Month: May 2019

Review: The Dark Beneath the Ice

Title: The Dark Beneath the Ice
Author: Amelinda Bérubé
Genre: Young Adult, Horror
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: August 7, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Something is wrong with Marianne. 

It’s not just that her parents have split up, or that life hasn’t been the same since she quit dancing. Or even that her mother has checked herself into the hospital. 

She’s losing time. Doing things she would never do. And objects around her seem to break whenever she comes close. 

Something is after her. But a first attempt at an exorcism calls down the full force of the thing’s rage. It demands Marianne give back what she stole. And Marianne must uncover the truth that lies beneath it all before the nightmare can take what it think it’s owed, leaving Marianne trapped in the darkness of the other side.

Review:

This was a suspenseful, modern ghost story.

This story was very creepy. It had a contemporary setting in the real world. However, strange things keep happening to Marianne. Things start spontaneously breaking in front of her, and she has gaps in her memory. These unexplained events built the suspense in the story. Since the setting is the real world, it was even more creepy to read and imagine it happening to myself.

There was some discussion about mental health in this story. Marianne is sent to a therapist for help after some unusual things happen with her, and her mother is admitted to the hospital because she thinks she is hallucinating. When Marianne takes some medication to help with her stress, she discovers that her aunt took the same pills years earlier. This broke down the stigma around getting help for mental health problems, since all of them sought out help without being blamed for their actions.

This is one of those stories where the ending can make it or break it. I won’t spoil it, but I can say that I liked the way the story ended. This is a great, spooky ghost story.

What to read next:

The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Have you read The Dark Beneath the Ice? What did you think of it?

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – May 22

This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.

The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is Ordinary Girls by Blair Thornburgh. The release date is June 4, 2019.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sarah Mlynowski, this heartfelt and humorous contemporary take on Sense and Sensibility follows two sisters—complete opposites—who discover the secrets they’ve been keeping make them more alike than they’d realized.

For two sisters as different as Plum and Ginny, getting on each other’s nerves is par for the course. But when the family’s finances hit a snag, sending chaos through the house in a way only characters from a Jane Austen novel could understand, the two drift apart like they never have before. Plum, a self-described social outcast, strikes up a secret friendship with the class jock, while Ginny’s usual high-strung nature escalates to pure hysterics.

But this has always been the sisters’ dynamic. So why does everything feel different this year? Maybe because Ginny is going to leave for college soon. Maybe because Plum finally has something that she doesn’t have to share with her self-involved older sister. Or maybe because the girls are forced to examine who they really are instead of who their late father said they were. And who each girl discovers—beneath the years of missing their dad—could either bring them closer together…or drive them further apart.

What books are you waiting on this week?

Top 5 Wednesday – Emerald Covers

This meme is hosted by Lainey from Thoughts on Tomes. The Goodreads Group for Top 5 Wednesday can be found here.

This week’s prompt is Emerald Covers, because the birthstone for May is Emerald. Here’s my list:

1. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

2. Voyager (Outlander #3) by Diana Gabaldon

3. The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay

4. Father Christmas and Me (Christmas #3) by Matt Haig

5. Harry’s Christmas Carol by Mark Andrew Poe

What are your favourite books with Emerald Covers?

Review: The Beauty of the Moment

Title: The Beauty of the Moment
Author: Tanaz Bhathena
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: February 26, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Susan dreams of being an artist. Malcolm wants to move him and his sister out of a bad living situation. Sparks fly when the two teens meet at a fundraiser for Syrian refugees. A Canadian YA romance for fans of The Sun is Also a Star.

Susan is the new girl — she’s sharp and driven, and strives to meet her parents’ expectations of excellence. Malcolm is the bad boy — he started raising hell at age fifteen, after his mom died of cancer, and has had a reputation ever since. 
Susan hasn’t told anyone, but she wants to be an artist. Malcolm doesn’t know what he wants — until he meets her. 
Love is messy and families are messier, but in spite of their burdens, Susan and Malcolm fall for each other. The ways they drift apart and come back together are testaments to family, culture, and being true to who you are. 

Review:

I really enjoyed this story.

I liked the dual narratives of Susan and Malcolm. It was great to see both sides of their romance. They come from different backgrounds, yet they had many similarities. Malcolm’s father was remarried and Susan lived just with her mother, so they both only had one of their parents in their daily lives. However, they are in different positions in their school. Susan is new to the school and she has trouble making friends. Malcolm has a lot of history at the school, including a jealous ex-girlfriend. I saw the world through Susan’s new eyes, yet I also saw the history of the characters through Malcolm’s perspective.

Though there were fun parts of the story with their budding romance, there were serious issues addressed as well. Malcolm was abused at home by his father. Susan discovered problems in her parents’ marriage. They also reference the Syrian refugees in Toronto and Mississauga, because Malcolm’s sister organized a fundraiser for a Syrian family. These parts were educational and informative for young readers who may not know about these issues.

