

But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity - only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?

As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of the Aladdin story from acclaimed author Jessica Khoury."

Have you ever had one of those moments where you're browsing for books and the stars align, guiding you to one you didn't know existed but that you have to have? That's how I found this book. Paperbacks & Frybread was having a sale, it happened to include a random, signed copy of this book, and as soon as I saw that it was an Aladdin retelling, I was sold. Now, in my perfect, idyllic dream world, it would be a queer Aladdin retelling...but aside from lacking that one aspect, this was pretty nice as far as retellings go.

For starters, I loved Zahra. How complicated she was, the way her history was woven into the story and revealed bit by bit, her tenacity and creativity...Zahra rocks. So does Caspida and her handmaidens. Aladdin was acceptable, but the women in this book were by far the best part. Honestly, the...I guess secondary conflict(?) with the vizier and his son was not super engaging to me, probably because it was alluded to but nothing was really done with it until it fully came to a head, but I would have read more of this book just to see Zahra, Caspida, and company be amazing some more. They were glorious. A revelation. Honestly, authors take note. Do we even need Aladdin? This could have been the queer retelling the world needs. (Joking, mostly. Sort of.)

Sorry, getting off track. In addition to the girl power, I enjoyed the world building that went into this book. We only got bits and pieces of it, but it was intriguing as hell! I would read so many more books about Zahra's history. And Caspida's rule. About how her handmaidens came to be her handmaidens. What I'm getting at, Jessica Khoury, is give me more books in this world. I will devour them like Cookie Monster. That's not to say this book is perfect - it definitely had some funky word choices at times and several pacing issues - but for me the good more than made up for the clunky. It was a delight. And now I want to watch Aladdin.

Fable - Adrienne Young

 My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"For seventeen-year-old Fable, the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home she has ever known. It's been four years since the night she watched her mother drown during an unforgiving storm. The next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. To survive she must keep to herself, learn to trust no one, and rely on the unique skills her mother taught her. 

The only thing that keeps her going is the goal of getting off the island, finding her father, and demanding her rightful place beside him and his crew. To do so Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows. But her father's rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw, and Fable soon finds that West isn't who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they're going to stay alive."

This is my third Adrienne Young novel - I liked the first, but was not a fan of the second. If you'd asked me in the first few chapters of Fable how I saw it going, I would have guessed somewhere in between, probably a three-star not the best but not the worst situation. Color me shocked when I got a little further in and couldn't put it down! 

Fable is smart, tough, and determined, and once the story gets going her quest to find not just her father but her place in the world pulls you in. West and the rest of his crew are intriguing and easy to feel a kinship with, and I lived for glimpses of Fable's mother and father in flashbacks. My only gripe with this story is that I have to wait another two and a half months to read the next book!

House of Salt and Sorrows - Erin A. Craig

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last - the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge - and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who - or what - are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family - before it claims her next."

Are the Thaumas sisters cursed, or do they just have extraordinarily terrible luck? When Annaleigh gets suspicious that someone is actually murdering her sisters, it makes sense...after all, it seems wildly coincidental that their mother and then four sisters would just happen to all die, one right after the other...but who would want them dead?

As the book progresses, things don't get much clearer. If anything, things only get more muddled. Verity, Annaleigh's youngest sister, claims to have seen the ghosts of their older sisters, and now Annaleigh has started seeing them too. With every passing day, things around Highmoor get stranger. Her father and sisters are acting oddly, her childhood best friend seems to be hiding something, and she has a feeling the young man she met recently isn't being entirely truthful either. Annaleigh no longer knows who, or what, she can trust, but she has a feeling that if she doesn't figure it out soon, it will be too late. Can she piece things together in time?

This book was nothing like I expected, and while there are a couple things I wish had been done differently, most notably that the end had been a touch longer to truly do it justice, overall I thought it was an amazing read. The world-building was incredibly vivid, the atmosphere was mysterious and chilling, and from the first page to the last I was on the edge of my seat. There were a couple times where I thought I had everything figured out, only to make it another couple chapters and have my theory smashed. Even when I did start to unravel the mystery, I never could have imagined the full scope of was actually going on.

If you're like me and have vivid dreams, I would recommend not reading this right before bed, because my damn, it gave me some strange nightmares. Day or night, though, it's a great read.

Sorcery of Thorns - Margaret Rogerson

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined."

This book has been sitting in my TBR pile for a while now, but I read Rogerson's last book, An Enchantment of Ravens, and while it wasn't bad it did drag a little bit. I was sure her second novel would be just fine, but I've had so many other things I was pumped to read that it ended up on the back burner. It kept calling to me, though, because...well...

It's so pretty!

I mean, look at it. One thing Margaret Rogerson's books definitely have going for them is that their covers are to die for. Something else that this particular book has going for it? That it kicks ass.

