Four best ghoul friends, a music festival gone wrong, and complicated relationships. When the world went through the Hollowing, it caused certain individuals to become ghouls who wanted to consume flesh... however the world adapted and created SynFlesh, a way for ghouls to eat and still behave like normal individuals. now four best friends: Zoey, Celeste, Val, and Jasmine have all become ghouls and are just living their best life, Celeste ( the influencer of the group) got them tickets to a music festival in the desert. With a cooler full of hard selzers and SynFlesh, the girls just want to have fun... except things are about to get bloody when at the festival the girls realize that someone is drugging ghouls to make them go feral and bodies begin dropping. When Val is drugged they have to figure out who and why, and it does not help that some band boys have made it very clear that they think ghouls deserve to die.... on top of that Zoey has begun to have a crush on Celeste but having a crush on your best friend can be difficult if you dont want to ruin the relationship. What’s a ghoul suppose to do? With more ghouls being infected, and more bodies dropping, Zoey and her friends will have to find a way to get the cure before it’s too late and they all become feral or before no one makes it out of the festival alive. This was such a cute read it gave me Jennifer’s Body vibes and I adored it. The friendship and care these girls have for each other was so sweet and as the iconic scene from Jennifer’s Body goes:

So yes, I definitely recommend this book. It’s queer, its romantic, its fun and campy and its just an all around great read!

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

A girl who finds a strange spoon with the word SALEM etched on it and soon her life is turned upside down as she is recruited into a network of witches. Lucky St. James is anything but lucky, she’s currently working dead end jobs, she’s being evicted from her tiny Toronto apartment she lives with her grandmother, and her crush doesn’t like her back. So when she uncovers a silver spoon etched with a crooked-nosed witch and the word Salem, humming with otherworldly energy... something is bound to happen. Hundred of miles away in Salem, witches who work in VenCo are currently looking for the last two witches to fit their coven and beat the deadline of their prophecy... and Lucky just so happens to be the sixth witch they need for their coven. Lucky is soon recruited and now its up to her and her coven to find the last witch before it’s too late... and escape a powerful witch hunter who is bent on killing Lucky. This was an interesting story about a treasure hunt essentially, it doesn’t really have. a lot of magic and certain parts of the book lagged and felt like it was dragging or lost a bit of the moving plot, but overall the end picked up a bit and wrapped everything up. Overall an okay read and I would recommend it for people who like treasure hunt adventures.

*Thank you Morrow Books and Harper Collins for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

When a trip to Rome between famous influencer Amelia Ashley and her boyfriend Josh ends with him coming home alone things are about to get messy as Amelia has essentially disappeared and now people are demanding to know what happened to her and Josh is suspect number one... especially since they found her blood in his suitecase. Josh maintains that he is innocent... or is he? Enter Harper Delgado, a hacker who happens to go to school with Josh... and when a friend of Amelia and Josh asks her to search for Amelia because she just knows something is off with Josh and that something is wrong with Amelia, Harper finds herself entranced in the case and who Amelia Ashley truly is. Amelia is a popular food and travel influencer... so soon the world’s attention is on Josh and now we will have to see what happened to her and who she truly was... and who Josh truly is.... but there is one missing piece, two years ago another girl went missing and no one ever mead headlines or hastags about her but she is deeply connected to Amelia’s own disappearance. The story was an interesting one told in multiple POVs and parts, we start off with Josh and his current situation and move back to Amelia’s past and then to Harper as she cracks the case. The book ends super abruptly, like it’s a bit unsatisfactory because it could definitely use an epilogue or two or three more chapters discussing the ending of the case and what happens to all the characters. Overall it’s an interesting mystery that could have been better if the ending was more fleshed out and certain characters made different decisions but overall a good mystery.

Spoiler

Also the final confrontation was a bit dumb because I mean after all your meticulous planning and revenge plot, you are going to face off against someone who you thought killed your sister and not call the police, alert, the media, or even carry a weapon or self defense thing???? Dumb. So out of character for her too. Everything was going so well until the end and I was just kinda frustrated with how abrupt the ending was and the decision of the character in the way she approached the guy she was trying to get revenge against.... seriously.

