4.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this audio book.

Lucky Leap Day is about the old Irish tradition of women proposing to their men on Leap Day. Cara finds herself alone in Dublin over the leap day holiday and meets Finn-- a hot Uber driver/museum tour guide/band frontman. When they both have a little too much to drink on leap day, they decide to get married. A decision they both sort of regret in the morning even though they are obviously drawn to one another and have oodles of chemistry.

Finn ends up going back to Malibu with Cara to get their marriage annulled and to continue spending time together. Of course, miscommunications, opportunities, and declarations of love ensue.

I sincerely enjoyed this story. It was really cute and both protagonists were fleshed out and interesting characters. Cara has a great best friend who added some flair to the story who was just the absolute epitome of a best friend. I was so sucked into this story that I listened to it basically nonstop until I finished it.

There were a few things that just were a little *too* unbelievable for me and took me out of the story a bit. I also didn't like the epilogue. I thought it was silly and I found myself rolling my eyes throughout. However, I enjoyed the rest of the book so much that the epilogue and the couple of silly over-the-top moments only ended up lowering this to a 4.5 for me.

The narration was FABULOUS, with the narrator doing a lovely Irish brogue for Finn's dialogue. She emoted well for the characters without being completely over the top.

I would definitely recommend this to romcom lovers!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Y'all... This was just... not good. Every single person in this book has a dead mom, dad, both, sister, brother, etc. Why? It's totally unbelievable. Both of our main characters have a significant person in their life who has died and they were each suspected of murdering that person. I mean, come on.

This story was really weird in that simultaneously nothing was happening, but also EVERYTHING was happening. I'm so confused about this entire book. The characters have almost no personality or substance besides dancing and giving lectures to each other about sexuality. There are also trigger warnings galore, so please check those out below if you're considering this book. I will not be continuing with the second book in the series.


TW:
-severe bullying
-death of a sibling
-death of parents
-death of significant other
-person hit by car
-accidental pregnancy
-back alley abortion
-vomiting
-anorexia
-orthorexia
-blacking out
-heart conditions
-attempted stabbing
-blood
-outing someone's sexuality

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great title. It includes real (accurate!) scientific information at a level that is much more accessible for young readers. I also love that the astronomer in our story is a woman!

The end of this book includes some trivia and facts about our solar system and about stars in general. It also includes so information about how to be a good stargazer and how to use the sun to find north/south/east/west.

Overall very informative, but still super fun. Highly recommend for parents of scientifically-minded kiddos.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Mara and Val are nextdoor neighbors at the mall where they each have a business. Mara is a smart, geeky arcade game owner and Val is a romantic jeweler. Mara's business is constantly too loud for Val, and Val is obviously way too stuck up and pretentious for Mara.

Hijinks ensue when a robbery in the jewelry store leads to Mara and Val spending a lot more time together.

This was a cute rivals-to-lovers story that was uber sweet. It's definitely a Valentine's day novella with a lot of heart (see what I did there?). While I found it really cute, there just wasn't really a lot of character development. Because they were so one-dimensional, I found it hard to care about their romance and to forgive some of the over-the-top gestures that came across cheesy.

All in all, this was a cute and short Valentines themed romance. If that's what you're looking for, I would definitely recommend. But if you want a novella with a little more substance, I would probably pass on this one.

2.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.


African Town is the story of the last transatlantic shipment of enslaved people from the west coast of Africa. Our main characters are several teens who have been captured and sold by the evil king Glele and find themselves newly enslaved by an Alabama plantation owner. Written in verse, this title is beautifully heartbreaking. I felt so deeply for each and every character. They all had their own styles of speaking and their own struggles. All were fleshed out and well-written.

I hate to say that I "enjoyed" this title because of the subject matter, but it was objectively a beautiful book that told a very important story. I found myself trying to steal minutes here and there in order to finish this just that much faster.

The end of the book includes information about each of the people from the Clotilda and their families. It also included extra info about the slave trade and the descendants of Africa Town.

I would highly recommend this title in order to learn more about this important piece of American history. I have now purchased my own copy by pre-order to arrive on the day it's released.



Trigger warnings:
-kidnapping
-murder
-slave trade
-racism
-mention of rape
-manslaughter
-mention of war (civil war)
-death of a child (multiple)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The people next door is about Ash and Ellie who are thrilled to move into their new house. It may be a fixer upper, but it's just perfect for the couple who are excited to live out in the country where it's quiet. They only have one close neighbor-- a brother and his strange sister. Both seem harmless enough, and Ben is actually quite friendly and helpful. Until he starts to be a little too clingy and his sister Virginia starts to cross from strange to downright creepy.

This book had a lot of twists and turns and I never really knew where the story was going to end up. The author did a great job of keeping me on my toes and throwing me for loops without it being absolutely wild and out of nowhere. I also thoroughly enjoyed the narrator. She did a great job of making the characters sound distinct, and she even does a great Australian accent for Ash.

That being said, I do have a couple complaints and one of those pulled this story down a full star for me.
1. Ellie's best friend Roxanne is the absolute worst best friend you can imagine. She was SO annoying and I found myself wanting her to just implode.
2. We spend quite a lot of time in whiny Ben's head where he's just repeating the same things over and over and over. The book could have probably been a decent bit shorter if Ben's chapters had been shortened or even cut completely.
3. The overall length of the book was too long. The last 30% was absolute breakneck pace, but we had to (almost) suffer through 40% of the book that was painfully slow. The bit in the middle seemed decently paced, but I almost gave up on this book in the first 40% because I was so bored and ready for things to just start happening.
4. SPOILER***** I didn't like the mental health portrayal and how things ended up with Ben/Virginia. People will mental illness are already stigmatized enough and this type of characterization definitely doesn't help. This took the book from a 4 star for me to a 3.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This book was super fabulous. I would highly recommend it to any 8-14 year old kid who is into adventure books. This is a great addition to the "I escaped" series.

I escaped Egypt's deadliest train disaster follows Sam and his new friend Zahara who find themselves on a train from Cario to Luxor when one of the train cars catches on fire. They scramble to try to alert the engineer that there's a problem while also trying to get passengers to be aware of the dangers on board.

I enjoyed this so much-- from the spunky characters to the setting, it was all so great. There were photos throughout of some of the things our characters were facing. The art was a great additional touch and really added some color to the story. It was suspenseful without being too scary, which I think is a great balance for a middle grade novel.

The end of the book also included quotes from actual survivors of the accident and some historical information about Egypt as well. I think it's really cool that this book was a fun adventure story for kids while also being informational and educational. Well done to the authors!