Review: Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose (Enola Holmes #9)

Title: Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose (Enola Holmes #9)
Author: Nancy Springer
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: September 5, 2023
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

In May of 1890, Enola Holmes is finally fully on her own and, no longer hiding from her older brothers Sherlock and Mycroft, attending classes and occasionally pursuing her chosen profession as a scientific perditorian, a finder of lost things and people.

Wolcott Balestier, the representative of an American book publisher, arrived in London on a singular mission – to contract with English authors for their latest works. When Balestier disappears on the streets of London one day, his great friend – Rudyard Kipling – bursts into Enola’s office looking for help in finding him. Brash and unwilling to hire a young woman, instead he turns to Sherlock Holmes. Convinced that evil has befallen Balestier, at the hands of rival American publishers who pirate the works of English authors, he sets the elder Holmes on the trail.

But Enola is not one to accept defeat, especially not to her brother, and sets off on her own – determined to learn the truth behind the disappearance of the young American. Can book publishing truly be so ruthless and deadly or can the missing man be rescued from his apparent fate and returned to his friends and loved ones?

The redoubtable Enola is determined to do just that, even if it means working with her brother Sherlock!

Review:

Enola Holmes, the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes, is a scientific perditorian, which means she finds lost things. The author Rudyard Kipling bursts into her office one day, demanding that she find his friend, Wolcott Balestier. However, when he discovers that the perditorian is a teenage girl, he doesn’t hire her, but hires Sherlock instead. Enola won’t accept being passed over for a man, so she still conducts her own investigation to find the missing man. 

I love the character Enola Holmes. She’s dedicated to solving mysteries, and won’t let anyone say she can’t do something because she’s a woman. This story took an unexpected turn into looking at rabies. Through her investigation, Enola met a doctor who studied rabies and was developing a vaccine from the brains and spinal cords of dogs and rabbits who died from rabies. Though animal testing for medication and other things has been done throughout history, it’s not something we promote today. In the author’s note, she says that there was no evidence of a rabid dog in the lives of the real people who are mentioned in the story, so it seems like an unusual topic to include in this story. 

Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose was a great new Enola Holmes mystery. 

Thank you Wednesday Books for sending me a copy of this book! 

Content warnings: rabies, animal testing, animal death (mentions), stabbing, kidnapping

Other books in the series:

  • The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes #1)
  • The Case of the Left-Handed Lady (Enola Holmes #2)
  • The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets (Enola Holmes #3)
  • The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan (Enola Holmes #4)
  • The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline (Enola Holmes #5)
  • The Case of the Gypsy Good-Bye (Enola Holmes #6)
  • Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche (Enola Holmes #7)
  • Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade (Enola Holmes #8)

Have you read Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose? What did you think of it?

Happy Pub Day – September 5

Happy Pub Day to these authors!

House of Ash and Bone by Joel A. Sutherland

Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose by Nancy Springer

The Long Game by Elena Armas

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Muñoz

Midnight at the Houdini by Delilah S. Dawson

Thank you Tundra Books, Wednesday Books, Atria Books, Fable App, and Penguin Teen Canada.

What books are you most excited for this week?

Review: Don’t Want to Be Your Monster

Title: Don’t Want to Be Your Monster
Author: Deke Moulton
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary, Fantasy
Publisher: Tundra Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: August 1, 2023
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Two vampire brothers must set aside their differences to solve a series of murders in this humorous and delightfully spooky novel for young readers. For fans of Too Bright to See.

Adam and Victor are brothers who have the usual fights over the remote, which movie to watch and whether or not it’s morally acceptable to eat people. Well, not so much eat . . . just drink a little blood. They’re vampires, hiding in plain sight with their eclectic yet loving family.

Ten-year-old Adam knows he has a better purpose in life (well, death) than just drinking blood, but fourteen-year-old Victor wants to accept his own self-image of vampirism. Everything changes when bodies start to appear all over town, and it becomes clear that a vampire hunter may be on the lookout for the family. Can Adam and Victor reconcile their differences and work together to stop the killer before it’s too late?

