Aw, spring is in the air (finally, let's take this day-to-day) so that means that it's time for LOVE.
Showing posts with label 2 stars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2 stars. Show all posts
Friday, April 5, 2019
Friday, March 29, 2019
Friday, February 22, 2019
Friday, February 8, 2019
Les Petites Revues [#12]
Another week and another set of mini reviews coming your way! This week we've got twisty grim reapers, boring historical fantasy, and a fast-paced con scheme.
Friday, January 4, 2019
Les Petites Revues [#10]
Title: Two Can Keep a SecretAuthor: Karen M. McManus
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 stars
Two Can Keep a Secret proves that McManus knows how to deliver a twisty mystery and I will be gobbling up every book she comes out with. Two Can Keep a Secret isn't as WTF-worthy as One of Us is Lying, but it's pretty up there. Two Can Keep a Secret followed Ellery and her twin as they were sent to her mother's hometown while their mother was in rehab. There, they learned more about their aunt who disappeared years ago and the other girls who had disappeared since then. When I say this one is windy, I mean it. McManus would make you think that you knew what was happening, then pull the rug from under your feet. For all of us mystery readers who have a tendency of guessing the ending, you may be able to guess what happened, but you'll still feel shocked. Let me just say, that last line was enough to make me say, "whoa".
Author: Kara Barbieri
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Publisher
Rating: 2 stars
Sigh, White Stag sounded good on paper but it was not my kind of YA Fantasy. I'm a fan of broody, dark fantasy that is dedicated to its world. White Stag felt very YA-lite, it was full of humor (even though there ere some pretty dark situations) and usage of U.S. American terms like "cooties". From the beginning, I knew it wasn't meant for me and I just never got into the world. There were goblins who seemed to be more like fae than goblins and not a lot of descriptions regarding their powers and physical appearances. The plot itself was very fast-paced, but maybe a bit too fast-paced for me. The ending had a twist that I found interesting, but that was the best thing to happen to the book in my opinion. So if you're a fan of books like Royal Bastards or anything by Amanda Hocking, you may enjoy this one more.
Have you read any of the below?
What are your thoughts?
January releases are you looking forward to?
Friday, December 7, 2018
Les Petites Revues [#9]
It's another week of mini reviews! This week I review an engrossing contemporary novel, a problematic urban fantasy, and a boring romance. What a mixed bag!
Friday, November 30, 2018
Les Petites Revues [#8]
I think I'm really digging these mini reviews guys! This week, I bring you a not-so-YA fairytale, a summer cute opposites-attract romance, and a Christmas romance with not a lot of Christmas.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Friday, August 17, 2018
Book Review: The Raging Ones
Author: Krista Ritchie and Becca Ritchie
Genre: Young Adult | Science Fiction | Romance
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: August 14, 2018
Source: Publisher
Format: e-ARC
In a freezing world, where everyone knows the day they will die, three teens break all odds.
Franny Bluecastle, a tough city teen, dreams of dying in opulence, to see wealth she’s never known. Like the entire world, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday.
Until the day she does.
Court Icecastle knows wealth. He also knows pain. Spending five years in Vorkter Prison, a fortress of ice and suffering, he dreams of life beyond the people that haunt him and the world that imprisoned him.
Mykal Kickfall fights for those he loves. The rugged Hinterlander shares a frustrating yet unbreakable connection with Court—which only grows more lawless and chaotic as their senses and emotions connect with Franny.
With the threat of people learning they’ve dodged their deathdays, they must flee their planet to survive. But to do so, all three will have to hide their shared bond as they vie for a highly sought after spot in the newest mission to space. Against thousands of people far smarter, who’ll live longer, and never fear death the way that they do (goodreads).
I am confused and unimpressed.
Friday, August 3, 2018
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Book Review: Sky in the Deep
Author: Adrienne Young
Genre: Young Adult | Historical Fiction
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: April 24, 2018
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.
Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.
Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.
She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating (goodreads).
Meeehhhhhhhhhhh.
Thursday, April 12, 2018
Book Review: Final Girls
Author: Riley Sager
Genre: Adult | Thriller | Mystery
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: July 11, 2017
Source: Purchased
Format: Physical
Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie–scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to—a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them, and, with that, one another. Despite the media's attempts, they never meet. Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past. That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished (goodreads).
Final Girls was unexpected.
Friday, February 23, 2018
Book Review: Heart of Iron
Author: Ashley Poston
Genre: Young Adult | Science Fiction | Romance
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: February 27, 2018
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him.
Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them.
When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.
What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves (goodreads)?
Heart of Iron was a lot and not enough at the same time.
Friday, February 2, 2018
Book Review: Prince in Disguise
Author: Stephanie Kate Strohm
Genre: Young Adult | Contemporary | Romance
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: December 19, 2017
Source: Library
Format: Physical
Life is real enough for Dylan—especially as the ordinary younger sister of Dusty, former Miss Mississippi and the most perfect, popular girl in Tupelo. But when Dusty wins the hand of the handsome Scottish laird-to-be Ronan on the TRC television network’s crown jewel, Prince in Disguise, Dylan has to face a different kind of reality: reality TV.
As the camera crew whisks them off to Scotland to film the lead-up to the wedding, camera-shy Dylan is front and center as Dusty’s maid of honor. The producers are full of surprises—including old family secrets, long-lost relatives, and a hostile future mother-in-law who thinks Dusty and Dylan’s family isn’t good enough for her only son. At least there’s Jamie, an adorably bookish groomsman who might just be the perfect antidote to all Dylan’s stress . . . if she just can keep TRC from turning her into the next reality show sensation (goodreads).
