The Lost City | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The Lost City

Author: Amanda Hocking

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: July 7, 2020

Categories/Themes: Contemporary Fantasy, Mystery, Identity, Coming of Age, Paranormal

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Nestled along the bluffs of the forested coast lays the secret kingdom of the Omte—a realm filled with wonder…and as many secrets.

Ulla Tulin was left abandoned in an isolated Kanin city as a baby, taken in by strangers and raised hidden away like many of the trolls of mixed blood. Even knowing this truth, she’s never stopped wondering about her family.

When Ulla is offered an internship working alongside the handsome Pan Soriano at the Mimirin, a prestigious institution, she jumps at the chance to use this opportunity to hopefully find her parents. All she wants is to focus on her job and the search for her parents, but all of her attempts to find them are blocked when she learns her mother may be connected to the Omte royal family.

With little progress made, Ulla and Pan soon find themselves wrapped up in helping Eliana, an amnestic girl with abilities unlike any they have ever seen before—a girl who seems to be running from something. To figure out who she is they must leave the city, and possibly, along the way, they may learn more about Ulla’s parents.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

I heard of Amanda Hocking years ago but I have never read her books. When I got asked to join the blog tour, I jumped at the chance to finally read one of her books.

My Reactions:

My Attention: It had my attention but it took me a few days to read this book, which isn’t a bad thing.

World Building: Wow. This world she created is so detailed, and it’s build into our modern day society. I mean it’s so detailed that at the end of the book she lists the history of Troll monarchies.

Writing Style: the pace of the story is slow but it reads like a mystery – despite that, I was so engrossed in this fascinating world that Ulla lives in.

Bringing the Heat: none – some VERY mild flirtation

Crazy in Love: none so far

Creativity: the world Hocking has built is so rich, it makes me want to read the other series she’s written

Mood: impressed but also wish there was more

Triggers: prejudice towards half breed species, for example Omte/Human, Troll/Human

My Takeaway: Ulla is trying to find out who her parents are and in the process finds out way more about the world she in live and the people in it.

The world building is very imaginative and creative. Unfortunately I never read any of the other series before The Lost City. I love how the trolls are explained as if they are a different race of people, with their own tribes. The detail about the tribes, their histories and characteristics was like I had just discovered this in a history book or something. They seem real!
This paranormal world is an alternate Earth where trolls exist. Their neutral space is called the Mimirin, where Ulla is headed to do work and research to find out who her parents are. Mimirin is a whole city where scientific research is being done to find out more about the Trolls. It was fascinating to me.
Ulla is an interesting character. Personality wise, she’s open-minded and always gathering information. She’s not rash and very level-headed. Ulla hasn’t had the best education with her upbringing but she makes up for that with determination. She’s on a quest to find out who her parents were. While on this quest though she deals with some challenges and makes friends along the way.
There is an array of characters, some who are mixed Trolls like Ulla is. One character named Eliana is a total mystery for most of the book but she’s a big part of the story. I liked Hanna, Ulla’s charge and Dagny who is an ACE character. Pan is an ally and maybe a romantic interest as well? We shall see as the series continues.

There is a lot of information to digest, especially for me, because I come into this series very new and never having read any other book set in this world. So even thought it was slow going – I still enjoyed it. But really I think reading the other series before this book is a must.
This story reads like a mystery. I just wished we got to discovering more about Eliana a bit quicker. She was quirky with her lost of memory but sometimes it was frustrating.

Overall, the thing that impressed me about this book is the writing and world-building. I was lost in the world and I loved learning about Trolls and the differences between them. There are many unanswered questions, since this is only book one of the series but I do wonder about what Ulla will find out about herself and Eliana. I look forward to reading more books from this author.

BLOG TOUR} In the Neighborhood of True by. Susan Kaplan Carlton

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: In the Neighborhood of True

Author: Susan Kaplan Carlton

Format: Paperback (gifted for review)

Pages: 314

Categories: Young Adult, Social Justice, Racism, Antisemitism, American Southern History, Religion, Romance, Identity, Historical Fiction

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

A powerful story of love, identity, and the price of fitting in or speaking out.

After her father’s death, Ruth Robb and her family transplant themselves in the summer of 1958 from New York City to Atlanta—the land of debutantes, sweet tea, and the Ku Klux Klan. In her new hometown, Ruth quickly figures out she can be Jewish or she can be popular, but she can’t be both. Eager to fit in with the blond girls in the “pastel posse,” Ruth decides to hide her religion. Before she knows it, she is falling for the handsome and charming Davis and sipping Cokes with him and his friends at the all-white, all-Christian Club.

