Contemporary – Page 38 – Jill's Book Blog

Review: Say Yes Summer

Title: Say Yes Summer
Author: Lindsey Roth Culli
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Release Date: May 12, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Perfect for fans of Morgan Matson and Netflix/Hallmark Channel rom-coms, this is the story of a girl who decides to give in to the universe and just say yes to everything, bringing her friendship, new experiences, and, if she lets her guard down, true love.
The perfect book to kick off summer! For as long as Rachel Brooks can remember, she’s had capital-G Goals: straight As, academic scholarship, college of her dreams. And it’s all paid off–after years of following the rules and acing every exam, Rachel is graduating at the top of her class and ready to celebrate by . . . doing absolutely nothing. Because Rachel Brooks has spent most of high school saying no. No to dances, no to parties, and most especially, no to boys.
Now, for the first time in her life, there’s nothing stopping Rachel from having a little fun–nothing, that is, except herself. So when she stumbles on a beat up old self-help book–A SEASON OF YES!–a crazy idea pops into her head: What if she just said yes to . . . everything?
And so begins a summer of yes. Yes to new experiences and big mistakes, yes to rekindled friendships and unexpected romances, yes to seeing the world in a whole new way. This book is a fresh and fun take on the coming-of-age novel that explores the quintessential themes of growing up: taking risks, making mistakes, and, of course, love. And who knows? Lindsey Roth Culli’s hilarious and heartwarming debut may just inspire your own SAY YES SUMMER.

Review:

Rachel has always had a crush on the most popular boy at school, Clayton, but he hasn’t ever noticed her. After Rachel gives her valedictorian speech at graduation, Clayton starts talking to her. Rachel finds a book in her grandmother’s things that is about saying yes to every opportunity. She has spent her whole life saying no to other people, while focusing on her grades and family, but she’s ready to start having exciting experiences. Rachel starts hanging out with Clayton, but she’s not sure about his relationship status, so she also spends time with her childhood best friend Miles. Saying yes to everything leads Rachel into two complicated relationships.

Rachel’s story was kind of a modern fairytale. The boy she had always liked suddenly liked her too. Her childhood friend, who also would be a good match for her, likes her as well. Suddenly the girl who didn’t have many friends has two potential boyfriends. It was exciting in the moment, but someone was bound to get hurt in the love triangle.

This story showed how it’s easy to think that someone else’s life is perfect, from a distance. Rachel thought the popular kids in her school were perfect and didn’t have any problems. She would stalk their social media and see the perfectly curated lives they showed on there. She ended up discovering that they had a lot more problems than she thought, though they were good at putting on a brave face online.

This is a great summer romance!

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Four Days of You and Me

Title: Four Days of You and Me
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 5, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A new swoon-worthy romance following a couple’s love story on the same date over four years.
Every May 7, the students at Coffee County High School take a class trip. And every year, Lulu’s relationship with Alex Rouvelis gets a little more complicated. Freshman year, they went from sworn enemies to more than friends after a close encounter in an escape room. It’s been hard for Lulu to quit Alex ever since.
Through breakups, make ups, and dating other people, each year’s class trip brings the pair back together and forces them to confront their undeniable connection. From the science museum to an amusement park, from New York City to London, Lulu learns one thing is for sure: love is the biggest trip of all.

Review:

Every year, the students at Coffee County High get to go on a special school trip. The trips get larger each year, starting with a museum outing in their freshman year and ending with an international trip in their senior year. Each of these trips marks a pivotal moment in Lulu and Alex’s romance, such as their first kiss on their freshman trip. Each of the following trips pushes them together, leading them to make important decisions about their relationship.

This story shows just a few snapshots in their relationship. It covers about four days, with a few other brief scenes from throughout the year. It was amazing to see how their relationship is defined by their actions in these few days. Their relationship and feelings changed so much throughout the book that I wasn’t sure if they would end up together at the end.

This book brought back so many high school memories for me. We went on a bunch of school trips, though none as lavish as the later ones in this book. Lulu and Alex, as well as their friends, deal with the complicated feelings that come along with first loves and discovering yourself. It made me laugh and it made me cry. This book has all the feels!

