Butcher & Blackbird by. Brynne Weaver | Book Review

Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Butcher & Blackbird

Author: Brynne Weaver

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 360

Publication Date: 6/4/24

Categories: Contemporary, Serial Killers, Horror, Dark Romance, Crime

Every serial killer needs a friend.
Every game must have a winner.

When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of a like-minded, pitch-black soul. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country. But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?

Butcher & Blackbird is the first book in the Ruinous Love Dark Romance trilogy of interconnected stand-alone dark romantic comedies. This dual POV novel ends on a HEA.

Content Warning: gore, killing, accidental cannibalism, torture, voyeurism, body horror

Well, I finally read this book and wow yes it is dark as advertised and I’ll remind you to read all the trigger warnings for it before you go into it. I didn’t cover it all in my content warning above, but it is in the book.

I was so curious how I would find this one because my fascination with true crime and serial killers. But there is such a clever twist where these serial killers actually hunt and kill actual bad guy serial killers! And yes there is romance thrown into the gory mess of the killing happening in this story. Was a bit too gory for me yes but there is humor and romance to help balance things out!

Speaking of the romance, it happens actually over a few years, which I thought was interesting and I don’t know if that worked for me because they will meet once then it will be months before they interact again. They met up for these competition games between one another to see who would get the serial killer first. They do a lot of texting but I did love how Rowan was patient about it all. Once they get together though it gets very spicy and kind of sweet with how these two serial killers fall for one another.

I enjoyed seeing how this concept came together in the story though and found it very unique but again, it was a bit too gory for me.

My Final Thoughts:

If you like gore, serial killers, crime stories, spice, humor and romance, then definitely give this one a chance.

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House of Thorns by. Isabel Strychacz | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: House of Thorns

Author: Isabel Strychacz

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 304

Publication Date: 8/20/24

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Categories: Young Adult, Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Sentient House, Romance

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

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

In the vein of The Haunting of Hill House , a teen returns to the mysterious house from her past to search for her missing sister and uncover the truth of Brier Hall in this atmospheric and eerie modern gothic novel.

Lia Peartree is haunted—by memories, by her past, by secrets, by the ones she left behind. Five years ago, the Peartrees fled their home—the infamous ancestral Brier Hall—and never looked back. But her oldest sister went missing that night, and there’s been no sign of her since.

In the aftermath, the Peartrees are traumatized and get by however they can. Lia’s remaining sister Ali says yes to any bad idea, and Lia tries so desperately to be the perfect daughter that it’s tearing her apart. But as the five year anniversary of the night they left nears, Lia begins seeing her missing sister everywhere, and memories of Brier Hall won’t leave her alone.

When Ali disappears with no warning except a cryptic phone call—“don’t follow me when I’m gone”—Lia is sure she’s gone back to Brier Hall. Lia must go home one final time and face what haunts her in an effort to find her sisters and uncover the truth of her past.

Content Warning: missing/death of a sister

This one was very interesting. There is a haunted house called Brier Hall that the Peartree family inherited but the story starts after an event that took place with the family there five years ago. There are hints about it being haunted, a Peartree sister going missing or died, another Peartree sister is on drugs and not coping well in their new town. Lia is trying to move on and forget when her sister Ali comes and says maybe their sister Avery isn’t missing or dead at all. They go back to the town where Brier Hall stands and will try to find Avery one last time.

The vibes are creepy, especially when they are back in the house. There are some memory flashback and we also get a second person, point of view from the house itself which is very creepy especially since I was reading this at night.

It’s a short book at 304 pages and the story moves on quickly to Lia and Ali being at the house but all the speculation of what they saw as kids growing up there and the mystery of it all was losing my attention and making me impatient for some big reveal. I thought the reveal was interesting but I wasn’t totally invested by then. I did like the sisterly bonds even though they had complicated feelings about one another which is normal in any sibling relationship.

My Thoughts:

There were some things I liked but I think I just wanted more. Maybe I’m not the right audience or just wasn’t in the right mood, but if you like sentient houses and lots of creepy vibes, you might like this one. This actually would be a good read for spooky season.