Review:

Adam and Victor are brothers who are also vampires. They live quiet lives with their moms and older siblings, hidden away from everyone else. When a serial killer starts murdering people in their town, they both start to venture away from their home. Ten-year-old Adam wants to help solve the murders, so he befriends two mortals who don’t know he’s a vampire. Fourteen-year-old Victor wants to find his purpose as a vampire but he ends up encountering a vampire hunter instead. When the serial killer begins to target vampires, the brothers must work together to save their family. 

This was a fun middle grade vampire story. I really liked the characters. Adam and Victor were trying to learn how to be vampires, while their moms wanted them to stay children. The characters were all diverse, from different cultures, religions, and sexualities. There were twists at the end that kept me guessing what would happen next. 

Don’t Want to Be Your Monster is a great middle grade vampire story!

Thank you Tundra Books for providing a digital copy of this book.

Have you read Don’t Want to Be Your Monster? What did you think of it?

Review: The Long Game

Title: The Long Game
Author: Elena Armas
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Atria Books
Source: Publisher via Fable app
Format: Ebook
Release Date: September 5, 2023
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

A disgraced soccer exec reluctantly enlists the help of a retired soccer star in coaching a children’s team in this smalltown love story in the vein of Ted Lasso and It Happened One Summer —from the New York Times bestselling author of The Spanish Love Deception.

Adalyn Reyes has spent years perfecting her daily routine: wake up at dawn, drive to the Miami Flames FC offices, try her hardest to leave a mark, go home, and repeat.

But her routine is disrupted when a video of her in an altercation with the team’s mascot goes viral. Rather than fire her, the team’s owner—who happens to be her father—sends Adalyn to middle-of-nowhere North Carolina, where she’s tasked with turning around the struggling local soccer team, the Green Warriors, as a way to redeem herself. Her plans crumble upon discovering that the players wear tutus to practice (impractical), keep pet goats (messy), and are terrified of Adalyn (counterproductive), and are nine-year-old kids.

To make things worse, also in town is Cameron Caldani, goalkeeping prodigy whose presence is somewhat of a mystery. Cam is the perfect candidate to help Adalyn, but after one very unfortunate first encounter involving a rooster, Cam’s leg, and Adalyn’s bumper, he’s also set on running her out of town. But banishment is not an option for Adalyn. Not again. Helping this ragtag children’s team is her road to redemption, and she is playing the long game. With or without Cam’s help.

Review:

Adalyn Reyes works as an executive for the Miami Flames soccer team, with her father who is the owner. Her life is changed when a video of her attacking the team’s mascot goes viral. Instead of firing her, her dad sends her to the small town of Green Oaks in North Carolina to help improve their soccer team, the Green Warriors. She didn’t expect the team to be full of nine-year-old girls. When she arrives at the cottage where she’ll be staying, she finds former soccer star Cameron Caldani already living there. Adalyn isn’t sure why he’s living in this small town, and coaching a children’s team when he was a soccer superstar. They instantly dislike each other, but Adalyn needs to make this team a success so she can return to her life in Miami, so they must learn to work together. 

This was a fun enemies-to-lovers romance. It reminded me of Ted Lasso, in the way that an unexpected coach is brought in to coach a soccer team. The connection between Green Oaks and the Miami Flames wasn’t revealed until the end of the story, so I was wondering about it for most of the story. The romance was a super slow burn, but it was worth it in the end. 

I was given the opportunity to read this book on the Fable app, in a book club with the author. I highly recommend checking out the app for fun reading opportunities like this!

The Long Game is a sporty slow burn romance!

Thank you Atria Books and Fable for providing a copy of this book!

Have you read The Long Game? What did you think of it?

Happy Pub Day – August 29

Happy Pub Day to these authors!

The Reunion by Kit Frick

My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine

Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh by Rachael Lippincott

A Multitude of Dreams by Mara Rutherford

Reign by Katharine McGee

House of Marionne by J. Elle

Thank you Simon Teen, Berkley Romance, Simon and Schuster Canada, Inkyard Press, and Penguin Teen Canada for providing copies of these books!

What books are you most excited for this week?

Review: You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight

Title: You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight
Author: Kalynn Bayron
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Horror
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 20, 2023
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

At Camp Mirror Lake, terror is the name of the game . . . but can you survive the night?