This was a great high school romance!

Thank you Sourcebooks Fire for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Blog Tour Review: The Summer Villa

Title: The Summer Villa
Author: Melissa Hill
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: MIRA
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 28, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Three women. One summer reunion. Secrets will be revealed…
Villa Dolce Vita, a rambling stone house on the Amalfi Coast, sits high above the Gulf of Naples amid dappled lemon groves and fragrant, tumbling bougainvillea. Kim, Colette and Annie all came to the villa in need of escape and in the process forged an unlikely friendship.
Now, years later, Kim has transformed the crumbling house into a luxury retreat and has invited her friends back for the summer to celebrate.
But as friendships are rekindled under the Italian sun, secrets buried in the past will come to light, and not everyone is happy that the three friends are reuniting… Each woman will have things to face up to if they are all to find true happiness and fully embrace the sweet life.
An epic summer read about food, friendship and the magic of Italy, perfect for fans of Mary Kay Andrews and Susan Mallery.

Review:

Six years ago Kim, Collette, and Annie ran away from their lives and ended up in the same villa in Italy. They didn’t know each other and came from different countries: the U.S., England, and Ireland. Though they had different backgrounds and different reasons for wanting to escape their lives for a few weeks, they all connected that summer. Now it is six years later and Kim is hosting a grand reopening of the same villa, which she has transformed into a wellness retreat. It seems like the perfect time for the three women to reunite, but they each bring their own personal problems back to Italy, where it all began.

This story alternated perspectives between then, six years ago, and now in the present. It also alternated between each of the three women. Things were slowly revealed in each timeline, but some details were held until the end, which built up the tension and surprise. I was shocked at some of the twists that I didn’t see coming.

One thing that this story demonstrated is how things in life can change so quickly. The women were struggling with life before they went to Italy the first time, but they each had life changing events happen there. These events changed the course of their lives in ways that didn’t seem possible at the beginning. This shows that even if you think you’re going through a difficult time in the present, there is no way to predict how your life will change years from now.

I really loved this story!

Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author:

MELISSA HILL lives in south Dublin with her husband and daughter. A USA TODAY and international #1 bestseller, she is the author of 13 novels, including The Gift of a Charm and A Gift From Tiffany’s. The Gift of a Charm was a USA TODAY bestseller. Hailed “the queen of the big plot twist,” she combines all the warmth and humor of contemporary women’s fiction with plots that keep readers guessing from page to page. Melissa also cowrites forensic thrillers with her husband, Kevin, under the pseudonym Casey Hill, featuring crime scene investigator Reilly Steel. For more information, visit www.caseyhillbooks.com.

Have you read The Summer Villa? What did you think of it?

Blog Tour Review: The Secrets of Love Story Bridge

Title: The Secrets of Love Story Bridge
Author: Phaedra Patrick
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Park Row
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 28, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A single father gets an unexpected second chance at love in the heartwarming new novel from the author of The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper It’s summer in the city and passions are soaring along with the temperature—for everyone but Mitchell Fisher, who hates all things romance. He relishes his job cutting off the padlocks that couples fasten to the famous “love story” bridge. Only his young daughter, Poppy, knows that behind his prickly veneer, Mitchell still grieves the loss of her mother.
Then one hot day, everything changes when Mitchell courageously rescues a woman who falls from the bridge into the river. He’s surprised to feel an unexpected connection to her, but she disappears before he can ask her name. Desperate to find out her identity, Mitchell is shocked to learn she’s been missing for almost a year. He teams up with her spirited sister, Liza, on a quest to find her again. However, she’s left only one clue behind—a message on the padlock she hung on the bridge.
Brimming with Phaedra Patrick’s signature charm and a sparkling cast of characters, The Secrets of Love Story Bridgefollows one man’s journey to unlock his heart and discover new beginnings in the unlikeliest places.

