THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL STATEMENT By Tracy Badua

January 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL STATEMENT By Tracy BaduaThis Is Not a Personal Statement by Tracy Badua
Published by Quill Tree Books on 1/17/23
Genres: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 347
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

At sixteen, Perla is the youngest graduating senior of the hypercompetitive Monte Verde High. Praised—and not-so-quietly bashed—as “Perfect Perlie Perez,” Perla knows all the late nights, social isolation, and crushing stress will be worth it when she gets into the college of her (and her parents’) dreams: Delmont University.

Then Perla doesn’t get in, and her meticulously planned future shatters. In a panic, she forges her own acceptance letter, and next thing she knows, she’s heading to Delmont for real, acceptance or not. Soon, Perla is breaking into dorm rooms, crashing classes, and dodging questions from new friends about her lack of a student ID. Her plan? Gather on-the-ground intel to beef up her application and reapply spring semester before she’s caught.

But as her guilty conscience grows and campus security looms large, Perla starts to wonder if her plan will really succeed—and if this dream she’s worked for her entire life is something she even wants.

Short and Sweet Review

Perla Perez is the youngest student in her graduating class and all her life she’s worked to get accepted into Delmont University. So when Perla gets a rejection letter she panics and creates a fake acceptance letter and shows it to her parents. Perla plans to pretend to be a student and try to improve her next application and become a student in the spring.

This book was addicting and nerve wracking. Perla really went through almost every scenario when she came up with the idea of pretending to be a college student. She attends lectures, finds an empty dorm room, and makes some friends. What Perla wasn’t expecting was to have money problems and see someone from high school who may be on to her. Perla’s parents and family have high expectations for her and I felt bad because this is one of the main reasons she’s in this predicament. Perla is used to being on top so when she’s here in college she realizes that she may have been a lot more sheltered back at home than she thought. Perla has a lot of character development and that was one of my favorite things about this book, Perla just learning that this is her life and she has her own dreams and she doesn’t have to try to live out someone else’s. We see Perla make it 3 months on campus which is pretty insane because she did a lot of sneaking around, and it was always how long can she go before she gets caught or will she be successful and actually get accepted in the spring?

This was an amazing book, it will have you on the edge of your seat following Perla around campus. The biggest thing was the message that you get to pick the overall course of your life and you should follow your dreams and not anyone else’s. This is a must get book, I may have struggled in my college journey but Perla took fake it til you make it to another level and I will never forget her story!

Filed Under: Reviews

SEVEN PERCENT OF RO DEVEREUX By Ellen O’Clover

January 11, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

SEVEN PERCENT OF RO DEVEREUX By Ellen O’CloverSeven Percent of Ro Devereux by Ellen O'Clover
Published by HarperTeen on 1/17/23
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 319
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Ro Devereux can predict your future. Or, at least, the app she built for her senior project can.

Working with her neighbor, a retired behavioral scientist, Ro created an app called MASH, designed around the classic game Mansion Apartment Shack House, that can predict a person’s future with 93% accuracy. The app will even match users with their soulmates. Though it was only supposed to be a class project, MASH quickly takes off and gains the attention of tech investors.

Ro’s dream is to work in Silicon Valley, and she’ll do anything to prove to her new backing company—and the world—that the app works. So it’s a huge shock when the app says her soulmate is Miller, her childhood best friend with whom she had a friendship-destroying fight three years ago.

Now thrust into a fake dating scenario, Ro and Miller must address the years of pain between them if either of them will have any chance of achieving their dreams. And as the app takes on a life of its own, Ro sees that it’s affecting people in ways she never expected—and if she can’t regain control, it might take her and everything she believes in down with it.

Short and Sweet Review

Ro Devereux made an app that can predict your future and its 93% accurate. The app is called MASH and it’s based on the childhood game (Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House). The app was only supposed to be for a class project but soon it starts taking off in the App Store and Ro is eventually backed by a company. Ro just wants to prove herself so she becomes the main face of MASH and she uses the app to match with her soulmate which she thinks is wrong when the app tells her its Miller, a boy she used to be friends with until something went wrong. We see Ro and Miller try to make the best of their fake dating scenario, and we see how people are affected by the app and the choices Ro has to make about her future.

First of all, this book was amazing. I haven’t played MASH since I was in middle school so this book brought up some good memories. If I could I probably would download Ro’s version of MASH just to see what the future has in store. Ro is smart, I mean she made an app that has a 93% accuracy rate. Ro did have a lot of character development throughout this book, we see her trying to justify the decisions she makes, but in the end she does realize that other things are important and tries to right her wrongs. We also see Ro become obsessed with trying to make MASH work and trying to have everything go perfectly and this is why I appreciated her support system because they would bring her back to Earth and ground her.