Yeah, that's right. I was sleeping on Sorcery of Thorns! I finished the book I had been reading before bed and needed a new one, so I was like meh...I've been waiting long enough on this one, might as well give it a go and see how it is. Y'all...I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish this in three nights (and that's no joke! I'm fucking serious about my bedtime, I have an alarm set and everything). This book rocked. In the words of Pam Beesley, it rocked my ass off.

For starters, there's the dedication: "For all the girls who found themselves in books." 

I have observed to my friends on countless recent occasions that the older I get (or maybe the more librariany I get? I don't know, I just know that's when it all started), the more emotional I seem to become, and this book got me good. Elisabeth is intelligent, assertive, and courageous, basically everything that sweet baby Dewey wanted to be growing up, and while I feel like I've done pretty well by sweet baby Dewey in the grand scheme of things, I grew up being told that women were meant to be meek and submissive, so it is always a privilege when I get to read about a character who is strong, driven, and tough and who fights for what she believes in the way Elisabeth does. I wish that I had more examples like her growing up, and I will never stop being thrilled at all of the examples of strong women that are around in literature and movies today. Give me more tall as hell library workers with swords, please! I'll take them all.

As far as my worry that this book would drag the way Ravens did, I had no need to fear. It doesn't take long for things to get going, and once they do, the pace does not slow. And the characters, you guys. As mentioned, Elisabeth is fierce as fuck, which won me over immediately, but then we also get Nathaniel, who just...I mean...you couldn't ask for a more tragic, reluctantly heroic love interest (possible spoiler, I guess? But come on. You know as soon as he's introduced). And then there's Silas, arguably the best character in the book. (Don't argue with me, though. It's fine if you disagree, we're allowed to have different favorite characters.) The nuance he brings to the table and the way his narrative forces us to question  the black-and-white evil versus good worldview Elisabeth grew up with is a thing of beauty. I fell in love with him immediately, and even with his repeated reminders that however he might seem, he shouldn't be trusted, I couldn't help it. I also adored Elisabeth's roommate, Katrien, and if I had one wish for this book, it would be that she was in it more. But come on, if my one complaint is that the characters were so good that I wanted more of them, well...that's not so bad, is it?

Alright, I've talked a lot about this book without saying anything about the plot. I know that's weird, and honestly, I want to talk plot. So badly. But I'm a little afraid that if I do I'll spoil something without meaning to, and given the number of times I gasped out loud or had to stop and text my husband that my mind had just been blown, I really don't want to do that. So...I'm not going to. I'm just going to say that this book is magical and strongly recommend that if you are a fan of fantasy, strong female characters, and magic, you pick up a copy. You won't regret it!

The True Queen - Sarah Fine

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Now that Ansa knows she is the destined queen of Kupari, she is desperate to find a permanent home for her people, the Kriegere, in the Kupari lands. But as the small band of warriors crosses into the foreign territory, Ansa loses her fragile grip on her newly-acquired—and violent—fire and ice magic and puts everyone, including her love Thyra, in danger.

Inside the walls of Kupari, Elli maintains the facade that she is the magical queen, with her secret—that she has no magic at all—on the brink of exposure every day. But as she tries to prepare the citizens to protect themselves from another invasion, unrest spreads as wielders like her beloved Oskar begin to lose control of their powers.

As Kupari grows increasingly unstable, with the land literally crumbling beneath their feet, and a common enemy once again threatening everything, these two young women on a collision course with destiny must find a way to save the realm and their people from total destruction.In this epic conclusion to the Impostor Queen series, Sarah Fine’s sweeping tale of two fierce leaders imbued with unimaginable power and called to unthinkable sacrifice finally answers the question: who has the strength to be the True Queen?"

OMFG you guys, I posted my First Page Friday for this book and said it was weird reviewing this one since I hadn't reviewed the first two of the series, and then I went back to look through my old reviews, and I did review the first one! HA! How did I forget? And why did I review the first and decide to review the third, but I never reviewed the second? (Honestly...because I read the second book on a plane flying home from Italy, and that flight destroyed me.) I don't want to leave the second book out, so I'm going to turn this into a two-fer.

So...The Cursed Queen is the second book in this series, and it follows Ansa, who was stolen from her people by the Krigere, a warrior clan, as a small child. After a run-in with the Kupari's Valtia during a battle on the water, Ansa is imbued with the Valtia's powers over fire and ice. The young warrior believes herself to have been cursed by the Kupari leader, and, fearful of witchcraft, she struggles to hide and control her new powers. Gradually, she learns the true meaning of her powers, and as she gains knowledge about her past and future, she struggles to determine who she can trust. This book kept me on the edge of my seat. Ansa's journey was stressful and terrifying at times, and while I was pretty sure I knew who she could trust, there were definitely times where I, like Ansa, was terrified that she couldn't trust anyone. I also felt her powerlessness in the moments where she couldn't figure out how to control the fire and ice, and whew...this book was equal parts stressful and awesome.