Review:

Mitchell Fisher is raising his daughter by himself after his wife died years ago. He works for the city council and cuts off the locks that people hang on bridges in his town to represent their love. One day when he’s leaving work, he sees a woman attach a lock to the bridge, then fall into the river below. Mitchell jumps in after her to rescue her, but they get separated after he rescues her, and he never learns her name. His daughter’s teacher sees an article about the rescue, and recognizes the woman he rescued as her missing sister. Mitchell and Liza, the sister of the missing woman, search for clues to find the woman, unraveling many secrets along the way.

I loved the premise for this book. It had so much mystery surrounding the woman’s disappearance. There were only a few clues that were left behind so it was difficult for her family to figure out what happened.

I liked seeing so much emotion in the character of Mitchell. He’s had a difficult time since his wife died, and he is constantly blaming himself. He wasn’t afraid to show his emotions, which made him appear stronger in my opinion. I haven’t seen many male characters like that, especially in women’s fiction.

I didn’t really like the explanation behind the woman’s disappearance. I can’t say too much about the ending without giving it away. There was so much tension leading up to it, but I didn’t feel that same tension in the reason that she disappeared. The genre of the book played into this kind of ending. Since it was a lighter story, not a gritty thriller, it had a more positive ending.

This is a great summer story.

Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Blog Tour Review: The Sweeney Sisters

Title: The Sweeney Sisters
Author: Lian Dolan
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 28, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

An accomplished storyteller returns with her biggest, boldest, most entertaining novel yet—a hilarious, heartfelt story about books, love, sisterhood, and the surprises we discover in our DNA that combines the wit of Jonathan Tropper with the heart of Susan Wiggs.
Maggie, Eliza, and Tricia Sweeney grew up as a happy threesome in the idyllic seaside town of Southport, Connecticut. But their mother’s death from cancer fifteen years ago tarnished their golden-hued memories, and the sisters drifted apart. Their one touchstone is their father, Bill Sweeney, an internationally famous literary lion and college professor universally adored by critics, publishers, and book lovers. When Bill dies unexpectedly one cool June night, his shell-shocked daughters return to their childhood home. They aren’t quite sure what the future holds without their larger-than-life father, but they do know how to throw an Irish wake to honor a man of his stature.
But as guests pay their respects and reminisce, one stranger, emboldened by whiskey, has crashed the party. It turns out that she too is a Sweeney sister.
When Washington, DC based journalist Serena Tucker had her DNA tested on a whim a few weeks earlier, she learned she had a 50% genetic match with a childhood neighbor—Maggie Sweeney of Southport, Connecticut. It seems Serena’s chilly WASP mother, Birdie, had a history with Bill Sweeney—one that has remained totally secret until now.
Once the shock wears off, questions abound. What does this mean for William’s literary legacy? Where is the unfinished memoir he’s stashed away, and what will it reveal? And how will a fourth Sweeney sister—a blond among redheads—fit into their story?
By turns revealing, insightful, and uproarious, The Sweeney Sisters is equal parts cautionary tale and celebration—a festive and heartfelt look at what truly makes a family.

Review:

Bill Sweeney was a famous literary author. When he dies suddenly of a heart attack in his sleep, he leaves many secrets for his three daughters to discover. When his will is read, they learn that he had another daughter, who is older than them and was their next door neighbour while they were growing up. He also left a mysterious memoir that is to be published after his death. The sisters have to unravel their father’s secrets, while also dealing with personal problems.

Serena, the half-sister of the Sweeney girls, found out about her relation to Bill Sweeney through an online DNA test. She ended up being a match for one of the Sweeney girls, so she knew she must be his daughter. That also uncovered her mother’s affair with Bill, which was strange since they didn’t have a relationship after that affair even though they lived next door to each other for years. I’ve read many articles about the popular online DNA tests that have revealed that family members aren’t actually related. It’s creepy that this is a common occurrence, but that makes this story timely.

This story had a third person omniscient narrator. That means that everyone’s thoughts were told in the narrative. This was a unique way to tell the story because none of the characters could have secrets from the reader, including the minor characters. The story was still suspenseful, because Bill had secrets, and he wasn’t present in the narrative since he had already died.

