BAD LIKE US By Gabriella Lepore

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.

BAD LIKE US By Gabriella LeporeBad Like Us by Gabriella Lepore
Published by Inkyard Press on 3/5/24
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 281
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Partying with popular classmates they barely know is not what Eva and her BFFs had in mind for their spring break. But things have been off ever since Miles' academic career took a turn for the worse (they don't talk about it), so a trip to a private beach lodge might be exactly what they need. And Eva won’t admit it, but the chance to reconnect with Colton is worth putting up with Piper’s constant livestreams to her thousands of “besties.”

At first, it’s all sand and waves, but tensions run high when an anonymous letter shakes up an already-flailing love triangle.

When someone turns up dead, Eva can’t even trust her closest friends—but she thinks she can trust Colton. As they get closer to the truth, they uncover secrets that upend everything they thought they knew about their fellow spring breakers.

Short and Sweet Review

Eva and some of her close friends head down to a beach lodge for spring break, the only thing is, Eva doesn’t really know everyone that well its just when you’re friends with someone their friends become your acquaintances. Anyway things go well for the first few days, until tensions between a love triangle start to rise and then someone ends up dead. Eva doesn’t know who to trust but she knows she needs to figure out what happened even if it puts herself in harms way.

Eva is one of main characters and we get to read from her POV as well as Colton and Piper. There’s also six other characters in this book who are basically filler characters and in the background. There is a lot of tension within this group and you can tell not everyone is friends. Eva brought her friend Miles along and he’s currently dealing with some academic trouble that he really doesn’t want to talk about. Colton is kind of a bad boy but Eva likes him and is hoping that this time at the lodge will help them get closer together. Colton also likes Eva but after someone is found dead on the beach his main priority is looking out for his brother Danny. There really isn’t much time for romance between Eva and Colton, we see them talk and flirt but once the murder happens they focus most of their attention on that. Piper is an influencer and she livestreams any chance she gets even if she is invading everyone else’s privacy she doesn’t care. Piper used to date Danny but now she’s in a relationship with Javi, and it’s interesting because they should not all be on vacation together, even if they’re saying there’s no hard feelings. When one of our characters ends up dead we see everyone start to turn on each other and try to come up with motives. Eva and Colton are the only ones who actually try to do some investigating. This group of teens had a lot of secrets and uncovering each one was satisfying it also gave the reader a chance to see if a character actually had motive. I enjoyed reading the police interviews and seeing how each character had a different story or if they were trying to cover for someone else. The end was okay the motive for what happened was weak, but believable, honestly people will commit murder for any reason.

Overall, this book was okay, it’s not Lepore’s strongest book but I still enjoyed it. I will say I liked the short chapters and the characters and the further I got in the book the more hooked I was. Even though I said it wasn’t the best of Lepore’s books its still worth the read!

STAY WITH MY HEART By Tashie Bhuiyan

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.

STAY WITH MY HEART By Tashie BhuiyanStay with My Heart by Tashie Bhuiyan
Published by Inkyard Press on 1/2/24
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 340
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Liana Sarkar lives and breathes music, hoping to follow in the footsteps of her A&R coordinator father. Maybe if she succeeds, he’ll finally give her the time of day instead of drowning himself in work to distract from the grief of her mother’s passing.

When Liana accidentally sabotages an up-and-coming local band, Third Eye, she makes it her mission to steer them towards success—without them discovering her role in their setback. But as she gets closer to Third Eye, especially their enigmatic leader Skyler Moon, it becomes harder to hide the truth.

With both her heart and their futures on the line, will Liana be able to undo the damage she’s caused?

Short and Sweet Review

Liana’s life revolves around music, which makes sense because her dad is an A&R coordinator for a popular record label. Liana falls for a guy, Thomas, and ends up giving his demo to her dad not knowing that Thomas stole the songs from his former band, Third Eye. Now Liana is determined to make it right with the band and she tries to make her interest in helping them about getting them success without them knowing what she did.

