Happy Pub Day to these authors!
Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark, Doubleday Canada, Berkley, Del Rey, and Penguin Teen Canada for providing copies of these books!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1)
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Razorbill
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Rating: ★★★★★
Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.
Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. When their house is raided one night, her grandparents are murdered, her brother is taken to jail, and Laia escapes. She finds the Resistance who say they will help save her brother if she infiltrates the military school as a slave to the leader, the Commandant. Elias is a soldier at the school, and the estranged son of the Commandant. He plans his escape from their prison-like school, but instead he is put in the Trials to find the person who will inherit the Emperor’s position. Both Laia’s and Elias’s goals become intertwined as they try to destroy the empire that created them.
I’ve had this series on my TBR and I’m so glad I finally started it. It had descriptive world building that hooked me right away. The chapters alternated between Laia’s and Elias’s POVs. It was fast paced, and I had to keep reading to find out what happened next! I’m so glad I can read the rest of the series right away.
An Ember in the Ashes is a great YA fantasy!
Content warnings: death of parents, death of grandparents, kidnapping, stabbing, slavery, abuse
Have you read An Ember in the Ashes? What did you think of it?
Title: HoverGirls
Author: Geneva Bowers
Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: August 6, 2024
Rating: ★★★
The web comic sensation about magical girls by acclaimed illustrator Geneva Bowers, now in a beautiful print edition, featuring an expanded storyline and revised art!
Jalissa and Kim Vasquez are cousins who move to the city of Los Aguaceros together. Kim dreams of becoming a famous model and fashion designer, while Jalissa is just trying to hold herself together after a breakdown the year before.
When a curious incident on the beach leaves them with supernatural powers and monsters start attacking the city, Kim decides that using their powers to stop them is the perfect way for them to become famous. But being heroes isn’t as easy as it seems–and Los Aquaceros is in more danger than they imagine.
This beautifully illustrated and hilarious YA graphic novel began as a web comic and quickly became a WEBTOON sensation. This print edition features an expanded story and updated art, offering something for new and old fans alike!
Jalissa and Kim Vasquez are cousins who move to the city of Los Aguaceros together to start new lives. Kim wants to be a famous fashion designer and model, while Jalissa wants to escape her problems at home. An incident on the beach leaves them with magic powers and strange fish-like monsters in the city. Kim decides the way to get famous is to defeat these monsters and save the city. However, there is something out of this world behind the cause of their powers and the monsters, which they must defeat to survive.
This story had a lot of potential. I loved the vibrant illustrations. Kim and Jalissa had opposite personalities. Kim was excited and eager but forgetful. Jalissa kept to herself and seemed angry most of the time. I didn’t feel a connection to either of the characters because they both had unlikeable traits.
Unfortunately HoverGirls wasn’t for me.
Thank you Bloomsbury for providing a digital copy of this book!
Have you read HoverGirls? What did you think of it?
Title: Return to Midnight
Author: Emma Dues
Genre: Thriller, Contemporary
Publisher: Thomas and Mercer
Source: Firefly Books Distributed Lines
Format: Paperback
Release Date: August 27, 2024
Rating: ★★★★★
On the anniversary of a savage mass murder, a survivor returns to the scene of the crime―and all its buried secrets―in a twisting novel of suspense.
Nearly ten years ago, five Ohio university students were murdered in an off-campus Victorian home. The media dubbed it the Midnight House Massacre. Ever since, survivor and novelist Margot Davis has wanted to forget it, and never again utter the killer’s name. Until she’s compelled to write her side of the story. To do that, she’s returning to Midnight House.
It’ll be a chance for Margot to reconnect with other survivors, heal the trauma, and dispel the ugly conspiracy theories of obsessed true crime fanatics. But when news of Margot’s book gets out, she receives a threatening note that demands she stop lying. Or else. It chills Margot’s blood. Because she hasn’t been telling the whole truth.
As the threats continue, each more sinister than the last, a journalist comes to Margot with new suspicions about that brutal October night. Now, to save her own life, Margot must reveal her well-guarded secrets―ones that, for good reason, she’s been too terrified to share.
Almost ten years ago, five college students were massacred in their home called Midnight House. Margot Davis was one of the survivors, and she’s still traumatized from the murders of her best friends. Another one of her best friends was convicted for the murders, but he has always maintained his innocence. Margot decides to finally tell her side of the story and write a book about the murders, so she returns to Midnight House, which is now owned by her friends and other survivors, to do research. However, when her book is announced, Margot starts getting threats, telling her to stop lying about the massacre. Margot does have secrets from her college years, but she can’t figure out who would threaten her about them. She must figure out who is sending the threats before she’s the next victim.