This is a great story!

Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author:

Lian Dolan is a writer and talker. She’s the author of two Los Angeles Times best-selling novels, Helen of Pasadena and Elizabeth the First Wife published by Prospect Park Books. Her next novel, The Sweeney Sisters, will be published in 2020 by William Morrow. She’s a regular humor columnist for Pasadena Magazine and has previously written monthly columns for O, The Oprah Magazine and Working Mother Magazine. She’s also written for TV, radio and websites.

Lian is the producer and host of Satellite Sisters, the award-winning talk show she created with her four real sisters. On Satellite Sisters, she’s interviewed everyone from Nora Ephron to Madeleine Albright to Big Bird. Satellite Sisters began life as a syndicated radio show and is now a top-rated podcast for women. The recent book by the Satellite Sisters, You’re the Best: A Celebration of Friendship, is popular with book clubs.

Lian graduated from Pomona College with a degree in Classics. She lives in Pasadena, California with her husband, two sons and a big German shepherd.

Have you read The Sweeney Sisters? What did you think of it?

Review: Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors (The Rajes #1)

Title: Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors (The Rajes #1)
Author: Sonali Dev
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Retelling
Publisher: William Morrow Books
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: May 7, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Award-winning author Sonali Dev launches a new series about the Rajes, an immigrant Indian family descended from royalty, who have built their lives in San Francisco…
It is a truth universally acknowledged that only in an overachieving Indian American family can a genius daughter be considered a black sheep.
Dr. Trisha Raje is San Francisco’s most acclaimed neurosurgeon. But that’s not enough for the Rajes, her influential immigrant family who’s achieved power by making its own non-negotiable rules:
·       Never trust an outsider
·       Never do anything to jeopardize your brother’s political aspirations
·       And never, ever, defy your family
Trisha is guilty of breaking all three rules. But now she has a chance to redeem herself. So long as she doesn’t repeat old mistakes.
Up-and-coming chef DJ Caine has known people like Trisha before, people who judge him by his rough beginnings and place pedigree above character. He needs the lucrative job the Rajes offer, but he values his pride too much to indulge Trisha’s arrogance. And then he discovers that she’s the only surgeon who can save his sister’s life.
As the two clash, their assumptions crumble like the spun sugar on one of DJ’s stunning desserts. But before a future can be savored there’s a past to be reckoned with…
A family trying to build home in a new land.
A man who has never felt at home anywhere.
And a choice to be made between the two.

Review:

Trisha is an acclaimed neurosurgeon, so DJ Caine brings his sick sister to be treated her. Trisha can treat her, but at a high cost. Meanwhile, DJ is a chef who gets some important jobs with Trisha’s well-known family. Trisha and him get off on the wrong foot when they first meet, with Trisha coming off as prejudiced. A series of secrets mixes them up with each other and threatens their relationships with their families.

This is an amazing adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Even though the same general events happen as in the original book, things are slightly twisted so it isn’t an exact copy of Pride and Prejudice. DJ, the Darcy character, is an orphan who struggles to look after his sick sister. Trisha, the Elizabeth character, is from a wealthy, royal Indian family. In this story, “Darcy” is the poorer character, while “Elizabeth” is wealthy.

The storyline is flipped from the original Pride and Prejudice, so the story was still a surprise. Since some of the characteristics were given to the opposite characters, it wasn’t obvious what would happen. Some of the events were similar, but treated in a slightly different way. For example, in Pride and Prejudice, Darcy’s sister is chronically ill. In this story, DJ’s sister has a brain tumor. Darcy’s sister is vulnerable and ill in both versions, just in different ways.

I really got to know all of the characters, so I’m excited to read the next book, which comes out in a few weeks!

