Title: Killing Time Author: Brenna Ehrlich Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Contemporary Publisher: Inkyard Press Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: March 8, 2022 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Summer in Ferry, Connecticut, has always meant long, lazy days at the beach and wild nights partying in the abandoned mansions on the edge of town. Until now, that is.
Natalie Temple, who’s never been one for beaches or parties in the first place, is reeling from the murder of her favorite teacher, and there’s no way this true-crime-obsessed girl is going to sit back and let the rumor mill churn out lie after lie—even if she has to hide her investigation from her disapproving mom and team up with the new boy in town…
But the more Natalie uncovers, the more she realizes some secrets were never meant to be told.
Expertly-plotted and brimming with suspense, Killing Time is more than just a mystery. It’s a thoughtful novel about true crime stories and how we tell them.
Review:
Natalie Temple is obsessed with true crime. When her favourite teacher is murdered, Natalie wants to investigate it herself to put on her podcast. Her mom disapproves of Natalie’s true crime obsession because she has a secret history with a criminal investigation. Natalie sneaks around, behind her mother’s and her best friend’s backs, to get the story, but she ends up getting more tangled up in the murder investigation.
This was a very suspenseful story about a teenage girl investigating a murder in her small town. Natalie’s mom seemed a little extreme in the way she controlled everything Natalie did, but she had her own reasons which were told through some flashback chapters. Though her mom was overprotective, there were a few moments where Natalie was able to sneak around without getting caught. If her mom was as protective as she said she was, I don’t think Natalie would have been able to get away with so many things. She did get into some very dangerous situations so I can’t blame her mom for trying to protect her.
There were some potentially triggering scenes. There was murder, suicide, assault, and a couple of non-consensual kisses. The non-consensual kisses were kind of brushed off. Since it was clear that Natalie didn’t want them to happen, I would have liked that to be addressed more to make it clear that she didn’t want it and that it wasn’t a good situation.
I figured out some of the twists before they happened. The murderer was in my top two suspects, but I still enjoyed this story.
Killing Time was a suspenseful thriller!
Thank you Inkyard Press for providing a copy of this book.
What to read next:
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh
About the author:
Brenna Ehrlich is a journalist, YA author, and editor who has worked everywhere from MTV News to Rolling Stone. She resides in New Jersey with her husband Morgan and their two cats, Nimbus and Hazel. She enjoys horror movies and romcoms in equal measure.
Have you read KillingTime? What did you think of it?
Title: Chef’s Kiss Author: Jarrett Melendez, Danica Brine Genre: Graphic Novel, LGBT, Contemporary Publisher: Oni Press Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: March 1, 2022 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Watch things start to really heat up in the kitchen in this sweet, queer, new adult graphic novel!
Now that college is over, English graduate Ben Cook is on the job hunt looking for something…anything…related to his passion for reading and writing. But interview after interview, hiring committee after hiring committee, Ben soon learns getting the dream job won’t be as easy as he thought. Proofreading? Journalism? Copywriting? Not enough experience. It turns out he doesn’t even have enough experience to be a garbage collector! But when Ben stumbles upon a “Now Hiring—No Experience Necessary” sign outside a restaurant, he jumps at the chance to land his first job. Plus, he can keep looking for a writing job in the meantime. He’s actually not so bad in the kitchen, but he will have to pass a series of cooking tests to prove he’s got the culinary skills to stay on full-time. But it’s only temporary…right?
When Ben begins developing a crush on Liam, one of the other super dreamy chefs at the restaurant, and when he starts ditching his old college friends and his old writing job plans, his career path starts to become much less clear.
Review:
Ben Cook is a recent college graduate with an English degree. When he can’t find a job in publishing after weeks of interviews, he finds a restaurant that is hiring with no experience necessary. It doesn’t hurt that Ben also likes the cute sous chef who interviews him. Ben must do a series of challenges to prove to a tough critic that he has the skills to work there full-time.
I loved the quirky characters in this story. All of them, even the minor characters, had distinct personalities. There was also a pig, named Watson, who was just adorable.