The True Queen picks up with Ansa preparing to follow Thyra and her people into Kupari, to remove the person she believes to be a false queen from her throne and create a new home for the Krigere. It alternates between Ansa and her journey and Elli, who is struggling to lead the Kupari people as the land around them revolts, causing terrible earthquakes and, worse, weakening magic-wielders and causing some to lose control of their magic. Ansa must avoid falling under control of the evil elders who were responsible for the deaths of the Valtias before her while also harnessing her seemingly uncontrollable powers before they destroy her, and Elli must find a way to hold her people together and stop the earth itself from shaking apart so she can unite with her Valtia and, together, lead their people. I enjoyed parts of the third book in this trilogy, but I didn't feel the story was as compelling or as strong as the first two books. Much of the first two-thirds or so felt repetitive. The first two books were action-packed, while this third installment primarily featured Ansa wandering in the woods at the Kupari border and Elli wringing her hands about how to stop the earthquakes. I wish things had moved more quickly in the beginning so we could have had more action in the end. Overall, though, it was a great trilogy, and I enjoyed it!

They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today.

Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day."

Mateo and Rufus are going to die today. They both received a call from Death-Cast, and Death-Cast is never wrong. 

Mateo, plagued by anxiety and paranoia, wants to spend his last hours on earth saying goodbye to his best friend and her baby, visiting the hospital where his father is in a coma, and leaving some kind of mark on the world. He wants to...but instead he finds himself still locked away in his apartment three hours after receiving the call, afraid to venture into the outside world.

Rufus, who received the call in the middle of pummeling his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend, narrowly avoids being arrested for the assault during an impromptu funeral with his foster parents and best friends. Now, alone in the world with less than 24 hours left to live and unable to go home, he isn't sure what to do.

Enter the Last Friend app. After several depressing, sketchy, and disappointing interactions, both Mateo and Rufus are ready to give up on the app. Mateo gives it one last shot, though, contacting Rufus who, with understandable reluctance, agrees to pick Mateo up at his apartment so the pair can begin living their last day to its fullest. But what begins as a partnership of convenience between two dying teenagers quickly blossoms into something more. Mateo inspires Rufus with his kindness and gentle spirit, and Rufus pushes Mateo to take risks, put himself out there, and do the things that he has always been too afraid to try. 

This book is both heartbreaking and beautiful. The relationship that blossoms between Mateo and Rufus warmed my heart, and the way their lives intertwined with the many side characters introduced throughout the story was both fascinating and inspiring. Given less than 24 hours to live, most of us would think, understandably, that this is far from enough time to leave our marks on the world. What this book shows us, however, is that what we see as tiny actions can have a huge ripple effect. They Both Die at the End reminds us that simple acts can have a vast impact. 

Umbertouched - Livia Blackburne

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"The mission was a failure. Even though Zivah and Dineas discovered a secret that could bring down the empire, their information is useless without proof. Now, with their cover blown and their quest abandoned, their only remaining hope is to get home before Ampara brings the full might of its armies against their peoples.

As Shidadi and Dara alike prepare for war, Zivah and Dineas grapple with the toll of their time in the capital. After fighting alongside the Amparans against his own kin, can Dineas convince the Shidadi—and himself—where his loyalties lie? After betraying her healer’s vows in Sehmar City, can Zivah find a way to redeem herself—especially when the Dara ask her to do the unthinkable? And after reluctantly falling in love, what will the two do with their lingering feelings, now that the Dineas from Sehmar City is gone forever? Time is running out for all of them, but especially Zivah whose plague symptoms surface once again. Now, she must decide how she’ll define the life she has left.

Together, healer and warrior must find the courage to save their people, expose the truth, and face the devastating consequences headed their way."

I have such mixed feelings about this book. Some of the characters pulled me in, and I found myself eagerly reading certain chapters because I had to know what would happen to them. Exactly what you want from a book, right? So why the mixed feelings? Because when I wasn't eagerly reading those certain chapters, I kept forgetting I was reading this book. 

Just like with the first book in the series, Rosemarked, while the plot is intriguing and the characters are compelling, the book is too long for the story it's telling. It's like wandering in the desert alongside Zivah and Dineas...every once in a while, you may come across an oasis of a few chapters and can't stop reading, but in between are long stretches of nothing progressing. It's not a bad read, but the pace was too slow to keep me consistently engaged, and in the end there wasn't even any of the resolution that I expected. Ultimately, if you need something to read and this duology is what's available, go ahead and pick it up. If you're weighing your options and this is one of them, there are better books out there.

Empress of All Seasons - Emiko Jean

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace’s enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete—all except yōkai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. 

Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren't hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yōkai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari’s fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yōkai outcast."

Mari is an animal wife, a yōkai who has been sent to the palace to compete for the chance to marry the prince. 

Akira is a half-human, half yōkai who calls himself the Son of Nightmares. Akira and Mari have been friends for years, and while she may not love him, he is in love with her. Terrified at the thought of her risking her life at the palace, Akira tries to convince her to run away with him--when she turns him down, he decides instead to follow her, learn what he can about fighting, and try to win her heart.

