I went into this with low expectations, thinking it was just a generic YA fantasy. I was going with it for a few hundred pages, and I actually enjoyed the hunt and everything. But then it got to the ending and it was just SO YA fantasy that I just couldn‘t. The decisions all the characters made were just so unexplained and ridiculous. 3⭐️

This was a cute coming of age story about a trans swimmer. I enjoyed the book (and was shocked to find out that the author was the first transgender athlete in the NCAA??), but I thought the amount of cussing from the older brother felt weird in the rest of the VERY middle grade background. 4⭐️

Man, I haven‘t emoted so much while reading a book in a long time. Everything that the characters felt in this book I felt too. This thing was amazing. 5🌟

Also agender rep if anyone‘s looking!

Thank you to Little Brown for the ARC

This boon confused me a little bit. The author dealt with a lot of YA themes while saying things that were oversimplified and juvenile. So while like two thirds felt like a YA, the rest felt very strongly middle grade, even though it‘s not. I feel like the author wrote everything with a very “there‘s no gray area” mentality, too, and that sort of threw me. 4⭐️

Release October 15, 2024

I liked this book at the start, because unlike the others in the series, it didn‘t just make up some random scenario to change what happened but rather changed one decision a character made. I was with it for a while too, until the ending. I don‘t think things would have wrapped up the way they did in play with the logic of that universe. ⬇️

Thank you to Little Brown for the ARC

I‘d read other books by Talley, but this is the first mystery I‘ve read from her. It was slow going for sure, and I feel like it sort of took all the romanticized parts out of the 1920‘s, which was a little disappointing, though I understood why she did it. 4⭐️

Book release September 24, 2024

This book was so cute! I got it as a blind date with a book a few months ago from the Ripped Bodice, an it coincidentally was on my TBR. I loved the fairytale aspect of this book with Cinderella ties throughout. 5🌟

I tried so hard, I just finished a European history class and so was feeling ready for a futuristic retelling of the French Revolution featuring Marie Antoinette, but I could not get past the slang. The world is built around social media and honestly in that regard isn‘t too different from ours, but our slang is not based around technology. “He‘s giga mad” and “she‘s just phished right now”are dumb slang words and I just couldn‘t anymore. ⬇️

Thank you Little Brown for the ARC.

This book was written so weird. It was like a horrible combo of nonfiction and narrative. The writing would go between writing like Ida just saw a good coat to a diary entry of hers about said coat. It took the most boring parts of Ida B. Wells‘ live and put it in three hundred pages.

Publish date September 10, 2024

I got this book as an ARC and went in knowing nothing about it. I was not expecting the book it ended up being at all. The characters have to face the struggles of being actors under the tight thumb of the company they work for while also still being real people. I loved the elements of murder and deception in this, but I thought the ending was clunky and unnecessary. I don‘t think the book needed a cliffhanger like it had. 5⭐️

Although it took me a while to get through, it was worth it. The book is set in an alternate universe where magic used to exist but is now a lost craft, with remnants in artifacts in Egypt. I loved the archeological elements as well as the twists and questionable motives of all the characters. 5🌟

Man, you know a book‘s good when you look up and realize you don‘t know how much time has passed. This book was incredible. It‘s by far the best book I‘ve read this year, no doubt. I‘m always down for a queer pirate book, especially one that features a transmasc pirate with magic and a plot to kill le Diablo. This book was so good! 5🌟🏳️‍⚧️

This was a mediocre book. I didn‘t really have any strong opinions on it. It was a cute book, but not very memorable. I do think that it was weird that it was cowritten by Stan Lee, who was white, and the main character‘s name is Steven Lee who is Chinese. 4⭐️

Thank you to Little Brown for the ARC

This is a book for anyone out there with a funky-brain. It tells the story of Evvie, a neurodivergent teen in a small town in Minnesota, trying to tackle her school, teacher-bullies, and all the other troubles of growing up. Got a little bit upset when I found out that the author is neurotypical, but it was still a great read that sums everything up perfectly. 5🌟

Thank you Little Brown for the ARC!

I was interested by the description of this book and promise of Inheritance Games style plot, but in the end I was let down. The entire book felt like background information, even though I know it was really plot. Only at the climax did it feel like things were picking up. There were also some moments where I felt like the characters had the ability to make more strategic decisions for the heist. 3⭐️

I love this series! It can be nice to just sit back with a middle grade, and this one is fantastic! Can‘t wait for the next one! 5🌟

This book should not have been as dramatic as it was. Having a character say “I saw the signs! I should‘ve known my daughter would want to be a comedian!” Without a hint of irony is just ridiculous. I don‘t understand a lot of Taylor‘s choices and motives, and her timing on a lot of things was especially off putting. There were also fights between characters that were resolved by the entirely wrong person apologizing, which got on my nerves. 3⭐️

After two and a half weeks, finally finished this beautiful book! It took me a few chapters to get into, but it was a way easier read after I watched the 2005 movie. 5⭐️

Thank you to Little Brown for the ARC!

