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★★☆☆☆ I received this digital review copy from Aftershock Comics via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way. Well that was stupid. There are ways of making a conspiracy-focused narrative without making it unbelievably dumb. The first 30 pages or so were promising, but then it devolved into a cliche mess. This is about this kid, Jake, and his corgi. (The corgi was the only character I liked) Jake is obsessed with conspiracy theories and feels like there's more than this provincial life. When his life gets turned upside down and he's inducted into a secret organization called the Beyonders, he discovers that maybe he's been right all along, that everything's connected. He sets out on a quest to crack the code. It's a race against the Order, what we know as the Illuminati, as they hunt down Jake, his dog, and his math genius friend, Narine. This first point is a personal thing, so take it...

★★★★★ This was the first book that I ever really loved. I first read it when I was about 10 or 11, and I fell in love with Scott O'Dell's writing, getting my hands on any of his books that I could find at my elementary school library. It really made me into a reader. But I hadn't read it in about a decade, and I was curious how well it would hold up to my adult mind. IT WAS EVEN BETTER!!! I originally rated this 4 stars, rather arbitrarily, but this reread proved that this is truly an amazing piece of historical fiction, especially for children. Even for its time, it does a great job at portraying Native American peoples in a humanizing light, as well as young girls (which is amazing, because Scott O'Dell was clearly a white adult male). It's compelling and action-packed, and extremely educational. I really felt for Karana as she lives abandoned on an island for the majority of her life, missing her family but feeling unable to leave her home. M...

★★☆☆ I received this ARC from Viking via Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way. All quotes are taken from the uncorrected proof and are subject to change. June 4th. 2019 update: I've decided to up my rating from 2 to 3 stars, the reason being that I've just been thinking about this book a lot, and (while I still don't know what that one chapter said), this book really stuck with me, especially after I read the Hobbit, and realized what that weird dream about food was all about.  update over (original review written January 8th, 2019) This book was a bit of a trip. I feel like I spent 99 nights just trying to read it. "During the whole length of the battle, I was scared of hiding and becoming caught. Of running and being hit. Of shooting and becoming a killer. And all my fears warred inside of me, until they massacred one another, so that it wasn't courage that let me fi...

★★★☆☆ Throwback to that time in sophomore year of high school when we were reading this in English and learning about psychological disorders in health and everyone was saying that Holden was bipolar and I dropped the truth bomb that he had borderline personality disorder and even had the direct quotes from the book and DSM-V to prove it. The whole class was shook. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★☆☆ I received this ARC from Crooked Lane via BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion in any way. All quotes are taken from the uncorrected proof and are subject to change. When the time came for them to sleep through the night, something would be given: the gift of rejuvenating sleep, essential to life. But like every bargain, something would also be taken: it would be another of those inevitable steps away from her and into themselves. Let it go on, she thought, this beautiful torture, the time of sleepless nights. For as long as it will. Obligatory Summary Lauren Tranter is certain that a strange woman wants to steal her newborn twins and replace them with her own, but no one else believes her; not her husband, not her friends, and certainly not the police. Detective Harper, however, thinks there's more to the situation. After Lauren's twins get briefly abducted, things seem to be coming together, but nothin...

★★★★★ Oh my gosh, I'm sobbing like crazy This was a really hard book to review. I usually wait only like a day at most to write my reviews, so my ideas are still fresh in my mind but I'm not a blubbering, post-book idiot incapable of forming coherent sentences. And with this book, I just couldn't really figure out how to say how I felt throughout. I guess all I can really say is this, and forgive me if it makes no sense hah: I really liked the story, the characters, the pacing, the writing, the core concept of Death as a narrator. It was full of personality and unapologetically emotional. I loved it, and I highly suggest it if you haven't read it already. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★☆☆ I received this eARC from Delacorte Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way. All quotes are taken from the uncorrected proof and are subject to change. You have always been lonely and you have never admitted it. Obligatory Summary Tiger Tolliver's mother just died and her whole life has been turned upside down. Traded from foster home to foster home, from strangers to family and back again, she mourns her mother. There is no guide on how to cope with this kind of loss, and she's sinking under the sadness. My Thoughts I am honestly so conflicted about this book. I wanted to like it, I really did, and sometimes I did actually like it, but the writing and execution for me were the biggest issues. It was funny sometimes, but also just so strange. I can't really say what I didn't like about it, I just didn't like it. I had a very hard time connecting with...

★★★★☆ But this is your life, and it will stretch out before you, and you are the only person who can make it whatever you want it to be. I went into this book expecting to hate it. I even put it on my dreaded "all-aboard-the-nope-train" shelf where only the books I have no intention of ever reading go, but a challenge in a group challenged me to read a book I thought I wouldn't like, and this one came immediately to mind. Now, let me explain my reasons for finding this book's mere concept--nay, mere existence--originally unsavory: I am a Mormon, as most people call us; a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , as we prefer to be called. We have a rather sordid history in media representation; we're either the vile, cultish villains (practically twirling our moustaches and sacrificing babies to the devil in our sinister temples) when in media made by non-members , or quirky, unintentionally bad actors in media made by members ...

★★★☆☆ How far can you go into the woods? This book had a great deal of potential, and I think that it did what it intended well enough, but I found it lacking towards the end and did not feel that many of the events toward the end were entirely necessary. Much of the plot felt convoluted and unbelievable, which took me out of the mystery and made me question the entire premise of the story. The writing was interesting because sometimes, especially in the beginning, I thought it was actually quite excellent, but as the story went on, it dragged and I often had to re-read entire paragraphs just to understand what was even happening. Generally, the philosophical waxing was done well but the actions were done terribly. One thing this book did very well was suspense. I was very intrigued by the mystery and really wanted to know how everything fit together. The world is a cruel place made crueler still by man. The story followed a nonlinear plot which often made the...

★★★★★ I received this eARC from Orca Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Around here anything can happen, and it very often does. Obligatory Summary Jolene is struggling with the sudden absence of her brother while trying to go to school, eat, walk her dog, hang out with friends, and deal with her absent parents. The only thing that gets her through is her music. But when does a coping mechanism become a crutch, and when does the problem become too much to ignore? How will long until she can't stay in her hometown? How long until she joins Matt? This is a story about sadness and loss and avoidance through action and inaction. It's a mystery and a coming-of-age and a drama. It's about the grieving process, and how it takes time to be okay, and how you'll never be the same again, but you can learn to love what you have and what you've lost too. I don’t know if I believe in time. I mean, I don’t believe it works for m...

★★☆☆☆ I received this eARC from Orca Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Obligatory Summary This is a difficult book to summarize because, honestly, I don't really know what happened. Basically, take that one movie about a girl who loves surfing but gets bitten by a shark and losses an arm but learns to surf again, and merge it with a fever dream version of Aqua Marine, and you'll still not have what happened. This book makes no sense. I'll give you what I did understand, though. So, Ash saves Clayton from dying in the prologue and in the first chapter they're suddenly casually declaring their love. Ash is a hardcore swimmer who breaks a world record and gets swept up in her mother's dream of stardom. Then she suffers a devastating accident that changes her life forever. Clayton...draws, I guess? He has a sassy chain-smoking Finnish grandma and that's about all I can really say. The Writing (and Worldbuilding?)...

★★★★★ I received this ARC from Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion in any way. OH MY GOSH I always forget fear is a conquerable thing but I learn it over and over again and that, I guess, is better than never learning it. Obligatory Summary Sadie is a thriller. A very intense thriller. Told in two perspectives—Sadie herself, and West McCray, the host of a radio podcast series—this book chronicles the missing person and murder investigations of two sisters, Sadie and Mattie. As Sadie travels from city to city in search of the man who killed her sister, West is close on her trail, hunting her down and unraveling the case. Dark secrets are revealed, and you never know what's going to happen next. And it begins, as so many stories do, with a dead girl. The Writing I was a HUGE fan of the writing. It was deeply personal and extremely atmospheric. I felt a part of the mystery, and lost myself ...

★★★★★ I received this ARC from Dial Books via BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion in any way. "It's okay not to be okay." Okay, so this was strangely really relevant to my entire life. And to my family reunion vacation I was on as I read this. Creepy. Thing number one: Darius is a Fractional Persian who doesn't speak Farsi and goes to Iran for the first time. I'm half Chilean, have never been to Chile, and don't speak Spanish. Thing number two: Darius struggles with depression and friendships. My entire life I've had friend issues, and recently (last night actually), I was even talking to my sister and her husband about this very topic. Thing number three: Darius has a grandfather who he cannot really connect to who is terminally ill. While not my grandfather, and not someone I never met in person (I actually grew up going to his house every summer), my mom's brother in law is grandfa...