Taro, the cold prince, lives a secluded, lonely life. His father, the emperor, is heartless and unfeeling, and Taro finds peace only in his workshop, where he creates mechanical creatures to keep him company. He keeps himself closed off, close with no one, until he unexpectedly runs into Mari and finally finds someone he might be able to open up to.

The lives of these three characters will intertwine in unexpected ways as Mari battles her way through the seasonal rooms, falling in love with Taro along the way, as Taro falls in love in return and struggles to decide who he can trust, and as Akira makes connections with the yōkai resistance and learns how to be a warrior. Snippets of tales about the Gods who created the yōkai and the humans are interwoven with the story, and these stories enrich the narrative by offering insight into what the Gods have in store.

Overall, while I found the story intriguing and enjoyable, there was a lot going on, and the pacing and transitions were clunky at times. Also, I didn't love the ending--lots of hasty wrapping up, when I would have loved to see more detail. Complaints aside, this is a solid read, and I especially think that anyone interested in Japanese folklore will enjoy it.

The Queen's Rising - Rebecca Ross

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"When her seventeenth summer solstice arrives, Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron.

Growing up in the southern Kingdom of Valenia at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her for such a life. While some are born with an innate talent for one of the five passions—art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge—Brienna struggled to find hers until she belatedly chose to study knowledge. However, despite all her preparations, Brienna’s greatest fear comes true—the solstice does not go according to plan and she is left without a patron.

Months later, her life takes an unexpected turn when a disgraced lord offers her patronage. Suspicious of his intent, and with no other choices, she accepts. But there is much more to his story, and Brienna soon discovers that he has sought her out for his own vengeful gain. For there is a dangerous plot being planned to overthrow the king of Maevana—the archrival kingdom of Valenia—and restore the rightful queen, and her magic, to the northern throne. And others are involved—some closer to Brienna than she realizes.

With war brewing between the two lands, Brienna must choose whose side she will remain loyal to—passion or blood. Because a queen is destined to rise and lead the battle to reclaim the crown. The ultimate decision Brienna must determine is: Who will be that queen?"

My favorite thing about this book is that it is full of surprises. There were a few moments where I actually gasped out loud, causing my husband to look over at me and ask if I was ok. Second favorite thing? The world-building. Everything about this book was full of rich, incredible detail, which is pretty remarkable for a standalone fantasy that isn't a billion pages long. I can't even tell you how badly I want to be a passion after reading this book. Give me my cloak! Finally, I love the banter between Brienna and Luc, as well as her relationship with Merei. Three of my favorite characters. My one complaint is that I wish we had seen more of the final battle, especially since so much was made of Maevana women being warriors. There was so much buildup leading to the moment where the two sides meet, and then...it was over. Give me more, dammit!

Taking all the great things about this story into account, I'll happily forgive the lack of battle scenes. And if I wasn't already willing to, the cover art would have convinced me. I mean...look at it.

I can't look at this cover and not want to read the book.

If you're into fantasy and books with strong female leads, this book is for you. Read it!

Love, Life, and the List - Kasie West

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Seventeen-year-old Abby Turner’s summer isn’t going the way she’d planned. She has a not-so-secret but definitely unrequited crush on her best friend, Cooper. She hasn’t been able to manage her mother’s growing issues with anxiety. And now she’s been rejected from an art show because her work “has no heart.” So when she gets another opportunity to show her paintings Abby isn’t going to take any chances.

Which is where the list comes in.

Abby gives herself one month to do ten things, ranging from face a fear (#3) to learn a stranger’s story (#5) to fall in love (#8). She knows that if she can complete the list she’ll become the kind of artist she’s always dreamed of being. But as the deadline approaches, Abby realizes that getting through the list isn’t as straightforward as it seems… and that maybe—just maybe—she can’t change her art if she isn’t first willing to change herself."

For me, Kasie West books are a great palate cleanser after reading heavier books. They're like the sorbet of the book world. You can always count on them to have a small amount of drama but overall be fluffy and end happily. If you're looking for something fast, light, and fun to read, this book is a great option. That being said, I did have a few gripes.

Gripe numero uno: It was hard to feel invested in their friend circle when there was ZERO character development for the two that were on vacation the entire book. I know whole point of the book was that Cooper and Abby were going to be alone all summer, but it's a weird decision to establish that this friend group is like the end-all-be-all of friend groups without including two members of the group in the book. Gripe two: Could have done without Iris's presence in the book. It rubbed me the wrong way primarily because she ended up actively pitted against Abby, which is just...such a tired storyline...but it also bugged me because throwing her in the mix kind of made Cooper come off like a d-bag at times, particularly toward the end of the book. 

And, drumroll please...my final gripe...