Does it matter that Ruth’s mother makes her attend services at the local synagogue every week? Not as long as nobody outside her family knows the truth. At temple Ruth meets Max, who is serious and intense about the fight for social justice, and now she is caught between two worlds, two religions, and two boys. But when a violent hate crime brings the different parts of Ruth’s life into sharp conflict, she will have to choose between all she’s come to love about her new life and standing up for what she believes.

Thank you to Algonquin Young Readers for a copy of this book and giving me a chance to join this blog tour!

My Reactions:

My Attention: engrossed

World Building: Atlanta, Georgia, 1958

Writing Style: to the point, story was a quick read, flowed wonderfully

Bringing the Heat: 🔥 some make out scenes

Crazy in Love: there is love, but not so crazy

Creativity: I like how this story is coming from a girl who is Jewish and moves from New York to Georgia at a time when racial tensions are high

Mood: contemplative

Triggers: bombing, lynching story, racism, antisemitism

My Takeaway: We have to know history so we don’t repeat it and this story reminds us how are civil rights history isn’t so far in the past. It weighs heavily on our country today.

I honestly didn’t know the story about Stone Mountain in Georgia until the Black Lives Movement protests just recently after George Floyd was killed. I learned even more about it in this book through Ruth’s eyes. I also didn’t know about Leo Frank, so this book was eye-opening to me. The setting of the 1950’s south comes through in this story. As a kid I was listening to 1950’s music because that was my parents’ childhood songs and they played it a lot in the house. The description of the clothes, and the way they talked felt authentic. When Max is described as looking like Buddy Holly haha, I had an imagine in my mind right away!
This is a coming of age story of a girl who is grieving, falling in love, and wanting to be a Southern Jewish Debutant Belle. But is that allowed? She wants to belong, but if her friends knew she was Jewish, what would they do? She learns the hard way that she needs to pick a side, but which side will she choose?
I love how quick and to the point this book is. It’s a fast read, showing this world Ruth is thrust into but…Ruth has moments where she also questions some parts of her life in New York as well. Did she know many black people when she was living in New York? I like that the author reminds us racism is everywhere even if you think it’s not around you.
I like Ruth’s family – her mom who is a reporter and tries to get the truth at things and her sisters are awesome. If she didn’t have any true friend, at least she had her sisters! Also her family isn’t perfect. Her grandmother is always pushing Ruth to hide being Jewish, to be a true southern belle and I get it…it starts with family, so her grandma was raised that way with prejudices even though she doesn’t think she is. I have family like that too, so that’s realistic.

For a book with heavy topics I think I wanted more emotion to come through. I felt Ruth falling in love, it’s insta-love but it was the 1950’s! People were falling in love and marrying quick back then. Sometimes I felt her grief, but that was shielded by her new life and friends. Ruth is who she is – and she did like the dressing up and shopping. So maybe her being a little shallow at times is why I wanted more emotion.
The ending with the bombing felt rushed. That’s a big event! But I think because the story starts off in the court room, I was expecting more courtroom drama? But that was quick.
Also – there is no love triangle. It’s hinted in the blurb but, nope.

Though this story takes place in the 1950’s, it is so very relevant today. Here we are in 2020, still fighting racism, antisemitism, sexism and all kinds of hate. I’m glad I learned about a few things in this book like the history of Stone Mountain, Leo Frank and antisemitism in the American South. At the heart of this story is Ruth’s search for her identity and I’m glad to see her choose to fight hate.

Opposite of Always | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Opposite of Always

Author: Justin A. Reynolds

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 451

Categories/Themes: Young Adult, Romance, Time Travel, Death, Illness, Friendship, Family, Black Lead Characters

When Jack and Kate meet at a party, bonding until sunrise over their mutual love of Froot Loops and their favorite flicks, Jack knows he’s falling—hard. Soon she’s meeting his best friends, Jillian and Franny, and Kate wins them over as easily as she did Jack.

But then Kate dies. And their story should end there.

Yet Kate’s death sends Jack back to the beginning, the moment they first meet, and Kate’s there again. Healthy, happy, and charming as ever. Jack isn’t sure if he’s losing his mind.

