Magic, Monsters, and Mayhem come together in the sequel to A Deadly Education. This is the second book in the trilogy and picks up immediately after the first one. El is now in her senior year and she is in for one hell of a ride. After barely making it through her junior year she is now prepping along with her friends their ultimate battle plan for dealing with the monsters as their graduation looms over them... but strange things have been occurring, and they have specifically been surrounding El. She is given a schedule that is almost impossible to work with and more monsters have been showing up to attack her while running away from her sort of boyfriend Orion, who is desperate to kill more monsters. In fact, it’s almost as if they school is coming after El, and wants something from her. Soon El and her friends find that their graduation plans are going to have to change and that things are about to get even more hectic as El resolves herself to save everyone and Orion is hellbent on killing every single monster. On top of this, El and Orion have to sort out what they want to do after graduation, specifically where they stand with one another.... and that ending. THAT ENDING HAD ME GASPING BECAUSE I NOW NEED THE NEXT BOOK IMMEDIATELY!!! I NEED TO KNOW HOW THIS ENDS AHHH. This book felt a bit slower for me compared to the intense atmosphere of the first book despite El being more at risk and having this be her graduate year. Maybe its due to the fact that she is now surrounded by more friends and has built an actual support system for herself in this book. I really loved Orion and El’s relationship growth and how they get to know each other more and go out of their way to care for the other despite El being a bit of a mean crank and Orion being a bit of a single goal orientated on just hunting monsters type of guy. They just work in a way that I like, overall this story did not go the way I had expected, especially with the whole graduation arc and what the school actually wanted from El in the end. Their game plan definitely was not something I was expecting after everything happened in the first book and I can’t wait to see how the third book wraps up everything!

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Here we go! The finale in the duology by Janella Angeles. The story picks up right where the first book left off with the competition ending in disaster and famous ex show-man Daron Demarco’s fall from grace being on the front page. Daron however has bigger concerns, mainly how to find his sister who he thought was gone and the contestant he fell in love with, Kallia. Kallia on the other hand is reeling from falling through a mirror and being stuck with the one boy who is so full of secrets and lies she can barely discern if he can be trusted, Jack. Kallia is stuck in a new place and must work together with the one guy who has hurt her in ways she never thought but maybe there is more to him and her than she ever knew. Filled with magic, romance, and secrets, this is a conclusion that wraps up Kallia and Daron’s journey but leaves it open for Jack’s journey. The story definitely sweeps away any potential for the Kallia/Jack relationship being a thing ( I really preferred this pairing but oh well), they do start to build a friendship and start to learn to trust one another. The relationship between Kallia and Daron is very clear and there is no question that these two people are in love with one another. Overall, a nice ending to the story, and I am excited to see Jack’s story if the author continues!

*Thanks Netgalley and Wednesday Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A princess in need of an army to regain her kingdom, and the sacrifices she must make. The story follows Askia, the heir of the Frozen Crown of Seravesh. She has escaped her city due to the fact that her cousin got her grandfather killed, stole the thrown, and is working with the man who seeks to destroy her kingdom and enslave her. She now turns to her only possible ally and must traverse the world of court politics to secure an army to go to war with her to reclaim her throne. This book is filled with court politics, and let me just say this, about 90% of the male characters are all in love with her:from her guard, to her friend to even his dad the emperor. Askia was great at first... and then page 300ish hit and she was all down for the let’s marry the emperor who has 6+ wives and is as old as her own dad and has children who are older than her. She barely likes him and suffice to say

Spoiler

I was gagging when I got to the part where she and him nearly sleep together. I understand why she thinks this is her only option but throughout the book so many other characters were telling her there were other ways to work the issue rather than selling herself and her body. I just... it just didn’t work for me. I was just so happy by the end when someone came just killed off the emperor. The world in this book is set up where women dont really have any power and that men can marry several spouses. I mean just thinking about the situation where a girl barely less than 20 is marrying a guy who had 2 kids by 22 and has a son that is 24ish, that knows her and her parents and has known her since she was a child???? ew.