Ro does get backed by a company who tries to get her noticed by a bigger software company, unfortunately Ro’s quest for success gives this company 50% ownership of the app and they start making questionable changes to the algorithm, but more on this later. Ro gets matched with Miller, who used to be her childhood best friend but since then they’ve gone their separate ways, now they have to fake their romance. This romance was cute, the slow burn and the eventually realization that they were meant to be was everything. At first these two didn’t even want to share a space together but by the end they stole my heart. After the company starts making changes to the algorithm we see people become affected by their MASH results and how their futures would change. Ro knows this isn’t what she intended when she first created the app and now she has to decide what to do with an app she thought would give her a chance in the tech world.

This is my first five star read of 2023 and for a lot of reasons. The amazing concept of having a childhood game become an app to predict your future, a smart tech driven main character, and one of the cutest romances I’ve read in a while. Definitely get your hands on this book and enjoy the the magic that O’Clover has created.

Filed Under: Reviews

A THOUSAND BOY KISSES By Tillie Cole

January 10, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A THOUSAND BOY KISSES By Tillie ColeA Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole
Published by Tillie Cole Ltd on 3/13/16
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 288
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

One kiss lasts a moment.
But a thousand kisses can last a lifetime.

One boy.
One girl.
A bond that is forged in an instant and cherished for a decade.
A bond that neither time nor distance can break.
A bond that will last forever.
Or so they believe.

When seventeen-year-old Rune Kristiansen returns from his native Norway to the sleepy town of Blossom Grove, Georgia, where he befriended Poppy Litchfield as a child, he has just one thing on his mind. Why did the girl who was one half of his soul, who promised to wait faithfully for his return, cut him off without a word of explanation?

Rune’s heart was broken two years ago when Poppy fell silent. When he discovers the truth, he finds that the greatest heartache is yet to come.

Short and Sweet Review

Poppy and Rune meet when they’re kids and they vow to be best friends for ever. When Poppy is young her grandma gives her a jar to write down a thousand kisses that make her heart fill like it’s about to burst. Rune is Poppy’s first kiss and they decide that only his kisses are going to fill the jar. When the pair are 15, Rune’s dad has to go back to Norway for work and so the whole family has to go back. This is where things go downhill, I mean the beginning is ridiculous too because what eight year olds are saying “these lips are only for you.” Anyway this is where it goes downhill because Rune basically loses his mind about moving and he’ll never forgive his parents for making him leave the love of his life, it was just so dramatic and what’s worse was the way he was talking to his parents it was just so disrespectful. It just doesn’t end there because his family moves back to Georgia and he comes back with not a chip on his shoulder but a boulder and he’s still angry at the world. Like really? Two years later and he’s still throwing a fit because the world is just so unfair for all the Runes in the world. Anyway he’s back and he’s smoking cigarettes and has an attitude and he’s just not the same Rune that Poppy used to know. During the time that Rune was gone he and Poppy stayed in contact for a while until she cut him off for some unknown reason which just added more fuel to his fire. Now that he’s back it takes like less than a minute for these two to reconnect which was so stupid because Poppy was sitting in her room crying about him not being the boy she used to know. Okay so now they’re back together and he’s still a sucky person and she’s optimistic and in her eyes “quirky” despite her circumstances.

Honestly the dialogue was cheesy. Rune was one of the worst characters that I’ve read about and Poppy just made dumb decisions. The things that happened in this book were unrealistic and honestly the amount of times I had to put my kindle down and cleanse my mind of whatever ridiculous scene I just read was more than 10. Rune was insufferable and his redemption came in the end and at that point it was way too late. This will go down in my mind as one of the worst books I’ve ever read.

Filed Under: Reviews

FOUR DAYS OF YOU AND ME By Miranda Kenneally

January 7, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

FOUR DAYS OF YOU AND ME By Miranda KenneallyFour Days of You and Me by Miranda Kenneally
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on 5/5/20
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 356
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Every May 7th, the students at Coffee County High School take a class trip. And every year, Lulu's relationship with Alex Rouvelis gets a little more complicated. Freshman year they went from sworn enemies to more than friends after a close encounter in an escape room. It's been hard for Lulu to quit Alex ever since.

Through break-ups, make-ups, and dating other people, each year's class trip brings the pair back together and forces them to confront their undeniable connection. From the science museum to Six Flags, New York City to London, Lulu learns one thing is for sure: love is the biggest trip of all.

Are Lulu and Alex meant to be, or are they better apart?

