I've been addicted to books for about thirty plus years! Too bad I didn't track all the books I've read. ๐ฌ Follow me on Twitter: @ylmpastmidnight , Instagram: @ylmpastmidnight and Facebook: ylmpastmidnight
Categories: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary
The new groundbreaking queer thriller from New York Times bestselling and Edgar-award Winning author Courtney Summers.
When sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis discovers the dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James, she teams up with Ashley’s older sister, Nora, to find and bring the killer to justice before he strikes again. But their investigation throws Georgia into a world of unimaginable privilege and wealth, without conscience or consequence, and as Ashleyโs killer closes in, Georgia will discover when money, power and beauty rule, it might not be a matter of who is guiltyโbut who is guiltiest.
A spiritual successor to the 2018 breakout hit, Sadie, I’m the Girl is a masterfully written, bold, and unflinching account of how one young woman feels in her body as she struggles to navigate a deadly and predatory power structure while asking readers one question: if this is the way the world is, do you accept it?
Content Warning: sexual assault, rape, murder, grooming
There are some books I have no clue how to rate because I hated every part of the subject matter of this book and yet the writing is so captivating that I read it in one sitting. I want to call this book something like realistic horror because all of it happens in our world way too much. This is what did and didn’t work for me:
+ I read Sadie and loved it because it’s an important read, it broke my heart. I cheered Sadie on. This book is a different beast altogether and asks the question: if this is the way the world is, do you accept it? The one time Georgia is told she is beautiful by a rich and powerful man she is obsessed with this idea to belong in his world. The world of Aspera, a resort that caters to the elite, the very rich, the very famous. But even though her mom told her it’s not the kind of place Georgia should aspire to, she defiantly reaches for the dream her mom tells her to gorget. Beauty is her power and she wants to belong. Georgia finds out a few things when she starts working at Aspera…and its horrific.
+ This is not an easy read. It’s uncomfortable and I was disgusted throughout the whole thing but it’s compelling too. I was looking over at my daughter wondering how I can protect her from being prey. There is lots of triggering topics in this book: sexual assault, rape, murder, sex trafficking, a boys club who can do whatever they want and get away with it. Think Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s of the world….this is the world Georgia has made herself covet without really knowing. She doesn’t see what is behind the glitz and glamour…and only sees when it’s too late. And she’s a teenager! That’s the crazy thing about this whole story, she’s a kid!
+ There is a murder that needs to be solved that Georgia is tied to because she found the body. But there are things that the murderer has taken from Georgia that night when he hit her bike with his car. So does that mean he is out there and coming back for her? There were some moments when the mystery of the killer is out there where the story had some suspenseful moments. But the really scary parts of this books is plain to see and in vivid detail.
+ There is two bright spots in Georgia’s life. Her half brother Tyler who is trying his best to keep her safe as best he can. And Nora, the murdered victim’s sister who because a rock for Georgia to lean on, no matter what.
~ There were so many times….so many times I wanted to shake Georgia. She seems naive but it’s mostly because she doesn’t want to see that all the glitter isn’t gold. But the danger she is in…the things she does to accept her Aspera goals. I kept wanting to tell her it is NOT worth it. None of it is and how didn’t she know she was in danger when a way older man is doing things to her…but that’s what grooming is. Still – I was just so mad.
~ And why wouldn’t her mom and brother just tell her what happened to her mom at Aspera. Like tell the girl so she would stop wanting to be an Aspera girl. At least tell the truth. So much kept happening to Georgia and she just kept jumping back into the fire because she was obsessed with Aspera. Did I say I wanted to shake her?
~ The ending didn’t feel as impactful as I was hoping. But when I did sit and think about it, I can see why it ended like that. Georgia isn’t the type of girl who fights back, as we can see throughout the whole story, her whole world was banking on being an Aspera girl. But on the other hand, Nora is the girl who is a fighter. We have a Georgia and Nora in all of us.
Tropes: girl who let’s things happen until it’s almost too late
Spice Level:
Why you should read it:
important story about balance of power in society: class and gender. It brings up sexual assault and violence.
the question is the thing to keep in mind while you read this: if this is the way the world is, do you accept it?
Why you might not want to read it:
triggering story – triggers EVERYWHERE. Rape, sexual assault, murder, grooming…such a hard and uncomfortable story to read.
My Thoughts:
Read it for the issues it brings up, but don’t expect to feel good after this story. I think it’s safe to say this author tackles some hard subjects in her books. I like the question the book poses to the reader and I hope as the book hopes by the end…that the answer is NO, we won’t accept the world this way.
The Project – Audiobook – DNF, only because I really suck at paying attention to audiobooks. I’ll have to go back and finish it by reading a copy of it. I got 50% through though and still remember what the story is about.
I’ve read a a few books this year that featured food and cooking. So I wanted to list them in a post. Let me know in the comments if you read any of these or if you have any to recommend that I can check out next year!
Food and Romance
Salt and Sugar by. Rebecca Carvalho is set in Brazil and is the story about two rival bakeries. There’s a Romeo Juliet theme to the story, minus the tragedies. Lots of fights between two families though.
Ramรณn and Julieta by. Alana Quintana Albertson – another Romeo and Juliet theme story but this time with two rival families who make tacos. It has rivalry, and lots of passion (this one is not YA).
