When I saw Some Kind of Normal by Juliana Stone was up on Netgalley I immediately requested it. I loved her book Boys Like You and couldn’t wait to see what this one was all about.

Trevor was injured in a car accident and now has to deal with the after effects and included in that is the fact that if he wants to go to New York and play music like he had planned, he needs to work with a tutor to finish school. I liked Trevor – he was dealing with a situation that he had no control over and like anyone might, responded to it with anger. As he adapts to his new life, he realizes things may not be the same as they were before the accident, which makes him even angrier.

Everly is the pastor’s daughter and appears to have the perfect life. Key word here is appears. Everly knows something about her father and it has been eating away at her for a while. As Everly takes on the role of Trevor’s tutor, she has to figure out just how much she is going to share with him. I liked Everly. She is struggling and her anger at her parents is creating a rebellious streak in her. She doesn’t confide in them and she isn’t willing to trust their decisions. When she faces a situation that requires her to do whatever she can, she finally opens up to her father and finds out what is really going on with him and her mother.

Both Trevor and Everly are hurting and dealing with things that they don’t really want to have to deal with. I loved seeing the friendship develop between these two characters. They are both struggling with something difficult and as they begin to confide in each other, they start to realize how important they have become to each other and the friendship becomes more. Both are angry and both struggle with letting the other become important to them because they have lost the ability to trust.

I can’t say too much about the stories these two carry because I don’t want to ruin anything. With that said, I thought that Stone did a great job of developing these characters and their stories. Definitely consider checking this one out. If you liked Boys Like You, I have a feeling you will enjoy this one as well.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for the review copy.

City of Fae by Pippa DaCosta was one I came across unexpectedly and when I read the summary I was intrigued. I was in the mood for an Urban Fantasy and this one fell middle of the road for me.

DaCosta created a world where the Fae live amongst the humans but there are rules in place to protect the humans from becoming enslaved to the Fae. The world created here is dark and gritty and outside of the real world, there is another world where the Fae are governed by the Queen. The danger is that the Queen is looking for a way out so that she can control the world outside. In order for her to be released, the Queen needs to get rid of those powerful enough to trap her below. This is where Sovereign (Reign) and Alina come in.

As far as characters go, Alina was interesting. She unexpectedly crosses paths with one of the most famous Fae in London (Reign) and this chance meeting at the train station turns her world upside down. As Alina is contacted by the Queen, she also keeps crossing paths with Reign and they eventually team up to come up with a way to keep the Queen trapped.

Where Reign has played a role in helping to release the Queen, he hasn’t wanted to and as he tries to figure out what is really going on with Alina and who she really is, he is pulled into a partnership with Alina as they work to make sure the Queen is never released from the underground.

Overall I thought this was an interesting story and I look forward to seeing if this is a series. There is definite potential and I am interested to see where DaCosta will go with it if another book is in the works. If you’re looking for a different kind of faerie story, consider checking this one out. There is plenty of action and magic along with some interesting characters to keep the pages turning.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for the review copy.

Storm Siren by Mary Weber was a title I came across while scanning Netgalley and I am glad I did. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and can’t wait to get my hands on the next book.

The story opens with Nym on the slave auction block. We don’t know much about her right out of the gate other than the fact that she is facing her fifteenth auction and has what she considers a curse. Very quickly we find out that Nym is an Elemental (or Uathuil) and shouldn’t even exist. Not just because of her powers over the elements but because she is female. With no control whatsoever over these powers, whenever Nym faces a situation that upsets her, things happen and typically, people die.

I really liked Nym as a character. She clearly struggles with what she is capable of and while she wields a lot of power, she doesn’t want to use it for destruction. Unfortunately for her, Nym lives in a world where once others find out about her, they absolutely will try to use her for their own gain. As the story progresses, we find out just how much destruction Nym has created…without intending to and I thought Weber did a wonderful job of building out who Nym is and why she is in her current situation.

After the auction, we find that Nym has been purchased by Adora who happens to be a High Council member and one of the King’s most trusted advisors. Her plan is to use Nym (and Colin who we will talk about in a bit) to help the King fight the war. She does this by playing on Nym’s feelings of guilt and by offering to train Nym to control her powers. She also happens to use a little coercion in letting Nym know that her offenses are punishable by death and the only way for her to avoid that outcome is to agree to be trained and then fight. Adora is pretty despicable as a character. She is clearly one of the “bad guys” of this story in that she uses her position to get what she wants.

