Month: July 2024

Review: Meet Me at the Starlight

Title: Meet Me at the Starlight
Author: Rachel Hauck
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Bethany House Publisher
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 2, 2024
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Eighties supermodel Harlow Hayes seeks solace in a quaint Florida beach town to hide and heal from a heartbreak that shattered her entire world. To her surprise, she encounters Matt Knight–a Hollywood A-lister with a bad-boy reputation–who has returned to his hometown to help his plucky grandmother, Tuesday, save her century-old skating rink, the Starlight.The Starlight holds a special place in the hearts of the community, once acting as a refuge for Depression-era families and bringing the town together with gatherings and celebrations. Tuesday’s determination and resilience even protected her beloved rink from her husband’s shady business dealings. Yet when the Starlight is threatened with demolition, Tuesday may not be able to stop it. As Matt and Harlow plot with Tuesday to save the Starlight, they find themselves on a journey of surprises, self-discovery, and the kind of healing that leads to love. New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hauck weaves a heartfelt tale of romance, perseverance, and the enduring power of community.

Review:

1932: Tuesday Knight has always loved the Starlight, a roller skating rink near her house. She is struggling to raise her sons on her own, as her husband goes away for weeks at a time to a mysterious job. One day, he gifts Tuesday with the deed to the Starlight, making it her own. 

1987: Supermodel Harlow Hayes moves to a small town in north Florida to get her life together. She reunites with her former costar, Matt Knight. Matt is in town to try and help his grandmother save the Starlight from being torn down by the mayor. Harlow and Matt have to overcome a lot from their personal lives that they’ve moved to Florida to escape, while helping Tuesday save the Starlight. 

This was a great multi-POV historical fiction story! The story alternated between Tuesday’s life as a young adult and Harlow’s and Matt’s current POVs in 1987. As the story went on, there was a lot of suspense created from the plot points and secrets that were left out of the narrative. By the end of the story, I didn’t want to leave this world and these characters. They felt like real people.

Meet Me at the Starlight is a great historical fiction story!

Thank you Bookinfluencers.com, Bethany House Fiction, and Rachel Huack for providing a copy of this book for a sponsored campaign!

Content warnings: war, death, body shaming

Have you read Meet Me at the Starlight? What did you think of it?

Happy Pub Day – July 30

Happy Pub Day to these authors!

Castle of the Cursed by Romina Garber

The Night Librarian by Christopher Lincoln

That Prince is Mine by Jayci Lee

What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena

Into the Goblin Market by Vikki VanSickle, Jensine Eckwall

Thank you Wednesday Books, Penguin Young Readers, St. Martin’s Press, Doubleday Canada, and Tundra Books for providing copies of these books!

What books are you most excited for this week?

Review: Astra Remade

Title: Astra Remade
Author: Elizabeth Lowham
Genre: Fantasy, Retelling
Publisher: Chanter Press LLC
Source: Author
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: May 1, 2024
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

How hard can it be to get one lost prince out of a fairy tower?

Astra has made a terrible wish—to be so beautiful that wealthy men propose at the sight of her. In Everspring, her magical parade of wealthy suitors quickly becomes a violent mob, and worst of all, the king himself sets his sights on her. But the king possesses dark magic of his own, and when Astra displeases him, she finds herself banished to the deadly fairy realm.

Her only refuge is another outcast more trapped and lonelier than she.

Dust was born to be the heir of Everspring, but his isolated tower in the fairy realm is the only home he’s ever known. Astra’s arrival means his first real chance at escape, if he can only trust her to help, but Dust was raised by fairies, and the first rule of fairy culture is to never trust anyone.

Dragons and depthfiends are not the worst dangers they’ll face, but if Astra and Dust can find a way to work together—to be honest with each other when they’ve never been honest with themselves—they may find true freedom and emerge from their prison remade.

Review:

Twenty-five year old Astra Acton wants to get away from her family’s struggles, so she makes a wish to be so beautiful that wealthy men propose at the sight of her. However, she quickly becomes the target of the King. When she rejects his proposal, she is banished to the fairy realm. While there, she finds a tower with no doors. Dust is living at the top of the tower. He was the heir to the throne, until an unfortunate wish landed him in the fairy realm, to be raised by the untrustworthy fairies. Astra and Dust decide to work together to find freedom from their prisons.