The Donut Trap by. Julie Tieu – this one is set in a donut bakery but I don’t know that the family loved making donuts. It was a business that helped an immigrant family achieve their American dream. But I liked how it represents Cambodian, Chinese and Vietnamese culture and the immigrant family experience.
I love how diverse this list is and I hope to be adding more to it next year! Have you read any of these or planning to?
Feel free to use any of my graphics in your post, or create your own!
Tag 7 other people at the end of your post, and let them know youโve tagged them.
A laugh-out-loud, opposites attract romance about three of the worldโs most beloved Cโs: Christmas, Coffee, and Cats.
Veterinarian and animal lover Kara Ingalls needs a Christmas miracle. Opening the Meow and Furrever Cat Cafรฉ to find loving homes for adorable, adoptable cats was a dream come trueโbut with more cats than customers, itโs quickly turning into a nightmare. If Kara canโt figure out some way to get the cafรฉ out of the red, it wonโt last past the holidays.
Marketing guru Ben Reese may be annoyingly smart and frustratingly bossy, but when he hatches a plan to put the cafรฉ in the โgreenโ by Christmas, Kara realizes that sheโd be a fool to turn down his help. And so what if he turns out to be an excellent problem solver and nerdy-hotโhe canโt even handle fostering one little kitten. She needs to keep their relationship professional and focus on saving the cafe.
But if Ben and Kara can set aside their differencesโand find homes for all the cats by Christmasโthey might discover that, by risking their hearts, theyโll have their own purr-fect holiday . . . together.
Averyโs fortune, life, and loves are on the line in the game that everyone will be talking about.
To inherit billions, all Avery Kylie Grambs has to do is survive a few more weeks living in Hawthorne House. The paparazzi are dogging her every step. Financial pressures are building. Danger is a fact of life. And the only thing getting Avery through it all is the Hawthorne brothers. Her life is intertwined with theirs. She knows their secrets, and they know her.
But as the clock ticks down to the moment when Avery will become the richest teenager on the planet, trouble arrives in the form of a visitor who needs her helpโand whose presence in Hawthorne House could change everything. It soon becomes clear that there is one last puzzle to solve, and Avery and the Hawthorne brothers are drawn into a dangerous game against an unknown and powerful player.
Secrets upon secrets. Riddles upon riddles. In this game, there are hearts and lives at stakeโand there is nothing more Hawthorne than winning.
Freya Scott is getting married. Her wedding to Matthew, her long-term boyfriend, is the first of eight in her calendar this year, and as someone who prides herself on being meticulously organized, Freya is intent on making it the perfect day to remember.
But when Matthew calls things off hours before they walk down the aisle, Freyaโs entire life plan goes up in smoke. Humiliated and heartbroken, the last thing she wants is to attend a summer of other peoplesโ nuptials on her own.
Fortunately, her friends have an idea: together they devise a series of outrageous challenges for Freya to complete at each event, designed to distract her from Matthew and what might have been. From getting stuck in an old church bathroom and needing to be rescued by the vicar to making out with a barman at a French chateau, Freya realizes that despite herself, she might just be having fun.
By the time the final wedding arrives, she will discover that the road to a happy ending sometimes has unexpected detours, that โI doโ is only the beginningโโand that perhaps her own love story isnโt over just yet.
Willow has never felt like she belonged anywhere and is convinced that the only way to find a true home is to travel the world. But her plans to act on her dream are put on hold when her aloof and often absent mother drags Willow to Salem, Massachusetts, to wrap up the affairs of an aunt Willow didnโt even know she had. An aunt who may or may not have been a witch.
There, she meets Mason, a loner whoโs always felt out of place and has been in and out of foster homes his entire life. Heโs been classified as one of the runaways, constantly searching for ways to make it back to his mom; even if she canโt take care of him, itโs his job to try and take care of her. Isnโt it?
Naturally pulled to one another, Willow and Mason set out across Salem to discover the secret past of Willowโs mother, her aunt, and the ambiguous history of her family. During all of this, the two canโt help but act on their natural connection. But with the amount of baggage between themโand Willowโs growing conviction her family might be cursedโcan they manage to hold onto each other?
From the New York Times bestselling author of Love & Gelato comes a poignant and romantic novel about two teens trying to find their place in the world after being unceremoniously dragged to Salem, Massachusetts, for the summer.
For Lila Reyes, a summer in England was never part of the plan. The plan was 1) take over her abuelaโs role as head baker at their panaderรญa, 2) move in with her best friend after graduation, and 3) live happily ever after with her boyfriend. But then the Trifecta happened, and everythingโincluding Lila herselfโfell apart.
Worried about Lilaโs mental health, her parents make a new plan for her: spend three months with family friends in Winchester, England, to relax and reset. But with the lack of sun, a grumpy inn cook, and a small town lacking Miami flavor (both in food and otherwise), what would be a dream trip for some feels more like a nightmare to Lilaโฆuntil she meets Orion Maxwell.
A teashop clerk with troubles of his own, Orion is determined to help Lila out of her funk, and appoints himself as her personal tour guide. From Winchesterโs drama-filled music scene to the sweeping English countryside, it isnโt long before Lila is not only charmed by Orion, but England itself. Soon a new future is beginning to form in Lilaโs mindโone that would mean leaving everything she ever planned behind.
Deadly storms have ravaged Minaโs homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea Godโs bride, in the hopes that one day the โtrue brideโ will be chosen and end the suffering.
Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the villageโand the beloved of Minaโs older brother Joonโmay be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheongโs stead.
Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shinโas well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spiritsโMina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.
But she doesnโt have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from wakingโฆ
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Penguin Publishing Group for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Elinor Noel โ Nory for short โ is quite content running her second-hand bookshop in London. Forever torn between her working-class upbringing and her classmatesโ extravagant lifestyles at the posh private school she attended on scholarship, Nory has finally figured out how to keep both at equal distance. So, when her oldest friends invite their school gang to spend the days leading up to their wedding together at the school castle, Nory must prepare herself for an emotionally complicated few days.
The reunion brings back fond memories, but also requires Nory to dodge an ill-advised former fling. When she falls quite literally into the arms of Isaac, the head gardener with nothing but contempt for the โsnobby prep school kidsโ, the attraction between them is undeniable. And as Nory spends more time with Isaac over the wedding festivities, she finds herself falling hard for the boy who used to throw mud at her and her posh friends.
As Nory and Isaac explore their common ground, pressures mount on all sides and Nory must decide what kind of life she wants to live and what sort of love is worth the riskโฆ
Content Warning: mention of suicide, cheating
I was expecting a light-hearted Christmas romance but I got something a little bit more than that. Here’s what I think about this book:
+ It starts off in a cozy bookstore, I got the holiday feels right away just from that alone but then it moves on to a castle in the English countryside where Nory’s friend is going to get married at. It’s a reunion of Nory and her boarding school friends and the castle is in her hometown. This is where she runs into Isaac and an attraction between them sparks.
+ There is a big cast of characters because we get to meet Nory’s friends from school. I thought they were a fun group and I loved how they interacted with one another. Everyone had such different personalities, they each stood out.
+ I thought the love story was very sweet. Isaac is someone from Nory’s hometown and past and it was pretty funny how they reunite again.
~ I was expecting light hearted but got a book with some heavy topics like a friend who committed suicide and even Nory’s past scandal of sleeping with one of her friends while drunk (and he’s married). There is also the subject of classism throughout the story. Nory went to a boarding school and all her friends are rich, compared to Isaac and everyone at home who isn’t rich. So there was a lot of judging going around. There was a lot of friend drama, maybe too much drama, but I was hoping for a simple, sweet Christmas love story.
~ The story starts off in a cozy bookstore that Nory owns and then moves to the castle but where is the Christmassy vibes? I felt like it had Christmas stuff near the end of the book but I was expecting it from beginning to end.
Tropes: childhood acquaintances to lovers
Spice Level: ๐ถ
Why you should read it:
fun interactions between a big group of friends, humor and drama
a cozy bookstore and a beautiful castle in the English countryside, some Christmas vibes
sweet love story between Nory and Isaac
Why you might not want to read it:
needs more Christmas
too much drama between the friends and some heavy topics – reads more like women’s fiction than romance
My Thoughts:
I struggled to get through this one even though the beginning was fine. I loved the beginning because it starts off in a cozy bookstore and then at a castle and we get to meet Nory’s friends. Someway in the middle of the story, I started to lose interest. I wanted more of Isaac and Nory but I felt like a lot of the friend drama got in the way of that love story. I wish it was more Christmassy also. So it didn’t work for me because I was expecting a light-hearted story but if you like romance with a little something more, then you will enjoy this one.
Another month, another book haul! Have you gotten a lot of good books lately?
NETGALLEY::
Immortality: A Love Story is the eagerly anticipated sequel to Dana Schwartz’s bestselling gothic romance, Anatomy: A Love Story.
Hazel Sinnett is alone and half-convinced the events of the year beforeโthe immortality, Beechamโs vialโwere a figment of her imagination. She doesnโt even know whether Jack is alive or dead. All she can really do now is treat patients and maintain Hawthornden Castle as it starts to decay around her.
When saving a life leads to her arrest, Hazel seems doomed to rot in prison until a message intervenes: She has been specifically requested to be the personal physician of Princess Charlotte, the sickly daughter of King George IV. Soon Hazel is dragged into the glamor and romance of a court where everyone has something to hide, especially the enigmatic, brilliant members of a social club known as the Companions to the Death.
As Hazelโs work entangles her more and more with the British court, she realizes that her own future as a surgeon isn’t the only thing at stake. Malicious forces are at work in the monarchy, and Hazel may be the only one capable of setting things right.
From the author ofย The Widows of Champagne, and inspired by true events, comes a gripping and heartwrenching story of two very different women united to bring light to the darkest days of World War II. ย London, 1933 ย At first glance, Austrian opera singer Elsa Mayer-Braun has little in common with the young English typist she encounters on tour. Yet she and Hattie Featherstone forge an instant connectionโand strike a dangerous alliance. Using their friendship as a cover, they form a secret society with a daring goal: to rescue as many Jews as possible from Nazi persecution. ย Though the warโs outbreak threatens Elsa and Hattieโs network, their efforts attract the covert attention of the British government, offering more opportunities to thwart the Germans. But Elsaโs growing fame as Hitlerโs favorite opera singer, coupled with her secret Jewish ancestry, make her both a weapon and a targetโuntil her future, too, hangs in the balance. ย From the glamorous stages of Covent Garden and Salzburg to the horrors of Bergen-Belsen,ย two ordinary women swept up by the tide of war discover an extraordinary friendshipโand the courage to save countless lives.