Review: Eat, and Love Yourself

Title: Eat, and Love Yourself
Author: Sweeney Boo, Lilian Klepakowsky
Genre: Graphic Novel, Contemporary
Publisher: BOOM! Box
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 21, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A story about Mindy, a woman living with an eating disorder who has to learn how to love herself again.
In pursuit of the perfect body, Mindy buys the low-fat diet products and the glossy magazines which promise the secret to losing weight. One night, while perusing the aisles of the neighborhood convenience store for a midnight snack, she finds a new product. A chocolate bar called “Eat and Love Yourself”. On a whim, Mindy buys the curious candy, not knowing that with every piece of chocolate she eats, she will be brought back to a specific moment of her past — helping her to look at herself honestly, learn to love her body the way it is, and accepting love. Perhaps, she will even realize that her long lost high school best friend, Elliot, was more than just a friend…

Review:

Mindy has an eating disorder and depression. She struggles with going out with her friends and dealing with family. She discovers a new chocolate bar called “Eat and Love Yourself.” It is supposed to bring back childhood memories of eating chocolate. When Mindy tries it, she has flashbacks to pivotal moments in her life when she developed her negative body image and her eating disorder. Now, Mindy can see how her eating disorder has affected her throughout her life.

This graphic novel shows what it’s like to have an eating disorder. Even though Mindy may not have realized at the time, there were some moments in her childhood that influenced her eating disorder. There were comments by her parents and classmates about her weight that formed her body image.

Mindy was constantly given mixed signals, which also influenced her negative body image. Her parents wanted her to eat with them, but if she ate too much, they would tell her she would get fat. Her friends wanted her to get a boyfriend, but told her to watch what she ate when she started dating a boy. There are so many mixed signals that girls are given, which can contribute to a complicated image of yourself.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel.

Thank you BOOM! Box for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Get a Life, Chloe Brown (The Brown Sisters #1)

Title: Get a Life, Chloe Brown (The Brown Sisters #1)
Author: Talia Hibbert
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Avon
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: November 5, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items?
• Enjoy a drunken night out.
• Ride a motorcycle.
• Go camping.
• Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.
• Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.
• And… do something bad.
But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.
Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.
But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior…

Review:

After almost dying by narrowly missing being hit by a car, Chloe Brown decides to make a list of things she wants to do to help her “get a life.” She lives with a chronic, invisible disability, so she has lived life on the safe side. When she meets the handyman of her new apartment, Redford Morgan, they instantly can’t stand each other. That lasts until Chloe realizes that Redford can help check off things on her list, starting with “ride a motorcycle.” This leads to a steamy romance, where they both have to put their past negative experiences behind them.

Chloe lives with the chronic pain of fibromyalgia. It’s an invisible disability because no one can physically see her pain. Even her doctors and friends didn’t believe she was really suffering, because there wasn’t any proof of her pain other than her word. I liked that the negative sides of this chronic illness were shown, when Chloe couldn’t do things for herself and had to rest. That meant sometimes she didn’t even eat. This story didn’t sugarcoat the illness, by showing Chloe while she was suffering and when she got some occasional relief.

This was a steamy romance. It followed the romance trope of “enemies to lovers,” since Red and Chloe couldn’t stand each other at first but that changed once they got to know each other. Red and Chloe’s relationship took off quickly. It was a whirlwind.

The next book in the series is about Chloe’s sister, Dani Brown, who seemed like quite a character in this book. I’m excited to read it soon.

Review: What I Like About You

Title: What I Like About You
Author: Marisa Kanter
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 7, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Can a love triangle have only two people in it? Online, it can… but in the real world, it’s more complicated. In this debut novel Marisa Kanter explores what happens when internet friends turn into IRL crushes.
There are a million things that Halle Levitt likes about her online best friend, Nash.
He’s an incredibly talented graphic novelist. He loves books almost as much as she does. And she never has to deal with the awkwardness of seeing him in real life. They can talk about anything…
Except who she really is.
Because online, Halle isn’t Halle—she’s Kels, the enigmatically cool creator of One True Pastry, a YA book blog that pairs epic custom cupcakes with covers and reviews. Kels has everything Halle doesn’t: friends, a growing platform, tons of confidence, and Nash.
That is, until Halle arrives to spend senior year in Gramps’s small town and finds herself face-to-face with real, human, not-behind-a-screen Nash. Nash, who is somehow everywhere she goes—in her classes, at the bakery, even at synagogue.
Nash who has no idea she’s actually Kels.
If Halle tells him who she is, it will ruin the non-awkward magic of their digital friendship. Not telling him though, means it can never be anything more. Because while she starts to fall for Nash as Halle…he’s in love with Kels.