I know I said above that you can always count on these books to end happily, but truth be told I was kind of excited at the prospect of a Kasie West book where in the end the main character learns to be fine being by herself and expands her social circle beyond the one guy she's ever really socialized with (aside from the other guy friend who, again, is absent the entire book and also has a weird arc where he's sending Cooper texts but not Abby), but noooooo. Honestly, with this book, the ending almost made the entire book feel pointless. There were all these realizations from Abby and character growth and revelations about how she could have other friends and rely on people outside of her little group, and then it was like "jk, Cooper does like me! We're together now!" Fine, if that's how you're going to end it...but at the very least if they were going to end up together don't have him totally blow off her art show because that made him completely irredeemable in my eyes.

The Female of the Species - Mindy McGinnis

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"A contemporary YA novel that examines rape culture through alternating perspectives. 

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever."

Holy shit, you guys.

That description does not do this book justice, but I'm honestly not sure it's possible to write a description that nails it. This book is just...next level mind-blowing. Be warned, it is a pretty heavy read. But my god. It needs to be read.

After her sister is murdered, Alex secretly exacts revenge on her killer. She lives in a small town, but it isn't difficult for her to put up a wall between herself and her peers, not socializing with anyone at school and spending most of her free time at home or out running. She does pretty well at keeping herself isolated until her senior year, when she starts volunteering at the local animal shelter with Peekay and ends up on Jack's radar after he learns she is currently beating him in the race to valedictorian. Together, Jack and Peekay begin chipping away at Alex's hard exterior, and gradually Alex starts to realize that whatever she feels is wrong with her doesn't mean she can't let people in. Maybe she can have friends...have a boyfriend...be happy.

But there are other members of their community with darkness inside them, and not all of them fight against it the way Alex does. One of them, a local drug addict who graduated a few years ahead of Alex and Peekay, crosses their path at a party and puts himself on Alex's radar after attempting to roofie and rape Peekay. Another, the uncle of one of her friends, catches her attention later in the school year when Alex learns he molested Sarah's younger sister. What will happen to Alex, her friends, and her new boyfriend if she isn't able to push back against the darker parts of herself?

My favorite part about this book, aside from an ending that literally made me yell "holy shit!" as I pulled into the parking lot at work and listened to it unfold, was seeing Alex work at the shelter. She was so compassionate, patient, and kind to all the animals they took in, and it really hit me hard when she wondered how much kindness a person has to show to animals before it erases the terrible things they've done to some humans. Alex did horrible things to monsters like Comstock, her sister's killer, but there's also no question that she was a ray of hope for countless innocent animals in need. Seeing that duality in her, watching her treasure her friendship with Peekay and Sarah and gradually fall for Jack...do those things balance out the bad she's done? It's hard to answer that question.

My least favorite part of this book, far and away, was Jack. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. I wanted to like him, I really did. But uuuuuuuuuuuugh. I can't. I hated his reactions to Branley and how helpless he acted when she came onto him, sent him dirty pics, etc. Like, really? Poor me, this super hot girl just woooon't stoooop trying to sleep with me! I'm powerless to stop this, and I'm only human! What's a poor boy to do? Shut up with that garbage. Alex deserved better. But my dislike of Jack aside, seriously? This book is amazing. Read it.

Unearthed - Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution the planet has been waiting for. The Undying's advanced technology has the potential to undo environmental damage and turn lives around, and Gaia, their former home planet, is a treasure trove waiting to be uncovered.

For Jules Addison and his fellow scholars, the discovery of an alien culture offers unprecedented opportunity for study... as long as scavengers like Amelia Radcliffe don't loot everything first. Mia and Jules' different reasons for smuggling themselves onto Gaia put them immediately at odds, but after escaping a dangerous confrontation with other scavvers, they form a fragile alliance.

In order to penetrate the Undying temple and reach the tech and information hidden within, the two must decode the ancient race's secrets and survive their traps. But the more they learn about the Undying, the more their presence in the temple seems to be part of a grand design that could spell the end of the human race..."

Now this is how you do a gradual build-up to big reveals! Amelia and Jules end up thrown together on a strange, hostile planet, working together to navigate their way through a dangerous Undying temple to the secrets within. At first glance, the two couldn't have less in common...Amelia is an orphan who makes a living stealing, scavenging, and doing what she has to in order to survive, on the planet to steal enough alien technology to purchase her younger sister's freedom from a seedy nightclub. Jules is an Oxford-educated genius raised around the kind of opulence people like Amelia couldn't even begin to imagine, come to Gaia to study the secrets and knowledge left behind by the mysterious Undying. As they struggle their way across the planet's surface and begin to work their way past the challenges of the Undying temple, though, they begin to discover that they have more in common than first believed...and that they may have gotten themselves involved in something much more dangerous and insidious than they might first have imagined.

This story hooked me right away, and it had me dying to find out what happened next all the way up to the last page. Amelia and Jules are such easy characters to root for, I was on the edge of my seat over every danger they faced. I'm still a little in shock over the ending, and I don't know if I can wait until December for the next book. I guess it's a good thing I've got plenty of reading to keep me occupied while I wait.

