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june new releases

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about the new june releases i’m excited for. there is honestly a ton of new books that i’m excited for, and i honestly cannot wait to read these, since they all sound so amazing. and i mean, now that i’m off for a little bit, hopefully i’ll read them sooner.

the box in the woods by Maureen Johnson. this book comes out June 15th. as an amateur sleuth, Stevie Bell needs a good murder after catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal, but boring, summer. but, when she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls, the site of the notorious unsolved case, the box in the woods murders. all the way back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. the new owner offers stevie an invitation, come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast that follows the case. of course, Stevie agrees, under one condition, if she can bring her friends form Ellingham Academy, nothing sounds better than a summer spent together and investigating old murders.

ace of spades by Faridah Abike iyimide. this book comes out June 10th. welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways and the students are never less than perfect, until now. because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students’ dark secrets to light. talented musician devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can’t escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. and head girl chiamaka isn’t afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has to paid for power. someone is out to get both of them, someone who holds all the aces and they are playing way more than a stupid high school game.

an emotion of great delight by Tahereh Mafi. this book comes out June 1st. it’s 2003, and multiple months since the US has declared war on Iraq and the American political world has evolved. the tensions are high, hate crimes are on the rise, FBI agents are infiltrating local mosques, and the Muslim community is harassed and targeted more than ever, just like Shadi, who wears a hijab, keeps her head down. even though her name means joy, she is filled with sorrow. her brother is dead, her father is dying, her mother is falling apart, and her best friend has mysteriously dropped out of her life and her heart is broken. she tries to navigate her crumbling world by soldiering though and saying nothing, she has her own pain, each day going farther and farther inside herself, until she explodes.

this poison heart by Kalynn Bayron. this book comes out June 29th. Briseis has a gift, she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch. but, when her aunt dies and wills her dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. and hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift, but their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined, it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old school apothecary, and a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world that can only be entered by those who share Bri’s unique family lineage. but when strangers start to arrive on their doorstep, asking for tinctures and elixirs, Bri learns she has a talent of making them. but, one of the visitors, Marie, is a mysterious young woman who Bri befriends, only to know that Marie is keeping dark secrets about the estate and its surrounding community and there is more to Bri’s sudden inheritance than she could have ever imagined.

the ghost we keep by Mason Deaver. this book comes out June 1st. when Liam Cooper’s older brother, Ethan, is killed in an hit and run, Liam has to not only learn to face the world without one of the people he loves most, but also facing the fading relationship with his two best friends. feeling more and more alone and isolated than ever, Liam find themself sharing time with Marcus, their best friend, and through Marcs, Liam finds the one person that seems to know what they are going through, for better or for worst.

trouble girls by Julia Lynn Rubin. this book comes out June 1st. when Trixie picks up her best friend, Lux, for their weekend getaway, she’s looking for an escape for a little while, to forget the despair of being trapped in their dead end Rust Belt town and the responsibility of caring for her mother. they pack light, some diet coke and her ’89 canon camera, half a pack of cigarettes, which Trixie doesn’t even smoke, and a knife, which she is hanging, just for a friend of course, which she has never used before. but when a single night of violence derails their trip and will forever change the course of the girls’ lives, as they go from ordinary high schoolers to wanted fugitives, trying to stay ahead og the cops and the hellscape of media attention, the girls grapple with an unforgiving landscape, less and less supplies, and disasters decisions at every turn.

we can’t keep meeting like this by Rachel Lynn Solomon. this book comes out June 8th. Quinn Berkowitz and Tarek Mansour’s families have been in the business together for years, Quinn’s parents are wedding planners and Tarek’s own a catering company. at the end of the summer, Quinn confessed her crush on him in the form of a rambling email, and then he left for college without a response. of course, Quinn has been dreading him again almost as much as she dreads another summer playing the harp for her parents’ wedding. and when he shows up to the first wedding of the summer, looking cuter than ever after a year apart, they clash immediately. Tarek’s always loved the grand gestures in weddings- the flashier, the better, while Quinn can’t see them as anything but fake. even as they can’t seem to have one civil conversation, Quinn’s thrown together with Tarek wedding after wedding, from performing a daring cake rescue to filling in for a missing bridesmaid and groomsman. Quinn can’t deny her feelings for him are still there, especially after she learns the truth after his silence, opens up about her own fears and being learning the art of harp.

the lucky list by Rachael Lippincott. this book comes out June 1st. Emily and her mom were always lucky, until Emily’s mom got cancer 3 years ago, the luck ran out and nothing has felt right. now, the summer before senior year, things could not get worst: she wrecked things with her boyfriend, matt, and her dad is selling the house she grew up in and is selling her mothers things. and the only person she can talk to is Blake, a girl she barely knows since she and her dad moved back to town. but, when emily finds the list, her mom’s senior year summer bucket list, buried in the back of her closet, and when Blake suggests Emily take it on, the two set out on a journey to tick each box and help emily face her fears over losing her connection to her mom. and as she starts to get closer to her mother, so does emily bond with Blake deepen into something she wasn’t expecting.

we are inevitable by Gayle Forman. this book comes out June 1st. as of right now, inevitable hasn’t worked out that well for Aaron Stein. all of his friends have moved on with their lives and went to college, Aaron is left behind in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, running a falling bookshop with his dad, Ira. and what he needs is a lucky break, the good kind of inevitable. but then he meets Hannah. the incredible Hannah, who is magical, musical, brave, and clever. who could be the answer and could their relationship and meeting could possibly be the inevitable Aaron has been waiting for.

you’re so dead by Ash Parson. this book comes out June 15th. her whole life, Plum Winter has always com in second to her sister, the cool and famous influencer, Peach Winter. and when Peach is invited to an all expense paid trip to a luxury art and music festival for influencers on a private island in the Caribbean, Plum decides it finally time to shine. so, when she intercepts the invite, and asks her two best friends Antonia and Marlowe to come along to the festive with her, it will be a spring break they never forget. but, when Plum and her friends get to the island and it’s not anything like they thought, it is run down, creepy and there isn’t any festival and it’s just seven other quasi celebrities and influencers and none of the glitz and glamor she expected, then people start to die.

one last stop by Casey McQuiston. this book comes out June 1st. for 23 year old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right, that thing like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. she can’t imagine how waiting tables at the 24 hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that and there is no way that a chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures. then there is the gorgeous girl on the train, Jane. the dazzling, charming, mysterious, and impossible Jane, with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needs it most. the subway crush becomes the best part of her day but the big problem is, Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker, she is literally one displaced from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried t leave in her own past to help.

anyway, that is all for today! honestly there is so many books that i’m excited for in June and i really can’t wait to get more of these books and to read all of these later this month or in the next few months.