Liana’s life at the moment is very complicated. After the death of her mother, Liana and her father only speak when its about his work which centers around music. It was hard to see this relationship or lack of one play out because you can see Liana reaching out to him but he’s not even trying, and everyone grieves in their own way but to Liana it feels like she’s invisible to him. When Liana gives him the demo and he likes it she feels like he’s finally proud of her which is why when she finds out she’s messed up she’s too scared to tell him in fear that he’ll basically shut her out again. Also because of this big demo mishap Liana tries to fix things with Third Eye without them knowing that she kind of but without wanting to actually helped Thomas get noticed. Liana goes through the trouble of getting the band a place to practice and eventually becomes their publicist. I did like the relationship Liana had with the band members, she even goes on to have a romance with Sky. I did like that Liana had a support system with her cousin Riya and her best friend Evie, it was also nice seeing that the band also became part of her support system. The plot was interesting and even though Liana could have stopped this whole thing by coming clean early I did understand her motives. This book did cover hard topics like anxiety, depression and grief but it did it in a way where it was well explained and not just thrown in the book for the sake of being in there.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. It was heartfelt and it was fun watching Liana do everything in her power to fix her mistakes. I did also like that each chapter had a song title and the little playlists that were sprinkled around in some of the chapters. I would recommend this book, its a cute romance and the getting to know Liana and Third Eye just made this book that much better.

WRATH BECOMES HER By Aden Polydoros

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.

WRATH BECOMES HER By Aden PolydorosWrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros
Published by Inkyard Press on 10/10/23
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Young Adult
Pages: 302
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Vera was made for vengeance.

Lithuania, 1943. A father drowns in the all-consuming grief of a daughter killed by the Nazis. He can’t bring Chaya back from the dead, but he can use kishuf — an ancient and profane magic — to create a golem in her image. A Nazi killer, to avenge her death.

When Vera awakens, she can feel her violent purpose thrumming within her. But she can also feel glimpses of a human life lived, of stolen kisses amidst the tragedy, and of a grisly death. And when she meets Akiva, she recognizes the boy with soft lips that gave warm kisses. But these memories aren’t hers, and Vera doesn’t know if she gets—or deserves—to have a life beyond what she was made for.

Vera’s strength feels limitless—until she learns that there are others who would channel kishuf for means far less noble than avenging a daughter’s death. As she confronts the very basest of humanity, Vera will need more than what her creator gave her: Not just a reason to fight, but a reason to live.

Short and Sweet Review

Vera is a golem and she was made for vengeance. The man who made Vera made her in his daughters image and he needs Vera to go after the men who killed her. Vera knows what her purpose is and because of the magic that was used to make her she is also able to see glimpses of Chaya’s memories. Vera meets Akira a boy she recognizes from the memories instilled in her. Vera finds out that there are other golems being made but not for the purpose she was but for destruction now Vera feels the need to fight for more than what she was created for.

Wrath Becomes Her is a very interesting book in that our main character is a golem, she’s not even human and she doesn’t really have her own will. Ezra is the man that created Vera and he made her after his daughter Chaya was killed by Nazis, now its up to Vera to use the memories she has to hunt down those men. Ezra goes missing and Vera wants to find him and that’s when she goes on this journey with Akira. I think Akira and Vera are supposed to be a romantic item but it didn’t work for me he was calling Vera by Chaya’s name and Vera only knew him because of Chaya’s memories. Anyway along the journey they encounter Nazis who Vera obviously kills, but during this journey Vera learns that she’s able to do more than what Ezra created her for. Vera may have been created just for vengeance but after learning that other golems are being made for nefarious reasons she takes it upon herself to do what she can to stop it. I do believe that Vera had some character growth, she wasn’t a character I really enjoyed but I did have to remember that she wasn’t human, she was made of clay and made for the purpose of killing.