Still, if he has a chance to prevent Kate’s death, he’ll take it. Even if that means believing in time travel. However, Jack will learn that his actions are not without consequences. And when one choice turns deadly for someone else close to him, he has to figure out what he’s willing to do to save the people he loves.

This is a time travel love story that kind of lost me at time travel. 😕

My Reactions:

My Attention: lost it when the time travel kicked in and that’s a ME thing, it doesn’t make the book bad

World Building: it’s Jack’s world and he is in love with Kate

Writing Style: lots of dialogue, so it moves quick

Bringing the Heat: no heat

Crazy in Love: oh, Jack is crazy in love

Creativity: it got creative with the time travel

Mood: mixed feelings

Triggers: death, illness

My Takeaway: “almost” is good enough ❤️ because that meant you still had some time with that person

Jack is the sweetest kid ever. I love his charming personality, I wanted to protect him from heartbreak. He is a nice guy and he has been in love with his best friend, Jillian, since forever until Kate comes along. But he’s an all around good guy, he’s the average nerdy guy, comes from a nice family and has good friends around him.
Friendship is a big deal to Jack and it shows with his two best friends, who are dating, Franny and Jillian.
The dialogue between the characters is really good and I could always tell who was speaking because their voices were distinct.
Jack is so in love with Kate, it’s the sweetest and saddest thing. And the book cover is the cutest and makes a lot of sense after reading the book.

I don’t mind death and illness in a story but darn, the time travel just took me out of it. I thought okay…let’s see what happens, but by the time it starts over again, I felt a disconnect. That’s mostly because I tend to be that way with books with time travel, especially when it keeps repeating itself! I understand why it was in the story though because it shows in each scenario how things could have turned out.
This book revolves around Jack’s love for Kate. And because it is a time travel story, his love for her is on repeat. I think it would have been great to learn more about Kate, not so much his love for her because we all knew he was crazy about her.

Unfortunately the time travel aspect made me disconnect from the story. I loved the beginning, where we meet Jack, Kate and all the people that make up his world but after Kate dies (the first time), I lost interest in the story. I think many people will enjoy this sweet love story though, especially if you don’t mind a story with time travel.

Color Me In | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Color Me In

Author: Natasha Diaz

Format: eBook (borrowed)

Pages: 373

Categories: Young Adult, Contemporary, Coming of Age, Black Lives Matter, Bi-racial, Romance, Own Voices

Who is Nevaeh Levitz?

Growing up in an affluent suburb of New York City, sixteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz never thought much about her biracial roots. When her Black mom and Jewish dad split up, she relocates to her mom’s family home in Harlem and is forced to confront her identity for the first time.

Nevaeh wants to get to know her extended family, but one of her cousins can’t stand that Nevaeh, who inadvertently passes as white, is too privileged, pampered, and selfish to relate to the injustices they face on a daily basis as African Americans. In the midst of attempting to blend their families, Nevaeh’s dad decides that she should have a belated bat mitzvah instead of a sweet sixteen, which guarantees social humiliation at her posh private school. Even with the push and pull of her two cultures, Nevaeh does what she’s always done when life gets complicated: she stays silent.

It’s only when Nevaeh stumbles upon a secret from her mom’s past, finds herself falling in love, and sees firsthand the prejudice her family faces that she begins to realize she has a voice. And she has choices. Will she continue to let circumstances dictate her path? Or will she find power in herself and decide once and for all who and where she is meant to be?

I’m adding more black authors to my reading lists and I knew I had to read this one because it’s about a girl who is half-black and half-Jewish. This story helped opened my eyes to the struggles someone who is biracial could experience.

My Reactions:

My Attention: had my whole attention

World Building: a girl from Harlem and White Plains, New York

Writing Style: main character has such a strong voice, at times story moved slowly

Bringing the Heat: 🔥- Nevaeh’s love story is sweet

Crazy in Love: it wasn’t the focus of the story, which was nice

Creativity: beautifully done with poetry from Nevaeh’s voice

Mood: open minded

Triggers: bullying, racism, divorce, depression

My Takeaway: Nevaeh doesn’t know where she fits in and families, marriage, and people in general – are complicated.