This was a great gender reversed retelling of Rapunzel. Dust was a Prince who was cursed to be stuck in a tower. Astra wanted to move higher in life, after her family went bankrupt years before. This book is a sequel to Beauty Reborn. It could be read as a stand-alone, but there is a spoiler for Beauty Reborn if you want to read that one first. 

Astra Remade is a great fairytale retelling!

Thank you Elizabeth Lowham for sending me a copy of this book!

Content warnings: death of parent (off page)

Other books in the series:

Have you read Astra Remade? What did you think of it?

Review: One Perfect Couple

Title: One Perfect Couple
Author: Ruth Ware
Genre: Thriller, Contemporary
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Tandem Collective
Format: Paperback
Release Date: May 21, 2024
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

A high-tension and ingenious thriller following five couples trapped on a storm-swept island as a killer stalks among them.

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

A fast-paced, spellbinding thriller rife with intrigue and characters that feel so true to life, this novel proves yet again that Ruth Ware is the queen of psychological suspense.

Review:

Lyla is a scientist who is struggling with her research. When her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, asks her if she wants to go on a reality show with him, she reluctantly agrees. They travel to an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean to film the new reality show, One Perfect Couple. Lyla expects to be voted off the show first, since she doesn’t like reality shows. After a storm the first night, everything goes wrong. Their communication from the rest of the world is cut off, and they have limited supplies. Now, the couples don’t have to worry about being eliminated from the show. They must worry about surviving.

This is my new favourite Ruth Ware book! It was so creepy and intense. There was a bit of a behind the scenes look at the making of a reality show, but most of the book was about survival. I couldn’t guess what would happen next so I was really kept on the edge of my seat!

One Perfect Couple is an intense summer thriller!

Thank you Tandem Collective and Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book!

Content warnings: death, murder, suicide, blood, drowning, diabetes

Have you read One Perfect Couple? What did you think of it?

Happy Pub Day – July 23

Happy Pub Day to these authors!

Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti

Do Me a Favor by Cathy Yardley

The Ghostkeeper by Johanna Taylor

Queen B by Juno Dawson

Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Firefly Books, Penguin Teen, Penguin Books, and Bloomsbury YA for providing copies of these books!

What books are you most excited for this week?

Review: The Lightning Circle

Title: The Lightning Circle
Author: Vikki VanSickle, Laura K. Watson (illustrations)
Genre: Young Adult, Poetry
Publisher: Tundra Books
Source: Publisher
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: March 26, 2024
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

An intimate coming-of age novel for teens, told in verse with delicate line art, chronicling the beauty, magic and transformative power of summer camp, for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Judy Blume.

After having her heart broken, seventeen-year-old Nora Nichols decides to escape her hometown and take a summer job as an arts and crafts counsellor at an all-girls’ camp in the mountains of West Virginia. There, she meets girls and women from all walks of life with their own heartaches and triumphs. Immersed in this new camp experience, trying to form bonds with her fellow counselors while learning to be a trusted adviser for her campers, Nora distracts herself from her feelings, even during the intimate conversations around the nightly campfires. But when a letter from home comes bearing unexpected news, Nora finds inner strength in her devastation with the healing power of female friendship. Presented as Nora’s camp journal, including Nora’s sketches of camp life, scraps of letters, and spare poems, The Lightning Circle is an intimate coming-of-age portrait.

Review:

Seventeen-year-old Nora wants a break from her hometown this summer after having her heart broken, so she goes to a summer camp as a counselor in West Virginia. She meets young women, both campers and counselors, from different backgrounds with their own heartaches. Nora must learn to open herself up to new friendships to begin healing.

This was a beautiful book. It is written in verse, which suits the emotional time Nora is experiencing. Each section of the story was concise, but also evoked the teenage emotions of the story. There were also beautiful illustrations in a sketch style that accompanied the verses. 

The Lightning Verse is a beautiful summer camp story. 

Thank you Tundra Books and Penguin Teen Canada for providing a copy of this book. 

Content warning: eating disorder

Have you read The Lightning Circle? What did you think of it?

Review: As Good As Dead (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #3)

Title: As Good As Dead (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #3)
Author: Holly Jackson
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Contemporary
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: September 28, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

The finale to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. By the end of this mystery series, you’ll never think of good girls the same way again…

Pip is about to head to college, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can’t help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?

