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Review: Wilder Girls by Rory Power

19/09/2019Amber 2 Comments

Review: Wilder Girls by Rory Power Wilder Girls by Rory Power
Genre: Magical Realism
Release Date: 9th July 2019
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: two-stars

It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.

But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.

Wilder Girls has received a lot of hype this year in the run up to its release. I think a lot of people were excited because a) it’s queer, and b) it sounds super weird. And it is super weird. I don’t normally go for weird books, but I picked up Wilder Girls at YALC and decided I should give it a go.

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Review: Missing, Presumed Dead by Emma Berquist

17/09/2019Amber 2 Comments

Missing, Presumed Dead by Emma Berquist
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: 21st May 2019
Publisher: Greenwillow
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: four-stars

With a touch, Lexi can sense how and when someone will die. Some say it’s a gift. But to Lexi it’s a curse—one that keeps her friendless and alone. All that changes when Lexi foresees the violent death of a young woman, Jane, outside a club. But Jane doesn’t go to the afterlife quietly. Her ghost remains behind, determined to hunt down her murderer, and she needs Lexi’s help. In life, Jane was everything Lexi is not—outgoing, happy, popular. But in death, all Jane wants is revenge. Lexi will do anything to help Jane, to make up for the fact that she didn’t—couldn’t—save Jane’s life, and to keep this beautiful ghost of a girl by her side for as long as possible.

I read Emma Berquist’s debut novel, Devils Unto Dust, last year and really enjoyed it. It was the perfect Western horror. I picked up Missing, Presumed Dead quite eagerly, even though I’m kind of out of my paranormal phase.

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Review: Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno

12/09/2019Amber Leave a comment

Review: Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: 14th May 2019
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: three-half-stars

Rosa Santos is cursed by the sea-at least, that's what they say. Dating her is bad news, especially if you're a boy with a boat.

But Rosa feels more caught than cursed. Caught between cultures and choices. Between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a hurricane. Between Port Coral, the quirky South Florida town they call home, and Cuba, the island her abuela refuses to talk about.

As her college decision looms, Rosa collides - literally - with Alex Aquino, the mysterious boy with tattoos of the ocean whose family owns the marina. With her heart, her family, and her future on the line, can Rosa break a curse and find her place beyond the horizon?

Well, this was cute. I received Don’t Date Rosa Santos for review, and it’s pretty much exactly the kind of marshmallow fluff that I was expecting.

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Review: Suggested Reading by Dave Connis

05/09/2019Amber 2 Comments

Suggested Reading by Dave Connis
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: 17th September 2019
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: two-stars

Clara Evans is horrified when she discovers her principal’s “prohibited media” hit list. The iconic books on the list have been pulled from the library and aren’t allowed anywhere on the school’s premises. Students caught with the contraband will be sternly punished.

Many of these stories have changed Clara’s life, so she’s not going to sit back and watch while her draconian principal abuses his power. She’s going to strike back.

So Clara starts an underground library in her locker, doing a shady trade in titles like Speak and The Chocolate War. But when one of the books she loves most is connected to a tragedy she never saw coming, Clara’s forced to face her role in it.

Will she be able to make peace with her conflicting feelings, or is fighting for this noble cause too tough for her to bear?

I picked up Suggested Reading because it said it was perfect for fans of Moxie (which I haven’t read yet but I feel like it’s one of those books that I should connect with, ya know?) and I was like “YES! A bookworm fights the system!” So I was super hyped. Unfortunately I was disappointed.
I had multiple issues with Suggested Reading, and they all began because I just could not connect with the writing style. First of all, it was all over the place. You know that writing style that feels really bitty and disconnected and unedited? That’s what this was. I struggled to follow the plot because the writing style just didn’t flow.

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Review: Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

04/09/2019Amber 4 Comments

Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron
Series: Kingdom of Souls #1
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: 3rd September 2019
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: four-stars

Magic has a price—if you’re willing to pay.

Born into a family of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. But each year she fails to call forth her ancestral powers, while her ambitious mother watches with growing disapproval.

There’s only one thing Arrah hasn’t tried, a deadly last resort: trading years of her own life for scraps of magic. Until the Kingdom’s children begin to disappear, and Arrah is desperate to find the culprit.

She uncovers something worse. The long-imprisoned Demon King is stirring. And if he rises, his hunger for souls will bring the world to its knees… unless Arrah pays the price for the magic to stop him.

Here’s my review of Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron! I’m very excited to have the opportunity to review Kingdom of Souls, which I thought was a great fantasy debut.

I have so many thoughts on this one! I’m going to try to be as coherent as possible. And no, that doesn’t mean this was a five star read (not quite!) but it ended up being a very solid four star one!

I read this book in two days. Partly because I had to (deadlines!) and partly because by the mid-way point I was kind of hooked. After about fifty percent, the book starts to kick off and I just could not put it down. But I should probably start from the beginning first.

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