I love how layered this story is. Nevaeh is struggling to keep it together while her parents go through a divorce. But she is also having an identity crisis because she feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere. The Black Lives Matter movement has begun and protests have been occurring in the streets of NYC, and she’s living at her aunt’s in Harlem because of the divorce. Living with her aunt has awoken a desire to know about that part of her.
This is an Own Voices story and I respect Neveah’s struggle to accept both sides of her cultures. She’s always been told by her father that she never had to go to Temple…until now. He’s also telling her she is going to have a Bat Mitzvah. So Neveah feels lost with all these changes happening in her life. I felt her stress – I was stressed out for her! I can see why she acted out at times, but I also wanted to sit down and have a talk with her. Neveah expresses herself beautifully with writing poetry which is included throughout this story.
Her romance with Jesus is really cute. I liked that it wasn’t the focus of the book, but that he was there for her.
The divorce is a big part of Nevaeh’s life and her mom goes through severe depression. I like when Nevaeh finds her mom’s diary and we get a glimpse of how she met Nevaeh’s dad.
I love how Harlem comes alive in this story. I can visualize the street, hear the neighborhood and that festival scene was amazing.
We see a lot of instances where prejudice and racism are on display in the streets of New York, and so much at her school with that especially one classmate of hers, Abby. 😒

Both Neveah’s parents neglected her while they are separated and going through a divorce. Her mom is depressed and is in bed a lot, which is understandable and her dad…wow, her dad is barely there for her! And he takes the side of his new girlfriend? Like what was that? That frustrated me so much but I know it is realistic. I just wished he realized how much he hurt Neveah with his actions. He comes through somewhat in the end for her but other than that…😞.
Neveah makes a lot of mistakes and has to check herself at times. People around her are good at telling her things point blank like her aunt, her twin cousins and her best friend, Stevie. She doesn’t always get it right away but that’s part of the struggle she is dealing with.

Neveah is not perfect, she is struggling, but she is also learning so much and most importantly learning to accept the parts of her that don’t feel like her. The characters in this book from Neveah’s mom, Jesus and Neveah experience many instances of racism in this story which is important to see. This book gave me a full experience through Neveah’s eyes and I think that makes it a wonderful Own Voices story.

ARC Review | The Mall

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The Mall

Author: Megan McCafferty

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 320

Publication Date: June 9, 2020

Categories: 90’s Nostalgia, Young Adult, Romance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty returns to her roots with this YA coming of age story set in a New Jersey mall.

The year is 1991. Scrunchies, mixtapes and 90210 are, like, totally fresh. Cassie Worthy is psyched to spend the summer after graduation working at the Parkway Center Mall. In six weeks, she and her boyfriend head off to college in NYC to fulfill The Plan: higher education and happily ever after.

But you know what they say about the best laid plans…

Set entirely in a classic “monument to consumerism,” the novel follows Cassie as she finds friendship, love, and ultimately herself, in the most unexpected of places. Megan McCafferty, beloved New York Times bestselling author of the Jessica Darling series, takes readers on an epic trip back in time to The Mall.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

Talk about taking me back to the 90’s and basically my childhood! This story which is mostly set in a mall, is all nostalgia and fun. Cassie Worthy, is actually dealing with a few things in her life like breaking up with her boyfriend of two years, not having a place to work and then dealing with her parents divorce. But she finds herself a new job and getting through this disastrous summer by going on a treasure hunt. A treasure hunt in a mall you say? This story is a fun homage to “the mall”, which was our social hub once upon a time, a long, long time ago…in the 1990’s.

The cover and it’s neon pink color just captures the feel of the book. Love it.
I may be a little biased, but I was a pre-teen/teen in the 90’s! So everything in this book, like the Sam Goody music store 😂 (cassette tapes and cd’s – wow), the food court, ALL of it just took me down memory lane. The mall was the place to be!
I really enjoyed the characters like: Drea Bellarosa, Cassie’s not-so-new summer friend, is pretty awesome. She pops off the page, I could see her in her fashions and hear her honking laugh. They made unlikely friends but they were good for each other. “Sam Goody”, who’s name we don’t know until the end was so reminiscent of my love of all things music back in the 90’s and discovering bands – etc. Love that Cassie had a summer fling with him and Gia’s mom was fantastic too, she had such personality!
The treasure hunt in the book is such an 80’s/90’s adventure – like the movie Goonies. But it added a fun element to the story, and it helped Cassie concentrate on something other than her life seeming to fall apart. It brought Cassie and Drea close together and I’m glad Cassie earned a friend through it all.
Cassie transforms during the summer with Drea’s friendship, the treasure hunt and hooking up with boys. I’m glad she found her backbone when it came to her douche of an ex-boyfriend Troy and the plan. Cassie’s a smart girl and was definitely not someone who was going to sit back and take Troy’s treatment of her, but from a lot of nudging from Drea, she learned to love her true self.