Soon the threats escalate and Pip realizes that someone is following her in real life. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars.

Police refuse to act, so Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself—or be the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle… and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears…

Review:

Pip is ready to go to college, but she can’t stop thinking about her last two cases. It doesn’t help that Max Hastings, who should be in prison, is suing Pip for defamation. When Pip starts to get threats, she finds connections to a serial killer, the Duct Tape Killer. However, the DT Killer has been in prison for six years. Pip must figure out if the wrong man is in prison, with the real killer still out there, before she becomes his next victim. 

This was a great finale to the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. The mystery in this book was connected to both of the other books. The second half of the story kept me on the edge of my seat. I would have been too scared to do the things that Pip did, but she had to do them for the best outcome. She had to make her own justice when the authorities wouldn’t listen to her. 

As Good As Dead is a great finale!

Content warnings: death, murder, drugging, blackmail, gaslighting, blood

Other books in the series:

Have you read As Good As Dead? What did you think of it?

Review: The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1)

Title: The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1)
Author: Samantha Shannon
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Publisher: Bloomsbury Books US
Source: Publisher
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: August 22, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Welcome to Scion. No safer place.

The year is 2059. For two centuries, the Republic of Scion has led an oppressive campaign against unnaturalness in Europe. 

In London, Paige Mahoney holds a high rank in the criminal underworld. The right hand of the ruthless White Binder, Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare and formidable kind of clairvoyant. Under Scion law, she commits treason simply by breathing. 

When Paige is arrested for murder, she meets the mysterious founders of Scion, who have designs on her uncommon abilities. If she is to survive and escape, Paige must use every skill at her disposal – and put her trust in someone who ought to be her enemy.

Review:

2059: The Republic of Scion has ruled the world for two centuries. Paige Mahoney is a clairvoyant, a person with special powers who is the enemy of Scion. She holds a high rank in her underground criminal group because she is a rare dreamwalker. After a chance encounter leaves a Scion agent dead, Paige is arrested for murder. She ends up in the hands of the creators of Scion, who want to harness her special abilities. Paige must do her best to survive, which may mean trusting the enemy.

I’ve wanted to read this book for years so I was so excited to get the opportunity! When Paige uses her abilities, she gets a migraine. I’ve had chronic migraines for years, so I could relate to her pain. The magic world of this story was a little confusing at first. After I read a couple of chapters, I found out that there are two prequel short stories that have a great introduction to the world. I highly recommend checking those out along with this first book in the series. 

The Bone Season is a great fantasy!

Thank you Bloomsbury Books US and Bookinfluencers.com for providing a copy of this book as part of a sponsored campaign. 

Content warnings: death, murder, riots, blood, death of parent, abuse

Other books in the series:

  • The Mime Order (The Bone Season #2)
  • The Song Rising (The Bone Season #3)
  • The Mask Falling (The Bone Season #4)

Have you read The Bone Season? What did you think of it?

Review: Walter the Woogobee: The Vortex to Vidza

Title: Walter the Woogobee: The Vortex to Vidza
Author: Brenda Beckelman
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Publisher: Seld Published
Source: Author
Format: Paperback
Release Date: February 6, 2024
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

An otherworldly adventure awaits us all!

Join Walter in this amazing journey as he space travels through a Vortex to strange new worlds where Elephants Fly and the Wind Speaks.

The local village is being destroyed. Walter and his new friends set out to save the village and find unusual animals, a valley full of gold and of course monsters. Will they be able to save the village? Will Walter find his way home?

Review:

Walter is a Woogobee from space. He lands on Earth via a World Vortex Locator after his planet was hit by an asteroid. He makes a friend named Bayron, and together they travel to the planet Vidza. Walter and Bayron join together with their new friend Kian and try to save her village from the Windmaker Monsters.

This was a cute picture book. I really liked the illustrations. There was a 3D quality to them with background images slightly blurry to create perspective. The characters were well developed in a short amount of time. This story is a great start to a new series!

Walter the Woogobee is a cute picture book!

Thank you Brenda Beckelman and Bookinfluencers.com for providing a copy of this book as part of a paid campaign.

Have you read Walter the Woogobee: The Vortex to Vidza? What did you think of it?