This story was set in Mississauga, which is a city in the Greater Toronto Area. I could picture most of the locations mentioned, which was so great! Though I couldn’t relate to the characters because they have different backgrounds from me, I felt connected to them through this setting.

This was a great story.

What to read next:

A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

Have you read The Beauty of the Moment? What did you think of it?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books That I’ve Loaned to Other People

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is Books That I Don’t Let Anyone Touch. However, I do share my books quite often, because I love recommending books, especially to non-readers. My friends and I would often share books when I was younger, too. I changed my list to Books I’ve Loaned to Other People. Here’s my list:

1. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

2. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

3. Shadowland (The Mediator #1) by Meg Cabot

4. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

5. The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

6. Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

7. Nancy Drew: The Palace of Wisdom by Kelly Thompson, Jenn St-Onge

8. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

9. Kens by Raziel Reid

10. The Child by Fiona Barton

(All photos taken from Goodreads)

Review: Beauty Queen (Whatever After #7)

Title: Beauty Queen (Whatever After #7)
Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

The magical seventh installment in this NEW YORK TIMES bestselling series!

This time, the magic mirror sucks Abby and Jonah into the story of Beauty and the Beast. When Jonah angers the Beast by picking flowers from his garden, he becomes the Beast’s prisoner! Abby has to save her brother by finding Beauty, whom the Beast will surely fall in love with, right? NOPE. The Beast doesn’t like Beauty, so it’s up to Abby and her brother to match-make this reluctant pair and fix this fractured fairy tale before things get pretty ugly!

Review:

This is another fun fairytale retelling!

In this story, Abby and Jonah have to fix the Beauty and the Beast fairytale. Abby also has to find a way to get Jonah’s memories back. His memories were wiped at the end of the previous novel so he didn’t remember any of their other fairytale adventures. There were many twists throughout the story, including Abby being turned into a beast!

As the series progresses, the characters are becoming more developed. Abby and Jonah’s lives outside of the fairytale adventures was shown at the beginning of the story. Abby has trouble with her friends at school. She becomes jealous when her friend makes a new friend. However, she learns how to fix the situation while in the Beauty and the Beast story.

The Whatever After series is great! I highly recommend it!

What to read next:

Once Upon a Frog (Whatever After #8) by Sarah Mlynowski

Have you read Beauty Queen? What did you think of it?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – May 20

This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!

What I just finished:

This weekend I finished The Beauty of the Moment by Tanaz Bhathena

What I’m currently reading:

I’m currently reading The Dark Beneath the Ice by Amelinda Bérubé.

What I’m reading next:

Next I will be reading Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo.

What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?

Review: The Way You Make Me Feel

Title: The Way You Make Me Feel
Author: Maurene Goo
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: May 8, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

From the author of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, a laugh-out-loud story of love, new friendships, and one unique food truck.

Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn’t so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind? 

With Maurene Goo’s signature warmth and humor, The Way You Make Me Feel is a relatable story of falling in love and finding yourself in the places you’d never thought to look. 

Review:

This is a fun summer story!

I loved the character Clara. She was carefree and took risks. At her junior prom, she reenacted Carrie by having fake blood dumped on herself after winning the title of prom queen. It was a dramatic moment, and ended up earning her the punishment of working on her dad’s food truck for the whole summer. She was a fun character to read about because she is so different from me.

I also loved the mix of cultures in the book. Clara was born in America to two parents who were both born in Brazil to Korean parents. Clara’s father’s Korean and Brazilian heritage was explored in his fusion food truck called KoBra. I didn’t know there was a Korean population in Brazil before reading this book, so that was fascinating to learn.

This was a great story! It would be a perfect read for the summer!

What to read next:

Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo

Have you read The Way You Make Me Feel? What did you think of it?

Jill’s Weekly Wrap-Up – May 19

Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:

I did 9 weekly blogging memes:

How was your week? What did you guys read?

Sundays in Bed With… The Beauty of the Moment

The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.

This Sunday I’m reading The Beauty of the Moment by Tanaz Bhathena.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Susan is the new girl—she’s sharp and driven, and strives to meet her parents’ expectations of excellence. Malcolm is the bad boy—he started raising hell at age fifteen, after his mom died of cancer, and has had a reputation ever since.

Susan’s parents are on the verge of divorce. Malcolm’s dad is a known adulterer.

Susan hasn’t told anyone, but she wants to be an artist. Malcolm doesn’t know what he wants—until he meets her.

Love is messy and families are messier, but in spite of their burdens, Susan and Malcolm fall for each other. The ways they drift apart and come back together are testaments to family, culture, and being true to who you are.

What book are you in bed with today?