How to Breathe Underwater - Vicky Skinner

My rating: ⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Kate’s father has been pressuring her to be perfect for her whole life, pushing her to be the best swimmer she can be. But when Kate finds her dad cheating on her mom, Kate’s perfect world comes crashing down, and Kate is forced to leave home and the swim team she's been a part of her whole life.

Now in a new home, new school, and faced with the prospect of starting over, Kate isn't so sure that swimming is what she wants anymore. But when she decides to quit, her whole world seems to fall apart. But when Kate gets to know Michael, the cute boy that lives across the hall, she starts to think that starting over might not be so bad. There's only one problem: Michael has a girlfriend.

As the pressures of love, family, and success press down on her, can Kate keep her head above water?"

While there were small portions of this that I enjoyed, I think my favorite thing about it was that it was short enough to finish reading in a few hours on my plane ride to Washington DC. Just reading the synopsis clues you in on what the book will be like--kind of choppy, not always very well thought out, and a little repetitive. 

This book had a lot going on. Kate's dad cheats on her mom, resulting in chapter one: Kate moves to Portland with her mom. In the aftermath of The Affair, we get Kate despising her dad and quitting swimming because everything good about it is now outweighed by the bad. We also see Kate alternately worrying about her mom and her mom basically not existing, Kate helping her sister leave her husband-to-be at the alter and then watching her obviously struggle with depression. We meet Michael and learn about his mom's bad health. We discover, after Kate has fallen hard in a matter of minutes for him, that Michael is dating Patrice, *gasp* one of the two girls Kate met in her first five minutes at school and almost immediately became best friends with. After this revelation, we are repeatedly treated to Kate's conflicting emotions over wanting to be friends with Patrice versus wanting to be with Michael...although if we're being real, this is more Kate lamenting the fact that Patrice is dating Michael so she can't be. Finally, throughout the book, we are witness to Kate struggling to keep her relationship with her long-time best friend alive after it immediately fell apart the second she moved. With so many big conflicts, there wasn't enough time to devote to all of it, and it left everything feeling rushed and under-developed. 

Then, of course, there's Kate being the shittiest friend ever. After she meets Patrice, the reader is treated to multiple references to how unbelievably kind she is. Kate not only finds out Patrice is dating Michael, she later learns from Michael's best friend that the poor girl has been into him for basically her whole life. Then Michael dumps Patrice after she stays with him all night at the hospital and within a matter of hours declares his feelings for Kate and makes out with her in his kitchen. Later that day, Kate spends time with Patrice and sees how upset she is. She tells Michael about it, and Michael says that they can wait a bit to start dating if Kate thinks it would be better for Patrice. Kate, in true amazing friend form, is like, "nah, dude, why should I wait to spare my friend's feelings? Let's do this thing." Like.......are we supposed to feel bad for her when Patrice calls her out and everyone is being mean to her? I do feel bad for her when the swim team calls her a slut, because that's pretty much always a fucked up thing to do to someone, but beyond that...Kate was a total dick. She kinda had it coming.

Next up...Michael being described as "too nice" to break up with Patrice even though he didn't have, and had never had, feelings for her, as though this makes him some kind of fucking white knight. Ugh. Just no. It's not a nice thing to agree to go out with someone that you don't like. It's not nice to continue dating them so you can use them when you're bummed out about your mom and ignore them the rest of the time. It's not nice to not break up with someone that you don't care about to spare their feelings. Nothing about that situation made him a nice guy, and it floors me that Kate was privy to Patrice's side of their relationship and didn't have a problem with it. What's more, I think the book would have been better without the needless, forced bit of love triangle drama. Why must we constantly pit two girls against each other in a quest for the same guy? Why is this such a go-to conflict? Be more creative.

I could go on and on about the things in this book that got under my skin, but it feels like overkill. At the end of the day...I was intrigued by the premise of this book, but it squandered its potential. With so many amazing books out there, this one is lackluster. There are better options out there. Read one of those.

Two Boys Kissing - David Levithan

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"New York Times  bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS. 

While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other."

First off, David Levithan is an amazing narrator. I want him to read everything to me. Second, this book is not a light read, but my damn, it is amazing. The main narrative is about Harry and Craig as they try to break the Guinness World Record for longest kiss, but the story branches off to follow several other boys--Peter and Neil, a couple in a long-term relationship, Avery and Ryan, who meet at the start of the book, Cooper, who is only out online and struggling with his mental health, and finally Tariq, who early in the book is attacked on the street for being gay. Like I said...not a light read.