I can confidently say I never would have picked this book out for myself but I‘m glad I read it!It sheds light on the Hello Girls, women in WWI who were telephone operators extraordinarily close to the front lines, who I‘d never heard of before this book. My only complaint is that there were characters with the last name Danneman and others with the name Dannenburg. Too similar. 5⭐️

Pub date is May 14, 2024

I thought this was just some cheesy reality show romance. I was very wrong. After Jordy spun the story of his and Maya‘s breakup to make her seem crazy, she has a chance to get back at him via a reality show he‘s on with all of his exes. I would have appreciated more hijinks, but I get that that wasn‘t exactly the vibe of this book. A good read. 4.5⭐️

Thank you to Little Brown for the ARC

I‘m going to be honest, I didn‘t make it further than 80 pages in this.The author has a thing for exclamation points and all caps that just doesn‘t fly in a serious novel about the incarceration system and teen addiction. The poetry was bad.The rhyming and rhythm was so off and the author needed to be told that you can‘t rhyme high with high. I didn‘t want to read 300 more pages of this.

Release date April 2

This was a great book! It‘s been a while since I‘ve read any historical queer romances and one with magic was a welcome change. I loved the writing and the characters and I can‘t wait to read the next one! 5🌟

I‘m officially set in the belief that this was written by AI after reading this. I only picked it up because of the movie, and likely never would have touched it otherwise. Its premise is a classic spy novel: hot-shot new agent has to stop bad guy Russians who want to bring back the Soviet Union. The plot itself feels like a side plot even though it isn‘t. The writing is so thick and ridiculous (a sign of AI), that it feels like entire ⬇️

Thank you to Little Brown for the ARC.

I have to say, I went into this book expecting a very different vibe than it gave. Following that vibe, the plot just seemed to keep building and building until in the last 60 or so pages it just tapered off. This was a beautiful book. It displayed grief so well while also explaining why people were so and are still so inclined to believe in spirituality. 5⭐️

Publish date is April 30.

Loved this one just like I loved all the others! I can‘t believe there‘s only one more after this 😩💔

Soft pick. I would like to start by saying that I went into this thinking it was a fantasy, even though it‘s only one because it‘s set in a fake world, so already I was disappointed. I also expected it to be YA but it was written more like a middle grade. The explanations of things like what a nun or a martyr is got a little annoying. The art was good and so were the characters, but I also think it could have been shorter. 3.5⭐️

Thank you to Little Brown for the ARC

It was a struggle to get into this book. There were so many characters and perspective changes that I felt like everything was getting repeated but also like I didn‘t know anything that happened, which might have been on purpose? I was more engaged when it got to the trial, but that was 2/3 through. Then when the twist came, I was done. I skimmed the last 60 pages and called it quits. 1⭐️ ⬇️

As a sucker for matchmaking tropes, this book worked for me. I wish there had been more of just shutting down the ex and less let‘s give him a chance. I feel like at points I didn‘t really know what was going on or who the characters were (because it‘s like a 15-20 person family plus the kids), but that seemed to only last a few pages. This book definitely needed a family tree though! 4⭐️

This book was so much better than Blackout! I loved the way the stories all intertwined more than just “the friend of their cousin is going to the same party”. The characters all had a shared goal that they actually all had stakes in, and even minor characters appeared across stories. I wish there would be a third one; I feel like the authors have really figured out how to write like this and I want more! 5⭐️

This was a cute middle grade about a girl who discovers her dad is Jack Frost. I feel like there could have been a lot more time spent on the mom and what she went through raising Owl. The little chapters every now and then about her felt clunky, awkward, and out of place in the book every time, especially because of how short they were. It was a good book, but not really anything special. 4⭐️

I was never really with this book, but the ending did it in for me. The writing style felt clunky and awkward the entire time. All the characters felt like they had the exact same personality. I would have appreciated more on the event planning side of things and maybe a little less of Morgan and Rachel‘s sexy talk. I‘ve also never felt that there should be a limit to the amount of times the word naval is used in a book. 3⭐️

I was not expecting this book. I sort of thought it was a middle grade before I read it. This book was perfectly dark and grim, in a smooth way. I normally hate that kind of book, but this was amazing. Every now and then I‘d get a little confused, but I was still invested through it all. 5🌟

Thank you Little Brown for the ARC!

This was a good book, but it‘s not one I‘m going to remember for a while. There wasn‘t really a whole lot that made it significant to me. I didn‘t really get what Kiri was thinking half the time in the video or journal bits. 4⭐️

Thank you to Little Brown for the ARC!