Overall, this book had a unique story and I did enjoy the Jewish folklore that was included. I do think my biggest problem was Vera’s character and her lack of emotions and how hard it was for her to understand that she was able to do things of her own will. Some elements in the book didn’t work but it was still a good read.

THE SCARLET ALCHEMIST By Kylie Lee Baker

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.

THE SCARLET ALCHEMIST By Kylie Lee BakerThe Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker
Series: The Scarlet Alchemist #1
Published by Inkyard Press on 10/3/23
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Young Adult
Pages: 417
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Zilan dreams of becoming a royal alchemist, of providing for her family by making alchemical gold and gems for the wealthy to eat in order to stay young forever. But for now, she’s trapped in her impoverished village in southern China, practicing an illegal form of alchemy to keep food on the table—resurrecting the dead, for a price.

When Zilan finally has the chance to complete her imperial exams, she ventures to the capital to compete against the best alchemists in the country in tasks she’ll be lucky to survive, let alone pass. On top of that, her reputation for raising the dead has followed her to the capital, and the Crown Prince himself seeks out her help, suspecting a coming assassination attempt.

The more Zilan succeeds in her alchemy, the more she gets caught in the dangerous political games of the royal family. There are monsters lurking within the palace walls, and it’s only a matter of time before they—and secrets of Zilan’s past—catch up with her.

Short and Sweet Review

Zilan’s dream is to become a royal alchemist, she wants to be able to provide for her family and make sure that they’re stable. But for now she lives in a village with her aunt, uncle, and cousins practicing an illegal form of alchemy, resurrecting the dead, for money. Zilan has the chance to take her imperial exams and she passes and along with her cousins they travel to the capital to complete more tests. Zilan has a reputation that has traveled far from her little village all the way to the palace, and the prince has asked for her help to stop a future assassination attempt on his life. At the palace Zilan learns that there’s a lot of politics at play and the palace is even more dangerous than she originally thought.

This book was addicting right from the start. We meet Zilan and learn that she’s an alchemist and is able to resurrect the dead. Zilan is also determined to pass a test to become a royal alchemist, after her first test in the village she’s surprised to learn that she was actually selected, but before that unbeknownst to her the prince asks her to come to the Palace to save his life but she declines. When Zilan and her cousins arrive in the capital they begin their training. Its obvious to most that Zilan will push herself and she’s very risky, she’s also looked down upon by the others testing to be an alchemist, it also didn’t help that it seemed like the prince favored her. Anyway we learn that those in line for the throne after the emperor dies are being killed off one by one and the next person in line is the prince (Hong). There’s a bit of romance between Zilan and the prince but I feel like he liked her more than she liked him, I feel like the conversations between them were always taken the wrong way by at least one of them. One thing I did enjoy was seeing Zilan with her cousins, I did enjoy the family dynamic and seeing that even though they were arguing they all cared about each other. It was interesting to see that this book involved monsters and a bit of mystery as to who was killing everyone and who was coming after the prince. I did like the alchemy aspect and seeing Zilan do her thing even though sometimes she went too far when she knows how much danger she’s putting herself in. Zilan is an interesting character in the fact that she doesn’t really come off as likable, she has a short temper and she’s very combative, but I really wanted her to succeed. The book is fast paced and I was loving it until I got to the end, everything just seemed to happen a little too quickly. I thought this book was going to be a stand alone but after getting to the end I realized there’s going to be a sequel.

Overall, this was a fast paced book full of action, mystery, and fantasy. I haven’t read a lot of books about alchemy so it was fun to see how it was incorporated here and I enjoyed the historical setting. Definitely check this book out!

THE NAME DROP By Susan Lee

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.

THE NAME DROP By Susan LeeThe Name Drop by Susan Lee
Published by Inkyard Press on 9/12/23
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 273
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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When Elijah Ri arrives in New York City for an internship at his father’s massive tech company, Haneul Corporation, he expects the royal treatment that comes with being the future CEO—even if that’s the last thing he wants. But instead, he finds himself shuffled into a group of overworked, unpaid interns, all sharing a shoebox apartment for the summer.

