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Showing posts from June, 2023

Where Echoes Die / Courtney Gould / Book Review

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Beck Birsching has only one destination in mind: Backravel, Arizona. Everything comes back to Backravel. Backravel caused her parents to split. Backravel helped her family fall apart. Backravel left her the only one in charge of her little sister and her ailing mother. Backravel was her mother's obsession, and now that her mother's dead, Beck has nothing else. Nothing but Backravel. And she's never even been there. Their father might think Beck and her sister are on vacation with friends, but the desert has been calling them. Backravel has been calling Beck. She needs to know what, exactly, had her mother obsessed all those years. But on the surface, Backravel seems like any other small town. Friendly people, walkable streets, and... no cars. And no cemeteries. And the ruins of an old military complex. And up on the hill, the shining beacon of Backravel, sits a "treatment center," though the locals won't tell Beck what the treatment is for. Something's off

Going Bicoastal / Dahlia Adler / Book Review

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Natalya Fox has two paths before her. She could take the safe route, stay in NYC this summer with her math professor dad. She could work as his assistant, find a part time job, and finally learn how to cook Shabbos dinner with her neighbor. This future may or may not involve a cute redhead who always seems to be lurking in Natalya's favorite places, too... if she gets up the nerve to talk to her, of course.  This could be Natalya's summer.  Or...  She could spend the summer in LA. She could reconnect with her mom, work a marketing internship, and enjoy a brand new city. She just might connect with the other intern, fall in love with food trucks, just plain fall in love... She might. How's a girl to choose? 

Thirty to Sixty Days / Alikay Wood / Book Review

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Hattie Larken is a girl who doesn't like to face the truth. She's a compulsive liar, after all, ready and willing to spin ridiculous stories to get what she needs -- and to make her life much more exciting in the process. Her actual life is just a waiting game. She can't wait to get out in the real world, launch her art career, and repay her mother for everything. But then Hattie finds out she's dying. Imminently. With a prognosis of thirty to sixty days left in her life, Hattie decides not to wallow in a hospital wing, no matter what the quarantine mandate would prefer. If she's going out of this world, she's going out in her own way. And she's taking her hospital mates with her. They've got nothing to lose. Steal a boat and head to Miami? No problem. Sneak into a concert and meet a pop legend? Absolutely. Acquire an endangered turtle -- why not? And if they happen to become Internet sensations -- and raise a fair bit of money for Hattie's mom -- in

The Grimoire of Grave Fates / Hanna Alkaf & Margaret Owen, Editors / Book Review

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Professor Septimus Dropwort is dead, murdered. Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary's best and brightest are the suspects--all of them.  A prestigious and historic magic academy, Galileo has undergone a recent overhaul in image, rebranding to be a bit more... expansive, both in theory and in practice. But not everyone is on board with the increasing diversity on campus. As a member of the old guard, it isn't like Professor Dropwort was well-liked. Everyone--yes, everyone--has a motive in this case. Anyone could be guilty. Maybe they all are. Eighteen authors follow eighteen of Galileo's top students as the murder investigation begins in this race to uncover the truth--and cover their own bases in the process. 

The Last One to Fall / Gabriella Lepore / Book Review

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When Savanna gets a text from her next-door neighbor (and longtime crush) Jesse asking her to come out to the old warehouse on the wharf, well, Savanna can't say no. But she probably should have. Because she arrives just in time to see a body falling through the air. She arrives just in time to hear the crunch and to make the call to 911. And now she's a suspect. All of them are. Because it wasn't just Savanna and Jesse at the wharf. Six friends, five potential suspects, and the motives are all strong. With the police circling, Savanna knows this investigation could go wrong so quickly... especially when she starts receiving threatening texts from someone she doesn't know. Everyone has secrets, and they'll have to come to light for the truth to be told.