KINDLE UNLIMITED:
On the worst birthday of my life, I come home to find my boyfriend in bed with another woman. Within hours, Iโm drunk, homeless, and pledging to stay single forever. And that is when the dangerously sexy Seelie King rolls through town, looking for fae like me.
Every generation, the king holds a competition for Seelie queen. But for reasons he wonโt explain, Torin is looking for a charade, not a real marriage. So when I drunkenly sling insults his way, I have his attention.
When Torin offers me fifty million to participate, I think, โWhat have I got to lose?โ The answer turns out to be โmy life,โ because my competition will literally kill for the crown.
And the more time I spend with the seductive king, the harder it becomes to remember itโs all supposed to be fake. Now, my lifeโand my heartโare one the line.
A final quest. A people divided. Can one cyren turn the tides of fate?
The time has come to obtain the final birthstone of Saddoriel. Reeling from a near-deadly sacrifice, Roh must rally all her strength if she is to take her place upon the throne.
But with cyrenkind divided and enemies closing in, the road to Lochloria and beyond is more dangerous than ever. An ancient prophecy looms, loyalties are tested and Roh races against the clock that threatens to undo all sheโs fought for.
As a centuries-long conflict comes to a head and forces of nature collide, Roh has to decide if there is more than one kind of magic in this world, and whether or not she has the power to harness it.
Some bonds will solidify, while others will be fractured forever โ but all must take up their swords and face the final battle for a better Saddoriel.
Will Roh emerge from the perils victorious, or will the trials claim her at last?
Bursting with Scheuererโs trademark action and a dash of fiery romance, the Curse of the Cyren Queen series reaches its epic conclusion with To Wield a Crown.
KINDLE Bought E-Books:
Every harvest moon, the Witch Collector rides into our valley and leads one of us to the home of the immortal Frost King, to remain forever.
Today is that dayโCollecting Day.
But he will not come for me. I, Raina Bloodgood, have lived in this village for twenty-four years, and for twenty-four years he has passed me by.
His mistake.
Raina Bloodgood has one desire: kill the Frost King and the Witch Collector who stole her sister. On Collecting Day, she means to exact murderous revenge, but a more sinister threat sets fire to her world. Rising from the ashes is the Collector, Alexus Thibault, the man she vowed to slay and the only person who can help save her sister.
Thrust into an age-old story of ice, fire, and ancient gods, Raina must abandon vengeance and aid the Witch Collector in saving the Frost King or let their empireโand her sisterโfall into enemy hands. But the lines between good and evil blur, and Raina has more to lose than she imagined. What is she to do when the Witch Collector is no longer the villain who stole her sister, but the hero whoโs stealing her heart?
In love they breathed. In destiny they believed. In the end, will divinity be their demise?
After Sรฉverin’s seeming betrayal, the crew is fractured. Armed with only a handful of hints, Enrique, Laila, Hypnos and Zofia must find their way through the snarled, haunted waterways of Venice, Italy to locate Sรฉverin.
Meanwhile, Sรฉverin must balance the deranged whims of the Patriarch of the Fallen House and discover the location of a temple beneath a plague island where the Divine Lyre can be played and all that he desires will come to pass.
With only ten days until Laila expires, the crew will face plague pits and deadly masquerades, unearthly songs and the shining steps of a temple whose powers might offer divinity itself… but at a price they may not be willing to pay.
Returning to the dark and glamorous 19th century world of her New York Times instant bestseller, The Gilded Wolves, Roshani Chokshi dazzles us with the final riveting tale as full of mystery and danger as ever.
House of Earth and Blood meets The Witch’s Heart in Rebecca Rossโs brilliant first adult fantasy, set on the magical isle of Cadence where two childhood enemies must team up to discover why girls are going missing from their clan.
Jack Tamerlaine hasnโt stepped foot on Cadence in ten long years, content to study music at the mainland university. But when young girls start disappearing from the isle, Jack is summoned home to help find them. Enchantments run deep on Cadence: gossip is carried by the wind, plaid shawls can be as strong as armor, and the smallest cut of a knife can instill fathomless fear. The capricious spirits that rule the isle by fire, water, earth, and wind find mirth in the lives of the humans who call the land home. Adaira, heiress of the east and Jackโs childhood enemy, knows the spirits only answer to a bardโs music, and she hopes Jack can draw them forth by song, enticing them to return the missing girls.
As Jack and Adaira reluctantly work together, they find they make better allies than rivals as their partnership turns into something more. But with each passing song, it becomes apparent the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they first expected, and an older, darker secret about Cadence lurks beneath the surface, threatening to undo them all.
With unforgettable characters, a fast-paced plot, and compelling world building, A River Enchanted is a stirring story of duty, love, and the power of true partnership, and marks Rebecca Rossโs brilliant entry on the adult fantasy stage.
From holy cup comes holy light; The faithful hand sets world aright. And in the Seven Martyrsโ sight, Mere man shall end this endless night.
It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness.
Gabriel de Leรณn is a silversaint: a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defending realm and church from the creatures of the night. But even the Silver Order could not stem the tide once daylight failed us, and now, only Gabriel remains.
Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the Wars of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanityโs last remaining hope:
The Holy Grail.