It's official - I can't do Young Adult contemporary.
Friday, December 15, 2017
Book Review: Between the Blade and Heart
Author: Amanda Hocking
Genre: Young Adult | Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: January 2, 2018
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
Valkyries have one great responsibility: to return immortals to the afterlife by slaying them. As a Valkyrie, Malin has always known that the balance of the world rests on her ability to carry out orders. But when Malin discovers that her mother spared the life of an immortal who was destined to die, her world is thrown into chaos.
Malin not only wrestles with the knowledge that her mother might not be who she thought—she’s also thrust into the path of a gorgeous blue eyed guy named Asher who needs her help slaying the rogue immortal who destroyed his family. The balance of the world is at stake. And, as Asher competes with Malin’s ex for her love and loyalty, so is her heart (goodreads).
The Blade and the Heart reads like a Young Adult novel from 2011.
Friday, November 17, 2017
Book Review: Alone
Author: Cyn Balog
Genre: Young Adult | Mystery | Thriller
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: November 7, 2017
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
When her mom inherits an old, crumbling mansion, Seda’s almost excited to spend the summer there. The grounds are beautiful and it’s fun to explore the sprawling house with its creepy rooms and secret passages. Except now her mom wants to renovate, rather than sell the estate—which means they're not going back to the city…or Seda's friends and school.
As the days grow shorter, Seda is filled with dread. They’re about to be cut off from the outside world, and she’s not sure she can handle the solitude or the darkness it brings out in her.
Then a group of teens get stranded near the mansion during a blizzard. Seda has no choice but to offer them shelter, even though she knows danger lurks in the dilapidated mansion—and in herself. And as the snow continues to fall, what Seda fears most is about to become her reality… (goodreads)
That escalated quickly.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Book Review: The Hollow Girl
Author: Hillary Monahan
Genre: Young Adult | Horror
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: October 10, 2017
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Five boys attacked her.Now they must repay her with their blood and flesh.
Bethan is the apprentice to a green healer named Drina in a clan of Welsh Romanies. Her life is happy and ordered and modest, as required by Roma custom, except for one thing: Silas, the son of the chieftain, has been secretly harassing her.
One night, Silas and his friends brutally assault Bethan and a half-Roma friend, Martyn. As empty and hopeless as she feels from the attack, she asks Drina to bring Martyn back from death’s door. “There is always a price for this kind of magic,” Drina warns. The way to save him is gruesome. Bethan must collect grisly pieces to fuel the spell: an ear, some hair, an eye, a nose, and fingers.
She gives the boys who assaulted her a chance to come forward and apologize. And when they don’t, she knows exactly where to collect her ingredients to save Martyn (goodreads).
I was expecting a bit more from Hillary Monahan.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Book Review: The Ravenous
Author: Amy Lukavics
Genre: Young Adult | Horror
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: September 26, 2017
Source: ALA
Format: ARC
From the outside, the Cane family looks like they have it all. A successful military father, a loving mother and five beautiful teenage daughters. But on the inside, life isn't quite so idyllic: the Cane sisters can barely stand each other, their father is always away, and their neglectful mother struggles with addiction and depression.
When their youngest and most beloved sister, Rose, dies in a tragic accident, Mona Cane and her sisters are devastated. And when she is brought back from the dead, they are relieved. But soon they discover that Rose must eat human flesh to survive, and when their mother abandons them, the sisters will find out just how far they'll go to keep their family together (goodreads).
The Ravenous was spooky but predictable.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Book Review: Akata Witch
Author: Nnedi Okorafor
Genre: Middle Grade | Magic
Publisher: Speak
Publication Date: July 11, 2017
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
Sunny Nwazue lives in Nigeria, but she was born in New York City. Her features are West African, but she's albino. She's a terrific athlete, but can't go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing—she is a "free agent" with latent magical power. And she has a lot of catching up to do.
Soon she's part of a quartet of magic students, studying the visible and invisible, learning to change reality. But just as she's finding her footing, Sunny and her friends are asked by the magical authorities to help track down a career criminal who knows magic, too. Will their training be enough to help them against a threat whose powers greatly outnumber theirs (goodreads)?
Akata Witch feels like Harry Potter but misses the interesting plot and engaging characters.
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Book Review: Reaper
Author: Kyra Leigh
Genre: Young Adult | Paranormal
Publisher: Paula Wiseman
Publication Date: May 9, 2017
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Sixteen-year-old Rosie Wolf is sure when you die, you go straight to Paradise, until she wakes to discover she has died in an accident and that Paradise isn’t what she thought it would be.
Rosie Wolf was sure that when her dad died, he went to Paradise. After all, isn’t that where everyone went? But when Rosie wakes up in a strange hospital bed and finds out that she’s died in an accident, she learns things aren’t always what you think they will be.
Now her father feels further away than ever, and Rosie is left to deal with the Grim Reaper, who isn’t a man in a black cloak, but a beautiful woman with a bad attitude. The Grim Reaper tells Rosie that before she can move on to Paradise, she has to go back down to Earth and collect three souls. But Rosie quickly realizes it’s not so simple.
To complicate matters, Rosie meets Kyle, a boy who is different than anyone she’s ever known. He’s cute, smart, and funny. Rosie’s been warned to stay away from the living, but she doesn’t want to. What will happen if she doesn’t (goodreads)?
Reaper stretches itself too thin and struggles to tell a story.
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