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 Her Dark Lies by J.T. Ellison.
Goodreads Synopsis:
At the wedding of the year, a killer needs no invitation
Jutting from sparkling turquoise waters off the Italian coast, Isle Isola is an idyllic setting for a wedding. In the majestic cliff-top villa owned by the wealthy Compton family, up-and-coming artist Claire Hunter will marry handsome, charming Jack Compton, surrounded by close family, intimate friends…and a host of dark secrets.
From the moment Claire sets foot on the island, something seems amiss. Skeletal remains have just been found. There are other, newer disturbances, too. Menacing texts. A ruined wedding dress. And one troubling shadow hanging over Claire’s otherwise blissful relationship—the strange mystery surrounding Jack’s first wife.
Then a raging storm descends, the power goes out—and the real terror begins…
Title: City of the Plague God Author: Sarwat Chadda Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: January 12, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents CITY OF THE PLAGUE GOD, an adventure based on ancient Mesopotamian mythology written by Sarwat Chadda, author of the Ash Mistry series. Characters from the Epic of Gilgamesh populate this high-stakes contemporary adventure in which all of Manhattan is threatened by the ancient god of plagues.
Thirteen-year-old Sik wants a simple life going to school and helping at his parents’ deli in the evenings. But all that is blown to smithereens when Nergal comes looking for him, thinking that Sik holds the secret to eternal life.Turns out Sik is immortal but doesn’t know it, and that’s about to get him and the entire city into deep, deep trouble.
Sik’s not in this alone. He’s got Belet, the adopted daughter of Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, on his side, and a former hero named Gilgamesh, who has taken up gardening in Central Park. Now all they have to do is retrieve the Flower of Immortality to save Manhattan from being wiped out by disease. To succeed, they’ll have to conquer sly demons, treacherous gods, and their own darkest nightmares.
Review:
Thirteen-year-old Sik helps out with his parents’ deli in Manhattan. One night, he’s attacked by demons who were working with the plague god Nergal. Their deli is destroyed and his parents are left in the hospital with a mysterious virus. Sik is rescued by his new friend Belet who lives with a god of her own. Nargal insists that Sik is hiding an item that Sik’s brother sent back from Iraq just before he died. Sik and Belet have to find this item, with the help of the hero Gilgamesh, to save their city and Sik’s parents.
I have never read Mesopotamian mythology before, or even the epic story of Gilgamesh, so this was all new to me. I loved learning about the different gods and their stories. The story was set in the familiar city of New York, so I could picture everything that happened, even though the characters were all new.
This story addressed racism and Islamophobia. Sik’s friend Daoud was an actor, but he had accepted the fact that he was always going to be cast as the villain or a terrorist. He wouldn’t be the hero. Luckily in this story, Sik is a Muslim hero. This racism was disturbing because it’s so outrageous and doesn’t make any sense. I’m glad that books like this can be published, because I love reading about different cultures. My favourite books are the ones that teach me things, and I feel like I learned a lot from this one.
This is a great story in the Rick Riordan Presents collection!
Thank you Rick Riordan Presents for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Tristan Strong Punches a Hold in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Have you read City of the Plague God? What did you think of it?
Title: Hot British Boyfriend Author: Kristy Boyce Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance Publisher: HarperTeen Source: Purchased Format: Paperback Release Date: February 9, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
After a horrifying public rejection by her crush, Ellie Nichols does what any girl would do: she flees the country. To be more precise, she joins her high school’s study abroad trip to England. While most of her classmates are there to take honors courses and pad their college applications, Ellie is on a quest to rebuild her reputation and self-confidence. And nothing is more of a confidence booster than getting a hot British boyfriend.
When Ellie meets Will, a gorgeous and charming Brit, she vows to avoid making the same mistakes as she did with the last guy she liked. Which is why she strikes up a bargain with Dev, an overachieving classmate who she’s never clicked with, but who does seem to know a lot about the things Will is interested in—if he helps her win over her crush, then she’ll help him win over his.
But even as Ellie embarks on a whirlwind romance, one that takes her on adventures to some of England’s most beautiful places, she still needs to figure out if this is actually the answer to all her problems…and whether the perfect boyfriend is actually the perfect boy for her.