Short and Sweet Review

Four Days of You and Me follows the relationship between Lulu and Alex. It’s over the course of four years so I’m not sure why the title is four days but that’s a problem for another day. Each year their class takes a field trip and each year Lulu and Alex’s relationship gets a little more complicated.

The premise sounded cute but the more I read the more I thought that these characters were toxic! I like the idea of going on a new field trip each year and seeing how their relationship progressed but they were both dramatic and kind of self centered. I also didn’t like how it would alternate from past to present it just seemed all over the place. We see Lulu and Alex date to them breaking up to Lulu being jealous if he’s with someone else even though she broke up with him it was just a headache. It was a constant “he loves me he loves me not,” situation with the two of them. At the end of the book I thought they should have just gone their separate ways. These two are not a couple that I liked or even shipped, there was no connection it was just a hot mess.

Filed Under: Reviews

KIND OF A BIG DEAL By Shannon Hale

January 4, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

KIND OF A BIG DEAL By Shannon HaleKind of a Big Deal by Shannon Hale
Published by Roaring Brook Press on 8/25/20
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy & Magic, Young Adult
Pages: 397
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

There's nothing worse than peaking in high school. Nobody knows that better than Josie Pie.

She was kind of a big deal—she dropped out of high school to be a star! But the bigger you are, the harder you fall. And Josie fell. Hard. Ouch. Broadway dream: dead.

Meanwhile, her life keeps imploding. Best friend: distant. Boyfriend: busy. Mom: not playing with a full deck? Desperate to escape, Josie gets into reading.

Literally. She reads a book and suddenly she's inside it. And with each book, she’s a different character: a post-apocalyptic heroine, the lead in a YA rom-com, a 17th century wench in a corset.

It’s alarming. But also . . . kind of amazing?

It’s the perfect way to live out her fantasies. Book after book, Josie the failed star finds a new way to shine. But the longer she stays in a story, the harder it becomes to escape.

Will Josie find a story so good that she just stays forever?

Short and Sweet Review

Josie peaked in high school, she was a great singer and she wanted to be on broadway but show biz is tough and she got turned away. Now Josie is a nanny in a state far away from New York. Josie still tries to live her high school life even though she dropped out to pursue her dreams, so she thinks about her boyfriend who’s been distant and her best friend who’s been too busy to talk. When Josie goes to a book store and gets a book and begins reading it she’s transported into the book and at first she’s scared but in these books she finds a way to see the people she misses and find a way to make her broadway dreams come true.

The plot of this story is great, who doesn’t want to go into their favorite books and see everything. The problem with this story is Josie. She wasn’t an easy character to connect to and unfortunately she thought very highly of herself and wasn’t great at taking criticism. She was more focused on making her dreams come true and in the process of doing that completely ignores what’s going on around her. Josie book hopped a lot and did a lot of complaining and over all everything was about her and by the time she learns a lesson about how the world doesn’t revolve around her the book is over. I didn’t care for the ending honestly if Josie was stuck in a book forever as punishment for her behavior I would have been fine with it, but overall not my favorite read and it took way too long for the climax to take place.

Filed Under: Reviews

DASH & LILY’S BOOK OF DARES By Rachel Cohn AND David Levithan

January 2, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

DASH & LILY’S BOOK OF DARES By Rachel Cohn AND David LevithanDash & Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan, Rachel Cohn
Series: Dash & Lily #1
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on 10/26/10
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 274
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

16-year-old Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on her favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. Dash, in a bad mood during the holidays, happens to be the first guy to pick up the notebook and rise to its challenges.

What follows is a whirlwind romance as Dash and Lily trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations all across New York City. But can their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions, or will their scavenger hunt end in a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Short and Sweet Review

It’s the holiday season and while at a bookstore Dash finds a notebook waiting for someone to accept the challenge and complete the dares inside. Lily is just trying to find the right guy and hopefully the notebook will help her succeed. These two end up leaving the notebook in different places and doing different dares and at one point it’ll bring them together, but are these two right for each other?

This book has a fun plot, two teens going around New York City around Christmas time completing dares and maybe finding true love in the process. The problem with this book is the characters. Dash is like a hipster or something and Lily is awkward and quirky and doesn’t really have friends her own age. Lily’s dialogue is childish she’s a child in a teenagers body. I didn’t connect with either character. This is the second book I’ve read by Cohn and Levithan and for some reason I just don’t connect with their characters and somehow end up regret the time I spend reading their books, that being said, I probably won’t continue on with this series.