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The Champions by. Kara Thomas | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The Champions

Author: Kara Thomas

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 336

Publication Date: 8/27/24

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Categories: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller

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

Thank you to Delacorte Press for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

From the author of The Cheerleaders comes another dark YA thriller set in the same town of Sunnybrook. When a mysterious accident befalls a member of the all-star high school football team, the town’s deadly history stands to repeat itself—and the price of discovering the truth is higher than anyone could imagine.

It was the deaths of five cheerleaders that made the town of Sunnybrook infamous. Eleven years later, the girls’ killer has been brought to justice, and the town just wants to move on. By the time Hadley moves to Sunnybrook, though, the locals are more interested in the Tigers, the high school’s championship-winning football team. The Tigers are Sunnybrook’s homegrown heroes–something positive in a town with so much darkness in its past.

Hadley could care less about football, but shortly after she gets assigned to cover the team’s latest championship bid for the school newspaper, one of the Tigers is poisoned at a party, and almost immediately after, Hadley starts getting strange emails warning her to stay far away from the football team.It’s becoming clear Sunnybrook’s golden boys have secrets, and after a second player is mysteriously killed, Hadley’s beginning to suspect that someone wants the team to pay for their sins. Or does this new target on the football team have something to do with what happened to the cheerleaders all those years ago?

As an outsider in Sunnybrook, Hadley feels like she’s the only one who can see the present clearly, but it looks like she’s going to have to dig up the darkness of the past to get to the bottom of what’s happening now. Luckily, there are still some Sunnybrook High grads who never left–people who were around eleven years ago—and if she can just convince them to talk, she might be able stop a killer before another Tiger dies.

Content Warning: underage drinking, death, mention of hazing, mention of rape

I never read The Cheerleaders but always wanted to and then I got the arc for The Champions and thought I could jump into the story without reading the first book and I think I caught up with everything pretty good.

Hadley is an outsider at Sunnybrook high school which has a winning and popular football team. She’s new to the town so she wasn’t there when the five cheerleaders died there in the past but of course she’s heard of it. She wants to go into the journalism and belongs to the school newspaper when she gets a chance to interview the football team but gets embroiled in something deeper.

This is a story about a school covering up the bad deeds of some of the popular boys in class and how things get unravelled and Hadley being in the middle of it all even if she is an “outsider”. She’s not best friends with any of the popular kids but they know her and talk to her so she’s not ignored at school.

I liked that the story moved fast and I didn’t get lost even though I didn’t read The Cheerleaders. It is the typical story of a cover-up in the athletics department of a popular school and kids getting hurt or killed because of this secret. I do think at times there were too many names for me to follow and I kept having to remind myself who was who.

My Thoughts:

This is a pretty solid, quick read! I was invested in finding out what the football team was covering up and it’s pretty bad but I’m glad in the end there was some justice.

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That Weekend by. Kara Thomas | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ghostsmith by. Nicki Pau Preto | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Ghostsmith (House of the Dead, #2)

Author: Nicki Pau Preto

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 448

Publication Date: 8/13/24

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Categories: Young Adult, Fantasy, Series, Paranormal, Romance

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

Thank you to Margaret K. McElderry Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

In this action-packed finale to the House of the Dead Duology, Wren and her friends put everything they know to the test as they battle the living and the undead to save their world.Wren is still reeling from the revelation that the mother she thought was dead is actually the Corpse Queen, a ghostsmith with the terrifying power to control the undead. It was Wren’s own mother who created the iron revenants—an army of near unbeatable undead soldiers. When the iron revenants attack, no one in the Dominions will have the strength to stand in their way.

Now Wren, Leo, and Julian find themselves once more in the Breach, this time on the run from Wren’s father, who is determined to secure more power for himself and the House of Bone. The three are desperate to stop the upcoming war, but working together is easier said than done with Julian still furious about Wren double-crossing him. And to make matters worse, Wren is plagued by powerful new abilities that force her to reassess everything she knows about being a bonesmith.

When Wren’s long-lost twin brother shows up and vows to help her destroy the well of magic that feeds the iron revenants, she must decide if trusting him is worth potentially playing right into their mother’s hands. After all, the dead might be dangerous, but it’s the living who can betray you.