This heart-pounding slasher by New York Times bestselling author Kalynn Bayron is perfect for fans of Fear Street.

Charity Curtis has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business.

But the last weekend of the season, Charity’s co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity’s role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they’ll need figure out what this killer is after. Is there is more to the story of Mirror Lake and its dangerous past than Charity ever suspected?

Review:

Charity Curtis works at her dream summer job, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake, a horror simulation. Guests pay for Charity and the rest of her team to scare them while recreating scenes from the horror movie Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. During their final weekend of the summer, some of the employees go missing. Then someone breaks into the camp, and someone else ends up dead. Charity becomes the final girl in her own horror story, and she has to figure out who the killer is before it’s too late. 

I’m not usually a fan of horror stories, but when I saw this awesome edition from Waterstones, I knew I had to have this book. This was a fast paced slasher story. I read it in under a day, it was so good and hard to put down! I thought I had the story figured out but I was wrong. The ending was so good and unexpected!

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight is the perfect horror read for spooky season!

Thank you Bloomsbury US for providing a digital copy of this book!

Content warnings: body horror, stabbing, death, gun use, murder, death of animal (bird)

Have you read You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight? What did you think of it?

Review: Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh

Title: Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh
Author: Rachael Lippincott
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: August 29, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

From the New York Times bestselling coauthor of Five Feet Apart and She Gets the Girl comes a fresh and inventive sapphic romantic comedy that’s What If It’s Us meets Bridgerton.

What if you found a once-in-a-lifetime love…just not in your lifetime?

Audrey Cameron has lost her spark. But after getting dumped by her first love and waitlisted at her dream art school all in one week, she has no intention of putting her heart on the line again to get it back. So when local curmudgeon Mr. Montgomery walks into her family’s Pittsburgh convenience store saying he can help her, Audrey doesn’t know what she’s expecting…but it’s definitely not that she’ll be transported back to 1812 to become a Regency romance heroine.

Lucy Sinclair isn’t expecting to find an oddly dressed girl claiming to be from two hundred years in the future on her family’s estate. But she has to admit it’s a welcome distraction from being courted by a man her father expects her to marry—who offers a future she couldn’t be less interested in. Not that anyone has cared about what or who she’s interested in since her mother died, taking Lucy’s spark with her.

While the two girls try to understand what’s happening and how to send Audrey home, their sparks make a comeback in a most unexpected way. Because as they both try over and over to fall for their suitors and the happily-ever-afters everyone expects of them, they find instead they don’t have to try at all to fall for each other.

But can a most unexpected love story survive even more impossible circumstances?

Review:

After Audrey Cameron’s boyfriend dumps her and she was waitlisted by her dream art school, she doesn’t know what to do. When Mr. Montgomery walks into her family’s convenience store, she doesn’t realize he will change her life by tossing her a coin. Audrey catches the coin and ends up in the middle of a field in England in 1812. Lucy Sinclair finds Audrey on her family’s property. She’s glad to have a distraction from her strict father who is forcing her to marry the wealthiest man in town. However, as Audrey and Lucy spend time together, trying to figure out how to send Audrey home, sparks fly between them and they may find love in an unexpected place. 

As soon as I heard this was a YA sapphic love story with time travel to Regency England, I knew I would love this book. It was funny to see Audrey bring her 2023 lifestyle and knowledge to 1812, where life was completely different. There were some emotional parts where Lucy’s father was forcing her into a marriage that she didn’t want. However, there were more lighthearted moments between Audrey and Lucy that turned into the sweetest love story. 

Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh is a heartwarming romance!

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

Have you read Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh? What did you think of it?

Review: The Reunion

Title: The Reunion
Author: Kit Frick
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Contemporary
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: August 29, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

From the author of I Killed Zoe Spanos comes a YA thriller in the vein of The White Lotus and Karen M. McManus’s The Cousins following a doomed family reunion at a posh Caribbean resort, where old grudges and dangerous secrets culminate in murder.

Eleven Mayweathers went on vacation. Ten came home.