Filed Under: Reviews

THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES By Mindy McGinnis

December 31, 2022 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES By Mindy McGinnisThe Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 9/20/16
Genres: Contemporary, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 348
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence.

While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

Short and Sweet Review

Alex Craft is known as the girl who has a dead older sister. Alex’s sister Anna was murdered and the killer walk free and that’s when Alex learned how to kill somebody and she doesn’t feel bad about knowing this. Alex’s crime has gone unpunished but she knows she can’t be trusted around other people, but eventually she becomes friends with Jack the star athlete and Peekay the preachers kid. Over time more of Alex’s violent nature comes out and it sets these three teens down a road they never thought they’d be on.

When I first started reading this book I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I liked each of these characters. We get to read from the POVs of Alex, Jack, and Peekay. Alex is different from a lot of characters I’ve read before, she’s smart and she hasn’t had a lot of human interaction so she’s a bit awkward but in an endearing way. Alex’s violent nature is one that could be compared to an animal in the wild, if she feels threatened or if she feels that her friends are in danger she’ll attack. Peekay is the preachers kid and she meets Alex at the animal shelter and they become friends, Peekay is caring and she is good but sometimes she wants to be bad, and that’s where Alex usually brings her back to Earth. Jack likes Alex but he’s a typical teenage boy and he sometimes thinks with other extremities instead of his head.

We see Alex act on her violent nature a few times and it throws people off about how casual she is about it, on one hand people are for it and the other people are concerned about what else she could do. There’s a lot of tough topics discussed in this book and a lot of stereotypes that are tackled. I enjoyed this book and the ending is one that is bittersweet but I get it.

This book was powerful and one I’ll think about for a long time, its just so fascinating and a book I recommend!

Filed Under: Reviews

NINE LIARS By Maureen Johnson

December 24, 2022 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

NINE LIARS By Maureen JohnsonNine Liars by Maureen Johnson
Series: Truly Devious #5
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 12/27/22
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 457
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie Bell isn’t going well. Her boyfriend, David, is studying in London. Her friends are obsessed with college applications. With the cold case of the century solved, Stevie is adrift. There is nothing to distract her from the questions pinging around her brain—questions about college, love, and life in general.

Relief comes when David invites Stevie and her friends to join him for study abroad, and his new friend Izzy introduces her to a double-murder cold case. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University went to a country house and played a drunken game of hide-and-seek. Two were found in the woodshed the next day, murdered with an ax.

The case was assumed to be a burglary gone wrong, but one of the remaining seven saw something she can’t explain. This was no break-in. Someone’s lying about what happened in the woodshed.

Seven suspects. Two murders. One killer still playing a deadly game.

Short and Sweet Review

It’s senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie and its not going well, she needs to start thinking about colleges but she’d rather not. So when her boyfriend in David who is currently in London invites Stevie and her friends to London it’s a welcome distraction. In London David introduces Stevie to Izzy who just happens to mention a double murder from 1995 that was never solved and involves her aunt and her remaining six friends.

In 1995 a group of nine friends decided to play hide and go seek late at night and sometime in the morning it was discovered that two of them were murdered with an ax, also this group of friends have been hiding the truth about what actually happened that night.

When Stevie hears about this the wheels start turning and when she meets Angela, Izzy’s aunt, Stevie starts to wonder what really happened that night, but the thing is Stevie is supposed to be in London for a cultural immersion and learning things that she’ll eventually have to report back to Dr. Quinn who is keeping close tabs on the group. The rest of the group, especially Janelle is trying to stick to the schedule, but when Angela goes missing Stevie feels compelled to solve this case.

This was actually a pretty interesting case, a game of hide and seek a group of friends, an axe murderer, and now a missing woman. I will say the book started off slow but once the case was told to Stevie things start to pick up. This one was a little more complicated because Stevie had to make sure Dr. Quinn didn’t know what she was up to and Stevie kind of felt constricted by her friends because she didn’t want them to get in trouble because she felt the need to stray from their original plans. I will say Stevie made some bad decisions when it came to her friends, on one hand I understand why she did what she did, but on the other she really ended up hurting her friends. Also there was a bigger focus on Stevie and her relationship with David and all I’ll say is I still don’t understand why she likes him and everything I’ve said about him in my other reviews for the previous books in the series just made me see that I was right about him all along. Anyway Stevie is still determined to solve mysteries and catch culprits and we see in this book how much it may lead to her detriment. The ending was okay I was expecting some arrests, a few cop cars, and satisfaction. The book left off on a cliffhanger and I really want to know what Stevie’s next moves are because things seem pretty crappy for her at the moment.