Content Warning: violence, death, war, evil parents

+ Once I got this arc I read it right away because I loved Bonesmith. The world-building in this book is consistent and it widens up now that we meet Hawke, who is Wren’s brother. He’s lived a very different life from Wren where he is help making the revenants as Wren is on the opposite end trying to kill them. We get more information about their horrible mother, Ravenna.

+ I like how this story keeps moving forward with action, betrayal and the conclusion. I think it’s a great duology!

+ The story has a lot of things going on with Ravenna’s plans to rule with her undead army, Julian and Wren trying to forgive one another, Prince Leo trying prove himself, and Hawke coming to terms how his mother is not a good person and Wren might be the only sane family member he has. I loved that the romance didn’t overtake the story – I like how Julian and Wren eventually work things out in the end. I also liked Hawke and Wren’s story – it was hard to trust Hawke, but he’s got some issues to work out with himself and his mother. They eventually team up together and I love that for them.

+ And how can I not mention Leo who is as charming as ever and brought the humor in the story where it needed it since it’s kind of a dark read.

~ I honestly love how tightly edited this duology is and it wasn’t too long! But I do wish there was more time for Hawke and Wren to get to know one another. I was surprised at how fast Wren forgave Hawke but it did show how Hawke was basically abused and controlled by Ravenna. Still, I wish the siblings had more time to get to know one another.

My Thoughts:

I appreciate how nicely this story actually moved. I loved the action which kept me interested in the story. It’s a dark story about the undead but I also liked the discussion about the dead – one side thinking they need to be set free, and the other that thinks the dead wants to be close to the living. Wren’s mother is an awful person but I’m glad despite having two horrible parents she turned out to be a fighter who was on the right side of things. The characters are great, the romance was just enough, and it’s a great conclusion to the duology!

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Bonesmith by. Nicki Pau Preto | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

ARC Review | Heart of Flames ⭐️⭐️💫

Book Review: Crown of Feathers (Crown of Feathers, #1) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Castle of the Cursed by. Romina Garber | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Castle of the Cursed

Author: Romina Garber

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 304

Publication Date: 7/30/24

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Categories: Young Adult, Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, Mystery, Gothic, Paranormal, Romance

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

Thank you to Wednesday Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A delicious and dark gothic romance from bestselling author Romina Garber!

THE HOUSE IS ALWAYS HUNGRY…

After a mysterious attack claims the lives of her parents, all Estela has left is her determination to solve the case. Suffering from survivor’s guilt so intense that she might be losing her grip on reality, she accepts an invitation to live overseas with an estranged aunt at their ancestral Spanish castle, la Sombra.

Beneath its gothic façade, la Sombra harbors a trove of family secrets, and Estela begins to suspect her parents’ deaths may be linked to their past. Her investigation takes a supernatural turn when she crosses paths with a silver-eyed boy only she can see. Estela worries Sebastián is a hallucination, but he claims he’s been trapped in the castle. They grudgingly team up to find answers and as their investigation ignites, so does a romance, mistrust twined with every caress.

As the mysteries pile up, it feels to Estela like everyone in the tiny town of Oscuro is lying and that whoever was behind the attack has followed her to Spain. The deeper she ventures into la Sombra’s secrets, the more certain she becomes that the suspect she’s chasing has already found her . . . and they’re closer than she ever realized.

Content Warning: violence, kidnapping, death, loss of a parent, depression, grief

+ The gothic vibes in this book is nice. Estela moves in with her estranged aunt who lives in a Spanish castle called la Sombra. It’s dark, it’s falling apart, it’s old and she feels like someone is watching her. The town around la Sombra, feeds into the lore of the castle and the families that have lived there, almost like they are the rulers of the town. Estela learns about her family’s dark past and I thought where the story took me was quite unexpected.

+ Estela feels like an unreliable narrator at first because things that have happened in her life without a normal explanation. Also, because of her parents death – she’s being treated for PTSD and she doesn’t at times trust her own memories so I thought that made more engaged in the story because I didn’t know where it would be heading. I thought her growth and journey was strong though.

+ I did like the twists in the story, especially the ones I wasn’t expecting. There is a whole theme of family in this story that I thought was done well, especially when it’s about family secrets and there is a lot that Estela uncovers about her family, good and bad.