This is a really light-hearted quick read – at times I thought maybe too light hearted but I think the focus on Cassie and Drea’s friendship was the right call. I was more interested in their relationship than Cassie finding a new boy to be a rebound. I like that though she had all these changes during the summer, it never changed her plans for college and her future.

The Mall is a nostalgia filled read for us who grew up in the 90’s. I think for readers today who are fascinated with that decade, this book would definitely give them an insight to our days gravitating to the mall. The book is a fun, quick read and will make the perfect summer read. I could definitely see this as a tv show and I’d totally watch it.

Book Review | Starfish

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Starfish

Author: Akemi Dawn Bowman

Format: Paperback (owned)

Pages: 352

Categories: Coming of Age, Young Adult, Contemporary

A half-Japanese teen grapples with social anxiety and her narcissist mother in the wake of a crushing rejection from art school in this debut novel.

Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.

But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.

From debut author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous, heartbreaking story of identity, family, and the beauty that emerges when we embrace our true selves.

Starfish is a story about a girl named Kiko with a narcissistic mother, a broken family and a talent for art. She is dealing with being bi-racial, half white and half Japanese in a mostly white town. Kiko is ashamed of herself but through her art work she learns to express what she feels and hopes one day she can heal.

This family is broken – Kiko and her brothers aren’t close, they have a narcissistic mother which was portrayed very well, and her father is remarried with a family of his own. I genuinely felt scared for Kiko because her mom didn’t believe her about a certain situation and there seemed to be no one Kiko could really turn to.
Thank goodness for Jamie her best friend coming back into her life. Talk about having a life line! And thought their relationship went from a friendship to a crush to something more, I liked that she took a step back to fix other things happening in her life that took precedence.
The events that happened in Kiko’s life was something she blamed herself for and that was heartbreaking to think all of this burden was on her. The truth does come out though but still…so much heaviness. Kiko also deals with social anxiety on top of everything else and it just made me hope she gets help with everything one day. I love the sections of the story where Kiko thinks what she wants to say, but what she says instead. 😞 She censors herself so much.
She meets someone who appreciates her talent and helps her face some truths about herself. I love that she had a mentor in her life.

Kiko’s mom – 😒 she clearly has problems and needs help. When Kiko leaves her mom’s house (thank goodness) I was already worrying about her brother Shoji who was so quiet (all siblings dealt with their mother a certain way to cope) – and I was afraid no one was worrying about him enough.
It’s a heavy book. Kiko deals with self-esteem issues and anxiety exacerbated by living with her mother. Kiko’s mom didn’t even believe her about what her uncle did to her – it made me so angry but also I understood, this is reality, parents don’t believe their kids sometimes. Honestly it’s heartbreaking but I put myself in Kiko’s shoes and I felt like this story to be very realistic.
Triggers: racism, attempted suicide, anxiety, depression, sexual abuse

Starfish is not a light read, but I think Kiko’s story is important and will make an impact with many teens out there. I was raised in a place where the more mixed race you are the more special or beautiful you are and I wished so much Kiko had this experience. I felt such sadness for Kiko about her feelings of being trapped in her bi-racial body and in her home with a mother who thinks the world revolves around her. I wanted to break all those kids out of her custody. This story covers abuse (parental and sexual), anxiety, depression but it is also about strength too and the courage to embrace yourself and break free.

ARC Review | Selected

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Title: Selected

Author: Barb Han

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 400

Categories: Young Adult, Romance, Dystopia

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

After a polarized nation was broken by the threat of civil war, States have now become countries. And in New Maine, things have gotten worse.

Giving my family a better life is everything. And my selection to attend an elite prep school suddenly offers my family a dramatically different life—food on the table, a roof over their heads, and a fighting chance at a future.

Everything is going great until some of my friends begin ghosting me, and then disappear. Soon it becomes clear this “chance of a lifetime” isn’t the Holy Grail I was promised. And the attention from one of Easton’s elite has me questioning why a boy with a golden future wants to risk it by being seen with me.

But when I find out why I’m really at this school, I may have to trust him if I want to live.