The narration by the "Greek Chorus" of gay men lost to AIDS took a bit for me to get used to, but after the first couple of chapters I was hooked. All the stories have their heartbreaking moments, but a few hit me particularly hard, like Avery and Ryan's experience at the abandoned mini-golf place, Neil's experience with coming out to his family, and basically everything about Cooper's story. Also, I've never kissed someone for 32 hours before (oof, no thank you), but Harry and Craig's experience was so descriptive that I felt what they felt. Reading about their aching backs, their thirst, their discomfort made me feel those things. And what I really felt was the support of their friends and family throughout the experience. When the theater group worked together to get more lights for the broadcast, when they formed a wall to protect the boys after someone drove by and egged Harry...seeing the way everyone pulled together to show their love for the two of them was beautiful. This book will make you feel everything. It's amazing. You should read it.

Turtles All the Way Down - John Green

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. 

In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship."

This book is wonderful in so many ways. A few of those ways: 

First, Aza and Daisy's relationship is so interesting...both the way they balanced each other out and the way they handled conflict. It's always refreshing when I read a book like this, with best friends who genuinely love and want the best for each other, even when they clash with each other. They got upset with each other, for valid reasons, but they never lost sight of how much they cared about each other, and they did their best to show that even when they were fighting.

Second, it was touching to see the relationship between Aza and Davis develop. The two of them were so unique and had been through so much, I was worried that their burgeoning relationship would end up being just like every other realistic fiction romance. Now, this is John Green we're dealing with here, so I'm not sure why I was worried, but of course I didn't need to be. The two of them together were just as one-of-a-kind as they are individually, and as bittersweet as it was to watch them struggle to find a balance as they grew closer to each other, I loved every minute of it. 

Finally, Aza's struggle with her mental health felt so real that at times it was difficult to read about. As hard as it was, though, we need more books like this. We need books that dig into what it's like to struggle with things like OCD, depression, anxiety...more books that help us realize that, while we may feel like everything is wrong with us and nothing about us is normal, there are people all around us going through that same struggle. The thing that particularly resonated with me was Aza's worry that if you need a pill to make you feel like yourself, then the self you are while taking that pill is not actually you. I know people who have struggled with this very thing, so to read a book with a character going through that hit me hard. Give me more books that help me understand what struggles like this feel like. I want them all.

Love & Luck - Jenna Evans Welch

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt’s over-the-top destination wedding, and hoping she can stop thinking about the one horrible thing she did that left her miserable and heartbroken—and threatens her future. But her brother, Ian, isn’t about to let her forget, and his constant needling leads to arguments and even a fistfight between the two once inseparable siblings. Miserable, Addie can’t wait to visit her friend in Italy and leave her brother—and her problems—behind.

So when Addie discovers an unusual guidebook, Ireland for the Heartbroken, hidden in the dusty shelves of the hotel library, she’s able to finally escape her anxious mind and Ian’s criticism.

And then their travel plans change. Suddenly Addie finds herself on a whirlwind tour of the Emerald Isle, trapped in the world’s smallest vehicle with Ian and his admittedly cute, Irish-accented friend Rowan. As the trio journeys over breathtaking green hills, past countless castles, and through a number of fairy-tale forests, Addie hopes her guidebook will heal not only her broken heart, but also her shattered relationship with her brother.

That is if they don’t get completely lost along the way."

Addie and her brother have basically been at each other's throats since a mysterious incident over the summer. The two of them are supposed to fly to Italy together after their aunt's wedding in Ireland, but Ian has other plans...a road trip across Ireland with his friend Rowan, following in the footsteps of their favorite band. When Addie finds out, she's livid--just the day before, their mom had threatened to make both of them quit sports if they didn't get along on their trip to Italy, and she needs a soccer scholarship to pay for college. Rowan suggests she come along to their first stop so she can see what the trip is all about, and she agrees, hoping she can talk some sense into Ian and get their travel plans back on course.  Spoiler alert: Their travel plans do not get back on course. Instead, Addie is swept along on a stumbling block-riddled trip across Ireland, all three of them trying to repair the broken parts of themselves along the way.

This isn't a bad story, but it was a little all over the place. Lots of starts at plot and character developments that never seemed to go anywhere and things that should have been giant plot points but ultimately fell flat. Overall, I enjoyed it. However, it's incredibly frustrating to have an entire story developed around an oft-reference occurrence over the summer and then, when this big secret is finally revealed (and it was a big deal), have it relegated to a minor plot point and casually wrapped up in an epilogue. Also, real talk? If you're going to create this whole narrative around a teenage girl being pressured into sending a naked picture of herself and then have the guy she sent it to pass it around to basically the whole school, you need to deal with that shit responsibly. How did that possibly become a minor detail, wrapped up in a few pages? It's a Big Fucking Deal.

First & Then - Emma Mills

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Devon Tennyson wouldn't change a thing. She's happy watching Friday night games from the bleachers, silently crushing on best friend Cas, and blissfully ignoring the future after high school. But the universe has other plans. It delivers Devon's cousin Foster, an unrepentant social outlier with a surprising talent for football, and the obnoxiously superior and maddeningly attractive star running back, Ezra, right where she doesn't want them: first into her P.E. class and then into every other aspect of her life.