~ There is a paranormal romance in this story. Sebastián is a dark presence in the castle that is trapped and only Estela can see him. She finds out that he’s a vampire which even more fantastic given the gothic atmosphere of the book and I love paranormal romance. But I didn’t love the romance in this one. I didn’t feel the chemistry between them, even though there were heated moments, it fell kind of flat to me. It’s a bit too insta-love for me especially for someone like Estela going through so much trauma. I wish there was more build-up to their attraction.

My Thoughts:

I like how this book took me on an unexpected, twisty, and mysterious journey with Estela who is overcoming some difficult things like grief and trauma. I thought the gothic vibes were great and la Sombra was definitely creepy but I felt like I needed more from the story and wish the romance wasn’t so insta-love.

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A Magic Fierce & Bright by. Hemant Nayak | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: A Magic Fierce & Bright

Author: Hemant Nayak

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: 7/9/24

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Categories: Young Adult, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Magic, Dystopian

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

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A young technomancer teams up with a handsome thief to save her sister in this propulsive, magic-filled young adult fantasy that is perfect for fans of Gearbreakers and Iron Widow .

Adya wants nothing more than to be left alone. Content to be loyal to no one but herself in the isolated jungles of South India, she dreams only of finding her lost sister, Priya, and making enough money to take care of their family. It’s too bad that her rare ability to wake electric machines—using the magic that wiped them out five centuries ago—also makes her a coveted political pawn. Everyone seems to believe that her technomancy can help them win the endless war for control over the magic’s supernatural source.

These senseless power struggles mean little to Adya. But when her enemies dangle news of her sister before her, she’s all too quick to leap at the chance to bring Priya home—even if it means teaming up with a rakish, disreputable thief in order to do it. With the threat of invasion looming ever larger on the horizon, Adya must reconcile the kind of person she is with the kind of person she wants to be and untangle the web of intrigue, conspiracy, and deceit that threatens to take all of India down with it.

Content Warning: violence, death

+ The world building in this one is very unique. It’s a mixture of sci-fi and fantasy, in India. There is technomancy which is about magic and machines, which I thought was neat but maybe a better explanation of how this world came to be would have been helpful.

+ Adya is the main character and she’s gifted with technomancy. And she’s really connected to her sentient Yamaha motorbike, it’s like a friend to her which I thought was cool. I’d say she is very brave and loves her family. Her family is gone, except for her brother and maybe a sister, who she hasn’t given up hope on finding. Dsouza is her rival but we learn he’s more than a thief or renegade or whatever dangerous guy he’s portraying. I’d say there is some rivalry flirting going on between them but it’s not a focus at all. I think the two of them were fun together.

+ This story has a lot of action and violence that I wasn’t expecting. I think it made the story move fast. There was mention of Indian mythological creatures like the naga, drongo and yaksha.

~ The reader gets thrown into the story which made it hard to get my bearings at first. I would have liked more history about this world and what happened. I could grasp that Britain was trying to invade India but I don’t know why and at first I thought this was taking place in the past but then realized it was in the future since they had modern things.

~ Would have loved to connect more to the characters.

My Thoughts:

I thought this was an interesting and unique story because of the technomancy and sentient motorbike. Adya is an interesting character who can make machines magical. The Indian mythology added a lot to the story to make it more fascinating. I do feel like I didn’t quite connect to the characters but the story did move fast because it had so much action, sometimes very brutal. I think if you are into India, rebellion, sci-fi, magic and dystopia, this one may interest you.

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Flawless Girls by. Anna-Marie McLemore | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Flawless Girls

Author: Anna-Marie McLemore

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 304

Publication Date: 5/28/24

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Categories: Young Adult, Finishing School, LGBT+, Mystery, Horror, Thriller

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

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Soler sisters are infamous in polite society—brazen, rebellious, and raised by their fashionable grandmother who couldn’t care less about which fork goes where. But their grandmother also knows the standards that two Latina young ladies will be held to, so she secures them two coveted places at the Alarie House, a prominent finishing school that turns out first ladies, princesses, and socialites.