Emilia is reeling from the shocking discovery that her twin sister, Vittoria, is alive. But before she faces the demons of her past, Emilia yearns to claim her king, the seductive Prince of Wrath, in the flesh. Emilia doesnโt simply desire his body, she wants his heart and soulโbut thatโs something the enigmatic demon canโt promise her.
When a high-ranking member of House Greed is assassinated, Emilia and Wrath are drawn to the rival demon court. Damning evidence points to Vittoria as the murderer and sheโs quickly declared an enemy of the Seven Circles. Despite her betrayal, Emilia will do anything to solve this new mystery and find out who her sister really is.
Together Emilia and Wrath play a sin-fueled game of deception as they work to stop the unrest thatโs brewing between witches, demons, shape-shifters and the most treacherous foes of all: the Feared.
Emilia was warned that when it came to the Wicked nothing was as it seemed. But, have the true villains been much closer all along? When the truth is finally revealed, it just might end up costing Emilia her heart.
Two curses. One prophecy. A reckoning all have feared.
And a love more powerful than fate. All hail the king and queen of Hell.
ONLINE LIBRARY::
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problemโafter a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. Itโs as good as dead.
When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, wonโt give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
For ten years, sheโs run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she canโt bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.
Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlorโs front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and heโs just as confused about why heโs there as she is.
Romance is most certainly dead… but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything sheโs ever known about love stories.
Welcome to the funnest spot around . . .
Jay is living his best life at Karloff Country, one of the worldโs most famous resorts. Heโs got his family, his crew, and an incredible after-school job at the propertyโs main theme park. Life isnโt so great for the rest of the world, but when people come here to vacation, itโs to get away from all that.
As things outside get worse, trouble starts seeping into Karloff. First, Jayโs friend Connie and her family disappear in the middle of the night and no one will talk about it. Then the richest and most powerful families start arriving, only… they arenโt leaving. Unknown to the employees, the resort has been selling shares in an end-of-the-world oasis. The best of the best at the end of days. And in order to deliver the top-notch customer service the wealthy clientele paid for, the employees will be at their total beck and call.
Whether they like it or not.
Yet Karloff Country didnโt count on Jay and his crew–and just how far theyโll go to find out the truth and save themselves. But whatโs more dangerous: the monster you know in your home or the unknown nightmare outside the walls?
The new groundbreaking queer thriller from New York Times bestselling and Edgar-award Winning author Courtney Summers.
When sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis discovers the dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James, she teams up with Ashley’s older sister, Nora, to find and bring the killer to justice before he strikes again. But their investigation throws Georgia into a world of unimaginable privilege and wealth, without conscience or consequence, and as Ashleyโs killer closes in, Georgia will discover when money, power and beauty rule, it might not be a matter of who is guiltyโbut who is guiltiest.
A spiritual successor to the 2018 breakout hit, Sadie, I’m the Girl is a masterfully written, bold, and unflinching account of how one young woman feels in her body as she struggles to navigate a deadly and predatory power structure while asking readers one question: if this is the way the world is, do you accept it?
Author Sarah Kuhn reinvents the modern fairy tale in this novel of a girl whose search for a storybook ending takes her to unexpected places in both her beloved LA neighborhood and her own guarded heart.
If Rika’s life seems like the beginning of a familiar fairy tale–being an orphan with two bossy cousins and working away in her aunts’ business–she would be the first to reject that foolish notion. After all, she loves her family (even if her cousins were named after Disney characters), and with her biracial background, amazing judo skills and red-hot temper, she doesn’t quite fit the princess mold.
All that changes the instant she locks eyes with Grace Kimura, America’s reigning rom-com sweetheart, during the Nikkei Week Festival. From there, Rika embarks on a madcap adventure of hope and happiness–searching for clues that Grace is her long-lost mother, exploring Little Tokyo’s hidden treasures with cute actor Henry Chen, and maybe…finally finding a sense of belonging.
But fairy tales are fiction and the real world isn’t so kind. Rika knows she’s setting herself up for disappointment, because happy endings don’t happen to girls like her. Should she walk away before she gets in even deeper, or let herself be swept away?
The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three Wโs:
What are you currently reading?
What have you just finished reading?
What are you going to read next?
I got the stomach flu or some stomach bug 2 days ago, so I’ve been kinda in bed or on the couch recuperating. Had a low grade fever, lots or time on the toilet too and body aches of all things. UGH. I feel better today thankfully, at least I got some reading done.
What are you currently reading?
What have you just finished reading?
What are you going to read next?
I have to catch up on some arcs – I can’t believe how fast the month is going by. How are you doing on arcs? Are you caught up?
Categories: Fantasy, Romance, New Adult, Magic, Witches
Every harvest moon, the Witch Collector rides into our valley and leads one of us to the home of the immortal Frost King, to remain forever.
Today is that dayโCollecting Day.
But he will not come for me. I, Raina Bloodgood, have lived in this village for twenty-four years, and for twenty-four years he has passed me by.
His mistake.
Raina Bloodgood has one desire: kill the Frost King and the Witch Collector who stole her sister. On Collecting Day, she means to exact murderous revenge, but a more sinister threat sets fire to her world. Rising from the ashes is the Collector, Alexus Thibault, the man she vowed to slay and the only person who can help save her sister.