This was the scariest thriller I’ve read in a long time. It was creepy and fast paced. I was hooked right from the first page. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the book. There were some graphic scenes, that were more like a horror story, but the suspense made this a thrilling read!
Return to Midnight is a thrilling debut!
Thank you Firefly Books Distributed Lines for sending me a copy of this book!
Content warnings: death, blood, vomiting, stabbing, overdose, gaslighting
Have you read Return to Midnight? What did you think of it?
Happy Pub Day to these authors!
Thank you Webtoon, Frenzy Books, Candlewick Press, Bloomsbury Books, and Penguin Teen Canada for providing copies of these books!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: I Kissed Shara Wheeler
Author: Casey McQuiston
Genre: Young Adult, LGBTQ, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 3, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★
From the New York Times bestselling author of One Last Stop and Red, White & Royal Blue comes a debut YA romantic comedy about chasing down what you want, only to find what you need…
Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.
But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.
On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair-and-square.
Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—more to Shara, too.
Fierce, funny, and frank, Casey McQuiston’s I Kissed Shara Wheeler is about breaking the rules, getting messy, and finding love in unexpected places.
Chloe Green is competing with Shara Wheeler to be valedictorian at her conservative Christian school. After prom night, Shara vanishes without a trace. Everyone in school is obsessed with her and wondering where she is, and Chloe can’t help but be curious too. Shara randomly kissed Chloe in school one day, and Chloe thinks that has something to do with her disappearance. While she’s searching for answers, Chloe discovers that Shara left cryptic notes for her boyfriend Smith and her next door neighbour Rory. Though they don’t have anything else in common, Chloe, Smith, and Rory follow the clues that Shara left behind to figure out the secrets Shara has been keeping.
This was a great YA novel. Chloe had two moms and she was bisexual, so she was constantly fighting against the homophobic rules that were in place at her school. Shara seemed like a Regina George-type character at the beginning. She was the most popular girl in school and everyone seemed to be obsessed with her. However, there was more to her, and to most of the students at their school, than there appeared to be on the surface. I really liked the twist that happened once they solved all of Shara’s clues!
I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a great queer YA romance!
Thank you Wednesday Books for providing a digital copy of this book.
Content warnings: homophobia
Have you read I Kissed Shara Wheeler? What did you think of it?
Title: The Night Librarian
Author: Christopher Lincoln
Genre: Graphic Novel, Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Dial Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 30, 2024
Rating: ★★★★★
A graphic novel adventure in which two siblings, a mysterious Night Librarian, and a motley cast of book characters try to save the New York Public Library
Twins Page and Turner know about the magic a library holds—they’ve been going to their beloved New York City public library for years, especially since their parents are always traveling for work. But a secret mission involving their dad’s rare and valuable edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula uncovers a world they’ve never known, featuring a mysterious Night Librarian, famous heroes (and villains) that have broken free from classic books, and an epic battle to save the library from total destruction.
Twins Page and Turner Reed feel neglected by their parents who are always traveling for work. Their father’s most prized possession is a first edition of Dracula. When their parents are away, they take the book to the New York Public Library to try to find out what it’s worth, but the book disappears while they’re there. They meet the Night Librarian, who looks after the library during the night when the books come to life. Page and Turner must work with some of their favourite book characters to find Dracula and save the library from being destroyed.
This was such a fun graphic novel! I think many kids dream of entering their favourite stories or becoming friends with their favourite characters. Page and Turner met Alice in Wonderland, Tinkerbell, and Jack from Jack in the Beanstalk. Meeting these characters in this contemporary story is a great way to introduce young readers to classic stories.
The Night Librarian is a fun middle grade graphic novel!
Thank you Penguin Teen for providing a copy of this book!
Have you read The Night Librarian? What did you think of it?
Title: Sunderworld, Vol. 1: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry
Author: Ransom Riggs
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Penguin Teen Canada
Source: Publisher
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: August 27, 2024
Rating: ★★★★★
The much-anticipated new fantasy series from Ransom Riggs, his first since introducing the #1 global phenomenon Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series.
Seventeen-year-old Leopold Berry is seeing weird things around Los Angeles. A man who pops a tooth into a parking meter. A glowing trapdoor in a parking lot. A half-mechanical raccoon with its tail on fire that just won’t leave him alone. Every hallucinatory moment seems plucked from a cheesy 1990s fantasy TV show called Max’s Adventures in Sunderworld—and that’s because they are.
Not a good sign.