When Jessica Lee arrives in New York City, she’s eager to make the most of her internship at Haneul Corporation, even if she’s at the bottom of the corporate ladder. But she’s shocked to be introduced as the new executive-in-training intern with a gorgeous brownstone all to herself.

It doesn’t take long for Elijah and Jessica to discover the source of the mistake: they share the same Korean name. But they decide to stay switched—so Elijah can have a relaxing summer away from his controlling dad while Jessica can make the connections she desperately needs for college recommendations.

As Elijah and Jessica work together to keep up the charade, a spark develops between them. Can they avoid discovery—and total disaster—with their feelings and futures on the line?

Short and Sweet

Elijah Ri and Jessica Lee are both in New York for an internship at the Haneul Corporation. The difference is that Elijah is the son of the owner and is expected to one day be the CEO, Jessica is the daughter of an accountant for the company. Elijah is expecting to live very comfortably when he arrives in New York but he’s surprised when he’s in an apartment with 10 other interns for the summer. Jessica ends up in a nice brownstone and now she knows something is wrong. Jessica and Elijah realize that they have the same Korean name and Elijah decides it may be okay to switch places for the summer and if anyone finds out they’ll deal with it when the time comes.

The plot of this book was basically a case of mistaken identity. Jessica and Elijah are very different. She’s hard working and has to work for the things she wants and Elijah lives a life of luxury but he can never make his father happy. When these two decide to switch places we see that Elijah is dedicated to working hard and also being a team player, Jessica on the other hand is hard working but is a nervous wreck about being caught. This book feel flat for me I didn’t like the characters there wasn’t much to them. The plot wasn’t anything to rave about we see them have the same Korean name but them getting away with it at the airport and for most of the summer seemed too far fetched. The romance also felt underdeveloped and I didn’t feel sparks when reading about these two and in the end the romance was rushed.

Overall, this book was okay, it wouldn’t make it on a list of my favorites. Everything in this book let me down from the characters, plot, and romance. I believe this concept would have worked if it was executed better.

A MULTITUDE OF DREAMS By Mara Rutherford

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.

A MULTITUDE OF DREAMS By Mara RutherfordA Multitude of Dreams by Mara Rutherford
Published by Inkyard Press on 8/29/23
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Gothic, Retellings, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 351
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The bloody plague is finally past, but what fresh horror lies in its wake?

Princess Imogen of Goslind has lived a sheltered life for three years at the boarded-up castle—she and the rest of its inhabitants safe from the bloody mori roja plague that’s ravaged the kingdom. But Princess Imogen has a secret, and as King Stuart descends further into madness, it’s at great risk of being revealed. Rations dwindle each day, and unhappy murmurings threaten to crack the facade of the years-long charade being played within the castle walls.

Nico Mott once enjoyed a comfortable life of status, but the plague took everyone and everything from him. If not for the generosity of a nearby lord, Nico may not have survived the mori roja’s aftermath. But does owing Lord Crane his life mean he owes him his silence?

When Lord Crane sends Nico to search for more plague survivors in the castle, Nico collides with a princess who wants to break out. They will each have to navigate the web of lies they’ve woven if they’re going to survive the nightmares ahead.

Short and Sweet Review

Princess Imogen has lived in Goslind for three years, the castle has been boarded up so that the people living in the castle could avoid catching the bloody mori roja plague which has ravaged most of the kingdom. Imogen has a secret that she’s been hiding for the past three years and its getting closer to being revealed each day, not only does she have to worry about that but the king is slowly descending into madness.

Nico Mott on the other hand used to live a good life before the plague took everything and everyone from him, if it wasn’t for Lord Crane, Nico would also have succumbed to the plague. Nico and two other boys are tasked by Lord Crane to travel to the castle to see if anyone else has survived the plague. When Nico runs into Imogen and learns she wants to leave, he has to stall to keep them alive and away from the horrors that lie outside of the castle walls.