. Askia is a strong character and I loved that about her, she is different and would do anything, ANYTHING (they expressly show how much she is willing to do) for her country even if it means giving up everything. I adored Illya though, let that be known. He was my absolutely favorite. The book has a lot of romance and politics and ends with a major cliffhanger. It’s an interesting read and there is a unique magic system created in this world too.

Picking up after the major cliffhanger in the first book, Askia has been kidnapped by her enemy Radovan and taken to his kingdom to be his wife. The majority of this book is spent with Askia being held hostage. She must learn to work in this new environment and stall her impending death. While she is navigating this new court, Illya, her guard and person who loves her, is finding a way to get to her and rescue her. The story mostly focuses on the court experience of Askia as she gets to know the ghosts of the dead queens and find a way to escape. The story ended sort of abruptly, while there is a resolution, I wish there was an epilogue of sorts to show what happened, especially to Illya and her. It just felt a bit unfinished. If I’m being honest, this one felt a bit more dragging than the first one since it goes on for a bit about Askia’s court life and new life with Radovan. There are two point of views in this book compared to the first one, one being from Askia and the other being from Illya. I still loved Illya, but overall an okay ending that could be expanded on.

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

One weekend, a Pageant contest and a Fandom convention happening at the same hotel and two people who are about to find love. Kaylee “Kay” Beaumont, is a fanfic writer for a Sherlock Holmes fandom known as the Greatcon and has three things to accomplish at this con: 1.Try out they/them pronouns to see how it feels 2.Wear more masculine-presenting cosplay and 3.Kiss a girl for the first time, all the while hopefully avoiding her hometown bully and pageant queen Maddison (aka Miss North Carolina). Pageant Queen Taegan Miller (Miss Virginia) is secretly queer, is a huge part of the Greatcon fandom, and is here to win the pageant contest in order to have money to go to her dream college. To Teagan’s surprise there is a fandom convention for her favorite fandom happening right in the same hotel as her pageant, and she is willing to do anything to just get a sneak peak of it. With the help of some amazing friends both Teagan and Kay will have the most amazing weekend of their lives, filled with romance, friendship, and finding the strength to be your truest self, this was a wonderful read.The story is told in alternating POVs between Teagan and Kay, and getting to learn both their individual struggles and strengths was great. The story was fun and definitely had a unique setting. I would highly recommend this read!

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A deadly game has begun, with 24 hours to complete all the tasks given to her by an all seeing anonymous user and if she fails her kidnapped little sister will be killed.... but by completing the tasks she’s risking the lives of her friends. Crystal Donavan has a deep dark secret she shares with her friends, a secret they’ve all been keeping together for years. But one day Crystal suddenly gets a message with a picture of her little sister gagged and bounded threatening to kill her little sister if Crystal doesn’t play the game. At first she’s given fairly easy tasks: steal a test and drop it off in a locker, bake brownies, make a prank call.... but all of these have consequences that impact the lives of her friends. Soon Crystal is spiraling to try and find out who is behind it and how to save her friends and her sister. She can’t tell anyone or else her sister will be killed, and with the clock ticking and more tasks coming in, she will have to outsmart the gamemaster if she wants to be the last one standing. This book sounded like it would be right up my ally, unfortunately I had already figured out the entire mystery and who was behind it early on. No one is really likable in this story and honestly I don’t fault the gamemaster for doing what he did, because if you are looking from their perspective Crystal and her friends really messed up. I found certain decisions questionable and the whole revenge plan that the gamemaster had had me questioning how this was a sound plan at all??? Like???? seriously?? I did take into consideration that Crystal is a 16 year old girl who is dealing with a lot so she’s not going to make the best decisions and she does try her best. Overall an okay read, but it didn’t live up to my expectations unfortunately.