Younger sister Isla is back home within a day. She refuses to become one of the eerily sweet Alarie girls in their prim white dresses. Older sister Renata stays. When she returns months later, she’s unfailingly pleasant, unnervingly polite, and, Isla discovers, possibly murderous. And the same night she returns home, she vanishes.

As their grandmother uses every connection she has to find Renata, Isla re-enrolls, intent on finding out what happened to her sister. But the Alarie House is as exacting as it is opulent. It won’t give up its secrets easily, and neither will a mysterious, conniving girl who’s either controlling the house, or carrying out its deadly orders.

Tautly written, tense, and evocative, this is a stunning YA novel by award-winning and critically acclaimed author Anna-Marie McLemore.

Content Warning:

I was really intrigued with the first part of the book, Isla and Renata are sisters and sent to a finishing school that is so supposed to help refine a girl into a proper young woman. The author’s note does explain how Isla is intersex and we do get Isla’s thoughts about feeling out of place which is nice since an intersex character is rare in books.

When Isla goes back to find out what happened to her sister, that’s when things go kind of over my head because I’m just here for the mystery/horror/thrill of it all but what we get are…metaphors about jewels. I get what the author is trying to do and it is poetic but I was not in the mood for it. The message in the book is awesome though and strong because it talks about how this finishing school not only taught the girls how to act and be in the public eye, but it was also teaching them how to cause division between the girls also. I kind of loved the scene of the girls being wild at night when they could let loose. The story talks about the expectations of women and how women have to wear several faces.

I totally get the vision but I think it was too much imagery for me.

My Thoughts:

I like the intersex representation and the strong message about society’s expectations about girls and how we have to live. I don’t think there was much horror in the story except for maybe psychological horror. There is a lot of symbolism and imagery with this book and I totally get it but I definitely had to be in the right mood for this one.

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The Lake House by. Sarah Beth Durst | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The Lake House

Author: Sarah Beth Durst

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 356

Publication Date: 4/25/2023

Categories: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Mental Health, Survival, Horror, Paranormal

Claire’s grown up triple-checking locks. Counting her steps. Second-guessing every decision. It’s just how she’s wired – her worst-case scenarios never actually come true.

Until she arrives at an off-the-grid summer camp to find a blackened, burned husk instead of a lodge – and no survivors, except her and two other late arrivals: Reyva and Mariana.

When the three girls find a dead body in the woods, they realize none of this is an accident. Someone, something, is hunting them. Something that hides in the shadows. Something that refuses to let them leave.

Content Warning: survival, violence, injuries, anxiety, death

+ The book cover is what made me want to read this book! It’s so dark and creepy plus the font use in the title is giving, 70’s horror vibes.

+ Surviving off-grid in the wilderness? A killer out there? Oh this story was filled with lots of tense moments. All I could think about was how smart these three girls were even though they could have been freaking out. Not to say they didn’t freak out, especially Claire, who is dealing with major anxiety, but I love how no matter how scared things got – they worked together to stay alive. There is a lot of time to get to know each girl also, they each have an interesting backstory, but Claire is the main character.

+ I thought there were some pretty good plot twists and the action was really good.

~ I kind of wish there was more explanation of the thing haunting the island. I understood it as it was explained but because there was a paranormal element to it. I think it would have been cool to have hints about in in the beginning of the book, at least more of the lore of the island.

~ There is a lot of down time where the girls talk about their lives which is fine since we have to get to know them. But we are in Claire’s head/thoughts a lot…I think too much at times.

My Final Thoughts:

I think this one is perfect for teen readers! It’s not too much horror, but I thought the being off-grid part and knowing there is a killer in the dark woods around them definitely added a lot of tension to the story. I liked how these girls worked through their weakness to come together as a strong team. They had some funny moments together too which was nice especially in the situation they were in. I did wish it had a little more horror and thrills and maybe less therapy sessions between the girls but I still found it entertaining. And at least it did bring up issues that teen girls may be facing so that part makes it relatable.

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One Last Breath by. Ginny Myers Sain | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: One Last Breath

Author: Ginny Myers Sain

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: 3/5/24

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Categories: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Thriller, LGBT+, True Crime, Paranormal

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

Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readersfor giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The New York Times bestselling author of Dark and Shallow Lies delivers another chilling supernatural thriller filled with murder, romance, and a decades long mystery that haunts a small Florida town.