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june tbr

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about all the books i want to read in june. honestly, there is quite a few books, since i do want to read a ton this summer, and i want to crack down on some of the arcs i have or books that i’ve been putting off for awhile.

faking reality by Sara Fujimura. this book comes out July 13th. after ‘the great homecoming disaster” Dakota McDonald swore that she’d never allow her romantic life to be the lot of her parents’ HGTV show ever again. but, then when a restaurant run by the family of her best friend, and secret crush, Leo, is on the line, she goes back on her own word. Leo Matsuda dreams of leaving his small Arizona life and the demands of working at his families restaurant, but the closer to the goal, thanks to the help of his secret crush, Dakota, the more reasons for him to stay.

the girl in the headlines by Hannah Jayne. this comes out July 6th. when Andrea McNulty goes to sleep on her 18th birthday, she has a perfect life: high school field hockey star, a big sister, the daughter of two beloved parents. but, then she wakes up in a motel room the next morning, she has no clue what happened the pervious night, but she is covered in blood, and now a fugitive. on the news, they report her father is dead, her mother is in a coma, and her little brother is missing, and of course, Andi is the prime suspect. she’s scared and on the run from the police, she teams up with Nate, the boy working the front desk, to find the real killers. but, as the police get farther and farther from the killer, the closer and closer it gets to Andi.

swallow by Sam Schill. this book comes out July 27th. the students at Roanoke High School have created a soundtrack that is constantly in Mildred Waco’s mind, change your hair, change your face, change your body, everyone hates you, you shouldn’t wear that. there are stares, snickers, and the teasing, all with Mildred’s own self doubt and parents that are never around, takes a toll. when she finds a magic shop, she decides that she will no longer endure the bullying and buys a revenge curse. but, as she looses her memory, and Roanoke students are brutally murdered, she realizes she bought more then she would ever bargain for.

creatures of the night by Grace Collins. this book comes out July 13th. on Milena’s 20th birthday, it is the day that she will join the ranks of the village hunters, this should have been the best day of her life. becoming a hunter would mean that she could protect her village from wolves who take human form, but when she meets Elias, the leader of the creatures, she is questioning everything that she always thought was true. until now, Elias has protected the pack and kept the secrets hidden. now, as tension grows between the groups, he is forced to make a hard decisions, something that will cost lives, nobody is safe, especially Milena, who he is drawn to and could destroy them both.

summer in the city of roses by Michelle Ruiz Keil. this comes out July 6th. her whole life, 17 year old Iph, has protected her younger brother, Orr. but, this summer, with their mother gone at an artist residency, their father decides it’s time for 15 year old Orr to grow up and sends him to a wilderness boot camp. when the father brings Iph to a work gala downtown and tells him he already left against his will, she is furious at her fathers betrayal and storms off an gets lost in a maze of Old Town. but, George, a queer robin good, who swoops in on bicycle, with bow and arrow and all, offers to help Iph a place to hide out while she tracks down her brother. in the meantime, Orr has escaped the camp and is now with the Furies, and all girl punk band, and sleeps into a coat closet in their pink house. now, Iph and Orr need to navigate their new spaces of music, romance, and sex work activism and find each other.

the therapist by BA Paris. this book comes out July 13th. when alice and leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. but, appearances can be deceptive. as alice is getting to know her neighbors, she discovers a devastating secret about her new home, and begin to feel a strong connection with nina, the therapist who lived there before. but, as alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. but, no one wants to talk about it, her neighbors are keeping secrets and things are not as prefect as they seem.

only the pretty lies by Rebekah Crane. convention doesn’t mean much in Alder Creek, but neither does it in the Westmore’s family either. as a daughter of a message therapist and pothead artist, and the inheritor of her grandmother’s vinyl collection, and ending her senior year in high school, Amoris never wants to leave her progressive hometown. but, everything changes when Jamison Rush moves in next door, who happens to be Amoris first crush and their last goodbye still stings, and now bittersweet memories still hang. but, since Jamison is one of the only Black kids in this town, he sees the town completely different, and now encourages Amoris to look a little closer, and as a racist mural gets revealed, everything in her world get flips upside down.

a pho love story by Loan Le. if Bao Nguyen had to talk about himself he would say he is rock, steady and strong, but not very interesting, his grades aren’t that good, his social status is unremarkable. but, he works at his parents pho restaurant, and he is his parents fifth favorite employee. then there is Linh Mai and if she had to describe herself she would say a firecracker, stable when unlit, but full of potential joy and fire, she loves art and dreaming of doing art for a living. but, her parents rely on her in ways she doesn’t want to admit, basically working full time at her families pho restaurant. but, their families don’t get along since they are owners of neighboring pho restaurants. and Bao and Linh have been avoiding each other, but they both suspect their families feud stems from feeling much deeper then a friendly competition.

house of hollow by Krystal Sutherland. as a 17 year old, Iris Hollow has always been stranger, something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were kids, but they can’t really remember anything about it, but they have a small identical half moon scar at the base of their throats. but, when her sister Grey goes missing, Iris learns how weird her life can actually get.

lost in the never woods by Aiden Thomas. it’s been five years since Wendy and her two brothers went missing in the woods, but when children in the town start to disappear, the question around her brothers’ mysterious disappear, the questions get brought back to light. attempting to run away from her past, Wendy almost runs over an unconscious boy lying in the middle of the rode and gets pulled into the haunting mystery in the town. Peter, a boy she thought lived only in stories, claims that if they don’t do something, the missing children will meet the same fate as her brothers. in order to find them and rescue the missing kids, Wendy needs to confront what’s waiting for her in the woods.

luck of the titanic by Stacey Lee. 17 year old British-Chinese, Valora Luck, has quit her job and smuggled herself on the Titanic, with two goals in mind: reunite with her twin brother, Jamie- her only family now that her parents are both dead, and to convince a circus to take them both on as acrobats. with quick thinking, Val is now on the first class accommodations and finds Jamie with a group of Chinses laborers in 3rd class. but, with this new found luxury liner, Val can only hope that her brother will go along with her, after not seeing her for two years. but, on one moonless night, the unthinkable happens, Val and her companions need to find a way to race to survival.

just like heaven by Julia Quinn. Honoria Smythe-Smith is a really bad violinist, still miffed by the nickname “bug” as a child, not in love with her older brothers best friend, but that is all of the above. Marcus Holroyd is the Earl of Chatteris, regrettably prone to sprained ankles, not in love with his best friend’s younger sister, but it is all of the above. so, together, they eat a whole lot of chocolate cake, survive a deadly fever and the world’s worst musical performance, and fall quite desperately in love, which all of the above is true.

we hunt the flame by Hafsah Faizal. Zafira is the Hunter, disgusted as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. if Zafira was exposed as a girl, all her achievements would be rejected, and if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. both of them are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya, but neither want to be. but, as war is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. when Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the hunter.