Spoiler

Amelia Ashley is actually Amelia Lee ( a half chinese half white girl) who completely changed herself and passed as white to become an influencer all to get revenge against Josh. Josh who changed his name and is actually Bennett, the guy who was dating Amelia’s sister Mignon before she went missing. Amelia knows Bennett is involved and she just wants to find her sister, even if it means creating a whole new fake personality and playing the long game to get revenge against him she is willing to go to any length to finally find her sister even if it just means finding her body. The truth is Josh is obsessive, possessive, and unhinged. He killed Mignon after she tried to break up with him and he buried her body in his family’s property. He digs up her body again and Amelia catches him and then he tries to kill her too but Harper has already been following the case and figured out who Amelia is, she also released all the info into the press. The book ends with Amelia stabbed and Harper coming into the woods to save her as she also called the police to arrest Bennett/Josh.

*Thanks Netgalley and Union Square & Co. - A subsidiary of Sterling Publishing, Union Square & Co. for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A bet gone wrong, an end of the year party that leads to a devastating video being shown and a couple breaking up... but then a girl goes missing and another one is found dead... who is the killer? Tegan and Jessica use to be best friends, but after a fight they are not enemies. Jessica is currently dating Jake, Tegan’s ex boyfriend who she was in love with. Jake pressures Jessica into going to Tegan’s end of the summer party.... but as the night ends a video of him having sex with Tegan is shown on TV and when he wakes up the next day he has no idea what happened.... except now Tegan is missing, Jessica has dumped him, and the police think he has something to do with it. Complicated relationships, secrets, drugs, and rivalries all come together in this story about one bet gone wrong and two ex best friends in love with the same guy. Honestly this one was meh, the story dragged on for a bit and the mystery was okay at best but honestly it felt like it dragged on. Overall an okay read.

Pride and Prejudice with a hint of You’ve Got Mail set in Christmas time between two booksellers? SIGN ME UP. She loves Christmas, he’s the Scrooge. They’ve been frosty to each other since the first day they met. Gabriella Di Natale and Jonathan Frost are the epitome of work enemies. They both work at the city’s most beloved independent bookstore, Bailey’s Bookshop but when they both discover that their store might be closing and one of them might be fired... the competition is on: whoever sells the most books gets to stay. Yet things get complicated when Gabby starts to question if she really knows Jonathan or if she’s deeply misjudged and misunderstood him. To make matters even more complicated she’s got an ex who will not stop calling and begging her to get back with him... and he’s the son of the enemy large bookshop.... and Gabby also has an online friend she might be falling for... who might be closer than she realized. The more Gabby starts to see that she’s misunderstood Jonathan the more she begins to realize she never really knew him and that there just might be some sparks between them. This was a really cute enemies to lovers holiday read and wraps up perfectly!

Six teens, one RV, a trip that goes awry... and now they are stranded with no signal and a killer with a rifle watching and listening to them... the only way they can get out is if one of them reveals the secret... or they all die. Red Kenny is going on a road trip with five friends: her best friend Maddy, Maddy’s older brother Oliver, Oliver’s girlfriend Reyna, Red’s secret crush Arthur, and a classmate, Simon. But when their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, they soon realize that it was no accident as all their tires are destroyed, there is no cell signal, someone is taking shots at them... and a walkie has appeared with a killer on the other end telling them that everything that has happened has been planned. With eight hours until dawn they’ll have to figure out how to escape or which one is the target. But things get more complicated when they all have secrets and when it comes to light... will they be able to face each other. Oliver and Reyna committed an unspeakable act, Simon has a family member that might be involved with crime, Arthur is the mysterious unknown person, and Red has a deep dark secret of her own.