Thrust into an age-old story of ice, fire, and ancient gods, Raina must abandon vengeance and aid the Witch Collector in saving the Frost King or let their empireโand her sisterโfall into enemy hands. But the lines between good and evil blur, and Raina has more to lose than she imagined. What is she to do when the Witch Collector is no longer the villain who stole her sister, but the hero whoโs stealing her heart?
Content Warning: violence
I have been eyeing this one for awhile and finally got it when it was $0.99 on Kindle! This is what did and didn’t work for me:
+ The cover is so pretty, it gives me winter vibes.
+ Raina is mute, so I love that she uses sign language and others around her (only a few) know how to sign with her too. Raina is also really brave and is a fighter even though her true skill as a witch is healing and scrying.
+ It’s an enemies to lovers romance but it’s one-sided. Raina’s plan is actually kill the Witch Collector, Alexus, but things don’t go as planned. Instead she reluctantly has to cooperate with him if they are going to save her sister and the Frost King. Alexus has been into her for a long time now, so it’s Raina who is fighting the attraction she is starting to feel with him. There are some sexy scenes between them and even one epic sex scene that was not just hot physically but emotionally (the thing that happened with the life threads). The two of them really grew on me.
+ World building is great! There is some back story about Alexus that shows the bigger picture of what they are dealing with. There are gods, evil princes and witches! The magic system is intriguing as well.
~ We get thrown into the story – we meet Raina and she wants to kill Alexus because he took her eldest sister years ago. But there is some backstory we are missing about Nephele (her sister) and the Frost King. I kind of wish maybe we knew their story first, because it seems very important to everything going on. That was my main issue. I felt like I was catching up to the story. And Alexus had to do a lot of explaining to Raina.
~ Raina does go from obsessing over killing Alexus to then sleeping with him. So…I thought it was a quick turn around. I think it was her sister at the end of the book that said Alexus knew Raina for only 2 weeks and he was ready to burn the world down for her! TWO WEEKS! ๐ He got through her defenses super fast but I guess all he really needed to do was explain the Nephele/Frost King situation.
Tropes: one-sided enemies to lovers, hiding great powers
Spice Level: ๐ถ๐ถ
Why you should read it:
a good romantasy read – it’s got equal parts romance and the fantasy world building is great
Raina is mute, great representation
entertaining – it has action and a fight with an evil prince
Why you might not want to read it:
slight pacing issues, a little slower in the middle
the romance happens in the span of 2 weeks, even though Alexus has been wanting her for longer than that
My Thoughts:
I think this was pretty enjoyable if you are looking for a romantasy to read. It’s got an enemies to lovers romance, a steamy scene or two, lots of magic and fighting against an evil prince, and I’m looking forward to reading book two, City of Ruin.
Happy book birthday to these new releases! Check out this list today:
What would you do if ‘the one that got away’ turned up the night before your wedding?
Head-in-the-stars Audrey is about to marry down-to-earth Josh. Though they are polar opposites, they have a healthy, stable relationship; Josh is just what Audrey needs. But romance should be unpredictable and full of fireworks, and as the big day approaches, Audrey’s found herself wondering if Josh really is The One.
So, when Josh’s sister shows up to the rehearsal dinner with Fred, Audrey’s What If? guy–the man she met six years ago and had one amazing day with–Audrey finds herself torn. Surely Fred’s appearance the night before she is due to get married can’t be a coincidence. And when everything that could go wrong with the wedding starts to go wrong, Audrey has to ask herself: Is fate trying to stop her from making a huge mistake? Or does destiny just have a really twisty sense of humour?
Hollywood screenwriter Sawyer Castle knows a good love story when he sees it. But when it comes to real life romance, heโs a mess. Thatโs how he finds himself standing at the altarโฆas his ex-girlfriend ties the knot with his very famous best friend. The pressure, the resentment, the media coverageโitโs all too muchโand before he knows exactly what heโs doing, heโs making a run for it, leaving a shocked congregation and flashing cameras in his wake.
Needing to lie low amid the media fallout, Sawyer lands in the charming town of Canoodle, California, where he crosses paths with Fallon Long, who runs the Canoodle Cove Cabins, a family-owned business and Sawyerโs new short-term residence. Overwhelmed with renovations and her long list of responsibilities, Fallon is struggling to make ends meet while attempting to bring the cabins back to their original glory. So when Sawyer arrives, she is grateful for the income, but immediately writes him off as just another vapid Hollywood hack, until he begins to prove her wrong at every turn.
As Fallon comes closer to saving the family business, an undeniable bond forms between her and the handsome screenwriter. But the pressures of her family obligations and Sawyerโs notoriety might prove to be too much for anyone to handle. Could Canoodle be the setting for a new romanceโor is true love just a Hollywood clichรฉ?
From the author of To Kill a Kingdom comes Princess of Souls, a Rapunzel-inspired YA fantasy romance about a teen witch groomed to steal souls for an immortal king and the reckless, rebellious boy to whom her fate is tied.
For sixteen years, Selestra Somniatis has been trapped in a castle on the Floating Mountain, preparing to take her motherโs place as King Serythโs right hand. Tied by blood to steal souls for the immortal King of the Six Isles, the Somniatis Witch foretells the deaths of participants in the Festival of Predictions. To outrun your fate is to save your soul and steal the Kingโs immortality. But if you die, your soul is forfeit. And though thousands have tried, nobody has ever beaten death.
