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★★★★★ I received this ARC from Delacorte Press via BookishFirst 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. I better be getting a sequel or I will personally strangle Rory Power. The Tox didn't just happen to us. It happened to everything. Obligatory Summary It's been 18 months since an insidious and horrific disease known as the Tox took over Raxter Island, and the girls trapped there are beginning to unravel. The Tox takes something from each of them, humans and animals alike—some their eyes, some their sanity—and gives them something else in return. Hettie and her two best friends, Byatt and Reese, have managed to maintain a friendship throughout all this turmoil. But things are changing, and when one of them disappears, Hettie will do whatever it takes to find her. Part psychological thriller, part psychological hor...

★★★☆☆ Buddy read with Nana ! Wow, the Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet parallels just keep getting stronger. Except Amulet is good and idek what this was. It was pretty. I'll give it that. The aesthetic is on point. I had no clue what was happening most of the time, but it sure was pretty. I could barely keep track of the characters, and almost everything that happened was pure self-indulgence. It really took me out of the narrative when certain large sea monsters were spouting certain words that sounded like something straight out of a drunk draft of Nevernight by Jay Kristoff. Also, Corvin gives me ACOTAR x TOG vibes and I'd really rather not rn. The weird Freudian crap going on with Tuya is also very weird and very uncomfortable. Overall, this was just a mess and the next one better be good, because the last one was great. But, I must admit, it was very pretty. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★★☆ Why didn't I read this sooner???? There was beauty in the idea of freedom, but it was an illusion. Every human heart was chained by love. Soooo I really wanted to give this 5 stars. It is by far the best book Cassandra Clare has ever written. Unironically. TMI had mostly crap characters with a pretty cool plot; TID had great characters with a lame plot; this had stellar characters with an amazing plot. It really threw me for a loop. The big plot twists didn't come out of nowhere but also weren't super obvious. When we get the big reveal, I literally gasped and rethought the whole book, zeroing in on those little details she planted that didn't seem important at the time but actually meant everything. It was so well done! The characters in this really stole the show. Cristina starts strong and honestly, stayed there. She was an icon and I stan. Emma wasn't a cardboard cut out of a Strong Female Character either; she felt like an actual te...

★★★★★ This was truly delightful! I'm a big fan of children's fantasy, as it turns out, because I loved every minute of this! It's whimsical and magical and really just great. It has the same vibe as The Little Prince , Peter Pan , and Alice in Wonderland , but a bit lighter on the dark themes. It's definitely something I'm going to be reading to my future children. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★★★ Look back to the old tales of fairyland. Look back to legends of monsters and magic. Our stories have changed, but the world behind the world never does. This short story by one of my indie favs, K.A. Wiggins, really butters my bread, to be frank. It's got the spooky, fair folk vibes that I live for; the atmosphere really just shines in this. While I wasn't necessarily pulled in by the opening (such is often the case with first person for me, so there was no fault with the work itself), I was without a doubt pulled in by the tale itself. AND THAT ENDING! *literally dying* So you will want to stop here, while you still believe my words, while your world remains as it should be. Because this is the sort of story that cannot be told. Read the book here

★★★★☆ This is by far my favorite entry in the Vampire Academy series. It gave me a bigger cast and a greater sense of the world. Honestly, it gave me almost everything that I've felt lacking in this series so far. The world felt so lived in, which is so hard to find in urban fantasy in my opinion. I realized, reading this, that I legitimately love this series, and not just in a so-bad-it's-good kinda way. It's really evolved into something great and well developed. It has the sillier exterior, but a much deeper, much darker undercurrent, and I absolutely love that. Rose's journey was definitely the best part. Even though very little happened for a long time, it was good build up to her ultimate decision and nice foreshadowing for what happens at the end. There was a plot twist that I definitely saw coming from a mile away, but I didn't really mind it. And I absolutely loved Dimitri's family; they were great. I wasn't a huge fan of Lissa's st...

★★☆☆ 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...

★★★☆☆ Lol what even was this?? When heart and sword meet, there shall be victory. I've only ever read Turned by Morgan Rice before, and it's one of my favorite so-bad-it's-good books, so I went into this expecting the same level of pure garbage that Rice always delivers. And I definitely got that, but I also got a little something more. This book honestly read like a promising but juvenile first draft. There was definitely something there, and I got some feels from certain events and the atmosphere. Ceres was hot headed and ridiculous, and probably the most cliche fantasy heroine ever, but I liked her. Thanos was definitely my favorite character, except he sometimes was a bit of a sexist pig, but it was so poorly done that I wasn't offended. The plot supposedly takes place over the course of like a week, but with every single chapter ending with some grand cliffhanger about how Ceres' life will never be the same, because she's been kidnapped...

★★★☆☆ I hurried around to the garage door because I really had to pee. What an iconic line. Obligatory Summary Alecia is just a regular Korean-American girl living in Seattle -- at least, she was, until she started doing magic. Then she came across a strange creature in an alley and let him eat half her soul. Now she can see and hear Iverog, but no one else can. When an older relative called Grandpa Dan tells her that he's a wizard, he takes her under his wing. But when her ability to see magical objects bring disastrous results, it's up to her to save Grandpa Dan, with only Iverog and a reluctant FBI agent to help her! My Thoughts I'm not entirely sure what I just read. I think I liked it though. To be quite honest with you, this felt like a parody of 2009 MG fantasy, with some very questionable yet humorous choices (as exhibited in the quote above) and a general disregard for resolving plot holes. But I'd be lying if I said...