The Truly Devious series is perfect for anyone who likes mysteries and Nine Liars is as compelling as the previous four books in the series. Join Stevie as she solves another mystery and also puts her heart on the line.

Filed Under: Reviews

IN THE STUDY WITH THE WRENCH By Diana Peterfreund

November 2, 2022 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

IN THE STUDY WITH THE WRENCH By Diana PeterfreundIn the Study with the Wrench by Diana Peterfreund
Series: Clue Mystery #2
Published by Amulet Books on 10/13/20
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Romance, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 335
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

New semester. New secrets. New murder.

In the aftermath of their headmaster’s brutal murder, Blackbrook Academy has been thrown into chaos. Half the student body hasn’t bothered to return to campus—but those who have include Orchid McKee, Vaughn Green, Scarlett Mistry, Beth “Peacock” Picach, Phineas Plum, and Sam “Mustard” Maestor, now warily referred to by the other students as the Murder Crew.

When another staff member is found dead, each teen’s reasons for sticking around come to light. Orchid and Vaughn grow ever closer to having their secrets exposed, Peacock and Scarlett struggle to change their stripes, and Plum and Mustard question everything. As everything comes to a boiling point at Tudor House, nobody’s life will ever be the same.

Short and Sweet Review

We’re back at Blackbrook Academy and after headmaster boddy’s murder the group of kids that were in the Tudor house are being called the murder crew. Our six main characters are back and this time when another body is found more secrets are unveiled about our main characters and their reasons for wanting to stay at the academy instead of going home.

Again we get all six characters POVs but I feel like some of these characters really had nothing to offer and their POV was just filler. Peacock still has the shortest chapters and all we read from her are emails she’s sending to her life coach which are recaps on what’s happening on campus or how she’s feeling, the emails are important in the end but it’s just a little weird she’s not more important. I think this book revolved around Orchid and Vaughn and a bit of Peacock more than the other characters. Scarlett likes to make things about herself, Finn is looking for his invention, and Mustard not really sure what his deal is besides the fact that he can’t really afford to get kicked out of another school. Vaughn has some weird twin thing going on and they’re looking for some invention and weird things are happening to Orchid and she thinks her past is catching up to her. The murder was glossed over mainly because their was other strange things going down at Tudor house.

The ending was good and also a bit of a cliffhanger so I’m interested in seeing how the last book will wrap everything up! 

Filed Under: Reviews

SPELLS FOR LOST THINGS By Jenna Evans Welch

October 28, 2022 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

SPELLS FOR LOST THINGS By Jenna Evans WelchSpells for Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on 9/27/22
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy & Magic, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 368
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Willow has never felt like she belonged anywhere and is convinced that the only way to find a true home is to travel the world. But her plans to act on her dream are put on hold when her aloof and often absent mother drags Willow to Salem, Massachusetts, to wrap up the affairs of an aunt Willow didn’t even know she had. An aunt who may or may not have been a witch.

There, she meets Mason, a loner who’s always felt out of place and has been in and out of foster homes his entire life. He’s been classified as one of the runaways, constantly searching for ways to make it back to his mom; even if she can’t take care of him, it’s his job to try and take care of her. Isn’t it?

Naturally pulled to one another, Willow and Mason set out across Salem to discover the secret past of Willow’s mother, her aunt, and the ambiguous history of her family. During all of this, the two can’t help but act on their natural connection. But with the amount of baggage between them—and Willow’s growing conviction her family might be cursed—can they manage to hold onto each other?

Short and Sweet Review

Willow doesn’t feel like she belongs and she feels like the only way to find her place in the world is to travel. But things are put on hold when her mother takes her to Salem Massachusetts to settle her aunts estate, an aunt that Willow didn’t even know existed. Mason on the other hand has been in and out of foster homes and his main goal is to find his mom, Mason knows she can’t take care of him but he’s okay with the idea of taking care of her.

Willow’s mom is there but she’s not really there, so when they arrive in Salem Willow has a lot of questions about her moms past life which her mom just avoids answering most of the time. Willow discovers that she has aunts and family in Salem and she reconnects with her great aunts and learns that there’s a curse on her family and she has to find the letters her aunt Sage left behind to break it. Which is how she meets Mason he’s supposed to be the helper and help her find the other letters. Together these two learn a lot about themselves. Willow learns that she has family and that she doesn’t need to leave the states to find a place where she belongs because what she truly wanted was family and Mason learns that even if he doesn’t have his mom he can accept his foster family.

This was a cute book and I liked seeing how the characters realized how important family is whether or not its by blood. The witchy elements were also cute. I liked the ending and I appreciated Mason and Willows stories.

Filed Under: Reviews