In the blurry weeks after his mother’s death, a young Leopold discovered VHS tapes of its one and only season in a box headed for the trash—and soon became obsessed. Losing himself in Sunder was the best way to avoid two things: grieving his mother and being a chronic disappointment to his overbearing father. But when the strange visions return—at the worst possible time on the worst possible day—Leopold turns to his best friend Emmet for help. Together they discover that Sunder is much more than just an old TV show, and that Los Angeles is far stranger than they ever imagined. And soon, he’ll realize that not only is Sunderworld real, but it’s in grave danger.
Certain he’s finally been chosen for greatness, Leopold risks everything to claim his destiny, save the world of his childhood dreams, and prove once and for all that he’s not the disappointment his father believes him to be. But when everything goes terribly, horribly, excruciatingly wrong, Leopold’s disappointments prove to be more extraordinary than he ever could have imagined.
How do you battle darkness when no one believes in you—not even yourself?
Visionary storyteller Ransom Riggs weaves the familiar with the peculiar in a stunning loss, triumph, friendship and magic, reminding readers everywhere that true heroes are made, not born—and that when you’re never the chosen one, sometimes you have to choose yourself.
Welcome to Sunderworld.
Seventeen-year-old Leopold Berry keeps seeing strange things around Los Angeles. He saw a raccoon on fire and a man who opened a portal from a parking meter. All of these strange sights come from Sunderworld, a 90s TV show. Leopold became obsessed with Sunderworld after finding the VHS tapes in his mother’s belongings after she died. When Leopold asks his friend Emmet for help with these visions, they discover that Sunderworld is a real place. They travel there together, which seems like a dream come true for Leopold, but everything goes wrong. It isn’t the place that Leopold expected, and he ends up running for his life and discovering secrets about his past.
I was so excited when I heard about this book! It lived up to my expectations. It was fast paced and exciting. The story reminded me of the Miss Peregrine series, but it was a different story. There were some great mysteries set up that I’m sure will be explored in future books.
Sunderworld, Vol. 1: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry is a great start to a new series!
Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for sending me a copy of this book!
Content warnings: death of parent (off page)
Have you read Sunderworld, Vol. 1: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry? What did you think of it?
Happy Pub Day to these authors!
Thank you Del Rey, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, Union Square and Co., Frenzy Books, Penguin Teen Canada, and Firefly Books for providing copies of these books!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: The Pairing
Author: Casey McQuiston
Genre: Romance, LGBTQ, Contemporary
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: August 6, 2024
Rating: ★★★★★
In #1 New York Times bestselling author Casey McQuiston’s latest romantic comedy, two bisexual exes accidentally book the same European food and wine tour and challenge each other to a hookup competition to prove they’re over each other—except they’re definitely not.
Theo and Kit have been a lot of things: childhood best friends, crushes, in love, and now estranged exes. After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, they exited each other’s lives once and for all.
Time apart has done them good. Theo has found confidence as a hustling bartender by night and aspiring sommelier by day, with a long roster of casual lovers. Kit, who never returned to America, graduated as the reigning sex god of his pastry school class and now bakes at one of the finest restaurants in Paris. Sure, nothing really compares to what they had, and life stretches out long and lonely ahead of them, but—yeah. It’s in the past.
All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Solo. Separately.
It’s not until they board the tour bus that they discover they’ve both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they’re trapped with each other for three weeks of stunning views, luscious flavors, and the most romantic cities of France, Spain, and Italy. It’s fine. There’s nothing left between them. So much nothing that, when Theo suggests a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot Italian tour guide first, Kit is totally game. And why stop there? Why not a full-on European hookup competition?
But sometimes a taste of everything only makes you crave what you can’t have.
Theo and Kit were childhood best friends and eventually became partners when they finally acknowledged their feelings for each other. Then they had a sudden break up on a plane to Europe and they didn’t see each other again. Now, it’s four years later, and Theo has decided to use the tickets for a European food and drink tour that they were meant to take together just before they broke up. When she gets on the bus in London, Kit is sitting there. Kit also had the same idea to use the tour tickets before they expired, so Kit and Theo are stuck on the tour together for three weeks. Neither one of them wants to acknowledge their lingering feelings for each other, so they decide to have a competition to see who can hook up with the most people on the tour. However, it isn’t easy seeing the person you love with other people. Theo and Kit must decide if they confront these feelings or continue with their single lives.
This book is the perfect summer read! I felt like I had traveled on this trip with Theo and Kit because it was so descriptive. They had a lot of delicious food and drinks, which made me so hungry while reading. It was also quite a steamy read. Both Kit and Theo were bisexual and hooked up with men and women. There was also some nonbinary representation, as one of the characters was still learning how they felt in their body.
The Pairing is a great summer read!
Content warnings: death of parent (off page)
Have you read The Pairing? What did you think of it?
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