★★★★★ My brother sat me down to read this, since it's one of his favorite ghost stories. It's basically an amalgamation of various other ghost stories, but told in such a way most of the plot points are via implication, and I loved it! It's very spooky and fun. I'm kind of shocked that it has so few ratings on Goodreads, actually. Definitely go read it, it's only like 1 page long hah. There's a great reading of it on Youtube by Michael Hordern that's only about 7 minutes or so.

★★★★☆ I received this eARC from the author 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. It was honestly more of a 3.5 but the first half was great, so I'm rounding up. Love and friendship. Shame and heartache. Endings and beginnings. Obligatory Summary Isaura is on a boat, going back home to her father's house after a failed marriage, but the sea has been behaving most strangely, and when her ship capsizes in a brutal storm, killing everyone except for her, she thinks she'll die far from anyone who loves her. Leonel, the last of the mermen, illegitimate son of the sea goddess Ran, is the Guardian of the Fathoms. He's been investigating these storms for a while, trying to figure out what dark magic is causing them, but his royal family and kingly stepfather disregard every report. When he finds Isaura, adrift and alon...

★★★☆☆ I read this with Nana , my designated buddy reader hah (pre-review) No one expects a princess to be brutal. Actually, everyone expects a princess to be brutal nowadays. If she isn't then she's ~ weak ~ and a ~ damsel in distress ~ (actual review) Finally freaking done with this. I have some mixed feelings. "Someday you will go, and your life will be blessed for it. But it will not fix you—all your troubles will still be here, waiting. First you should strive to find peace where you are, and then you can make the pilgrimage to celebrate that peace." I honestly expected this to be a 4 star review, or maybe even a 5 star if the book gods were willing. They were not willing, unfortunately. They were very much not willing. I'll start with what I liked: the writing. It was spectacular. Very very very well done! I haven't read a YA book written like that in a long time, and it was extraordinarily refreshing. It was, ho...

★★★★☆ I received this eARC from the author 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. Gustaf the brave had fought and bled, Then found himself cold and dead. He pleaded with the Goddess Hel, That if She would only make him well, He would kill ten men that night, And send them to Her without a fight. She agreed and took him back, To his body bent and black. When his spirit stepped inside, The pain and rot forced his cries. He begged Her again to set him free, Which She did most generously. Death cannot be fooled or bought. Best be gone than left to rot. Obligatory Summary Carina is an outsider wherever she goes: in her homeland, where she escaped Death, and in her new home, where she doles it out as a Daughter of Hel. But when her rival betrays her, she's forced to befriend her kidnappers, a motley crew of t...

★★★☆☆ I received a digital review copy from the author in exchange for an honest review. My opinion is in no way influenced by the author, publisher, or distributor. Sort of like Percy Jackson and the Olympians meets Skyrim, this fantasy short story tells the tale of Segree, an assassin for the Egyptian gods who's task it is to hunt and kill minor Greek gods so that his Egyptian employers can escape their prison. This was a fun little short story, and I liked the concept enough, though it tended to feel more like a RPG and less like a real fantasy world, especially where the mythology was concerned. The writing was generally good, though it often read like passive voice (which I'm not entirely sure it always was) and relied heavily on excessive description. Also, Charon, the main opponent whose scene takes up the vast majority of the story, spoke in incessant third person. To give you an example of how often he said his own name, there were 62 instances of the...

★★★☆☆ 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...

★★★★☆ My feelings remain pretty much the same, though slightly more apathetic this time around. I still really liked it though and I'm glad I read this series again, especially after reading The Infernal Devices, which I hadn't read the first go around. Some things made a lot more sense hah Maybe now that I've finished this reread, I can finally read Lady Midnight lol (Original review) This conclusion was everything I had hoped for and more: an epic adventure, exploring new and old terrains, ending old storylines and introducing intriguing new ones, and the journey was just as important as the destination in this final installment. All hope seems lost for our heroes, when the unthinkable happens--utter betrayal from a trusted ally. Lies from those who cannot lie. What are they to do when all that lays in Sebastian's wake is death and destruction? The character deaths and death-fakeouts were emotionally charged and effective, but the d...

★★★★★ Buddy read with Nana (not to be confused with the dog nurse 😂) As usual, this was golden ❤️ (Original review) This is honestly so wonderful. I read this mostly because I am writing a dark fantasy Peter Pan retelling (you can vote on a title here ), but it really exceeded my expectations. I knew it would be enjoyable--it is a classic that has stood the test of time--but it was really a fantastic story told so wonderfully. It feels like it is being told to you, and it feels like there's even more to tell, which is probably why it has become so iconic. Peter's character is so interesting because he's almost an antihero sometimes, and quite similar to Hook in so many ways. If you've only seen the Disney movie, you really should read the book because it is significantly better in every conceivable way (except for the singing--there isn't a lot of singing lol). Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★★★ 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

★★★★★ "Wherever you walk, I will be there." *sobs* This third installment, the end of the main trilogy, was pretty darn good. There's something about Garth Nix's writing that just really does it for me. The subtle humor and wit, the syntax and sentence structure. It's all just so great. I love everything about it! The world is the best fantasy world ever, in my not so humble opinion. It isn't overbearing, but it's intricate and unique and dark without being grimdark. Death is probably the coolest setting in any book ever, and you can fight me on that. I loved the character arcs in this, especially Nick's. He didn't have much of a character in the previous book, but he really shone in this one, and his ending was just...*cries a little more* just perfect. I love how relatable all the characters are. I wish Sam had had a bit more to do in this, but as it is, I'm happy with how it all turned out. "So I'll d...

★★★★★ This first one was cool, but didn't really do it for me. This one, though, was seriously awesome. I'm loving this aesthetic, this art, and this world. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble