We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune
Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell
Heir of Twisted Lies (Stonegate #2) by L.J. Andrews
Love Overboard by Kandi Steiner
The Swan’s Daughter by Roshani Chokshi
This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman
A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness #1) by Joe Abercrombie
The Devils (The Devils, #1) by Joe Abercrombie
This is a great first book in a new fantasy series. Lyra lives a quiet life in a small village. It allows her to hide her magical abilities – abilities that are not allowed to exist outside the authority of the King. Roark, the Prince’s guard and rumored assassin for the crown, invades her village. In order to save her best friend, she reveals her rare ability, is taken captive by Roark, and taken to the King where she’s forced to use her magic on his behalf.
Continue reading “Broken Souls and Bones (Stonegate, #1) by L.J. Andrews”
This is the first book I’ve read by this author and enjoyed it. Sorrell is an outcast in the small village she’s lived in her entire life. She’s got magical abilities that everyone pretends she doesn’t. Events occur that force her to flee her small town and seek out a destiny she never knew she had. She makes a deal with a handsome mercenary, Merc, to help her on her quest. He’s got his own reasons for accepting her offer, and together they make a good team.
Continue reading “Crown of War and Shadow (Kingdoms of the Compass #1) by J.R. Ward”
4.5 stars
Fairytale retellings is not my thing, but I thoroughly enjoyed this Cinderella retelling through the eyes of the “evil” stepmother. If more retellings were like this, I’d read more of them. In this book, Etheldreda, or Lady Tremaine, is a twice-widowed woman left with no money and saddled with a decrepit house, two young daughters, a priggish step-daughter (Cinderella – who can’t be bothered to help the family in anyway whatsoever), and a razor-taloned peregrine falcon that helps her hunt to put food on the table.
Continue reading “Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser”
I love this book series and the author has done a fantastic job building a wonderful, supportive, and loving found family amongst the players and their wives and girlfriends. In this book it’s goalie Kace’s time to fall in love. His teammates don’t know it, but Kace is a genius in applied physics and his “side hustle” is working as researcher “William” for Dr. Laurel Kent, a fellow scientist at a university. They’ve never met, but work very well together and respect each other’s skills. They’ve formed a fun and flirty relationship and Kace wants nothing more than to take it to the next level, but Laurel made it very clear that she’d never date another athlete. So, when an opportunity arises for him to meet her, he decides he’ll try to date her as Kace and see if he can win her over, and if so, he’ll tell her about his William persona.
Continue reading “Kace (Pittsburgh Titans #20) by Sawyer Bennett”
It’s hard to believe this is already book 10 in this entertaining historical fiction mystery series and it still provides plenty of twists, turns, and creative cases. This time the mystery involves a young man entirely drained of blood in a carriage next to a cemetery. He’s got two small holes in his neck a la Dracula. Another young man dies in an apparent suicide. The two are connected by a mysterious society that’s existence is only mentioned once in society.
Continue reading “A Ghastly Catastrophe (Veronica Speedwell #10) by Deanna Raybourn”
4.5 stars
I love this book series and reading how Zoey and Gage find their HEA was so fun. Zoey is broke and needs to hang on until her BFF and only client Hazel’s new book comes out. Until then, she hunkers down in Story Lake and tries not to go crazy. Ever since his brother’s engagement, Gage has not stopped thinking about finding the perfect wife to start the perfect family and life together. Zoey is pure chaos and Gage is as steady as they come. They could not be more opposite and are looking for completely different things, but sparks fly whenever they get close to each other and it’s hard to ignore.
Continue reading “Mistakes Were Made (Story Lake, #2) by Lucy Score”
This was a fun and twisty mystery/thriller set during the FMC’s senior year of college. Sloan is a pretty good student and has a close group of friends. Her relationship history is not so great and she frequently gets her heart broken. To cope, she writes a fake eulogy in her journal about the boy to put to rest the relationship.
Continue reading “Here Lie All the Boys Who Broke My Heart by Emma Simmerman”
This is an interesting YA Dystopian book that will remind you of a less complex version of The Handmaid’s Tale. Honeybees have died out and the patriarch has taken control of the world. There is no art, no books, no joy. Girls are ripped from their homes and put into concentration-like camps and forced to pollinate crops by hand until their get their period, when they are matched with a man and forced into marriage and mandatory breeding. Jess’s mother protects her from the camps longer than most girls, but eventually she is torn from home and locked away. She makes friends with Cass, Deva, and Ruth, but stays clear of almost everyone else. When an unexpected kindness puts a few tubes of paint into her hand, she risks it all just to be able to paint again. She didn’t expect it could possibly spark a revolution.
Continue reading “The Danger of Small Things by Caryl Lewis”
This is a pretty good YA mystery/thriller about an alleged yearbook prank gone terribly wrong. Best friends Rick and Martina are outcasts and they’re ok with that. Labeled by the Principal as troubled for previous pranks they’ve pulled, when yearbook pictures are labeled with gruesome titles like Homecoming’s Cutest Corpses, he immediately tries to pin it on them. But they didn’t do it (this time) and their pranks have never been gruesome or cruel. When a guidance counselor is found dead in the same manner as his new yearbook label, police name Rick and Martina as their prime suspects. When another body turns up, the duo realize they need to find the killer before they spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
Continue reading “Most Likely to Murder by Lish McBride”
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