I read an eARC of Daughter of the Bone Forest by Jasmine Skye. Thank you, Macmillian Children’s Publishing Group and NetGalley. I am so glad I read this. I was starting to wonder if I was resenting all the ebooks I was reading because I just didn’t want to be forced to read them. But this book changed my mind. Not that this book was perfect. There were a few pacing issues, and it felt like some parts weren’t given enough time to really get into the emotions or even explore the politics of the moment. But overall, the story was really fun. I liked the main characters, and the “villains” of the ..read more

I read an eARC of Into the Sunken City by Dinesh Thiru. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins Children’s Book. Honestly, this book was not for me, but it could be for you. The book is about Jin, a cynical nineteen-year-old who lost her father in a diving accident and now has to make enough money so she doesn’t get conscripted into the Navy (basically they “tax” anyone not in it) so she can take care of her fourteen year old sister. One way she could do this is by “diving” as she lives in a world drowned in water and there are hidden treasure within the deep sea just waiting to be found, but a ..read more

I read So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole. Thank you, NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was aggressively in the OK area for reading for me. There dragons were cool, and some of the ideas with them were interesting in how they came about and the culture that sprung up around them. The characters, well, the sister was really interesting. I liked the parts of her trying to fit in and learn in her new, hostile environment while also acting as a really bad spy. I honestly wish the book was more focused on her. The problem was the other MC. For one thing, I kept having to ..read more

This was a very meh follow-up to the first book. The characterization continues to be strong, and the magical system is fascinating. The idea of the contracts and the Gods opens so much for interesting characterization. The problem for me was that I could often see how things would play out before the plot got to the point. It left me with hundred of pages of a book where I felt like I could easily sum up their personalities and fates in a few sentences. It was a fine read, I took off half a star because the epilogue annoyed me that much ..read more

I read an eARC of Gwen and Art are not in Love by Lex Croucher. Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martins Press. This book tells the story of the people who are descendants of King Arthur a few generations down the line. Long enough that Gwen and Arthur are promised by their parents to each other. Only problem? They hate each other. Of course, that doesn’t stop their parents from planned to marry them off together by the end of summer and the tournament that is taking place. One night, they realize the other one is gay, and then on the promise of blackmail, they decide to pretend they are getting a ..read more

I read an eARC of Merciless Waters by Rae Knowles. Thank you NetGalley and Brigids Gate Press, LLC. This is a relatively short horror book about a woman who lives on a ship manned by all women in a magical world set in a time when that simply wasn’t done. When we meet her, she knows something bad is going to happen. Turns out that the other women, including her partner Lily, have rescued a man from the ocean. Our protagonist knows that Lily will take the time to sleep with the man, and she immediately starts thinking of ways to kill the man. This turns into a goal, especially when his presence ..read more

I read an eARC of Sinner’s Isle by Angela Montoya. Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Children’s. This book has an audience. I knew this while reading it, and it was reaffirmed when I saw the score for the book. For me though, this book’s dialogue and characters just came off as too cliché. Especially, especially the love interest, and the main characters thoughts can be, but she not too bad until she starts talking to the king. This is a story about people who live on the sea. The main character is a woman who can use magic. She can call these shadow creatures that are always calling for h ..read more

I read an eARC of the Songs of Irie by Asha Ashanti Bromfield. Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. Don’t let the cover fool you, yes it’s about these two young women and music, but it’s also very much about the civil unrest of the 1970s. I’d say that it’s actually mostly about that, humanized through the eyes of young women in the middle of the poorer part of Jamaica Irie, and the richer part through Jilly. We start just as these two are graduating from high school. Right away we get a feel for their dynamic. Irie is reserved, and very aware of where she is seen among the rich teens f ..read more

I read an eARC of The Art of Destiny by Wesley Chu. Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group. For me, this book suffered a lot from middle book syndrome. On the positive side, I actually found the assassin’s side of the story the most engaging this time. I still wish we weren’t following quite as many characters, though. Jian continued to be a disaster of a student, and his part only bored me a little. Taishi was fun to read while she was still training Jian, unfortunately, I wasn’t too interested once they separated. I continued to not care at all about Sali. Which is too bad, b ..read more

I read an eARC of Murder in Fourth Position by Lori Robbins. Thank you, NetGalley and Level Best Books. Whoops, this is the fourth book in a series. No, I didn’t realize this right away, and I’m not going back and reading the other three. I’ve also learned that I’m really picky about mystery/thriller books. This story was fine. Maybe I would have liked it better if I read the first three, but this book felt like a middling book in a list of books like it. The main character is dull. I pointed to the person who did it early on in the book, and honestly, how this book was written, I didn’t even ..read more