I would like to start by saying that I have yet to read Emma or other Jane Austen novels, so any reference went entirely over my head. I wouldn‘t have read this before I read Emma if it hadn‘t been an ARC. Nonetheless, the book was good. I thought it was much more about Emmett trying to figure out if he even wanted to date and not just have sex than a romance so it was a little disappointing that way. 4⭐️⬇️

I read Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro a few years ago. While that book was amazing, it was also extraordinarily dark. So naturally I was terrified for this book. But I felt that both Riordan‘s and Oshiro‘s writing came through in the perfect mesh. It was definitely the darkest Percy Jackson book I‘ve read and dealt with heavier themes, but I still loved it. 5🌟

I loved how equally fairytale and down with the establishment this book was. The stories were cute and sometimes funny. I had never heard of half the fairytales in here, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. 5⭐️

I loved this graphic novel! I liked the art style and loved the characters. I‘m a little bit confused on the relation between Luella, Mattie and Emma. The story takes place on an alternate timeline where it‘s illegal for Black witches to use the magic. The characters still compete in secret broom racing competitions. 5🌟

I got this book out of a blind date with a book. Good, but it didn‘t live up to the thriller vibes I expected. I wish the murder had been sooner. I had wanted it to happen early and then have a Clue-style mystery. The plot was still good and I liked the twists at the end, but it wasn‘t the murder mystery I had hoped for. 4⭐️

Thank you to Little Brown for the ARC!

I would like to start by saying that had this been a book I had had a choice in reading rather than a randomly sent ARC, I wouldn‘t have read it. This book meshed some VERY mature things with a really immature writing style that just felt wrong. The author would touch on things like fat-phobia or neglect from her boyfriend in one chapter and then completely ignore it the rest of the book. The ending ⬇️

I didn‘t expect this book to be as heavy as it was. I thought it was just going to be a funny vampire story, not one with three immortal girls dealing with centuries of trauma and a toxic ex. Granted, it was still great, it just wasn‘t what I expected at all. 4⭐️

Thank you to Christy Ottaviano Books for the ARC.

I would like to start by saying that it was clear that I‘m the target age group for this book. It was obviously made for those who are just learning about the treatment of Black people in the 50‘s and 60‘s who‘d never heard of segregation before. But, this book would also explain the word segregationist but not the phrase Black Nationalist. I found it interesting enough. 4⭐️
Released last Tuesday

This was a cute story about found family. I never really understood James like at all. He would think one thing, go do the exact opposite and then think “why did I do that?” for the entire book. I think it would have been a much better book if the romance had been ditched entirely. 4⭐️

While this was an amazing book, calling it a Cinderella retelling is a bit of a stretch. Sure, the beginning and ending go pretty well, but the middle had almost no ties to Cinderella. I loved that Cindy actually had a good relationship with her step mom and sisters. I wish that Jay had been in it a little more! 5🌟

These books are the perfect lighthearted low quality books I need every now and then. The writing is mediocre and sometimes confusing and the plot is very predictable, but I still enjoy reading them. This was probably still my least favorite in the series just because I‘m not a fan of the jealous best friend of the chosen one trope. But hey, a fun read‘s a fun read. 5⭐️

This was the first (of three-ish) classics I‘ve read that I‘ve actually enjoyed. Despite how long ago it was written, the writing flowed smoothly and didn‘t feel crammed with unnecessary descriptions (cough-Dickens-cough). 4.5⭐️

Thank you to Little Brown Publishing for the ARC.

I was obsessed with dragons when I was in elementary school, so this book really scratched an itch for me there. It had everything third-grade me would want. I did feel that Faron‘s story sort of dragged and I was sort of just rolling my eyes at her decisions the entire time. I did like Elara‘s story a lot more and was excited to read her side. 4⭐️

This goes on sale in January 2024.

I was really looking forward to this book. I just didn‘t mesh with the writing style. It was very obvious that the author was not used to writing in this format because it just felt very juvenile and hard to push through, especially for a YA. There were also some iffy things around the white dude writing for a Black character that are definitely not normal things in that situation. Also the age of the drag queens was unaddressed beyond “you ⬇️

I love SNL and so when I found this book, obviously I had to read it. It was absolutely hilarious. This covered everything in Colin Jost‘s life that he thought was worth mentioning, from Wrestle mania to getting potato salad thrown at him by Scottish teenagers. Warning: do not read if you can‘t deal with gross photos because yes, he was kind enough to include the time botflies laid eggs in his leg (with photos). 5🌟

I had high hopes for this going in, how could I not when it‘s a historical fiction mystery set New York during the Harlem Renaissance? But unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. I did not fully under any of the characters and felt that all of them had only been written at the surface of their stories. I still don‘t really understand the motive for murder and still think it should have been someone else. 3⭐️

I feel like I have to say, the real star of this book is not the main characters, but Ben‘s best friend, Dylan. He stole the show with his jokes and puns. So many puns. This was the needed conclusion Arthur and Ben‘s stories, though I wish there had been a little more specificities in the flash forward. 5⭐️