not my problem by Ciara Smyth. Aideen has a lot of problems she can’t fix, her best and only friend is pulling away, her mother’s drinking problem is always a problem, and she’s running out of different diseases to fake so she can get out of PE. but, when Aideen finds her nemesis and overachiever Meabh Kowalski, in the middle of a full blown meltdown, she sees that unlike her own life, it is easy to solve. Meabh is desperate to leave her crushing pile of extracurriculars, and with Aideen volunteers to help, and pushes her down the stairs so she can sprain her ankle, the perfect excuse to ditch her overwhelming schedule. but, as another students learns of this little game and brings Aideen another ‘client’ who needs help, it creates a whole semester of traded favors, ill- advised hijinks, and an unexpected chance at love.

the gilded wolves by Roshani Chokshi. in 1889, the city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure- hinter and wealthy hotelier severin montagnet alarie. when the elite, ever powerful order of babel coerces him to help them on a mission severin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. to hunt down the ancient artifact the order seeks , severin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: an engineer with a debt to pay, a historian banished from his home, a dancer with a sinister past and a brother in arms if not blood.

life’s too short by Abby Jimenez. vanessa lives life on her own terms, one day at a time and everyday to the fullest. she isn’t willing to waste a moment or miss out on an experience when she has no idea whether she shares the same fatal genetic condition as her mother. besides, she has way to much to do, travel the globe and showing her millions of youtube followers the joy in seizing every moment. but, when her half sister leaves Vanessa in custody of her infant daughter, she is housebound, on mommy duty for the foreseeable future, and is feeling totally out of her element, but, the last person she expects to show up offering help is the unbelievably hot lawyer who lives next door, Adrian Copeland. she barely knows him, till they get closer, Vanessa realizes that her carefree ways and his need for structured plan could never be compatible for the land term. then again, she should know better than anyone that life’s too short to fear of taking a big risk.

now, i’m going to list some more books i want / have to read this month.

  • from blood and ash
  • excuse me while i ugly cry
  • the soulmate equation
  • twice shy
  • sawkill girls
  • between perfect and real
  • tell me you feel something
  • instruction for dancing
  • never kiss your roommate
  • a chorus rises
  • 15,000 miles from the sun
  • it’s in his kiss
  • on the way to the wedding
  • happily ever after

anyway, that is all for today! i know it is a lot of books, and i probably won’t get to a lot of them, but i mean, at least i know what i can read. and also, most of them are romance, so those are easier to read propose to the fantasy. but, i might also dnf a couple of them, so it will be easier.

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may wrap up

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about all the books i read this month. honestly, i had such a big tbr for this month, so i’m really excited that i did get to read so many of them. and i do feel like i did a good job, since i did catch up with my libby holds and arcs.

10 truths and a dare by Ashley Elston. i gave this book 4/5 stars. and thank you netgalley and disney books for an arc of this book! this was honestly a really good book and i honestly really liked these characters and the plot overall. but, i do feel like you need to read 10 blind dates before this book. overall though, it was still a really fun book and it was a really easy read.

not our summer by Casie Bazay. i gave this book 2/5 stars. thank you so much netgalley and Running press kids for an arc of this book! honestly, this book had so much potential, and it honestly could have been a good book and been a big hit. but, it just was not. like, the writing was just cringey and also everyone was so petty and catty it literally gave me a headache and was just not good.

romancing mister bridgerton ending 2 by Julia Quinn. i gave this book 2/5 stars. honestly, i feel like this book was just so stupid, because it had zero need. with that being said, i feel like this all could have been in eloise’s book and i honestly didn’t care about pen and colin’s pov on the wedding.

witches steeped in gold by Ciannon Smart. i gave this book 3/5 stars. this was honestly just an okay book, like i can see why people love this book, and why people do like it. but, i got kind of confused with some of the characters and how they were connected to each other because i think i just stopped listening in the start of the book, on accident. but, the world building was honestly really good and super rich.

act your age, eve brown by Talia Hibbert. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly really liked this book and i really liked the whole enemies to lovers and the grumpy x sunshine vibe that it gave off. and i thought it was honestly so good, but Jacob did get on my nerves at certain points, which honestly sucked, because it was honestly a such a good book.

the forest of stolen girls by June Hur. i gave this book 4/5 stars. personally, this was such a good book and i really liked the whole mystery plot line that was in here. and i honestly really liked the characters and the motive of our main characters, which was super cool. but, i do feel like the ending was way to quick and just didn’t really make to much sense, since it just happened way to quick.

when the world was ours by Liz Kessler. i gave this book 5/5 stars. thank you so much netgalley and Aladdin for an arc of this book! i honestly adore this book so much, like i loved the characters and the plot and everything about this book honestly. and this was honestly such a heartbreaking book, especially the ending, it was literally so sad and i didn’t expect it to end like that.

to sir phillip with love by Julia Quinn. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly really liked the fact that phillip was a botanist and wasn’t just a lord or viscount or something, and that he had another job / interest. and i also really liked that he had kids, but i do wish we got to see more of marina and to see more of the grieving process that phillip went through, but, i still really liked this book.

being amani by Annabelle Steele. i gave this book 2/5 stars. thank you so much netgalley and YA hashtag BLAK for an arc of this book! honestly, this book sucked, like i feel like the writing was just not good. but, it also annoyed the hell out of me that they would bring up harder topics, but then drop them when they weren’t important to the plot anymore. but, i also think this book needs a whole rebrand, since the cover looks all happy and cute.

to sir phillip with love ending 2 by Julia Quinn. i gave this book 2/5 stars. honestly, this second ending was just so unnecessary and just could never have happened. like, i wish this book was just a domestic phillip and eloise novel, instead of being about amanda. cause, i straight up don’t care about the kid and her love story. and i much rather have it be a full novel instead a 22 page novella.

the girls i’ve been by Tess Sharpe. i gave this book 4/5 stars. this book was honestly so good and i honestly really liked this book and the plot with the bank robbery. but, i did have some issues with the whole backstory chapters we got, since i feel like most of them were just stupid and didn’t really do anything to the plot. and what was in those chapters, nora would say again to her friends or in her thoughts.

the mary shelley club by Goldy Moldavsky. i gave this book 5/5 stars. i honestly really liked the whole old school horror movies and scream vibe that this book gave off. granted, this wasn’t really a slasher novel, but i really did like the slasher vibe it did give off. but, the end of this book was honestly so crazy i completely loved it so much.

words composed of sea and sky by Erica George. i gave this book 2/5 stars. thank you so much netgalley and running press kids for an arc of this book. this book was honestly just plain boring. like, the whole plot with the two times were a disaster, since they were so similar that it just got to be annoying after awhile. and i just think that it would work with two timelines and romances if they were a bit different, but it just was two similar so it didn’t work that well.