Review:
After a video goes viral of Ellie being rejected by her crush for her best friend, she has to escape town. She signs up to join a semester abroad in England with her high school classmates. Everyone from her school knows her from the video. Ellie isn’t an honors student, like the other ones who are on the trip, so she has to work a lot harder to keep up with them. When Ellie and her new friends go to town, she meets Will, her ideal hot British boyfriend. She doesn’t want to make the same mistakes that she made with her last crush, so Ellie decides to learn everything about Will’s interests and make him like her. However, Will doesn’t get to know the real Ellie, so she has to figure out if he’s really the perfect hot British boyfriend for her.
As soon as I heard about this book, I knew I would love it. It did not disappoint! Ellie was an imperfect protagonist who made mistakes when it came to love. She ended up throwing herself at her crush, when he was actually speaking to her best friend. Not only did that happen, but it ended up going viral online. She had to deal with teenage drama on a large scale that even followed her to England.
I loved the setting of England in this story. I miss traveling, especially to England. Reading this book felt like I was returning to London. They went to all of my favourite tourist attractions. The characters also traveled to another city in Europe that I haven’t been to but would love to go after reading about their trip.
This is such a fun story! The only thing that would make it better is if it came with a real Hot British Boyfriend!
What to read next:
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
I See London, I See France by Sarah Mlynowski
Have you read Hot British Boyfriend? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted by Wandering Words, where you give the first few lines of a book to hook your readers before introducing the book.
Here is my first line:
“This is going to be a story about the Lynch brothers.”
Do you recognize this first line?
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And the book is… Call Down the Hawk (Dreamer Trilogy #1) by Maggie Steifvater.
Goodreads synopsis:
The dreamers walk among us . . . and so do the dreamed. Those who dream cannot stop dreaming – they can only try to control it. Those who are dreamed cannot have their own lives – they will sleep forever if their dreamers die.
And then there are those who are drawn to the dreamers. To use them. To trap them. To kill them before their dreams destroy us all.
Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality.
Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it.
Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer . . . and a killer. She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do. But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed. . . .
Have you read Infinity Son? What did you think of it?
In the companion novel to the beloved and award-winning Amina’s Voice, Amina once again uses her voice to bridge the places, people, and communities she loves—this time across continents.
It’s the last few days of her vacation in Pakistan, and Amina has loved every minute of it. The food, the shops, the time she’s spent with her family—all of it holds a special place in Amina’s heart. Now that the school year is starting again, she’s sad to leave, but also excited to share the wonders of Pakistan with her friends back in Greendale.
After she’s home, though, her friends don’t seem overly interested in her trip. And when she decides to do a presentation on Pakistani hero Malala Yousafzai, her classmates focus on the worst parts of the story. How can Amina share the beauty of Pakistan when no one wants to listen?
Review:
Amina is on vacation in Pakistan to visit her extended family. She loves everything on the trip, including the food, the shopping, and spending time with family members. During the trip, Amina takes lots of photos and videos to save her favourite memories. Amina had to return to the US when the summer was over, but her uncle makes her promise that she will share her memories of Pakistan with her friends. Her teacher assigns a project to research a person who has made a significant contribution to history. Amina chooses Malala Yousafzai, to show her students an important person from Pakistan. However, her classmates only remembered the negative parts of her story, like that girls in her village couldn’t get an education, leading her classmates to believe Pakistan is a bad place. Amina had to show her friends and classmates that her family is from a wonderful country.
This story gives an informative look at Pakistan. I’ve never been there, but it sounded like a beautiful place in the story. Amina was surprised when her cousin told her that she would be too scared to visit America. The stories her family hears are only negative ones, since those are shared more in the news. At the same time, Amina was scared to go to Pakistan at first, because she had only heard stories like Malala’s story of being attacked by terrorists, so that was her image of the country. This shows that you can’t always believe the stories that you hear about a place without visiting for yourself. This reminded me of how Toronto, where I live, used to be known around the world for the SARS virus. Only a small number of people had the virus, but the news story about it being in Toronto made it around the world, giving us that reputation for years. Just because a country or city is known for one thing, doesn’t mean the entire place is like that.
This book is a companion to the book Amina’s Voice. The events of that book are mentioned in this story, but you could read this one as a stand-alone.
This was such a beautiful middle grade novel!
