3 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and East Side Press for a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A town equipped with a ghost hunting family and sudden crazy happenings during a solar flare? Definitely an interesting premise and for the most part I think it was pulled off. The story did drag a bit in certain places and some aspects seemed unnecessary or placed in their for shock value. I think I would’ve enjoyed the story a lot more if it stuck to it’s main premise instead of adding unnecessary elements and plot devices.

Serious trigger warnings necessary for this book though and it would’ve been nice to know that upfront, especially because a lot of this stuff didn’t have to be included. Animal death, parental death, suicide, self harm, abuse, sexual assault, hoarding, and revenge porn all show up in this book heavy. Overall good story attempt, but the delivery could’ve been better.

This is such a beautifully written book and I can’t believe I’ve never read anything else by Jacqueline Woodson. It’s sad, it’s sweet, it’s a quick read and it’s still so relevant today. The story that I got was not what I was expecting, but I loved it anyway.

I...don’t really know how I feel about this short story. Strange is the first word that comes to mind, from the characters in it to the writing style. I’ll say this though: if anyone ever tells you that climate change literature can’t have humor to it, they’re wrong.

I have complicated feelings for Labyrinth Lost. On the one hand, a fantastic world has been created here, one that’s beautiful and enticing and filled with POC magic. On the other hand, it took a LOT for me to get into this story. I didn’t connect with it early on like I thought I would and I think that left me disappointed and dragging my feet to finish. I feel like I’m saying this a lot lately, but the MC Alex was so frustrating that I just wanted to shake and slap some sense into her. I know this was supposed to be about her journey and growth and coming to terms with who she is,but the whining...THE WHINING!!!

In the end though, I’m glad I did finish it though because like I said, it s magical story. I’m glad I stuck with it and hopefully, by the time I pick up the next installment, I’ll be more invested than ever. Also, I would love to see more of Alex’s sisters, especially Rose! I feel like her story and PPV would be very interesting to see.

I’m giving this a 5 and y’all are just going to have to fight me about it if you’re mad. Would be Witches, ghosts, curses, and small towns. Plus amazing execution. Like I said, y’all can fight me about it, but this was great.

I actually really liked this novella. While I still don’t think I like Taryn any better, I do understand her a bit more. For me, Taryn’s story showed how, despite what she seems to think of herself, she is just a selfish as anyone else in Faerie. Just as Cardan said, she’s awful and yet she really believes otherwise. It was nice to see her finally stand up and take what she wanted in the end, but she was still naive about what that meant. I can’t fault her for any of that because she’s human and she just wants to be loved and accepted. That doesn’t mean I have to like her though lol.

The best piece of The Lost Sisters for me is how it was told. This is supposed to be an apology letter from Taryn to Jude and it reads like one. It’s amazing how Taryn feels so justified in her actions that even while she’s supposed to be apologizing, she’s still laying some of the blame at everyone else’s feet but her own.

I do wish that there was a bit more to the story. The sword fight between her and Jude, the assassination attempt, the end of The Cruel Prince in general. Still, I think I may have enjoyed this more than TCP itself. OOP!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free Advanced Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was extremely excited about The Girl the Sea Gave Back. This is the first time I’ve read anything by the author Adrienne Young and I’ll be honest in saying that, unfortunately, it didn’t live up to the hype that’d I’d created in my mind. The premise of the story is intriguing enough, a girl living with a people who aren’t her own, torn between what she knows and what fate has in store for her. War is brewing around her and only she has the knowledge of what to do next.

Sounds interesting right? Unfortunately for me, the delivery was pretty confusing and the mythology was lacking. It was hard for me to understand everything that was going on and how the different tribes related to one another. There were way too many characters introduced and after awhile they all just became jumbled together. I couldn’t connect with any of them, including the two main characters and the story honestly seemed to drag along. I kept pushing, hoping that I would connect with the plot and story itself, but unfortunately it never came. Despite finishing the story, it just wasn’t interesting to me.

Thank you to Debbie Rigaud for the amazing opportunity to win a free signed copy of this book.

Did I really start and finish this in 2 hours? Yep! This was such a cute story. For me, there’s something super special about a YA romance starring a young black girl as the main character because let’s be honest, we don’t get many of them. If The Prince and Me & Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s real life story had a baby, Truly Madly Royally would be it. It was cute, fluffy, and an all around quick and fun read. Zora and Owen’s story felt like a movie, from their meet cute beginning to their fairytale ending. The only real issue that I have is that the portion of the story concerning the royal wedding itself came and went really quickly. I would’ve loved to get a more in-depth look into that and maybe a few more scenes before everything was wrapped up in a neat little bow.

I did love the fact that Zora was her own person and she had her own ambitions and goals going for her. She wasn’t just interesting because of her love interest in the Prince, but because she had her own thoughts, purposes and goals surrounding bettering her community.

I posted a slightly more in-depth reaction/review on my blog, which is linked below if anyone wants to check it out:
https://bookswhitme.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/arc-review-truly-madly-royally-by-debbie-rigaud-release-july-30-2019/

As a side note, I’m not sure if Debbie intends on writing a follow up, but I would love to read about Zora’s best friend Skye and the budding relationship between her and Zora’s brother Zach. Just saying!

3 is my first thought. I didn’t push for 4 stars mainly because it was a bit hard to keep up with all the separate stories and characters, the storyline was slightly confusing and Evie was a bit annoying and too much to take. I did love the 1920s vibe and the creep factor of this story though.

I feel like on the Diviners end if the spectrum, we honestly just scratched the surface which is why I want to pick up the second book to see if it digs deeper into who the other Diviners are, their gifts and what’s coming for them. It took me some time to get used to the wordiness and how that author was drawing the story out, but I finished the whole second half of the book in one evening so that has to mean something right?
TW: murder, abuse, rape/sexual assault

Daughters of Smoke and Bone was never really on my radar before the Pages and Prose Book Club announced it as one of our August reads. Yes, I'd heard of it in passing, but no one I knew had ever read it (to my knowledge) or recommended it, so it was just one of those books that I came across and shrugged off on goodreads. Overall, I'd say it wasn't a bad read. I do want to know what happens in the sequel and I do think that it was beautifully written.

Karou seems to be a fearless heroine. While she doesn't have everything figured out, she has lived such a life of adventure that there's very few things in life that seem to give her pause. Akiva wasn't as intriguing to me as Karou was. In fact....for most of the story, I didn't really find myself connecting with Akiva or Karou's attraction to him. Yes we know he's insanely attractive because he's an angel and he's a warrior, but beyond that there's not much to his personality. We as readers eventually discover why Karou is so drawn to him but, I had a hard time buying into it because I just didn't get anything from him as a character.

I did love the setting of the story. The descriptions of the locations in Prague and Marrakesh were amazing and just set up the scenes in a gorgeous way. I think this is a testament to the author's writing style, which I wholly appreciate. I just wish I was left longing for more Akiva and the angels as I was left longing for the locations themselves. All in all, while there may have been some things lacking character development wise, I think that may be fixed in the next book. I say this because some of the other character questions that I had, about Karou, Brimstone, and the world of the chimera in general, were eventually answered, so here's to hoping that happens in the second installment.