when he was wicked by Julia Quinn. i gave this book 5/5 stars. honestly, this book was just such a cute book, but also so heartbreaking at the same time, with the whole death and miscarriage part. but, i do wish that we got to see more of john x frannie. but, i still really liked michael and he was just so sweet to frannie, which i just loved. but, frannie did annoy the hell out of me towards the end, which just sucked.

when he was wicked ending 2 by Julia Quinn. i gave this book 5/5 stars. i honestly really like this couple and how we got to see something post HEA, and that this novella was actually about them. but, i also really liked that we got to see their kids in here and that we did get to see them have these kids that they both really wanted. i just thought it was so cute and amazing.

the intimacy experiment by Rosie Danan. i gave this book 3/5 stars. personally, i know that i have a soft spot for Josh and Clara and they are probably some of my favorite romance couples. so, going into this i had high expatiations of them being in here and having some sort of plot. but, it kind of annoyed me how little they were in here, but also that they came across so one sided in here. but, also i think that the chemistry and banter of naomi and ethan was just off for me, which just got to be annoying after awhile.

curse of the specter queen by Jenny Elder Moke. i gave this book 2/5 stars. thank you so much netgalley and disney books for an arc of this book. i’m not sure if i just didn’t pay attention enough at the start or something, but this book just made no sense. like, for one, we have no clue of a time period, like we never got told when this took place or hell even when it took place. so, it just annoyed me so much.

and i did dnf a couple books, so i’m gonna list them here-

  • happy endings by Thien Kim Lam
  • the tipple twins and the gift by Michelle Cordara
  • home wreaker by Dianna Cameron
  • just the two of us by Ryu Hyang
  • Rosaline Palmer takes the cake by Alexis Hall

anyway, that is all for today! like i said before, i honestly had a really good reading month, since school was slowing down and that i procrastinated about finals, so that probably helped a little bit. but, hopefully i will read more in the next couple months, since i don’t have to much to do school wise so hopefully i can tackle my tbr.

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may book haul

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about all the books i’ve hauled in may. honestly, i got quite a few physical book since i got some for my birthday, but i also got some arcs, which a couple i already dnfed, but i’ll still talk about that one, since i still got it this month.

witches steeped in gold by Ciannon Smart. Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but everyday she gets closer and closer to freedom and vengeance. then there is Jazmyne, who is the queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power. putting them being enemies aside, the two witches enter an alliance to take down their mutual threat, but power is intoxicating, revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is for certain, expect for the lengths they will go to win this game.

the obsession by Jesse Q. Sutanto. nobody knows Delilah like Logan does. he makes sure of it by learning everything he can through her social media and watching her through hidden cameras he has on her house. some call him a stalker, but he thinks he’s romantic. but, then logan sees delilah killing her abusive stepfather, he realizes that there’s more about her to discover, his sweet and perfect delilah isn’t like that at all. she knows that she should feel guilty, but she feels free. she is over men controlling her life, expect logan saw what she did, and he won’t let her forget. delilah is done playing the victim, and she refuses to be a character in logan’s twisted fantasy. but, if logan won’t let her go, she’ll make him.

the shadow between us by tricia kevenseller. her whole life, Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but that is soon going to change with her plan to gain power, woo the shadow king, marry him, kill him and take his kingdom for herself. nobody knows the full power of the newly crowned shadow king’s power, some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him, others say that they can talk and whisper the thoughts of his enemies. but, alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to go everything she can to get it. but, she isn’t the only one that wants to kill the king, attempts on his life are made, and she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough to make her his queen, as struggling not to lose her heart.

king of scars by Leigh Bardugo. all that i know is that this book is about nikolai, and i don’t really want to say anymore so i don’t spoil myself or you, if you haven’t read it yet.

the brightsiders by Jen Wilde. since emmy king is the rock star drummer in the hit band, the brightsiders, her life should be perfect, but of course their is nothing that the paparazzi love more than watching a celebrity crash and burn. so, when a night of partying land her in the hospital and her girlfriend in jail, the tabloid is a train wreck. but, thankfully, her friends and bandmates and alfie are trying to pick up the pieces of her life. she knows hooking up with a band mate is what she should be avoiding, but they still keep doing it.

the ones we’re meant to find by Joan He. Cee woke up on an abandoned island three years ago, with no idea how she got there, and now she only has an old house, and old android, and a single memory: she has a sister, and she needs to find her. STEM prodigy Kasey wants to leave from the science and home she once trusted. the eco city is meant to be a sanctuary for those committed to planetary protection, but it is filled with people who are willing to do anything for refuge and lie. so, she needs to decide of she is ready to use science to help humanity, even if it failed the people who mattered most.

what’s not to love by Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegemund-Broka. ever since high school, Alison Sanger and Ethan Molloy have completed for everything, ap classes, the school paper, community service. but, if allison could avoid ethan till graduation, she would, except they are two over achieving seniors with their sights on valedictorian and harvard, they share the same classes. so, when the principal tells them to co plan the previous class’s ten year reunion to tell harvard good things about them, they jump on the chance. with all the extra time spent with each other, their rivalry becomes more of a friendship, till allison wants ethan more then winning.

summer in the city of roses by Michelle Ruiz Keil. this book comes out July 6th. her whole life, 17 year old Iph, has protected her younger brother, Orr. but, this summer, with their mother gone at an artist residency, their father decides it’s time for 15 year old Orr to grow up and sends him to a wilderness boot camp. when the father brings Iph to a work gala downtown and tells him he already left against his will, she is furious at her fathers betrayal and storms off an gets lost in a maze of Old Town. but, George, a queer robin good, who swoops in on bicycle, with bow and arrow and all, offers to help Iph a place to hide out while she tracks down her brother. in the meantime, Orr has escaped the camp and is now with the Furies, and all girl punk band, and sleeps into a coat closet in their pink house. now, Iph and Orr need to navigate their new spaces of music, romance, and sex work activism and find each other.