The one thing I didn’t understand was why Ben had to do weeks worth of challenges for this job. He didn’t spend time actually working in the restaurant. He had to work on one dish a week to perfect it, but it seemed more like a training program or school rather than a job.
Chef’s Kiss is a cute queer graphic novel!
Thank you Oni Press for providing a copy of this book.
What to read next:
Giant Days by John Allison, Lissa Treiman
Heartstopper, Vol. 1 by Alice Oseman
Have you read Chef’s Kiss? What did you think of it?
Title: A Lady’s Formula for Love (The Secret Scientists of London #1) Author: Elizabeth Everett Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: Berkley Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: February 9, 2021 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
What is a Victorian lady’s formula for love? Mix one brilliant noblewoman and her enigmatic protection officer. Add in a measure of danger and attraction. Heat over the warmth of humor and friendship, and the result is more than simple chemistry—it’s elemental.
Lady Violet Hughes is keeping secrets. First, she founded a clandestine sanctuary for England’s most brilliant female scientists. Second, she is using her genius on a confidential mission for the Crown. But the biggest secret of all? Her feelings for protection officer Arthur Kneland.
Solitary and reserved, Arthur learned the hard way to put duty first. But the more time he spends in the company of Violet and the eccentric club members, the more his best intentions go up in flames. Literally.
When a shadowy threat infiltrates Violet’s laboratories, endangering her life and her work, scientist and bodyguard will find all their theories put to the test—and learn that the most important discoveries are those of the heart.
Review:
Lady Violet Hughes is a young widow who used her status to form a society for female scientists. It’s a secret society because the rest of the population wouldn’t approve of women being scientists. Violet is able to use her secret talents on a mission for the Queen. However, things start going wrong at the society. Fires are started, things blow up, and someone is trying to steal her work. Her stepson hires counter-assassin Arthur Kneland to protect Violet from these attacks. Arthur has his own secret history that has affected the way he looks at his job and his life. He wants to get through this last job of protecting Violet and then he can retire to the country. Neither of them were expecting to fall for each other, which throws off their plans for the future.
In this story, Violet organizes a secret society of female scientists. It’s difficult to imagine a world where women have to hide their intelligence. There were some female scientists during the Victorian era, but they weren’t common.
This book explored gender conformities and relationships. Since the women wanted to practice science, they had to do it in secret. They had strained relationships with the men in their lives because of their desire to do more in life. One woman was oppressed and abused by her father. Violet felt like she couldn’t be the true person she was when she was married to her much older husband. Luckily, they did have some men, like Arthur and Violet’s stepson, who encouraged the women to pursue their dreams.
A Lady’s Formula for Love is a great Victorian romance.
Thank you Berkley for providing a copy of this book.
What to read next:
A Perfect Equation by Elizabeth Everett
Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore
Other books in the series:
The Perfect Equation
Have you read A Lady’s Formula for Love? What did you think of it?
Title: The Unhoneymooners Author: Christina Lauren Genre: Romance, Contemporary Publisher: Gallery Books Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: May 14, 2019 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.
Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.
Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of… lucky.
Review:
Olive Torres has always had bad luck, but her twin sister Ami is the luckiest person in the world. Ami is getting married to her dream guy and is getting her wedding practically for free because of all the sweepstakes she won. However, Ami’s lucky streak runs out when everyone who ate the seafood buffet at her wedding gets sick with food poisoning. Olive and Ami’s new brother-in-law Ethan are the only two who didn’t eat the buffet and didn’t get sick. Since Olive and Ethan are the only ones who didn’t get sick, Ami insists that they use the Hawaiian honeymoon that she had won so that it doesn’t go to waste. The problem is that Olive and Ethan have hated each other since the moment they met. They plan to do their own things on the vacation, until they run into people they know and end up pretending that they just got married. Olive and Ethan pretend to be newly weds on the trip, and as they get closer and closer, Olive begins to wonder if her luck is finally changing for the better.
This was such a fun romance. I wish I had read it sooner. It had laugh out loud moments, and also some awkward moments. There was love and devastating heartbreak, but I really enjoyed it.
