General Description: Ross Quest works with her thieving family and has quite a reputation. however, when a heist goes wrong and Ross's mother is trapped, Ross realizes she's in way over her head to rescue her mom. Enter the opportunity of The Thieve's Gambit: a competition where the winner is granted a wish. Ross feels like she has no choice but to enter and hopefully win. However, her competitors don't make it easy. Can Ross win The Thieve's Gambit and save her mom?

The goods:
- The audiobook narrator was fantastic.
- The concept to me felt unique: thieves working on thievery tasks to be the best thief? Usually we're looking at a competition to be the best good guy, but not in this case and I appreciated the grey areas explored because of the concept.
- THE TWISTS were immaculate. I didn't see them coming (granted I didn't know it was a duology when I picked up the book...oops)
- I thought the tasks were fun and high stakes, but...

The loss of a star:
- ...they are not spaced out evenly. the time you spend on the first quest vs the last is jarring and I would have honestly loved to see all the quests get a similar amount of detail and time put into them to make the book flow a bit better.

Overall, if you like heist books, I feel like this should be your next read. If you like puzzling, high action books, this should also be your next read.

General Description: The city of San-Er hosts a deadly game where 88 folks get the chance for untold riches. The catch: only 1 of them can live to see it through. The elusive Princess Calla Tuoleimi throws her hat in the ring under a different name with one goal: Kill the King. Luckily, prince August has the same goal and offers to help Calla. Both of them aren't expecting a ghost from the past to show up: Anton Makusa. Under a different name, Anton enters with the goal of winning the riches to keep his love alive. However, when Anton and Calla meet in the games and temporarily form an alliance, what could possibly go wrong?

The goods:
- The idea of the game of 88 is unique and I loved having that plot to sink my teeth into.
- The politics of the book were twisty and mysterious, I loved it.
- The side plots were a nice supplement to the main arc of the story.
- Calla is a pretty bad-ass main character and I loved getting to see her in action. Anton and August interacting with Calla were some of my favorite scenes.

The loss of a star:
- The world building is EXTREMELY heavy. I feel like we are world building throughout the entire book and I just wanted to live in the world for a bit instead of continuously learning about it.
- Also there is one spicy scene that felt so out of place, definitely not needed in my opinion.

Overall, if you like dystopian-fantasy books and don't mind the world building, I think you'd enjoy this book.

General Description: Deka's village requires all 16 year olds to go through a ceremony to ensure the girls have red blood. If their blood is gold, they are a demon that cannot be easily killed. Deka has gold blood. After 9 different attempts to kill Deka, with no result, a mysterious woman comes to her village and gives her a choice: continue to try to be killed or fight for the empire. Will Deka be able to defend the empire that has essentially imprisoned her and those like her? How will Deka handle working with the empire? what troubles are people like Deka needed for that she may not be aware of?

ALLLL the goods:
- SUCH a unique and well described world. even listening via audiobook did not hinder any of my understanding of the world.
- The female friendship explored in this book was actually really beautiful and I was not expecting it.
- I appreciated how YA the romance was and it did not detract from the focus on the fantasy storyline, but also did not feel like a full on romantasy, which I thought was appropriate in a YA sphere.
- The pacing was absolutely fantastic, I did not want to stop listening to it
- Even though this is a series, I felt enough resolution at the end of the book that if there was not another book, I would feel pretty resolved. 

Overall, if you like YA fantasy and can handle a bit of gore, you should read this immediately.

General Description: Ama is a wedding planner who's asked to do a her biggest wedding yet. However, the couple only has one request: using a specific florist that Ama happens to have history with. Elliot Bloom knows Ama fairly well, but both don't necessarily want to work together as they have a rough history. However, in order to make the couple happy, they must book their differences aside (or face the head on) to make the wedding a success. Will the wedding go off without a hitch or will Ama and Elliot let their feelings affect their work? Can Elliot and Ama work out their history? 

All the goods:
- The reality TV vibes this book gave me were immaculate. I know it's not a reality TV book, but it felt like one.
- Ama's growth in this book was fantastic to read about. I loved the side plots surrounding her.
- The spicier scenes in this book made sense to the plot and did not take me out of the book (shocking!)
- The audiobook was very well done and I did not want to stop listening to it!

The loss of a half star:
- Elliot just makes such a DUMB decision in this book. I was so frustrated with him that it took me completely out of the book for a bit while I processed what he did. Please note, it was not harmful, just so annoying.

Overall, if you're looking for a spicier book with some reality TV vibes, this is the next book for you

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of the book. This is the 2nd book in a trilogy, so be aware of that going into any review as there will be spoilers.

General Description: Calla successfully finds herself after the games of Immortal Longings; however, so does Anton. But Anton is in August's body. Also, when Otta comes back to the world of the living and reveals the true crown is hidden in the world, Anton (as August) and Calla must work together to get to the crown before anyone else. However, as Calla learns more about her true self, can she trust August with everything she's learning?

What I liked:
- I do like the multitude of perspectives you get, it keeps you in the world.
- I really enjoy Calla as a main character
- The concept of the world is still unique and I liked that we got to see more of it in this book, however...

What was too much:
- The world building...I feel like we have been building this world brick by brick, page by page, and it doesn't really end. I am hopeful the 3rd book doesn't have as much world building.
- The main point of finding the crown felt very lackluster and I feel like I was left with a lot of questions on the crown. With it being the main point of the book, I thought more would be clarified. But I was wrong.