Rosaline Palmer takes the cake by Alexis Hall. this came out May 18th. Rosaline Palmer has always lived by the rules, until she dropped out of college in order to raise her daughter, Amelie. now, she is teetering on the edge of financial disaster, but she just landed a spot on the nation’s most beloved baking show. winning the money would give her daughter the life she deserves, however more than collapsing trifles stand between rosaline ad sweet victory. well educated and parent approved Alain Pope knows all the right moves to sweep her off her feet, but the shy electrician Harry Dobson makes Rosaline question her long held beliefs about everyone and everything she thought she once known.

when the world was ours by Liz kessler. this book came out may 18th. three young friends, leo, elsa, and max spend the perfect day together unaware what is around them. Europe is descending into a growing darkness and they will soon be ripped apart from one another. with their lives taking them across Europe, to Germany, england, Prague, and Poland, will they ever find their way back to one another?

pretty rude for a girl by rebecca elliot. this comes out October 1st. Haylah Swinton’s been busy proving she is an all star comedian through her YouTube channel, but life online has it’s own issues. now she is proving that she is funny and is tougher than she thought it would be. plus, her new boyfriend, Dylan, hasn’t even tried kissing her yet and her deadbeat dad started coming around again. so, life as she knows, is completely changed. but, of course, what is a better place to rant is her online audience, but when her friends and family discover the channel, she’s got a lot of explaining to do.

the violent season by Sara Walters. this comes out October 5th. every november, the people of Wolf Ridge are overwhelmed with a hunger for violence, at least that’s what the town rumor is. last fall, Wyatt Green’s mother was brutally murdered, convincing wyatt that his yearning isn’t morbid urban legend, but rather a palpable force infecting her neighbor. but, this year, wyatt fears the call of violence has spread to her best friend cash, who also happens to be the guy she can’t stop wanting no matter how much he hurts her. at the same time, she drawn to cash’s nemesis porter, now that they are partners on an lit class project. as wyatt pulls away from cash and then spends more time with porter, she learns secrets about both of them she can’t forget.

big boned by Jo Watson. this book comes out September 21st. lori palmer is the new girl at bay water high, where students prize glossy hair, beach bodies, and school spirit above anything else. she misses her old school, where her talent as an artist is more important then she weight, and longs for her old family life, before her parents got divorced and her mom reinvented herself. so, when lori decides that the only way to survive is to blend in the background, but her plan goes away when the most popular and hottest guy at her school. jake, volunteer’s at her brothers school. and when her brother befriends jake’s sister, lori is thrust into his unfamiliar and exhilarating world of water polo, parties, and stargazing.

the therapist by BA Paris. this book comes out July 13th. when alice and leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. but, appearances can be deceptive. as alice is getting to know her neighbors, she discovers a devastating secret about her new home, and begin to feel a strong connection with nina, the therapist who lived there before. but, as alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. but, no one wants to talk about it, her neighbors are keeping secrets and things are not as prefect as they seem.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly am very excited for so many of these books, since they all sound so good and i can’t want to read these in the next couple months. and also so many of these arcs sound so good, so they all are very good.

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take a hint, dani brown review

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about take a hint, dani brown by Talia Hibbert. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly really liked the plot and the characters, and this was such a good work place / fake dating, i honestly really liked this one.

trigger warning- sexual content, panic attack / disorder, mental illness, grief, death of a parent, death, car accident, harry potter mentioned.

honestly, this was a really good book, and i did honestly really like, but i honestly did not life zaf as a character. i mean, there was a couple moments that he would over react over the stupidest things, while also just being a complete dick to his family and mainly his niece. i honestly just didn’t like him that much, which honestly sucks and it made me borderline uncomfortable.

i also really liked that the anxiety rep. i mean, i feel the anxiety rep in books are kind of questionable, so i did really like that we got to see all of this. and that i did think it was honest rep and they didn’t try to water it down or make something that it wasn’t. and i thought it was honestly really good and i really liked it.

i did really like that we got to see the whole Dani Brown wasn’t the biggest romance fan, and that she was more career driven, instead of being really into romance. and i feel like most romance books have the main woman characters in romance are like not into work or they go like one job one time. so, i mean, i feel like having her not be a romance fan, where one of them are, and also be more career driven, i really liked it.

and with that being said, i did like that zaf was way more of a hopeless romantic and way more sensitive. like, i feel like we don’t see too much of the man being the hopeless romantic and being the sensitive and sweet one, he’s more the one with the job and the passion. so, i honestly really liked seeing that and getting the flip side and not have everything be so type a.

also just having these characters not say they were in love from page one was honestly really nice. like, i definitely feel like we did get a balance of them being a couple and also them just fake dating/falling/ fucking or the three f’s. so, i do think it was just cool because we did get to see them really come to their feelings, so we didn’t get that stupid, ‘oh shit they broke up’ or the whole ‘omg they are never getting back together cause so and so said/did this.’ so, i honestly really liked that we did get to see them actually know their feelings and figure it all out.

and also just seeing zaf be so much more in love with dani than dani was with him at the start. i honestly honestly thought it was so cute cause he was like pining for her for a long time. and i really thought it was so cute to see him so in love with her. and no matter what it is, i did really like that part about him, and how much he loved her, and especially how far he went to her.

i also really liked that we got to see the friendships. i did really like getting to see zaf and dani going to go out with their friends and watching them interact was just so cute. and i really liked seeing them go together and figure out each others feelings with their friends and leaning on their friends for help, i thought it was really cute.

i very much liked the family in their families. like, dani’s family was just so cute and that it was just so nice how they really liked to see them, and that i think they really worked, when i saw them. and i feel like it just was so cool. and also to see how zaf’s family worked after the whole car crash and to see how that happened and how it kind of shaped them.

and i also liked the whole discussion about the death in zaf’s family. like, i think it was so cool to see how they reacted and also to see them try to function about it and to see them work together. and also to see the grief process. and i think it was just done so well and i really liked the topics it brought up.

but, i don’t know how to talk about this, since i’m not Muslim, but i’ve seen people talk about it, so i just want to bring it up. like, i feel like they brought in the rep because it wanted to check some sort of box. which, i think is always stupid as hell. and i feel like it was just so half assed and also they used the word ‘haram’ completely wrong. with that being said, if you want more talk about the rep, make sure you look for own voices reviewers.

i will say that i did enjoy the whole queer rep. i did really liked seeing them and watching that all work out and see the discussions about dani’s sexuality, and also how it worked out and that it didn’t really get erased when she got with a man. and i feel like a lot of books with bi characters their sexuality gets erased when they get with the other sex. so, i did really like getting to see her still have her sexuality and not get erased for a man.

but, i also liked the anxiety rep. i’m not the biggest zaf fan in the world, but i did really like to see how they showed his anxiety throughout the book. i did think it was kind of cool to still have this anxiety rep. and also not to have this erased, and have one of those ‘love cured anxiety.’ so, i feel like it was honestly so cool.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly really liked this book, which i didn’t really expect, but i still had a couple issues with it. i mean, i wish they were pretty good, and also i think it was pretty good book overall. but, i also really liked the whole ending with the little event, without spoiling it.