This story features some of my favourite romance tropes: fake dating/engagement/marriage and enemies to lovers. These two tropes give lots of space for tense moments and there was loads of tension throughout this story. The story was very well plotted and everything happened for a reason.
The Unhoneymooners is a fun romcom!
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book.
What to read next:
The Honey-Don’t List by Christina Lauren
Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren
Have you read The Unhoneymooners? What did you think of it?
Title: Anne of West Philly Author: Ivy Noelle Weir, Myisha Haynes (illustrator) Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel, Contemporary Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: March 1, 2022 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Anne of Green Gables with a twist: in this follow-up to Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy and The Secret Garden on 81st Street, this full-color graphic novel moves Anne Shirley to modern-day West Philadelphia, where where she finds new friends, new rivals, and a new family.
When Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert decide to foster a teenage girl for the first time, their lives are changed forever. Their redheaded foster daughter, Anne Shirley, is in search of an exciting life and has decided that West Philly is where she’s going to find it. Armed with a big personality and unstoppable creativity, Anne takes her new home by storm as she joins the robotics club, makes new friends in Diana and Gilbert, experiences first love, and turns the ordinary into the extraordinary. But as Anne starts to get comfortable, she discovers one thing she wasn’t looking for: a family.
Review:
Anne Shirley moves in with her new foster family, siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert. This is their first time with a teenage girl as their foster child. Anne has a big personality, which contrasts with Marilla’s and Matthew’s quiet demeanors. Anne makes new friends, joins the robotics club, and takes this quiet West Philadelphia neighbourhood by storm.
This is a fun, modern adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. Anne had a spunky personality, which made her stand out from the crowd. It took a while, but she eventually wins over everyone’s hearts.
Most of the events from the original story were updated in a way that made sense for today’s world. The only part that I didn’t think fit in as well was the part where Anne gives Diana the cordial. In the original story, Anne accidentally gives her friend cherry cordial which makes them drunk, so that couldn’t be in a children’s book today. In this modern version, they eat too many chocolates with liquor that make Diana sick. I don’t think those chocolates would make her drunk like the liquor did in the original story, so it felt a little forced to me. Other than that part, I think this modern adaptation was true to the feel of the original story.
Anne of West Philly is a great, modern graphic novel adaptation of Anne of Green Gables.
Thank you Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and TBR and Beyond Book Tours for providing a copy of this book.
What to read next:
The Secret Garden on 81st Street by Ivy Noelle Weir, Amber Padilla (illustrator)
Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rey Terciero, Bre Indigo (illustrator)
Ivy Noelle Weir is a writer of comics and prose. She is the co-creator of the Dwayne McDuffie Award-winning graphic novel Archival Quality (Oni Press), the upcoming The Secret Garden on 81st Street (Little, Brown for Young Readers), and her writing has appeared in anthologies such as Princeless: Girls Rock (Action Lab Entertainment) and Dead Beats (A Wave Blue World). She lives in the greater Boston area with her husband and their two tiny, weird dogs.
For the past 5 years, I’ve reviewed about 1,600 books on my blog. For the first 3 years, I reviewed a book a day. Then I reviewed 6 books per week and since July, I’ve reviewed 5 books per week. This has taken a lot of my time and I was reading in any spare moment I could, whether that was while I was waiting in a check out line in a store or listening to audiobooks while driving.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m also a writer. I’m currently revising my 5th manuscript. I queried a manuscript to agents last year but I didn’t get much response from that (querying is when you send out a letter to literary agents to see if they would represent your book). I feel really good about the manuscript I’m currently working on, and I’m planning on querying it in the next few months.
I’ve decided to take a step back from reading and reviewing books to focus more on my writing career. I will still be reading, reviewing, and posting on social media daily but I won’t be reviewing a book a day. I’ve proven to myself that I can do it, but I can’t sustain that pace anymore. I want to be honest about my writing and blogging journey. Since I decided to read less last week, I’ve felt much less stressed out and I’ve gotten a lot more work done for my own manuscript. Reading has always been a source of self-care to me, but it was becoming more stressful than it was helping me. I’m looking forward to moving closer to my goal of becoming a published author.
Jill's Book Blog 