Let me start off by saying it was interesting at first but quickly, and I mean quickly became dull. The characters were pretty unlikable and unbearable, but I guess we have to give them a pass for being teens? Honestly, I adored the author’s previous books so this one was disappointing to read because of how much it lacked. You could honestly skip 30% of the book and still figure out the ending. Sadly this one was a miss for me, though I would definitely recommend giving the author’s works a read because her other series, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is fantastic.

Spoiler

Oliver killed Reyna’s secret boyfriend and they never told anyone, Simon’s uncle sells stolen cars, Red lied about being the witness to a major crime case and is in fact taking money to lie about it, Arthur is working with the gun man to reveal who the real killer is in the case his father is being framed for and who he knows Red is lying about. Red is taking money from Oliver and Maddy’s mom because she wants Red to help her win the case so she can become DA while she in fact killed Red’s mother, a Captain of the police force Maddy knew her mom killed Red’s mom.

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A girl with a dark family legacy is willing to do anything to save her sick mother... even venture into the dark woods to request help from a dark fae sorcerer. He is a fae sorcerer who has a demon bound to his heart, weakening him and waiting for the bonds to break and consume him and everything he loves...unless he finds a sacrifice to take his place. Venya is consumed with guilt, blaming herself for her mother’s condition, and is willing to sacrifice anything to find her a cure. When she ventures to find Kassimir the Dark, she is attacked and saved by him... not knowing he is the same fae she is seeking. Kass wants nothing more than to save himself and get rid of the demon that is bound to him, but with Starfall getting closer and closer, he grows weaker... until he is literally handed the answer to all his problems in the form of a beautiful elf who he could sacrifice in his place... there’s only one problem: they are falling for each other. But their secrets... their betrayals.... how can they hope to make it work? Can they find a way to trust each other and save each other before it’s too late or will the demon be unleashed and the world end on Starfall. This was a really great and fast read, the story and world are contained and feels complete. The romance wasn’t too fast and the story definitely gave me Beauty and the Beast vibes.

Grace loves her job, her community, and her friends... but she is desperate for someone to hook up with, especially since it’s been a dry spell ever since she left her abusive ex. When a coworker leaves her a little horny she goes home... only to find herself giving an exhibitionistic show to an unknown presence outside her window. She wakes up the next day and knows its a mistake... except she finds herself searching for said unknown again and actively giving a repeat show.... and then she actually meats the person... a adorakable and charming mothman who is a scientist. Grace wasn’t looking for a relationship but Merrick is too adorable and cute to resist. Grace knows he’s only here to do his program and will leave once its done... but she finds herself wanting him to stay and thats unlike her. Now she’ll have to ask herself if she is willing to risk the most dangerous thing of all, giving her heart away and letting herself fall in love after her disaster of a marriage. This was a super cute read!

Witches, curses, monsters, and magic come together in this story about three people who’s lives are intertwined. Aziza El-Amin is the only hedgewitch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts and she makes it her duty to protect the world from the magical creatures. She’s bargained with wood nymphs, rescued tiny fairies from cats, banished flesh-eating shadows from parks... but when a dark entity awakens in the forest slowly destroying the boundary between the the human world and the fairyland...things are about to get out of hand. Then she meets Leo Merritt, a boy who was cursed to forget his true love on his sixteenth birthday. Leo is determined to beat his family curse and get back his memories of his true love, but he’s hit one dead end after another. He feels a giant hole in his life and feels haunted by just the thought of his true love. He’s desperate for answers and thinks that only Aziza can help him. In exchange for her help he will provide backup for her nightly patrols. But during one of their patrols, a creature in the woods begins to set its sights on them, and their only way to survive is with the help of the mysterious young necromancer named Tristan, who is hiding his own dark secrets. Tristan has made a mistake, he’s entered into a servant bond with the hag of the woods in exchange for one wish he’ll owe her 9 years of his life as a servant... unfortunately she’s made him do unspeakable things and he just wants to get out of it by now.... and the reason he entered into the bond in the first place? To break the curse of his beloved. Tristan, Aziza, and Leo must stop the hag of the woods, but there is a price to be paid and secrets will be revealed... there will be consequences and they will have to see if they can trust each other enough to survive. This is the first book in a trilogy and it definitely was a good start. The story is perfect for fans of The Hazel Wood and The Darkest Part of the Forest, I am excited to what happens to the characters in the next books and definitely enjoyed this one!!