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shadow and bone review

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about shadow and bone by Leigh Bardugo. i gave this book 3/5 stars. i honestly liked this book, like it wasn’t that great of a book, and i definitely liked six of crows way more than this book, since it definitely had better writing and just characters, but i still enjoyed this one nonetheless.

trigger warning- animal death, violence, blood, toxic relationship, death, emotional abuse, gore, torture, murder, kidnapping, animal cruelty, death of a parent.

first thing first, i will probably get hate for this, but i literally did not like the darkling in the book. like, he was definitely a better character in the tv show, but i really don’t get the hype for him in the book. like, he was just toxic and he had that whole toxic white boy in a ya book. so, that was just annoying and i don’t really know what people see in book!darkling. and like he only wanted alina for her powers.

and i mean, i feel like this is just a basic YA book. like, it might be cause this is a little bit older, or maybe i just have questionable taste. but, i feel like the plot and the characters and the romance were just bland and generic, like it was just such a basic plot and characters and relationship. but, i mean, it was just kind of bad, and i wish they just fixed it up, or i just should have read this sooner, i would have liked this more.

and like all the tropes where like the dark prince, chosen one, and love triangle. which, i’m not a fan of the whole chosen one at all, since i just think it is boring and kind of overdone and just not that interesting of a plot. but, the love triangle was also not the best thing in the world, probably because i also hate that whole love triangle crap. and i mean, the whole dark prince wasn’t that bad, but it still could have been better.

but, i will say, one of the best parts of this was the world. like, i feel like the world building was so rich and just so cool. and that it was loosely inspired by Europe, but mainly Russia, i thought it was so cool. and i mean, i honestly really like fantasy worlds that are loosely based on different countries, so i honestly really liked the world so much. and i also think some of the names in here are more Russian inspired, so that was honestly so cool.

but, this is also a very light book, since it is kind of inspired by Russia, i do think that this was honestly kind of light, while until the ending. so, i do feel like it was kind of cool to get this light book, and it wasn’t like super dark like most fantasy books are. and i think that it was really cool that it did have the Russian element into it, so it almost gave them this whole brothers grimm feel, which i thought was super cool.

i also really liked the writing too. i really feel like there was so much attention to detail and that there was. and also just talking about the world building, i felt like they did it so well. and the writing would honestly flow very well. and i mean, some people have some very choppy writing, where i feel like this just flowed and also didn’t forget some of the more side characters or anything.

but, i will say, i do think that some of these parts of this book was just plain boring and it just didn’t work. like, i believe it might have been on twitter or even instagram i made a comment about how you could just skip five pages and you would still know what was happening cause it was just boring. and while the writing was good, i just feel like there was parts were boring and nothing happened. which, did get to be kind of annoying, and i wished it didn’t have some of these unneeded moments.

i kind of talked about the side characters a little bit, but i do honestly really liked some of the side characters. especially since we now know that they get their own series, so i think it was honestly really cool to see them in here to get an introduction to them. and i think that was honestly just so cool. especially since this is such a big world, and i think that there is so many books.

and i will say, i do feel like genya and david is the best characters in this book. like, i believe they are in king of scars, so getting all of that was honestly really cool and i really liked seeing that. so, i mean i did enjoy reading them about that, and just to see the two of them, and honestly to see them interact throughout the book.

also, i didn’t really care about the darkling, like i already said. i mean, he was just one of those dick characters that only want the power and can give two shits about alina as a person. and i mean, i feel like people only like him in the book cause he is that dark haired bad boy villain. but, i still literally don’t care about him.

but, i will say, that mal was kind of one sided in the book. like, he really didn’t have a personality or anything real about him, besides him and alina were friends before them. but, i mean he was kind of self centered, but i still honestly like him more than i like the darkling, since i feel like he was way less toxic. but, i mean, he just didn’t have a personality.

but, i also feel like alina was still kind of flat. i mean, she did have this whole ‘oh shit i have this power, but i don’t so your wrong,’ when she is lighting up like a lava lamp. and it honestly just annoyed me that she didn’t believe her powers, but i mean, i guess once the stag came in, it kind of all went on the window.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly liked the show so much better than the book, since i feel like the crows were so much better than this book. but, i will say, i’m kind of excited to read the rest of the series, cause i think they get better as they get going.

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words composed of sea and sky review

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about words composed of sea and sky by Erica George. i gave this book 2/5 stars. first off, thank you so much netgalley and running press kids for an arc of this book. and also happy pub date! this is going to be an honest review, and not going to be changed by the publisher and/or the author. and this is probably going to be a shorter review since i don’t have that many thoughts.

trigger warning- none

first thing first, i honestly hated the writing. like, this book does talk about a poems and the main character is an aspiring poet, which is always kind of cool. so, i expected the poems to be a part of this book, which of course it was, but, i feel like this book tried to be way to poetic at some parts. like, of course i expected the poems to be somewhat poetic. but, they all were kind of like the river is cold / the water coming off the lake / it is all so cold. like, it was just so boring and just so stupid. like, if you were going to write a story about poetry, at least make it good.

and also, the author tried to be way to poetic when they weren’t talking about poetry. like, just random crap about the car they were in or how much she hated her step dad, they were trying to be way so poetic. and of course, you can be poetic in this book, which is fine if you want to do that, you just need to do it good, were this book did not do it good. and i mean, it is so stupid, but i literally hated it so much.

for me, another thing i honestly hated about the main character, Michaela or Mack, i’m gonna call her Mack though. i hated that she had this whole two ish pages about how she wants to met her dream guy and what she wants him to look like, it borderline made me so uncomfortable. like, i get if you think about your meet cute and stuff like that, but instead it was just kinda creepy.

i will say though, i honestly really liked the setting. i honestly really like the setting of a beach town in books, since i think that the whole beach setting is always cool. and i mean, i might just think it’s cool since i don’t live in a beach town. so, getting a book set in Cape Cod was probably the best part of the book.

i also didn’t like the writing whatsoever. like, it just felt so choppy, in both povs, i just didn’t think the writing worked, and i mean, it honestly read like a debut. so, i think that some of the writing could probably be fixed if there was some more editing. but, i feel like there could have been some parts that could be fixed and just be better than it was. and some things in this book were just so questionable, which i’ve seen like one other person talk about.

but, i do feel like George tried to put so much into this book. like, there was like a hundred different tropes into this book and to put so many different things in here that i don’t think worked. and, like if George wanted to use all these tropes, they could have wrote mote books, since this book just had so much going on, and not in a good way.

obviously a very big part of this book is Benjamin Churchill. like he pretty much sets up the plot of the book, with the whole poems and everything. but, he was this superhero in this book, which i thought was pretty gross. like, he treated all the woman, but mainly leta, like property and like shit. which, just annoyed the hell out of me. and it just really annoyed me about how glamorized she was, and how everyone loved him, and he wasn’t that great of a guy.

since, we’re talking about characters, i just want to talk about a couple of these characters very quickly. like, for one, mack was honestly such a pain in the ass, like she lived in this fantasy world where everyone needed to kiss the ground she walked on and give her everything that she every wants, she should get. and she was also such a bitch and self centered, and like everyone was supposed to do what she wanted, and if they were uncomfortable or just wanted to leave, mack wouldn’t let you cause it’s her world.

but, the whole plot about Fin was just so so stupid. for one, it was overused as all hell, cause he’s the popular, athletic, hot but also a jerk character. and i mean, i think George really think that we were supposed to fall for him, cause he had this whole dialogue about how he’s been in love with her for years, and it honestly was just so stupid.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly wished i like this book, since i feel like it sounded so good, but i just didn’t like it, which is kind of upsetting. and i mean, it had so much potential. but, thank you so much for an arc of this book, and also happy pub date!