Thank you to Entangled Teen and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

Selected is set in a future America where the states are now countries. Tori goes to a private school where the rich kids still rule the school. Tori is smart, gifted and she gets to go to the school because she is sponsored. She falls in love with a boy, Caius who is from a wealthy family and happens to be the hottest guy at school. But while Tori is away at school, her brother Trevor gets into some trouble and she has to find out what it is.

The idea of a future America divided into countries was what intrigued me about this story. Unfortunately we don’t get a lot of world-building in that aspect. But the book cover is great.
I like a high school story where you have the usual hot boy/strange girl hook-up so this was it for the story for a good chunk of it until we get to the part of the story where Trevor (Tori’s brother) gets involved.
Tori is an intriguing character, she’s being sponsored to go to the school and has a high IQ. She dances and seems like a really good kid.

This book held my attention until I thought it was about Caius and Tori falling in love and nothing else because that’s what most of the beginning of the book is about. By the time Trevor is in the story I lost interest as to what he would be involved in.
The story was lacking something…suspense? A thrill? Not even the romance between Caius and Tori made my heart melt. I felt nothing! It’s a light dystopian read but maybe I wanted more because most dystopians I read are fast paced and filled with danger.

This one was not for me but I think if you like a light dystopian young adult book, there will be others who will enjoy this better than I did.

BLOG TOUR} ARC Review | Don’t Read the Comments

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Don’t Read the Comments

Author: Eric Smith

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 368

Publication Date: January 28, 2020

Categories: Gaming, Young Adult, Contemporary, Coming of Age

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Divya Sharma is a queen. Or she is when she’s playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game. Divya—better known as popular streaming gamer D1V—regularly leads her #AngstArmada on quests through the game’s vast and gorgeous virtual universe. But for Divya, this is more than just a game. Out in the real world, she’s trading her rising-star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mom pay the rent.

Gaming is basically Aaron Jericho’s entire life. Much to his mother’s frustration, Aaron has zero interest in becoming a doctor like her, and spends his free time writing games for a local developer. At least he can escape into Reclaim the Sun—and with a trillion worlds to explore, disappearing should be easy. But to his surprise, he somehow ends up on the same remote planet as celebrity gamer D1V.

At home, Divya and Aaron grapple with their problems alone, but in the game, they have each other to face infinite new worlds…and the growing legion of trolls populating them. Soon the virtual harassment seeps into reality when a group called the Vox Populi begin launching real-world doxxing campaigns, threatening Aaron’s dreams and Divya’s actual life. The online trolls think they can drive her out of the game, but everything and everyone Divya cares about is on the line…

And she isn’t going down without a fight.

Thank you to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

Don’t Read the Comments hit home for me because my son, he’s 7, wants to be a YouTuber, gamer, streamer – and I’m trying to learn the lingo. Can you tell? 😂 My hubby is a PC Gamer and my son is already following in his footsteps so the fact that this story is about the gaming world – is awesome.

Divya is an online gamer and she streams herself playing this one popular game. She’s built a big enough following that gaming companies send her product to advertise, which is helpful because she sells it to help pay the bills. Yes she’s a teenager, but her dad left and it’s just her and her mom.

Aaron Jericho loves gaming too but he’s not a pro like Divya, in fact he wants to work in the video game industry writing stories and scripts for the game itself! Of course his parents want him to be a doctor, sounds about right!

These two teens have a moment where their online worlds collide and maybe, just maybe they can actually have a relationship in real life. But first Divya has to help her mom and deal with these trolls trying to ruin her life.

Just this being about the gaming industry was interesting to me because my son and hubby are gamers. I own a Nintendo Switch lite so I’m not big on it – but it’s eye opening to see the problems that are present in the gaming world with the trolls bothering Divya and ruining her reputation to seeing the process of Aaron and his friends creating a game. I like how we see two sides to the gaming industry.
Diversity is a given in this book and I like that.
This book shined a light on girl gamers in this masculine world – it’s amazing what they have to put up with in the online world and the real world. Some real world problems that arose in the book was connected not only to Divya but her best friend, Rebekah, who was assaulted by a group of boys at her college. The fear is there in Divya and Rebekah and I’m glad the story didn’t shy away from what they felt. The story also brought up issues like bullying, trolling and doxing.
Divya and Aaron’s relationship is a slow burn and they don’t meet in real life until late in the book. But their relationship is cute because it starts off as friendship. I enjoyed watching the two of them get to know each other.
Love that no matter how hard it got for Divya, with those trolls harassing her – she kept fighting back. Even though she was scared, she fought back. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Aaron’s family dynamics seems like what most parent/teen relationship would be like when said teen wants a career in gaming. Already I have talks with my son trying to point out that games are made and created, someone takes the time to illustrate the graphics, the story line, the big companies that make them, etc…and he’s 7!! I relate to Aaron’s mom wanting the best for your child and a steady path, a steady career…you know – with benefits and a retirement package. 😂