Pride and Prejudice meets Friday Night Lights in this contemporary novel about falling in love with the unexpected boy, with a new brother, and with yourself."

Well...I read this in like three hours, so take that for what it's worth. There was a lot more Friday Night Lights to this than Pride and Prejudice, but it was a cute story and a nice, light read. The way things turn out isn't any big secret--it's pretty obvious from the start how everything is going to play out--but that's kind of the appeal for me. I love a heavy, emotional story, but sometimes it's nice to read something like this, with everyday problems faced by every day people. A sweet story about family and young love. Books like these are the sorbet of the literary world...the perfect pallet cleanser after a string of more intense reads. Bonus: This is a perfect recommendation for reluctant readers with a soft spot for YA romance. It pulls you in fast, moves at a good pace, and keeps you hooked until the end.

Freshmen - Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Getting in is just the beginning. 

Phoebe can't wait to get to college. On her own, discovering new things, no curfew . . . she'll be free. And she'll be totally different: cooler, prettier, smarter . . . the perfect potential girlfriend. Convenient: the only person from her high school also going to York is her longtime crush, Luke. 

Luke didn't set out to redefine himself, but as soon as he arrives on campus, he finds himself dumping his long-term long-distance girlfriend. And the changes don't stop there. In fact, being on a soccer team is the only thing that stays the same. 

Just when things start looking up (and Phoebe and Luke start hooking up), drama looms on the horizon. Rumors swirl about the Wall of Shame, a secret text chain run by Luke's soccer team, filled with compromising photos of girls. As the women on campus determine to expose the team and shut down the account, Luke and Phoebe find themselves grappling with confusing feelings and wondering how they'll ever make it through freshman year."

This book had its highs and lows, but I read it in less than a day so overall, I'd say it's a win. A book about college for young adults? Awesome. We need more post-high school books. And while I didn't drink or party in college because I was a Mormon nerd, so much of this book still managed to hit me in the college feels. It's such a weird time, going from basically having everything structured and controlled for you to.....I make my own choices? What? How? When did this happen? Which, hello, circles back to we need more post-high school books! Finally, I loved the character development and the relationships that developed between everyone. And the humor--I laughed out loud more than once, which I'm sure my husband really enjoyed listening to.  My only real complaint is that the story felt choppy at times. It wasn't terrible by any means, but some of the major moments ended up a little jarring because there wasn't much build up or development toward them. Smoothing out the flow of the story would have made it  five-star read, for sure. 

Rosemarked - Livia Blackburne

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"A healer who cannot be healed . . .

When Zivah falls prey to the deadly rose plague, she knows it’s only a matter of time before she fully succumbs. Now she’s destined to live her last days in isolation, cut off from her people and unable to practice her art—until a threat to her village creates a need that only she can fill.

A soldier shattered by war . . .

Broken by torture at the hands of the Amparan Empire, Dineas thirsts for revenge against his captors. Now escaped and reunited with his tribe, he’ll do anything to free them from Amparan rule—even if it means undertaking a plan that risks not only his life but his very self.

Thrust together on a high-stakes mission to spy on the capital, the two couldn’t be more different: Zivah, deeply committed to her vow of healing, and Dineas, yearning for vengeance. But as they grow closer, they must find common ground to protect those they love. And amidst the constant fear of discovery, the two grapple with a mutual attraction that could break both of their carefully guarded hearts.

This smart, sweeping fantasy with a political edge and a slow-burning romance will capture fans of The Lumatere Chronicles and An Ember in the Ashes."

I was lukewarm on this one. The concept was intriguing, and the execution wasn't bad, but it was longer than it needed to be. If I drew a line graph of the action throughout the book, it would look like someone flatlining and then finally being revived just when you thought hope was gone. The book starts off strong. Zivah is a promising apprentice healer who passes her final test just as a squadron of soldiers camped in her village falls ill with the rose plague, a vicious illness that kills most who succumb to it and leaves many survivors permanently infected and contagious to everyone around them. While caring for the soldiers, Zivah also contracts the plague, surviving but ending up one of the permanently contagious. At first, Zivah loses all hope, planning to live out the rest of her life in isolation, unable to put her skills as a healer to good use. When she and Dineas are forced together, another path presents itself and the two of them set off to the capital, planning to spy on the Amparan leader and help free their people from its rule.

Here's where the flatline begins. pick a chapter in the middle, any chapter, and I can pretty much guarantee you that what happens is 1. Dineas trains, 2. Zivah works as a healer in the rosemarked compound, and 3. Dineas comes to the compound for his regular visits with Zivah to make his report of what he's learned. Lather, rinse, repeat. At times, I wasn't even sure what, exactly, they were trying to accomplish with their infiltration. Fortunately, just when I was starting lose hope, the last few chapters blew up. Zivah and Dineas were forced into action, and the book ended leaving me wanting more. Good save, Blackburne!