As Nym agrees to be trained, we are introduced to some other important characters in this story. Breck is her blind maid who happens to be the sister of Colin, another Uathuil who happens to control the earth. I liked Breck and thought she was interesting. She played a pretty integral role in the story but I felt like we didn’t get to know her as much as we did Colin and actually I thought we found out more about her through Colin.

As for Colin, I really liked him. Nothing seemed to bother him and everything he did was to help those around him, namely Breck. As the story moves forward and he and Nym work together more and more, they build a solid friendship. Colin is pretty flirty and friendly to everyone and Nym is no different and it was hard to figure out if he ever had real feelings for Nym or if he did consider her to be more of a friend, as Nym clearly felt. I have to admit that I thought for sure there may be the makings of a love triangle here but it never really happened.

The other character who plays a huge role in this story is Nym’s trainer, Eogan. He has quite a few secrets and as he and Nym begin to train together, they start to become closer which creates some challenges for these two. Eogan helps Nym realize that she is in control of the power she has and while he reports to Adora, he knows he still has to get Nym to where Adora wants her to be so he pushes her while at the same time, tries to get her to realize he truly does care about what happens to her. I can’t say much about the secrets Eogan has as I don’t want to give anything away but trust me, they are pretty big.

As Nym’s control increases, she is pushed further into a role she isn’t excited to play. That is, a weapon for Faelen to win the war against Bron and she also realizes she can’t really fight it. As things come to a head, Nym is put in a position where she needs to fight and of course she does. I’ll be honest, things don’t go perfectly and this leads me up to the fact that I NEED to get my hands on the next book. I have no idea where Weber is going to go with this story but I admit, I kind of like that.

I absolutely loved this story and found the world building as well as the character development to be well done. If you are looking for a young adult fantasy that has all of those things as well as a fantastic story and quite a bit of action, definitely check this one out when you can!

Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for the review copy!

I wasn’t really sure what to expect with Hit by Delilah Dawson but the summary intrigued me. The idea around a bank buying out the government debt and creating a world where people who owe money to the bank have the option to either pay up immediately or become debt collectors.

Hit’s main character is Patsy and Dawson opens up the book with a bang by bringing the reader along with Patsy as she completes her agreement. At first, it wasn’t fully explained how Patsy ended up in the situation she is in but along the way, we find out exactly what got her into her current situation. The agreement Patsy made was to collect the debts of 10 other people that owe Valor money. If they are unable to pay up on the spot, the debtors have two options. They can either become a collector (and do the same thing that Patsy is doing) or they can die. Yep, you heard me, death is the other option.

Along the way, Patsy is faced with a lot of tough decisions. As she begins to connect the dots, all of the debtors are connected to her in some way. I didn’t fully understand the endgame with that part of the story and the way this book ended, I’m hopeful that there might be more to this story.

While I thought this story was an interesting one, I didn’t really connect with any of the characters. Patsy is smart and clearly will do whatever she needs to in order to help/protect her mom but there wasn’t anything about her that made her someone I really liked. When Wyatt enters the story, I found it odd how they ended up connecting and then ultimately sticking together.

Overall this was a quick read and I found myself continuing to push through to see what was going to happen next. I am curious to see where Dawson takes this story and want to know more about where these characters are headed. If you’re looking for a unique story with a twist, consider checking this one out.

Thank you to Simon Pulse and Edelweiss for the review copy.

Review to come

So....yeah. I'm going to need the next book in my hands real soon.

I purposely waited to read The Wrath and the Dawn because I knew the second I read it I was going to want to read more by Renee Ahdieh and I wasn’t wrong. I loved the way this story came together and can’t wait to be able to dive back into this world and see what happens next for these characters. I have sworn to myself that I won’t ruin this one for anyone so no spoilers and hopefully what little I can talk about below does the story enough justice for you to want to go out and get this book as soon as possible.

Shazi has a plan to avenge the death of her best friend. Having died at the hands of Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan, Shazi volunteers to become his next wife…and potentially his next victim. Every morning the Caliph sends his wife to death and no one understands why and Shazi has decided she is going to be the one to either figure it out, or die trying.

As Shazi takes her place as the Queen, she has a plan to extend her life. I found it interesting that she was relying on a story to save her life but she made it work. As the story progressed, it was clear Shazi struggled with what she was supposed to do and how she was feeling. Overall I liked her as a main character though. She went into the situation with a hope of getting revenge for her best friend and ended up with more than she bargained for.

Khalid is an interesting character too. He has a big secret and he isn’t willing to burden anyone with it. Because of that, he is very careful about who he trusts and how things are handled with his wives. When Shazi volunteered for the role, he was intrigued and when he met her, things were very different than they had been in the past. Khalid begins to care and although he attempts to do what he thinks he has to, in the end, he wants something more for himself…at the cost of something greater.

As these two struggle to come to terms with their feelings and actions, they both also know there is something bigger they have to figure out. In the end, they both make choices about what they will and won’t do and it impacts them and everyone else around them.

So I am sure that sounded super vague but I can’t help it. I don’t want to give anything away as there are quite a few things going on with these two. What I can say is that Ahdieh has created some wonderful, complex characters, not only with these two but also the secondary cast. I loved Jalal and although I couldn’t quite figure Despina out, I liked her and thought she was a good balance to Shazi. Tariq drove me nuts and although I get where he was coming from, I still didn’t like him.

There isn’t much else I can share about this book without giving anything away and you know me, I never want to ruin a book for anyone. If you’re looking for a story that has beautiful writing and a wonderful story, consider checking this one out. I couldn’t put this book down and I am looking forward to the next book…I mean really, can’t wait to get the next one (anyone who has an early copy…feel free to share).

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!

Review to come

Everyone needs this book (series) in their lives. I'm just saying...No spoilers here.

Sierra Kincade took me on quite a ride with these two characters. I love Alec and Anna and am sad that this is the last book of the series. Regardless, Kincade does a wonderful job of closing out this story.

Alec and Anna are both hurting based on how the last book ended and I can't say much of what happens because I don't want to ruin this book for anyone, but these characters have been through a whole hell of a lot and they are still both standing...somehow.

As the story progresses, it is clear they both still love each other. Anna is deeply affected by their separation and her father and Amy definitely try to protect her as well as help her get through the pain. Alec is still feeling guilty about what happened and as he prepares to testify against Maxim, things continue to take a turn for the worse for these two. There were some gasps and things that had me shaking my fist at Kincade wondering what she was going to put these two (and me!) through but in the end, I knew (ok...hoped) they would find their way back to each other.

There were some definite ups and downs for these two and there is a great mix of action, mystery, and of course, sexy times. I can’t say much outside of the fact that I will definitely miss Anna and Alec’s story and wouldn’t be opposed to seeing a follow up story for Amy and Mike…you know, if that were an option.
If you haven’t started this series yet, definitely get moving - I loved everything about it!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy!

5 to 1 by Holly Bodger was a quick and engaging read that pulled me into a world where young girls are prized due to an imbalance in genders and young boys are put into a series of tests to earn the right to marry.

Sudasa is a solid main character and although at times I wanted her to do more to rebel against a life she doesn’t believe in, I still liked her. I wish we would have seen more of her outside of the tests to better understand her but I thought the glimpses we did have of her throughout showed just how eager she was to do what she wanted versus what was expected.

Kiran is one of the boys involved in Sudasa’s test. As the test begins, it is clear that he is not interested in marrying and will do whatever he can to “lose” so that he can move his plan forward. And he does have a plan – one that means he needs to make an effort to not show up the obviously rich boy who is also in the test and clearly going to win.

Both of these characters are strong and willing to stand up for what they want in life…not necessarily what the government (and in Sudasa’s case – her family) want for them. The secondary characters weren’t really developed as much as I would have liked as I wanted to know more about both their families. We only got little snippets of the people outside of the test even though some of the characters played a pivotal role in the decisions Sudasa and Kiran made.

As I mentioned, this was a very quick read. The story was great and left me wanting more. It leaves off at a point in these character’s stories that had me flipping the next page wondering where the rest of the book was. I seriously want to know what happens next for both Sudasa and Kiran. Bodger explores this dystopian world and integrates two very different voices that kept me engaged. If you are looking for a unique story told in a unique way, definitely check this one out.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!