I was interested in this book because I have gamers in my life. For people not into gaming, I don’t know how much this story would interest them. There is a lot that takes place in a virtual world, the online game that Divya plays. I found it fun and interesting, but I don’t know if that is everyone’s cup of tea.
Triggers: memories of assault, harassment, online trolling/bullying

Like I said earlier, this one hit close to home for me and it made me learn a lot of things I didn’t know about the gaming world. I loved how it show cases the gamer and the game creator. Most importantly it brought up the issues of the toxic online culture that is present in the gaming world and social media and it talks about boundaries too. I enjoyed this one and it was a super quick read for me. I look forward to reading more books from this author!

Book Review | Emergency Contact

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Emergency Contact

Author: Mary H.K. Choi

Format: Paperback (owned)

Pages: 391

Categories: Contemporary, Coming of Age, Young Adult, Romance

For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.

Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him.

When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.

Emergency Contact is the first book from Mary H.K. Choi. I read Permanent Record first and then saw Emergency Contact on sale and decided to buy it. Don’t be fooled by this gorgeous pink and gold cover, this story gets deep into issues I wasn’t expecting.

Penny is an antisocial, snarky, judgmental freshman in college but underneath she’s got issues. She was raised in a single parent home, with a mom who is very popular in town – which Penny despises.

Sam has a past too, with an alcoholic mom who didn’t do much mothering. He’s barely making ends me, struggling to take college classes and survive while dealing with ex-girlfriend drama.

Penny and Sam become each other’s Emergency Contact in this coming of age story.

The cover is so pretty but the story itself has more going on beneath the surface.
Penny is an interesting character and even can be described as “unlikable” – but I think that’s what I liked about her! She’s snarky, judgmental about others and herself, and antisocial. But she also judges herself due to life experiences – a few of them traumatic. Penny doesn’t even feel like there is anything about her to like and that made me sad. I LOVE that she had an emergency pack on her at all times! And she is passionate about writing. When she gets into college and lives with a roommate, we see her open up little by little – she’s awkward and fakes it sometimes but that’s real.
Sam, on the other hand, I just wanted to reach in the book and help him out. He cries a lot, but it’s because he’s not in good shape, he had a horrible childhood, he’s addicted to his ex-girlfriend and maybe he’s an alcoholic too though he’s quit since he quit her. Sam is barely making it on his own but he doesn’t give up, because he finally is texting someone, his emergency contact, Penny. Sam has panic attacks, he’s depressed, he’s stressed but texting Penny is a lifeline for him.
Like her other book, Permanent Record, anxiety is present in Emergency Contact. We see Sam go through a panic attack to the point he thinks he is dying. I love that the author brings up anxiety in young people, especially in college aged students because they are adults but learning how to adult. And for kids like Sam who totally get off track and try to get back on…it’s hard.
Penny and Sam’s relationship is a slow burn romance. Clearly she’s crushing over him badly, but he has an ex-girlfriend that he’s trying to cut off ties with so they keep it safe with the texting friendship. I liked seeing how their relationship develops in a safe space and then finally taking the next step at the end.

Triggers: Rape, anxiety, panic attacks, toxic relationships, depression
I wish Sam could have reached out to Jude more since they are or was, semi-related. But I get it, that’s a complicated relationship too but I definitely felt for Jude. By the end of the book, I kind of want to know more of Jude’s story and hope she gets her own book.
The mom/daughter relationship really hit me in this book. Penny comes off like a brat to her mom, but it goes way back for Penny, she has abandonment issues! Mallory of all people gives her insight into moms and the way they act. I’m a mom now, my daughter is only three but that moment Celeste (Penny’s mom) says she was dreading the day her daughter would hate her…😞. Ugh, my fear.