Spoiler

: Aziza kills the hag and in turn frees all the trapped spirits as well as entering into the new contract with Tris, Tris is actually Leo’s true love and entered into the contract to break it, but he only served one year and now he is bounded to Aziza for the next 9 years. They entered into a contract in which: she only has to make sure he doesnt get on a boat. Tris still has not told Leo that he is his true love. Leo found out his younger sister Hazel is actually a changeling and that his parents killed the fairy that took his real sister, and said fairy cursed their family before dying. Leo still doesn’t remember Tris but is warming up to him. Aziza and Tris don’t tell Leo that Tris is his true love as even mentioning the curse hurts Leo’s head. The story ends with Leo insisting that Tris comes to live with his family and him.

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Roaring Brook Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Hazel Sinnett is a doctor who is still reeling from the events of the past year in which her mentor turned out to be an immortal killer and her beloved was hanged and accused of being a murderer... and the fact that she gave him a veil that turned him into an immortal. She’s been waiting for Jack to find her, to come back to her... but it’s been months and not a single word or visit. he spends her day wondering if he is alive or dead. She takes patients and maintains Hathornden Castle. When saving a life leads to her arrest Hazel thinks she is going to be sentenced to rot in prison... until she is specifically sent to be the personal physician to the beloved Princess Charlotte, the sickly granddaughter of King George III. While Charlotte’s disease eludes Hazel, Hazel soon finds herself being attracted to a new doctor and being drawn into the mysterious club known as the Companions of Death. Charlotte begins a sort of romance with the brilliant doctor Simon while still in love with Jack, she’s flipping between her feelings for the both of them, and then there is the mysterious social club that calls to her... all of the members who are famous people who are now immortals including Voltaire and Byron. Then Hazel’s life completely changes when she spots Jack, very much alive and avoiding her. She is going to hold onto him no matter what and demands that he explain why he has left her this whole time. Jack can’t see a future for them when he is immortal and she is very mortal, he can’t watch her die, he doesn’t want her brilliant future as a surgeon to be weighed down by someone who has nothing to give her, but Hazel won’t have any of that. Jack has her entire heart and the only way he says they can be together is if she can undo his immortality. When Hazel realizes that the princess’s illness isn’t actually an illness but something much more difficult, she is determined to help her and that means getting Jack to help her do what they do best... retrieve a dead body. Meanwhile, Jack and Hazel must find a way to create a future together, which might be threatened by the Companions of Death when Hazel inadvertently ruins one of their plains... and one of their members might be out for her death... but Hazel has a little secret up her sleeve, and after all this is a love story. This was the sequel to the first book and though it definitely wraps up everything nicely and sweetly, it was a bit harder to get into this one than the first book. This one suffered from the issue that many sequel books do, pacing, lack of story and overall motivations. The first third of the book deals with Hazel helping the princess and her new love and it definitely feels slow and a bit bogged down, but it definitely picks up by the end when Jack makes a return. I did enjoy the ending of the book as Jack and Hazel do get the happily ever after they deserve and overall the series was a great one to read.

Spoiler

Spoilers: Princess Charlotte wasn’t actually sick, she was heartbroken because she was in love with another woman and they both would be forced to be married off, but Hazel helps Charlotte fake her death and run away. Jack and Hazel get married and Hazel secretly takes the immortality tincture at their wedding mixed in with the wine, so when one of the Companions of Deaths come to kill her and shoot her in the heart, she is already immortal. Jack and Her spend their lives together and promise to think about finding a cure in about 200 years if they want to not be immortal again. Hazel runs into Beecham ( her immortal killer teacher) who gives her money and says that life works out in funny ways and they part. Overall a good ending, Simon ( the other doctor love interest helps Hazel cover up the Princess’s death and he goes home to his family and they part as friends

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