The perfect blend of Natasha Preston, Krystal Sutherland, and Delia Owens, with a paranormal twist.

Mount Orange, Florida, is famous for two things.

The spectre of Bailey and Celeste’s murders cast a permanent darkness over sunny Mount Orange. Tru has always lived in that shadow. Sometimes, it seems like she knows the long-dead Bailey, feels the dead girl in her bones. Now she’s supposed to head to FSU in the fall with her boyfriend, but those unsolved murders – and the death of her own sister – invade her every thought. It’s only in the shadowy deep, 100 feet below the surface of Hidden Glen Springs, that she can breathe.

When a strange girl named Rio rolls into town, hell-bent on figuring out who killed Bailey and Celeste, Tru can’t resist entangling herself in the thrill of solving the decades old mystery any more than she can resist her familiar, aching attraction to Rio.

As the summer heat ignites, so does the spark between Tru and Rio…along with their other-worldy connection to Bailey and Celeste. But when someone begins stalking them, the girls become convinced the killer is back in town. And if they keep digging into the past, Tru and Rio know this time, it could be their blood that makes the springs run red.

Content Warning: death, alcoholism, violence

This was an interesting read with a few twists in the story but it is a slow burn of a mystery. I felt like the first half was so slow but I did feel the setting was pretty immersive. I could feel that Florida humidity and mosquito bites just from the descriptions. It’s definitely a summer vibe kind of book and does take place before Tru is supposed to go off to college. Tru comes from a broken home, her father is a deadbeat, her mom is grieving and dealing with it through alcohol and her older sister, Dani was killed years ago in a hit and run.

Tru does have a bit of a awakening as she is steadfast in love with her best friend since forever, East, but then meets a girl Rio who intrigues her. There is a twist to their attraction though.

And throughout this story this town is the place where murders that happened years ago that people are obsessed with, including Tru. When Rio comes along, the both of them do some digging and find out the truth. I think I caught on quick who was the suspect and I was right. There is a lot that happens in the second half of the book which is what helped hold my attention. Also I don’t know that the paranormal aspect of the story worked for me

My Thoughts:

Overall, this one was too slow for me but the ending is where most of the action happens. I thought the twists were interesting but I didn’t quite vibe with the paranormal stuff going on. I think if you love mysteries you will really enjoy this one but for me it was just okay.

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Dark and Shallow Lies by. Ginny Myers Sain | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Bad Like Us by. Gabriella Lepore | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Bad Like Us

Author: Gabriella Lepore

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 281

Publication Date: 3/5/24

Publisher: Inkyard Press

Categories: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Thriller, Teen Readers

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

Thank you to Inkyard Press for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Two friend groups collide when someone turns up dead over spring break in this heart-thumping YA thriller for fans of One of Us Is Lying and We Were Liars

Spring break is a vibe—until someone gets murdered

Partying with popular classmates they barely know is not what Eva and her BFFs had in mind for their spring break. But things have been off ever since Miles’ academic career took a turn for the worse (they don’t talk about it), so a trip to a private beach lodge might be exactly what they need. And Eva won’t admit it, but the chance to reconnect with Colton is worth putting up with Piper’s constant livestreams to her thousands of “besties.”

At first, it’s all sand and waves, but tensions run high when an anonymous letter shakes up an already-flailing love triangle.

When someone turns up dead, Eva can’t even trust her closest friends—but she thinks she can trust Colton. As they get closer to the truth, they uncover secrets that upend everything they thought they knew about their fellow spring breakers.

Content Warning: death

I’ve read two other books from this author and enjoyed both but this one feels made for lower young adult readers. It’s definitely for the teen readers.

A group of teens go to a remote location for Spring Break, but things get out of hand when one of them ends up dead. This is a short book, coming in at under 300 pages so it’s a quick read. A lot of the story happens during their time at the private beach lodge but there are flashbacks leading up to the spring break trip which gives us insights into some of the main characters. There is a lot of suspicion between the characters as they try and figure out if one of them is the killer. My guess was mostly right but there was more in the reveal that I didn’t expect.

It was an okay read, but I wanted more thrills and suspense.