It’s been years since the fragmented Mayweather clan was all in one place, but the engagement of Addison and Mason’s mom to the dad of their future stepbrother, Theo, brings the whole family to sunny Cancún, Mexico, for winter break. Add cousin Natalia to the mix, and it doesn’t take long for tempers to fray and tensions to rise. A week of forced family “fun” reveals that everyone has something to hide, and as secrets bubble to the surface, no one is safe from the fallout. By the end of the week, one member of the reunion party will be dead—and everyone’s a 
The Addison needs a better hiding place.
The Theo just wants to mend fences.
The Natalia doesn’t want to talk about the past.
The Mason needs to keep his temper under control.

It started as a week in paradise meant to bring them together. But the Mayweathers are about to learn the hard way that family bonding can be deadly.

Review:

The Mayweather family went on a vacation in Cancun together. The grand finale is supposed to be an engagement party for Addison and Mason’s mom to Theo’s father. Their parents planned this as a bonding trip for the teens, but they weren’t aware of the tension between all of the teens. Addison and Mason haven’t seen their cousin Natalia in three years, since the “incident.” They all have secrets that they’re hiding from each other now because of the “incident.” Each of the teens have something to hide, and by the end of the week one of the family members will be dead. 

This thriller was fast paced and twisty! It followed four teens who were related, but they each had their secrets. I liked how many of their secrets and the “incident” weren’t revealed until the close to the end of the story. This kept up the mystery and suspense of the story. I was really surprised when the killer was revealed. The ending was left open for a possible sequel which I would love to see!

The Reunion is the perfect YA read for fans of White Lotus!

Thank you Simon Teen for sending me a copy of this book!

Have you read The Reunion? What did you think of it?

Review: Sing Me to Sleep (Sing Me to Sleep #1)

Title: Sing Me to Sleep (Sing Me to Sleep #1)
Author: Gabi Burton
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: June 27, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

In this dark and seductive YA fantasy debut, a siren must choose between protecting her family and following her heart in a prejudiced kingdom where her existence is illegal.

Saoirse Sorkova survives on lies. As a soldier-in-training at the most prestigious barracks in the kingdom, she lies about being a siren to avoid execution. At night, working as an assassin for a dangerous group of mercenaries, Saoirse lies about her true identity. And to her family, Saoirse tells the biggest lie of all: that she can control her siren powers and doesn’t struggle constantly against an impulse to kill.

As the top trainee in her class, Saoirse would be headed for a bright future if it weren’t for the need to keep her secrets out of the spotlight. But when a mysterious blackmailer threatens her sister, Saoirse takes a dangerous job that will help her investigate: she becomes personal bodyguard to the crown prince.

Saoirse should hate Prince Hayes. After all, his father is the one who enforces the kingdom’s brutal creature segregation laws. But when Hayes turns out to be kind, thoughtful, and charming, Saoirse finds herself increasingly drawn to him-especially when they’re forced to work together to stop a deadly killer who’s plaguing the city. There’s only one problem: Saoirse is that deadly killer.

Featuring an all Black and Brown cast, a forbidden romance, and a compulsively dark plot full of twists, this thrilling YA fantasy is perfect for fans of A Song Below Water and To Kill a Kingdom.

Review:

Saoirse Sorkova is a siren pretending to be a powerless fae in her soldier training. At night, she works as an assassin for an anonymous source. When she graduates from the academy, Saoirse is given the top job as a guard for Prince Hayes. However, she hates him, but she needs the money for her family. The royal family were responsible for destroying the sirens and other creatures, leaving Saoirse and her sister to grow up under false identities. Saoirse ends up helping Hayes investigate a series of deaths in the city. The problem is that Saoirse is the killer, giving her one more secret to hide. 

This story is a fantastic debut! I loved the unique world and setting. Saoirse is a bit of a morally grey character. She didn’t mind killing people to keep her family’s secret, without thinking of that person’s family or friends. Even though she was supposed to hate Prince Hayes, they had an undeniable chemistry. I can’t wait to read the sequel!

Sing Me to Sleep is a beautiful fantasy debut!

Content warnings: death, murder, poisoning, kidnapping

Have you read Sing Me to Sleep? What did you think of it?