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her royal highness review

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about her royal highness by Rachel Hawkins. i gave this book 3/5 stars. i honestly wished i like this book, since i really liked the other book in the series, but i honestly didn’t like this book, which i’m kinda sad about.

trigger warning- death, death of a parent, homophobia, bullying, harry potter mentioned, vomit.

overall, if you want to read a cute sapphic romance, especially with a happy ever after, this would be for you. especially if you want to read a book when it is Scotland, this would honestly work, and look past the issues, i feel like you would like this.

one thing i didn’t like was that there was no motivation to go to scotland. like, the one thing that she wanted to go to scotland was because millie watched brave as a kid, so of course a disney movies makes you move half way across the world. but, like i don’t know why everyone was like ‘omg yes you should totally go since you like that movie.’ like, if i told my mom that i wanted to move to england because i like bridgerton she would call me insane, so i just don’t know why they all just let her.

i mean , i did feel like the school setting was honestly was pretty cool. and i did honestly like the whole school setting, like i don’t understand why everyone just let her go and her motive, but i will say that it was a cool setting and that it did work, but i do think that we should have gotten more part of them seeing them at school. but, what we did get, i did really like it.

but, i also the grammar was so bad ?? like, they were missing commas and just other basic things. and it just annoyed the hell out of me, since i mean, if i can pick it out, an editor sure would be able to pick it out. but, also, the one friend of this character had like three different spellings, darcey, darce, and darcy. like, i really don’t know which one it is, but i feel like the spelling kept changing and it really annoyed.

i will say though, that Hawkins’s writing teens was kind of cringey. i mean, at this point at YA books i just expect it, but i still think the whole adults writing these teenagers, i do think that it was very terrible. and i feel like they said # something a lot, and it did get to be a bit much. i honestly just wish that it didn’t happen, but again, it was a YA romance, so yeah.

and also, i do feel like there were at lot of pop culture references. like, way to much, and i feel like some of the books can use pop culture references, but other ones that don’t really need it, and this book did not that many of them, and that i feel like it was just bad. and even the Brave references even got to be a bit much after awhile.

but, as a whole, the writing was basic, like it was honestly nothing special, and it wasn’t the best writing, but wasn’t the worst writing that i ever read. and the writing is easy to read, like i said, basic and not to hard to understand. which, i feel like we all need at some books. and i mean, this definitely gives me the whole YA books, like the trashy books and the selection, if you want to read something like that.

along the lines of the writing, the pacing was a shit show. like, the start of this book dragged. like, it feel like every small event took like 15+ pages, where towards the end it felt like everything was so quick. but also, between the important chapters there were these stupid filler chapters about random crap, which honestly slowed everything down.

the ending was also kind of a mess, and i honestly feel like it didn’t work at all. like, i mean, when you read a YA romance, or really any romance, you know what you are getting into, like the whole break up and then get back together, like it is just a classic. but, i feel like this ending didn’t really have the that cliché ending, but it still was kind of cliché, but just didn’t work. and the whole ending was just unsatisfying and also unfinished.

and i also feel like this book just didn’t work. like, it could have worked so well, but it just didn’t. like, the story and the characters just didn’t work, and nothing was so good in here. and like all of the plot was just so boring, and i really could not get into it, since this plot was not good. and i think if the pacing and the characters were written better i would have liked this book so much more.

there was also zero development in this relationship. like, i feel like they got together and then the end of it. like, they didn’t have any growth, like they got together, and they just didn’t work well at all. i feel like they could have been such a good couple, and have this coming of age growth, but it just didn’t work well. and also just, i think that there should be a least a little growth in their relationship, even though there wasn’t any in here.

and there was honestly some angst in this book, which also has some sort of growth. like, i already said they didn’t have any, which is annoying by itself. but, i think we should have had some development with the angst, and i think it should have just grew the characters more.

there also is zero emotion in this book. like, the writing would be so much better if they paced in some emotion, i don’t want them to be sobbing every page, but i just think that they should have had some sort of feeling in the book. and not even anything strong, just something there, like in the writing.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly wish i liked this book, since i really like the royals and i think i even own it somewhere. so, i just wish they just had some development or something there. but, i mean, i do wish this was just developed and edited.

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the hand on the wall review

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about the hand on the wall by Maureen Johnson. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly really liked this book, even though it was kind of slow. i personally read this book via e book, where i read book 1 and 2 via audio book, and i honestly suggest that if you can get the audio book, i highly suggest that way, propose to anything else.

and, there probably will be spoilers for the other books in this review.

trigger warnings- panic attack / disorder, child death, death, kidnapping, mental illness, confinement, grief, murder, violence, alcoholism, fire.

first thing first, i honestly think my favorite character in this series was probably mudge. i honestly really liked how he talked about disney and all of his disney talk, since it was just so cute to see him rave about disney and the parks and the rides. and also, just to hear him talk about his disney pins and how he wants to work there as a CM and then an go on to be an imagineer there.

and, i also literally don’t know how this school hasn’t been shut down yet. like, first off, the guy that founded this school, his wife and daughter and then another student all went missing / been killed. and then there was the whole drama with that couple, and of course everything that happened when stevie was there. so, i honestly have no clue why they still have this school open or anything. like it blows my mind that the government never shut this school down.

but, i honestly like that stevie is your a-typical YA book character. like, she has her quirks and i think that she of course is kind of odd, and that she isn’t like so ‘normal’ in the looks of YA books. like, i really liked that she wasn’t one of those girls who dressed up for everything, so she just wore like sweatshirts and hoodies and hell, i don’t even think she cared if it was clean or not. and also that she just listened to murder podcast, i honestly just liked her so much. but, i literally didn’t know that she had blonde hair, like i literally thought it was brown or something till someone mad a comment about her blonde hair.

i also just didn’t like david and stevie together, at all. like, i feel like the romance of this book was so unneeded, because this is a mystery book / series. so, i feel like this would have been just so much better if it just left the romance to romance books. and i mean, i really don’t understand why johnson tried to shove this romance down our throat, since it was just not good. and i mean, i wish they just didn’t put a romance in here, or if you must have a romance, you make it be a sub-plot or something like agggtm did.

but, i honestly feel like we got this romance with david and stevie because johnson wanted to talk more and more about david’s dad, who i literally hate since he is literally trump 2.0. and also getting this whole sub plot about the dad and even david being an idiot, i feel like it just took away from the story and just added so much drama that we don’t need. and honestly half of that kind of drama was literally not necessary at all, and i just think it was so stupid.