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
More to the Story by Hena Khan
Once Upon an Eid: Stories of Hope and Joy by 15 Muslim Voices by S.K. Ali and Aisha Saeed (editors)
TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about it.
My pick this week is Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1) by Cassandra Clare.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Chain of Gold, a Shadowhunters novel, is the first novel in a brand-new trilogy where evil hides in plain sight and love cuts deeper than any blade. .
Cordelia Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, a warrior trained since childhood to battle demons. When her father is accused of a terrible crime, she and her brother travel to London in hopes of preventing the family’s ruin. Cordelia’s mother wants to marry her off, but Cordelia is determined to be a hero rather than a bride. Soon Cordelia encounters childhood friends James and Lucie Herondale and is drawn into their world of glittering ballrooms, secret assignations, and supernatural salons, where vampires and warlocks mingle with mermaids and magicians. All the while, she must hide her secret love for James, who is sworn to marry someone else.
But Cordelia’s new life is blown apart when a shocking series of demon attacks devastate London. These monsters are nothing like those Shadowhunters have fought before—these demons walk in daylight, strike down the unwary with incurable poison, and seem impossible to kill. London is immediately quarantined. Trapped in the city, Cordelia and her friends discover that their own connection to a dark legacy has gifted them with incredible powers—and forced a brutal choice that will reveal the true cruel price of being a hero.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
Title: Perfect on Paper Author: Sophie Gonzales Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, LGBT Publisher: Wednesday Books Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: March 9, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
In Sophie Gonzales’ Perfect on Paper, Leah on the Offbeat meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before: a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex back
Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off.
Darcy Phillips: • Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes―for a fee. • Uses her power for good. Most of the time. • Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham. • Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else. • Does not appreciate being blackmailed.
However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89―out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service―that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach―at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back.
Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she’s not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again.
Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?
Review:
Seventeen-year-old Darcy Phillips has a secret. She’s the relationship advisor behind locker 89 in her school. Students can drop off a letter asking for advice as well as ten dollars and their email into the locker, so she can help them with their relationship problems. One day, Alexander Brougham catches her removing the letters from that locker. He blackmails her into helping him get back with his ex-girlfriend. As Darcy continues to answer more letters, she has an important reason to keep her identity a secret. She has sabotaged Brooke, her best friend and crush, in her past relationship so that Brooke was still available for Darcy to crush on. Darcy has to help Alexander so that he doesn’t reveal her secret.
I loved the premise behind this story. It was fun, but also had potentially serious consequences. When Darcy’s identity was discovered by Alexander, she was blackmailed. She could have given some people advice that had devastating consequences. Darcy eventually had to face the consequences of running this secret business.
This story had an interesting discourse about what it means to be queer. Darcy was bisexual and she belonged to the queer club at school. However, she was concerned that if she dated a guy, she was no longer considered queer because she was in a relationship with someone of the opposite gender, and it would appear to be a heterosexual relationship. Even though she could be in a relationship with members of either gender, her queer identity shouldn’t change depending on who she was dating. This was an informative look at what it means to be bisexual and queer in a way I haven’t read before.
This was such a fun story!
Thank you Wednesday Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
Have you read Perfect on Paper? What did you think of it?
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 The Duke Undone by Joanna Lowell. The expected publication date is April 6, 2021.
Goodreads Synopsis:
An artist stumbles upon a naked duke and an unlikely love story begins in this captivating Victorian historical romance.
When Royal Academy painting student Lucy Coover trips over a naked man passed out in an East End alley, she does the decent thing. She covers him up and fetches help. Trouble is, she can’t banish his muscular form from her dreams as easily. She finds herself compelled to put every detail down on canvas. What she doesn’tknow is that she’s painting the infamous Duke of Weston, and that her life will never be the same.
A second son, Anthony Philby thought he could flee his brutal family legacy and become his own man. Forced back to London by his brother’s death, he inherits a fortune… with strings attached. One scandal will sink his bid for independence. It’s in his best interest to burn Lucy Coover’s shocking painting and pretend he never met the bewitching young artist. Instead, he finds himself offering a devil’s bargain. He’ll save her aunt’s dressmaking shop from ruin, if she’ll seek out his missing sister, Effie.
As they work together, an unexpected passion ignites between them. But the hunt for Effie leads to unexpected danger, and soon they find themselves risking everything… for a love that might destroy them both.
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