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Showing posts from December, 2023

Our Cursed Love / Julie Abe / Book Review

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OUR CURSED LOVE When best friends Cam and Remy arrive in Tokyo for winter break, Remy knows this is her chance. Soon enough, they'll both leave for college half a world away from each other, and if Remy doesn't confess her feelings now, while they're together, she might never get up the nerve to confess. And she doesn't know how she could live with herself if Cam found some other girl to spend the rest of his life with. But first, some courage. When Remy gets selected for a mystical tea leaves reading, she jumps at the chance. Soulmates, true love: that's what everybody asks fortune-tellers about, right? But her reading reveals something devastating: they're not meant to be together. In fact, Remy doesn't have a soulmate at all. When Cam and Remy stumble onto a secret, magical alchemist bar, Remy sees her last chance to make it work out between them: a soulmate elixir, created long before love potions were banned

Where There's Smoke / E.B. Vickers / Book Review

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WHERE THERE'S SMOKE At eighteen years old, Calli's all alone in the world, a reality that's just starting to set in. She's barely had time to recover from her father's funeral--and her freezer's still filling up with generously donated casseroles--when she finds a burned and broken girl on the edge of her property, curled up beneath a burlap sack. Calli doesn't know what else to do besides take the girl inside and get her cleaned up. The girl can't--or won't--talk to Calli, but Calli has a sneaking suspicion about who the girl is... or at least where she came from. Life has never been easy in the small desert town Harmony, but Calli knows it's leagues better than life on the religious commune nearby. As Calli slowly nurses the girl she decides to call Ash back to health, word spreads about Calli's "visitor." The police come knocking... and it's not just the detectives who are interest

Win Lose Kill Die / Cynthia Murphy / Book Review

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WIN LOSE KILL DIE Morton Academy is known for it's high-achievers, and everyone's gunning for that top spot. Head Girl at Morton--Head Girl in the Jewel and Bone Society, that is--basically guarantees you a spot at whatever ivy league school you want. Guarantees connections down the line, too. So is it really surprising when the Head Girl and her closest competition start dropping like flies? Liz and her best friends can't just ignore the bodies piling up. They're in the running for Head Girl, too. And with a dark, cultish history of murders at Morton Academy already, they're not sure if they're dealing with a student who's a bit too ambitious or, perhaps, something more. THOUGHTS This is a perfectly generic YA thriller. Which is by no means to say it's bad. You just know what you're getting into here. It's dark academia, high m

Her Dark Wings / Melinda Salisbury / Book Review

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HER DARK WINGS Corey has always felt at home in her island life. Sure, some of the islanders put a bit too much belief in ancient gods, gods of myth and legend that the outside world doesn't care much for. And sure, the community has always been rather insular, but Corey has never minded. The myths are just a quirk of growing up. And her father, her best friend Bree, her boyfriend Ali: that's always been enough for her. Until Bree steals Ali from her, and Corey's world comes crashing down. Suddenly an outsider watching her best friend and her boyfriend fall more and more in love, Corey doesn't feel quite as at home on the island that has always been hers. Seeing Bree and Ali together at the annual masquerade is too much. Corey can't help, for the briefest flash, wishing her former best friend dead. She didn't mean it, not really. Or at least that's what she tells herself when Bree's body is dragged from the sea hour

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love / Lex Croucher / Book Review

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GWEN AND ART ARE NOT IN LOVE Gwendoline and Arthur have been betrothed since birth, and the only thing they agree on is that they absolutely hate each other. For prim and proper princess Gwendoline, Arthur's casually scandalous charades will never not be annoying. And a lord like Arthur can't stand being bossed around by someone so stuffy. Which is why being forced to spend the summer together at Camelot this tournament season just isn't going to go well for them. Especially not when they have their nuptials to look forward to at the end of it. And... Arthur has a secret. One that Gwen has, too. When Gwen catches Arthur kissing a boy near the stables, she knows that they might just be better friends than enemies. So they make a reluctant pact to have each other's backs... and maybe help each other out in other ways.  THOUGHTS This book is delightful! Despite the im