and i honestly really like that we got a little vibe from a classic book by having the gang getting themselves stuck at school during a blizzard. like, if you read this book series, you know that stevie read a lot of classic mystery books, mainly agatha christie. so, i feel like having them there in this blizzard, especially since a murderer is roaming the halls, i really liked that little nod towards older mystery books.

with them being stuck there, i really liked that we got to see and try to uncover this web of lies with stevie. i honestly really think johnson did a very good job, especially since we got two timelines, so we kind of no a little bit more about stevie. and uncover and untwisting these lies was so cool.

but, i also really liked to see the two timelines. i really liked that we got to see them both. since, of course, there is two sides to every story, so getting to see stevie figuring it out, then we get to jump over and then see the real case, i thought it was super cool. and i honestly hope more books kind of pick up the format of having what happened to the person in the victims eyes, and then having someone solve the case, and then seeing them doing it all cause i honestly think it is super interesting.

i do think that this book wraps up good. like, i’m not sure if this is technically the last book in the series, or if the box in the woods comes after this, or even before, cause it was vague. but, i feel like they do wrap this up where it is good and gets no loose strings, to a degree. like, there was some, but i mean, i kind of expected it with just how this series was. but, i did think it was good. especially cause stevie solved the case.

^ spoiler warning ^

i’m not sure if it was just me, but i thought the whole plot or whatever about them being in the wall was stupid as all hell. like, cops always say that you can smell the dead bodies and them decaying, so if they all were in the wall, even if it was just one of them, wouldn’t it smell terrible? like wouldn’t you think ‘oh shit it smells terrible in here,’ and like activly wonder what the hell it is and get a contractor or someone to look in the walls and floor? i mean, i know that is what i’d do, so the whole wall plot line was stupid.

^ end of warning ^

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly really liked this book, and i honestly can’t wait for the next book, which i think is coming out in june ? so, i honestly can’t to read about that and see what’s next in this story.

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happily ever afters review

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about happily ever afters by Elise Bryant. i gave this book 3/5 stars. i honestly wish i liked this book more than i actually did, since i feel like everyone loves this, but i literally couldn’t get behind all the jkr and harry potter talk.

trigger warning- jkr talk, harry potter talked about a lot, elliot page’s deadname mentioned, ableism, racism, panic attacks / disorder, bullying.

honestly, one of the most annoying parts of this book was the talk about harry potter and jkr. like, it seriously was like, every two minutes they mentioned it, an it just got to be so annoying. like, this book came out on january 5th, 2021, well after all of the issues with jkr and her transphobia and all the issues with hp came out. and, like phil stamper had a book come out roughly around the same time i believe, and they made some tweet about taking it out of the final version of their book. where bryant just did nothing, and she left all this shit stay in her book.

and like, at one point, the two characters actually said jkr’s name and was talking about what she said and did. and i don’t remember 100% what was said, but from what i remember they were like, ‘oh yeah i did see what she said, but like it’s wrong, but i’m still gonna support her and her books.’ granted, that’s not 100%, but i think it was something similar. and like, if a book makes one reference to hp, i guess i could take it, even though their is other books that made a bigger and better impact, but, this was like every page, and just gave me a headache, and i was honestly so close to dnf this book because they talked about it so much.

but, another thing that pissed me off so much was how they had that gay best friend side character. like, i love lgbtqia+ rep as much as the next, and i enjoy reading books with queer characters. but, this one was not it. for one, he just felt like a character to check a diversity box, and that was so annoying. but, i just felt like he was so cliché, like he dressed well, and i believe he was either a fashion student or he drew or something.

also, they say in this book that tessa has anxiety/ social anxiety. which, is another thing i honestly like to read about. but, i feel like her anxiety was just a plot point at some parts. like, for one, they would keep talking about how she had such bad social anxiety, but then she would go and talk to the popular kids and then be super confident. and i’m no way saying that you can’t be confident in public if you have social anxiety, but i feel like if you want to say that she has social anxiety it shouldn’t just be used as a plot point and used when you find it to be convenient. and i wish they developed her anxiety more, than keep talking about the whole boy drama.

but, the whole plot point about tessa being mad that poppy hated her so stupid. like, you straight up are trying to steal this girls boyfriend, and yeah poppy wasn’t a good character, but i still feel like you shouldn’t be mad that you are trying to steal her boyfriend. i mean, if she was trying to steal your boyfriend, you’d be pissed and be a bitch to the person that was trying to steal your boyfriend. but, i literally hated the whole mindset that poppy didn’t deserve her boyfriend, but somehow tessa does. like it just pissed me off.

and i’m no way condoning poppy’s actions, cause some of them were not it. but, she was being kind of rude, just like petty high school girl fight shit, and it wasn’t that bad. but, then tessa would play the victim in this whole mess, even though tessa was the one that was doing the boyfriend stealing. like, i get why poppy was being rude, since you were going to take her boyfriend. and i mean, poppy isn’t stupid, so she’s just not going to let you take her boyfriend from under her. and like the rest of her friends saw her doing this, but then they just didn’t tell tessa to stop or anything like that.

but, i literally hated Nico as a character. like, he friends just dropped offensive language all the time and didn’t even mind or anything and didn’t even stop when tessa told them to, and he didn’t a damn about jkr and all the shit she said, while also cheating on his girlfriend. and i mean, even if she was going for the whole ‘bad boy’ shit, this guy wasn’t a bad boy, just a plan dick.

and, i honestly liked sam so much more than i liked nico. i honestly think that sam just so sweet, and that he honestly really cared about her and her well being, and of course, wasn’t a dick. and i honestly really liked that he was a baker. and also didn’t use his mom to get a green light at everything and did everything cause either he wanted to, or because he got in himself. and as someone who makes a lot of desserts, i really liked his character.

i know how hard writing and writers block can be, and also just how terrible it is. i get it, i have friends that are writers and i know how hard it is for them when they get writers block. but, i feel like at certain parts tessa was like, helpless. like, we could talk over and over and over again about how it was hard to write this one story. but, like if she really wanted and needed to write, i know there are those writer generators, which are super helpful if you are into that. so, i don’t know how she either didn’t do that, or even check it out to get an idea or something to push her to write.

with that being said, i didn’t like the whole happy ever after plan. like, for one, if you really want to write romance, good for you, but like making this boy be your target, just didn’t sit right with me. like, i honestly wish they just didn’t do that, especially cause nico, her target, who had a girlfriend, was such a dick, and i mean, sam is right there.

i also just wish that tessa didn’t end up with a boy at the end. like, i guess it could be a spoiler, but then again this is a romance book. and i mean, i wish tessa could just have preached about how you should and will love yourself more. and how she needs to practice self care and love herself more than just make herself cling to these boys.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly wished i liked this book more, since i feel like it had so much potential and i’ve heard so many people rave about this book. but, more of the story, if a man likes harry potter and jkr, run away and do not date him.

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