nicolealycia's Reviews (959)

4.5/5 🌟
Trigger warning: student teacher relationships 

For the first half of the book I was totally sure about it. Ren seemed like an out there character for me, always seeing her dead sister and trying to connect things that happened to her sister to students in her current school. 
But then the story took off in the second half and got so good! And the ending was absolutely wild! I really didn’t see parts of it coming at all! I thought this was a solid 4 star read but that ending earned it an extra half star!

A few months after the death of her fiancé, Abby travels to Isla Colel to try to find answers. Now suspicion surrounds everything and Abby has more questions than answers. 
I thought this one was decent but it really wasn’t as thrilling as I expected. I thought Abby was grasping at straws a lot as the story went on and things unraveled in a kinda odd way. 
The premise to the story was really solid I just don’t think it went the way I was expecting it to because it was super obvious … idk just wasn’t totally it for me. 

Unfortunately, this was yet another book that hasn’t been marketed properly. There was no mystery of thriller aspects in this book at any point throughout the story. The description of this book is so horribly misleading the person who wrote us should be fired. 
Reading the description of this book we are led to believe that the majority of the story will take place after our main characters exile from her family estate, her time in boarding school, and then her return to her family estate once the exile has ended when she’s in her 20s and the book will involve an adult uncovering family secrets. 
The entire book takes place when the main character is between the ages of 11-16 except for a handful of chapters at the end. It was so incredibly misleading and made the book so disappointing because it was so hard to connect with the main character because she was so young. 
This book also read like historical fiction throughout despite it taking place between 1992-2001. It would have been better marketed as fiction, an old money family drama than a mystery because even after finishing the book I have no clue what the mystery was. 
I also wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style. It felt very forced and over the top at times. What was meant to be beautiful prose was confusing and poorly structured sentences to me. 

I really wanted to like this one because I love a story about old money drama and intelligent women but this story was just so far from how it was presented that it made it hard to enjoy it. 

Thank you to Atria for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Arleta has a passion for baking. This year, she has earned a spot in the prestigious Langheim Baking Battle thanks to her neighbor secretly entering her. But can she take the risk and go? Being a human without magic is hard enough without everyone watching. 

I liked this book for the most part. I loved the side characters, especially Doli and Jez! The baking competition was fantastic and I’m hoping to try to make one of the recipes at the back of the book with my sister! 
Arleta just didn’t do it for me as a main character unfortunately. She had so much confidence when she was baking and it all just went out the window the rest of the story. Her character growth kinda came out of left field with like 2 chapters left and felt very rushed to me. 

I’m definitely interested to see where things go in book 2 and I do feel like I’d like Arleta more as a character now that she actually has some self confidence.

Nic and Jenna’s sisters went missing within g weeks of each other. Now they are teaming up to try to figure out what happened to their sisters 7 years ago. 
I thought this book was fast paced and super engaging with short chapters that keep you saying just one more! And the ending was just wild! I definitely didn’t see it coming and I love it when an author keeps you guessing until the end! 
I’m looking forward to seeing what she comes up with in the future! 

This one was just okay for me…
I liked the overall plot, guy goes missing and his family is desperate to find him and they start pointing blame at whoever is closest which happens to be his roommate. 
But the characters in this book are all clueless and self absorbed and drove me nuts most of the time. It was really hard to connect with any of them or feel sympathy for any of them which made me struggle with this one as I was going. 

I also thought the end fell a little flat - there wasn’t a big reveal or a tidy conclusion for everyone. 
Just wasn’t for me. 

Erik Larson is truly gifted at spinning a tale! Mixing real people who explored the supernatural with a fictional chilling island, Larson crafts a chilling tale that keeps you on the edge of your seat! 
An expedition sets out to investigate an island where a family went missing only to encounter the unexplained once they arrive. 
I’ve always enjoyed his non fiction books so it was cool to see him create a fictional story anchored in the real world! 

Oh. My. God. 
This book is everything I could ever ask for in a fantasy book! Just wow. I loved everything about this book from start to finish!
The characters are just fantastic, you can’t help but love Odessa and the Guardian from the very first time you meet them.  The banter and the chemistry between them was phenomenal. I connected with Odessa so much as a character, so much more than I ever expected to in a fantasy story. I loved how curious and inquisitive she was. She was forced to live in a new land and she wanted to know everything she could about it. And I loved her character development throughout the story and how she was so true to herself no matter what. 
The world building was amazing! Nothing about it was overwhelming, we learn about Turah as Odessa learns about the lands and the monsters that roam it. And the monsters made everything! This was advertised as having The Witcher vibes and I cannot think of a better comparison! I absolutely loved everything about it!
And the last like 200 pages …. Non stop, action packed pages that had desperate to keep reading! The last 50 pages had my jaw dropping to the floor. Just so good!
Highly recommend picking this up if you’re a fan of romantasy and don’t mind some violence in your books!
I honestly think this might be one of the best romantasy books I’ve ever read! 
Thank you so so much to Red Tower for the gifted arc of this one and I am beyond excited to read book 2!! It needs to be out asap!!! 

What if being unapologetically you might get you killed?
This slow burn YA thriller deep dives into the health and wellness world of Deep, a company promoting women’s wellness and beauty. But what you see barely scratches the surface. 
There’s definitely a lot of buildup in this one but this cult thriller really grabs hold of you from the beginning. I couldn’t help but be pulled into some of the things talked about and kept having to remind myself that this is a cult and we should not be listening to the crazy cult people! 
I really enjoyed the method of storytelling, trying to show the change of perception from how they act to people on the outside vs people on the inside. 
Really solid story from start to finish and definitely recommend picking this one up!