★★★★★ All your life you wait, and then it finally comes, and are you ready? This book is unique in a way that means a lot to me. Not only does it showcase the horrors of World War II through the life of Marie-Laure; the awful destruction, cruelty of the Nazis, and the terrible way memories change people. It also shows the war from the other side; from the side of Werner, a Nazi soldier, who is a hero in his own right, and a deeply sympathetic character. This storyline is what I will primarily focus on in this review because it is deeply personal to me. My uncle was a man not dissimilar to Volkheimer, Werner's friend and comrade in the war. He was tall, strong, passionate, and kind, liked by all who met him. He was unfortunate enough to be those things in a time of great social turmoil and political upheaval. He was a supersoldier in Chile during the dictatorship of Pinochet, and because of the things he did, he changed. He still lives, but he is a shell of his former...

★★★★★ Trigger warning for rape, sexual assault, suicide, depression, and gun violence. "You're different. And I'm different too. Different is good. But different is hard. Believe me, I know." I am stunned by how good this is. I don't often read contemporary, but when I do, I try to read books with an important message, not something short and fluffy. While short, there's definitely nothing fluffy about this. I was basically sobbing the entire time. I've seriously never cried so much reading a book in my entire life, except for maybe They Cage The Animals At Night , which I read in the 7th grade and still cry about whenever I think of it. Honestly, I think this book should replace The Catcher in the Rye as a school required read, because it is so much deeper, more succinct, and far more emotional with a more profound message . Also, since I'm comparing, it reminded me a lot of The Perks of Being a Wallflower , though I have to...

★★☆☆☆ So here's the deal with this book: I was 11, it was the week before my family left on our summer vacation, and my sister checked this out from the library for our trip. She read it first, and then passed it on to my other sister, who in turn passed it on to me. We all agreed that it was terrible, and yet we all read it. I have no explanation for this. So here's the deal with the plot: Patience is a girl who lives in the British countryside and in the first chapter of the book dresses up as a man to intercept her best friend and stop him from dueling with this guy, who supposedly deflowered his sister or something. So, she runs into the duel like a complete idiot and gets shot. Turns out the guy doing the deflowering is her newly betrothed. Because crappy romance book. And on goes the strangest book I've ever read. ~A list of what happens (I haven't been able to find a copy in years, so I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist anymore, so spoilers d...

★★★★☆ A classic story of childhood and prejudice in a sleepy Southern town. I first read this book in high school for English, but as was the case with many required reads, a certain degree of reluctance kept me from fully appreciating the story. Re-reading it now of my own volition, I found myself really liking the story. It captured the innocence and disregard of childhood, while also showcasing a complex plot that can be understood by adults. While it isn't my favorite book, and given the genre and the story, is not something I would have picked up on my own, I did really enjoy this and I'm glad I read it again, as its morals and messages are still very relevant today. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

[WARNING: This review contains minor spoilers] ★★★★☆ I received this eARC from Orca Book Publishers on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way. Warning: This book contains graphic scenes of abuse, mutilation, and rape, as well as language that may not be suitable for some younger YA readers. I AM BEYOND SHOOK The Writing The writing was mostly very well done, with a very unique and strong voice and style, but sometimes I found myself having to reread a line several times and still not understand it. Luckily, the gripping mystery, character development, and suspense really made up for it. I really appreciated that there was a really strong Native American (First Nation in this case, as the book takes place in Canada) influence on the spiritual beliefs of one of the main characters, Réal. It was unique and interesting. I'm sure most people have heard about the Windigo but not many know...

★★★★★ I received this eARC uncorrected galley from Feiwel & Friends on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way. A warning before I begin. This book focuses on very heavy topics that may be triggers for some readers. If you have suffered sexual assault or other abuse, I would be wary about reading this, as there are graphic scenes. The Writing From the very first page of this book, I was completely drawn in. From the first line, the first word, I knew I was reading something that mattered, something that was so important. The writing is almost lyrical in its beauty. It feels like something haunted and true and private and sacred. It feels like the poem of a soul. I couldn't put it down. I couldn't sleep. I was thinking only of this book and the precious, necessary story told within. The symbols in this book were consistent and poignant; they carved themselves in my heart. Houses, ghosts, zomb...