Overall, if you liked Immortal Longings, you should read this book. I definitely can see the 3rd book being an ABSOLUTE banger.

Thank you to Forever Publishing for the opportunity to read this book early!

General Description: Starting fresh on New Year's Day, Rachel Weiss realizes she wants to make some life changes as she turns 30. She constantly turns to her groupchat for advice. however, as she start to feel the familial pressure to start her own family, feeling unfulfilled at work, and her group chat starts to fall apart, Rachel realizes she needs to find herself first. Will she be able to go through her self discovery journey without the groupchat or will she stay falling apart?

The goods:
- Rachel's growth in the book is immaculate.
- I personally loved the messy times in Rachel's life that we saw, from her sisters to her friends to her mom.
- How the romance is handled in this book is something unique that i was not expecting but greatly appreciated
- It was a very snappy, fast paced book that i read in 2 days.

The loss of a star:
- I will admit, this book is VERY millennial. I found a lot of it funny, but sometimes, it was over the top cringy. I was definitely taken out of the book at points by the over the top attitude of some characters and some of the jokes.

Overall, I feel like if you don't like reality TV shows or millennial humor, this will not be the book for you. However, if you're in your mid-20s/early-30s, I feel like you'd be able to connect with the book and really enjoy it.

General description: Sloan is a serial killer to bad men. Rowan is a serial killer to bad men. Both are infamous. However, when Rowan stumbles upon Sloan trapped at one of her murder scenes, this blossoms a competitive spirit between the two. For the few years, the pair get assigned a random bad man to kill and they have to see who can do it first. During this time, their relationship starts to build. How will these two serial killers get along?

The goods:
- It was truly funny. I laughed out loud multiple times, which maybe wasn't appropriate, but I loved it
- Sloan's method of murder was truly unique and I loved seeing her personality shine through.
- The meet cute was honestly the perfect way to introduce someone to this book. I feel like it set the tone perfectly.
- Meeting the brothers definitely sets up the rest of the series nicely but I loved the focus on Rowan.

The loss of a star:
- The last 2 hours of the audiobook was drawn out. The ending was a bit boring/dragged on.

Overall, if you want a darker humored romance book, this fits the bill. I feel like this can be a good gauge for how much you can start to handle in the darker romance world, which is great to introduce yourself to new genres!

General Description: Eileen finds herself going solo to a trip that was meant to be with her entire book club. However, due a freak storm, she finds herself in the town of her favorite book series. This book series only has 4 out of 5 books completed because the author passed while writing the 5th book. Eileen is among the characters that have gotten her through so much, plus a new character named Anders. Eileen has to figure out what Anders' story is and try to get herself home. Can she do it?

The goods:
- The town absolutely sounds adorable. I would definitely read those books.
- Eileen goes through quite a journey of growth that I overall appreciate.
- The concept is absolutely fantastic, especially for readers who are constantly waiting for the next book in a series, it poses of the questions of how we would cope.

The loss of 1.5 stars:
- I truly hated the way this book ended. I was hoping it would end one way and I felt the ending did not make any sense in the progress of the book.
- I feel like the magic was not explained at all. There's no resolution around the magic.

This is the 3rd book in the series, but there's no spoilers in the description, only if you read the book.

General Description: Mel, a fashion influencer, gets the opportunity to visit a luxury resort in Canada. However, there's a mix up in booking and Mel has to find another place to stay or lose the luxury resort and potentially her influencing career completely. However, when Mel stumbles upon a bed and breakfast with a grumpy lobster man, she quickly realizes there may be more to discover about herself on this trip than just saving her career. Evan and Mel get off on the wrong foot, but once they start to communicate, their relationship take a turn. Can they handle the conflicts that come with a long distance relationship?

The good:
- The concept is cute.
- The beginning meet cute kept my attention and I was interested to keep reading, but unfortunately, that was it.

The loss of 2.5 stars:
- I just felt like their arguments were thought about in a backwards way? I just feel if i was in a similar situation, I would not have argued the way our FMC did.
-I feel like the FMC was put in a pretty bad light during one of the arguments that was not fair at all. I did not like how folks were made to view her.

Overall, If you've liked the rest of the series, I see no harm in it, but if you didn't like either the first or second book, no need to pick this one up.

General Description: Jamal heads to a protest in Baltimore to report on it. However, in Baltimore, a dome comes up to trap folks inside. The police are suddenly in this superhuman armor. Jamal finds himself getting closer to the bigger issue that have been going on that led to the dome being set up. Will Jamal be able to get out safely?

The good:
- The audiobook narrator voicing the characters was fantastic.
- While the relationships were quick in this book, i loved the side characters and growth shown
- The concept is extremely unique and kept me engaged.
- I love how you could read this and make ties to do, I feel like this is a great book if you'd like to think about how the world has been functioning today. It led to a lot of reflection on my part.

The loss of a star:
- I feel like the pacing was a bit wonky. I feel like we'd jump from place to place suddenly without any clear transition. however, I did listen via audiobook, so that could be an issue. But just something to be aware of.

Overall, if you're looking for a book that might hit a bit close to home with stories in the news but you want to critically engage with a book, this would do the trick! I'd love to see this analyzed by a room of students reading this book for the first time.