As a soldier in King Serythโs army, Nox Laederic is an unlikely candidate for the Festival, but he has no plans to die at the hands of the King or his witches. His plan is more akin to violent revenge: steal the Kingโs immortality and kill the entirety of his court, starting with Selestra herself.
But when Selestra touches Nox in her very first prediction, she sees her own death alongside his–their fates are unmistakably intertwined, and Selestra is no longer safe in the only home sheโs ever known. Nox and Selestra will have to enter a turbulent alliance in order to survive long enough to free the Six Isles from King Serythโs clutches and escape the new fate that hunts them.
Today Tonight Tomorrow meets A Pho Love Story in this whip-smart young adult novel about a girl who embarks on a road trip with her longtime rival to win back her best friend and his girlfriend.
Thereโs no one Kelsie Miller hates more than Eric Mulvaney Ortizโthe homecoming king, captain of the football team, and academic archrival in her hyper-competitive prep school. But after Kelsieโs best friend, Briana, moves across the country and stops speaking to her, sheโll do anything, even talk to Eric, to find out why.
After they run into each otherโliterallyโat the last high school party of the summer, Eric admits heโs been ghosted by his girlfriend, Jessica. Kelsie tells him sheโs had zero contact from Briana since she left their upstate New York town.
Suddenly, a plan is formed: theyโll go on a road trip to the University of Pennsylvania the following week when both Briana and Jessica will be on campus. Together, theyโll do whatever it takes to win back their exes.
What could go wrong?
Used to succeeding in everything, Kelsie and Eric assume theyโll naturally figure out the details on the drive down. What they donโt expect is that the person they actually need may be the one sitting next to them.
As the eldest daughter in her crisis-prone family, sheโs always stepped up to help. Her favorite gig is doing Instagram-worthy, bookish-themed bedroom makeovers for friends. Her most hated? Working as the assistant to the most gorgeousโand most infuriatingโman on earth.
Theo Ganas is a former Olympic swimmer and heir to a bona fide real estate empire. Heโs also about as warm and fuzzy as a New York City winter, and quite frankly, Alba has had enough of his ridiculous demands and cold shoulder. When opportunity knocks, she decides to put herself first for onceโฆwhich means leaving her demanding bossโand relativesโbehind.
Her new life in Dallas seems like everything Albaโs ever wanted, until a bafflingly charming and attentive Theo turns up in the Lone Star State with an offer she simply cannot refuse. Agreeing to do a home improvement reality TV show with her sexy, and suddenly flirtatious, former boss is not a good idea, but it just might be the makeover her heart has been waiting for.
Alice Sun has always felt invisible at her elite Beijing international boarding school, where sheโs the only scholarship student among Chinaโs most rich and influential teens. But then she starts uncontrollably turning invisibleโactually invisible.
When her parents drop the news that they can no longer afford her tuition, even with the scholarship, Alice hatches a plan to monetize her strange new powerโsheโll discover the scandalous secrets her classmates want to know, for a price.
But as the tasks escalate from petty scandals to actual crimes, Alice must decide if itโs worth losing her conscienceโor even her life.
In this genre-bending YA debut, a Chinese American girl monetizes her strange new invisibility powers by discovering and selling her wealthy classmatesโ most scandalous secrets.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Please check out her website for more TTT topics!
This weekโs topic is:
Books I Might Read On Vacation
Um…I haven’t gone on a real vacation in a decade. Vegas for 2 days in May didn’t really count because I was not going to spend time reading at all. Not on my 2 days of freedom lol. So…hmmm….I am going on “vacation” in November to visit my in-laws in upstate New York – we are still going to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania also (even though my MIL just most from there to NY last month)…but here are some books I’d love to be able to read during the plane ride.
The shadows have risen, and the line is law.
All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her motherโs death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthurโs knightsโonly to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new:
A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion.
But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped.
Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order wonโt let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected.
When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Breeโs powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she canโt escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick until death.
If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them firstโwithout losing herself in the process.
Bee Hobbes (aka Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-size adult film star. With a huge following and two supportive moms, Bee couldnโt ask for more. But when Beeโs favorite producer casts her to star in a Christmas movie heโs making for the squeaky-clean Hope Channel, Beeโs career is about to take a more family-friendly direction.
Forced to keep her work as Bianca under wraps, Bee quickly learns this is a task a lot easier said than done. Though it all becomes worthwhile when she discovers her co-star is none other than childhood crush Nolan Shaw, an ex-boy band member in desperate need of career rehab. Nolanโs promised his bulldog manager to keep it zipped up on set, and he will if it means heโll be able to provide a more stable living situation for his sister and mom.
But things heat up quickly in Christmas Notch, Vermont, when Nolan recognizes his new co-star from her ClosedDoors account (oh yeah, heโs a member). Now Bee and Nolan are sneaking off for quickies on set, keeping their new relationship a secret from the Hope Channelโs execs. Things only get trickier when the reporter who torpedoed Nolanโs singing career comes snooping aroundโand takes an instant interest in mysterious newcomer Bee.
And if Bee and Nolan canโt keep their off-camera romance behind the scenes, then this merry little meet cute might end up on the cutting room floor.
The curse that haunted Lakesedge Estate has been broken, but at great cost. Violeta Graceling has sacrificed herself to end the Corruption. To escape death, Leta makes a desperate bargain with the Lord Under, one that sees her living at his side in the land of the dead.