I love this book because I think it’s characters and situations are so real and messy. I felt like I knew these people, and in my life yes I’ve known people just like them in identical situations! It shines a light on the anxiety those eighteen and over can feel as they become “adults” but still need help from their parents and for those who have no help? 😞 It’s a hard road. On top of that dealing with family problems, self-esteem issues, trauma and everything else? We ALL need an emergency contact. I’m so glad Penny and Sam had each other, in their safe spaces on their phones, even if it was just to say hi or just nonsense. Just knowing someone is there on the other side willing to respond sometimes feels like everything at that moment. I’m definitely glad I bought this one.

Book Review | Winterwood

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Winterwood

Author: Shea Ernshaw

Format: Hardcover (owned)

Pages: 323

Categories: Witches, Mystery, Romance, Young Adult

Be careful of the dark, dark wood…

Especially the woods surrounding the town of Fir Haven. Some say these woods are magical. Haunted, even.

Rumored to be a witch, only Nora Walker knows the truth. She and the Walker women before her have always shared a special connection with the woods. And it’s this special connection that leads Nora to Oliver Huntsman—the same boy who disappeared from the Camp for Wayward Boys weeks ago—and in the middle of the worst snowstorm in years. He should be dead, but here he is alive, and left in the woods with no memory of the time he’d been missing.

But Nora can feel an uneasy shift in the woods at Oliver’s presence. And it’s not too long after that Nora realizes she has no choice but to unearth the truth behind how the boy she has come to care so deeply about survived his time in the forest, and what led him there in the first place. What Nora doesn’t know, though, is that Oliver has secrets of his own—secrets he’ll do anything to keep buried, because as it turns out, he wasn’t the only one to have gone missing on that fateful night all those weeks ago.

For as long as there have been fairy tales, we have been warned to fear what lies within the dark, dark woods and in Winterwood, New York Times bestselling author Shea Ernshaw, shows us why.

I am a fan of Shea Ernshaw’s books. This is now the second book I’ve read from her and I have to say I love how she writes these witchy stories. By coincidence I always start reading them near a full moon and not even by choice…it just happens that way! If that isn’t magical, I don’t know what is.

Nora Walker is a “Walker”, she is descended from witches. She lives in the town of Fir Haven which is surrounded by woods. There is a boys camp, called the Camp for Wayward boys near her home and a boy went missing in a snowstorm. Nora finds the boy in the woods and she learns how he came to be lost, but it’s not what she expected at all.

The author has a distinct style to her writing. Once I read the first sentence, my world disappears and I’m in the world she has created. I love that both books I’ve read now have been about witches, she’s very good at it. Her writing is atmospheric. I felt the creepiness of the Wicker Woods especially when Nora explains things about the woods like how you can only take things from the woods during a full moon when the trees don’t see you do it! 😳 The trees are watching. This story is told like a magical, haunting, supernatural, eerie, fairy tale.
I love the setting of the story: a town that is alive in the summer because of lake life, and dead in the winter because the cold is fierce. Nora lives for the winters and the isolation it brings and when I say she is alone, she is ALONE. Her mom left the town, and her grandmother has died. I can’t even imagine living in a place like that all by myself. But just the vibe of the story comes through in the writing: the eerie town, the scary woods, the isolated feeling Nora experiences and a sinister event taking place at the boy’s camp was a recipe for making my spine tingle.
I kind of had an idea where the story was headed with Oliver and the dead boy at camp. There is a mystery that Nora is trying to uncover. I liked that this mystery was tied to these boys at camp and it brought the feeling of danger to the story, at least danger around Nora. I enjoyed trying to guess at what happened.
Nora is a Walker and all Walker women are witches. I absolutely adored the black pages dedicated to a Walker woman between some chapters. I thought it was done beautifully because it was a family tree and spell book at the same time. And we get to see Nora’s entry. 😍
That ending with Oliver and Nora. ❤️
Also I have to mention the book cover is beautiful (I have the white OwlCrate version), the naked cover is gorgeous, the pages that are black with the branches…I love all the little details. 😍

Some things were a bit repetitive, like Nora saying there was a dead boy. Also she said she was a Walker, a lot. Haha…we know Nora! You Walker women are pretty amazing.
The romance is a slow burn almost to the point it felt a little forced to me when they let their attraction take over. But it still made me enjoy the twist at the end – actually that twist made my heart just thump a bit harder.
Triggers: drowning

I’m in love with Shea Ernshaw’s writing. She just knows how to set the mood perfectly for a full moon, witchy, reading night and what a coincidence that I’ve read her books on these nights! Winterwood is haunting and it wove its spell around me. I look forward to reading more books from this author!