Review:

Halle’s parents are documentary directors who travel around the world making films. Halle and her brother move in with her recently widowed grandfather while her parents film a documentary for a year in Israel. Halle is also a famous teen book blogger, but she goes by the pen name Kels on her cupcake book blog. Halle discovers that her online best friend Nash also lives in the same town as she has just moved to when she runs into him at a library. However, Nash doesn’t know what Kels looks like, so he doesn’t know that Halle and Kels are the same person. Kels’s online persona is growing as she gets more opportunities but she has to keep up the division between her online life as Kels and her reality of Halle.

The book blogging community was really well portrayed in this book. There was one incident where an author insulted her teen community by saying that her books are meant for adults. This is a common argument, since many adults read young adult fiction. I think that’s because the young adult or teenage experience is so relatable because every adult was a teenager first. Even if you had different experiences as the characters in the book, most of the themes are relatable.

I found this book so tense. Halle was frustrating me because she wouldn’t tell Nash that she was really Kels. I kept holding my breath when he came close to discovering her identity. I wanted to yell at Halle to tell him the truth, yet at the same time, if she did tell him, it would be the end of the tension in the story.

I loved this book!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Nancy Drew: The Curse

Title: Nancy Drew: The Curse
Author: Micol Ostow
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: March 31, 2020
Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Based on the TV series Nancy Drew, the most-watched new show on the CW!
In this prequel novel, the beloved teen sleuth investigates a sinister, once-dormant curse that may be threatening her town once more. This is Nancy Drew for today, perfect for fans of Riverdale, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Stranger Things!
A curse is just a mystery dressed up in a sharp, stern warning.
And everyone knows that I love a mystery.
Nancy Drew isn’t one for ghost stories. So when the annual Horseshoe Bay Naming Day celebration is threatened by eerie warnings of an old curse, Nancy is sure someone—someone human—is behind them. And no way is she letting this person stand in the way of her best friend, Daisy, finally getting her day in the spotlight as the lead in the much-anticipated Naming Day reenactment.
But as Nancy begins investigating, the so-called marks of the curse become bolder…and more sinister. A vandalized locker and ominous notes are one thing, but soon enough lives—including Nancy’s own—are at stake. Though the dreams and eerie visions plaguing Nancy are certainly just products of her own mind…right?
All old towns have their traditions and histories, but as Nancy will soon discover, they don’t always tell the whole story.

Review:

The town of Horseshoe Bay is having their annual Naming Day celebration, where they celebrate the creation of their town. Nancy and her friends are excited for it, especially since one of her friends is going to participate in the play because she is a descendant of one of the founders. However, someone starts to pull pranks, trying to get the celebration cancelled. The pranks escalate until students go missing. Nancy has to figure out what has happened to save her friends.

This was an interesting mystery with Nancy Drew. It takes place a couple of years before the show is set, so we see Nancy in high school when her mom was still alive. She was interested in investigating mysteries even back then.

The main problem with this book is that it had nothing to do with the show. This story was advertised as a prequel to the TV series, which is technically true since it happens before the show starts. However, the characters in this book don’t exist on the show. Nancy’s friends on the show briefly appeared in the book, while people who were her lifelong friends in the book haven’t even been mentioned on the TV show. There was even a part where Nancy said that the story of Lucy Sable wasn’t worth investigating, even though that was one of the main mysteries on the show. It was quite confusing, because I kept trying to connect this book to the show, though they seem like completely different stories.

If this book had been advertised as a new, original Nancy Drew book, it would have been so much better. It really doesn’t work as a prequel to the TV show.

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