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Finding love in dental school. Harper is on her way to getting a placement into a top oral surgery residency program, she has studied and worked her butt of to remain the top of her class and get the residency of her choice. She is a perfectionist and is so close to achieving her dreams. But one day, suddenly a very hot guy falls, literally, into her lap, and his name is Dan. Dan has joined dentistry school late, and has only done so in order to appease his mother and his dead father’s wishes. He absolutely hates it, but he wants to do something for his mother, despite not really doing well in it. Dan loves numbers, finance, and suddenly has developed a very large crush on the cute dental goddess that is Harper. Harper is firm that they can only be friends though because despite how much they both like each other she does not want him as a distraction when she is so close to achieving everything she’s every wanted. Top make matters more complicated Harper’s anxiety and stressors are flaring up more and more, and it’s becoming harder and harder to hide it from her friends. Soon Harper and Dan find that they have more in common than they thought and that sometimes things need to change for the better. Harper now has to ask herself if she’s willing to risk her carefully planned out future and take a chance on love and if she is ready to let Dan in. The story is told from both Harper and Dan’s POV and I absolutely adored Harper’s friend group, they were so supportive and caring and just all around fun. This was a sweet rom com that really examines the issues of anxiety and dealing with acceptance and when to recognize that you need help, even when you don’t want to admit it.

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Chloe Sevre is a freshman honor student, she’s hot, and she is diagnosed as a psychopath. She has just been admitted into college and her plan? Kill Will Bachman, a childhood friend who wronged her in the worst way possible and it’s time she made him pay. Chloe is one of seven students who is diagnosed as a psychopath in the school program which offered to pay for her tuition in return for her being part of their study. All she has to do is answer short survey questions about her moods and attend a weekly meeting. Things start off fine... until one of the students in the study is found murdered and so begins a game of cat and mouse between the remaining psychopaths and the killer.. the question is, is one of the other students in the survey the killer? The main characters of the story are Chloe, Andre (

Spoiler

a really nice kid who is pretending to be a psychopath to get the free tuition

), and Charles ( another psychopath who already knows Chloe and Andre’s dark secrets and is a politican’s son who is using his psychopathy to maintain a thriving popular life). Chloe and Charles are convinced the other has something to do with the murder while playing a game of tug of war over who gets to have Andre on their side. There is also this weird romance between Chloe and Charles despite Charles already having a girlfriend of 2 years who he keeps around just to maintain his facade. The story drags on for a bit and the two main arcs of Chloe trying to kill Will (

Spoiler

a frat bro who had raped her when she was 12 and made a video of it

) and finding out who the killer is. Overall an interesting plot and I definitely think it could have done without the romance between Chloe and Charles despite Charles keeping his girlfriend even in the end and continuing to have this weird thing with Chloe. I enjoyed reading Chloe's inner monologue and Andre was a really sweet character. I was much more enticed by Chloe’s revenge plan though. Overall an interesting read.

A combination of all the fairytales into one, add in political intrigue, and a large cast of characters?? AMAZING. An interesting twist on fairytales, set in a world in which all our favorite fairytale lands are combined into one and the histories of them are all mashed up. Filled to the brim with so much interesting fairytale politics as well as blends of cultures. The story focuses on Tala, a girl with a curse of repelling and voiding magic. Her family is given the duty of concealing Prince Alexei of Avalon (that’s right in this world The Royal States of America are joined by Wonderland, Neverland AND Avalon!!) until he is ready to reclaim the throne. Tala is joined by a group of new friends to fight the Snow Queen herself! This is the first book in a series and I can’t wait to see where the story goes in the next book. I enjoyed getting to read about Filipino culture and how the chapter headers foreshadows what happens in each chapter.


*Thanks Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A “And Then There Were None”-esque mystery novel with university students?? YES PLEASE. I adore a lock room mystery and this was definitely an interesting read, The killer was a fun twist and the overall mystery hooked me. I found this to be a fun mystery read, and though there might be some lack of character personalities, it was an overall fun read. The killer was an interesting reveal and their motives and ultimate ending was unique I think. I had sort of guessed who it was at the beginning but the twist of their motive and the ultimate reveal still surprised me.