But this world of souls and mist hides many secrets. And when Leta realizes she is still connected to Rowan by a tethering spell, she will risk everythingโ even her soulโ to try and reach him.
Torn between power and love, life and death, Leta struggles to keep hold of her humanity as she falls further and further under the spell of the world Belowโฆ and the Lord Under.
Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each more interested in her wealth than her well-beingโand each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy. Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the familyโs waning reputation and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their motherโs restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.
However, Signaโs best chance of uncovering the murderer is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though heโs made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerfulโand more irresistibleโthan she ever dared imagine.
I’m only doing 4 today since if I was really reading on the plane, I couldn’t finish more than one book. Something about planes just makes me want to sleep and watch the free movies. But I really do hope I can bring my ipad on the trip and catch up on arcs. It’ll depend on my mood and how much stuff I want to be carrying. ๐
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Tor Teen for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Hemlock Falls isn’t like other towns. You won’t find it on a map, your phone won’t work here, and the forest outside town might just kill you.
Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, the ancient order that protects Winnie’s townโand the rest of humanityโfrom the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night.
Ever since her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor, Winnie and her family have been shunned. But on her sixteenth birthday, she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials and prove herself true and loyalโand restore her family’s good name. Or die trying.
But in order to survive, Winnie enlists the help of the one person who can help her train: Jay Friday, resident bad boy and Winnieโs ex-best friend. While Jay might be the most promising new hunter in Hemlock Falls, he also seems to know more about the nightmares of the forest than he should. Together, he and Winnie will discover a danger lurking in the forest no one in Hemlock Falls is prepared for.
Not all monsters can be slain, and not all nightmares are confined to the dark.
Content Warning: violence, bullying
I’ve only read two books from Susan Dennards Witchland series and I didn’t stop because it wasn’t good. I just think I forgot about the series because there were just so many other books I was reading at the time. So I was curious about the blurb from this book, The Luminaries – a forest that could kill you? Sounds perfect for fall reading and I was right! This is what I liked and didn’t like about the book:
+ I love all the tropes in this story: a mysterious, dark forest that filled with monsters or nightmares as they are called, a girl trying to redeem the scandalized family name, a girl lacking in skills who wears ill fitting glasses but filled with passion and drive, a boy who was a best-friend and first crush who shunned her and is now training her, a secret…I loved the intensity and the action that moved that story.
+ The world-building is fascinating and creative. There is a secret society called The Luminaries and they are monster hunters. Monsters are called Nightmares in this story though and basically they are the stuff of nightmares like werewolves, vampira, melusine, kelpies, banshees – every monster of myth and legend but there is something new in the forest. The Luminaries go into the forest each night and kill Nightmares. Winnie interestingly enough is assigned to clean-up duty, she picks up what’s left in the forest when it’s morning and the mist is gone. The hunter clans are interesting and their last names correspond with a day of the week (Monday, Tuesday…etc…) they all have their own niche and expertise.
+ Winnie Wednesday is that kind of heroine that you can easily cheer on. Her appearance sounds mousy because she’s not wealthy, she wears glasses that need to be updated, she never sounds put-together and yet she is brave and a natural hunter instinct even with a lack of training. She is determined to get back into the Luminaries good graces and don’t underestimate this girl, she can kick butt when she needs to! There is a lot of growth in character and I look forward to seeing what happens to her in book two.
+ The friends to enemies to lovers trope is teasing us in this book. I want more of Winnie and Jay. I love their interactions and the spark between them, the intense emotions that’s going on under the surface. I’m invested!
+ There are a lot of interesting characters in this book, like Mario the lab guy and Erica, Winne’s ex best friend. There is so much more to uncover in this world, that I’m looking forward to the next book.
~ This is just the beginning of the world building and it sounds like there is so much more to learn about The Luminaries and the different families. I did have some questions about the forest and how it works all over the world with different Luminaries – there is mention of international Luminaries. We need more information about the Dianas who are witches and Luminaries enemy.
~ It ends with a cliffhanger where many things are revealed but nothing resolved…but makes me want book two ASAP. It’s definitely not a bad thing, I just need more info!
Tropes: secret society, girl trying to redeem her family reputation, friends to enemies to lovers, monsters in the forest, a trial,
Spice Level: (there is no kiss, there is no romance…but there is intensity!)
Why you should read it:
world building, story with scandal, redemption, secret society, monsters and a girl who has a desire to belong again
budding romance between Winnie and Jay
diverse characters, lots of action, mystery
Why you might not want to read it:
I feel like the world-building for this series is going to be huge, but we are only getting the tip of the iceberg for now. So much more to learn about the Luminaries, the Dianas, what happened to Winnie’s dad and Erica’s sister, what is up with the daywalker, what is the Whisperer… so with that said…you may want to wait until more books are out to binge it?
My Thoughts:
This story is fun and exactly what I was kind of looking for in a contemporary with fantasy elements. I love the scary forest and the mist and monsters that come in the night. There was lots of action because Winnie is taking part in trials to become a hunter and that was fun because we get to see her fight or try to monsters. Winnie is a heroine I can root for as she tries to redeem the family name, but there is more to the story – a mystery about her father and some other characters in the book. I love the intense interactions between Winnie and Jay and I just want to learn more about this world about Luminaries! The only issue I had was that I wanted more information about everything and now I have to wait for book two. This is a great start to what seems like an exciting new series.