A Multitude of Dreams is a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s A Masque of the Red Death. I haven’t read Poe’s story but I did enjoy what Rutherford wrote. Princess Imogen is actually someone named Seraphina, who has been pretending to be the princess after her death and to keep the king happy. Seraphina knows she’s walking on eggshells, especially around princess Giselle who makes her distain for Seraphina well known. The king seems okay but if triggered he goes off. Seraphina wants to know what life outside the castle is like, she’s also Jewish and has seen her people persecuted so she’s sure her family isn’t alive but she still has hope that maybe someone survived. Because of her want to be outside of the castle Seraphina becomes close to Lord Greymont who suggests she should bring it up to the king. Nico on the other hand is on the way to the castle and realizes that Lord Crane isn’t the man he thought he was. Nico ends up getting into the castle and meeting Seraphina. Nico, Seraphina, and a few others make a plan to get out of the castle but first they have to get past the undead and Lord Crane.

Seraphina is a great character, she says what she means and isn’t afraid to voice her opinion, it throws some people off because they don’t think that’s how a princess should act but Seraphina isn’t a princess she’s just pretending. Nico on the other hand feels a strong obligation to make things right and to protect those around him. I did like how there was a sense of romance but that was put on the back burner until these two could solve the more pressing matters at hand. The idea of the plague was pretty well done and I liked how even after contracting the plague there was still a possibility of the people to become undead.

This was an exciting book! I loved that both Seraphina and Nico had woven a web of lies to stay alive and now their lives are on the line. There was a lot of suspense about what would happen to those inside and outside of the castle. The writing was well done and it was a good take on Poe’s story. Check out this book when it’s released!

KISMAT CONNECTION By Ananya Devarajan

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.

KISMAT CONNECTION By Ananya DevarajanKismat Connection by Ananya Devarajan
Published by Inkyard Press on 6/13/23
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 275
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Is it possible to change your fate?

Madhuri Iyer is doomed. Doomed for her upcoming senior year to be a total failure, according to her astrology-obsessed mother, and doomed to a happily ever after with her first boyfriend, according to her family curse.

Determined to prove the existence of her free will, Madhuri devises an experimental relationship with the one boy she knows she’ll never fall for: her childhood best friend, Arjun Mehta. But Arjun’s feelings for her are a variable she didn’t account for.

As Madhuri starts to fall for her experimental boyfriend, she’ll have to decide if charting her own destiny is worth breaking Arjun’s heart—and her own.

Short and Sweet Review

According to Madhuri Iyer’s star chart, her senior year won’t go to plan and she’ll experience more disappointment than she’s used to. There’s also her family’s curse which says that her first boyfriend will be the one. Determined to prove the curse and her family wrong Madhuri asks her best friend Arjun to take part in her experimental relationship, what she doesn’t expect is to actually start falling for Arjun.

Kismat Connection is one of those romance stories where you fake date and then end up falling for the person. I personally just went through the motions with this book, I couldn’t connect with any of the characters and I think it was because there wasn’t much development. We get both Madhuri and Arjun’s POVs. Madhuri is an overachiever so even the smallest inkling of failure sends her over the end. Arjun on the hand gave me a go with the flow type of vibe. The main plot is this whole experiment and the two teens falling for each other but also remembering in the back of the minds that this is just an experiment. The subplots are Madhuri trying to avoid things that she used to enjoy from her Indian culture because of the mean girls at her school, and learning to accept that she doesn’t have to be perfect at everything. Arjun is dealing with his absent mother coming in and out of his life and deciding whether he still wants there to be a relationship between them. I wasn’t into the relationship, the whole experiment didn’t last long and I think Arjun liked Madhuri more than she liked him. The ending was weird because all of a sudden she was in love with him.

Overall, the best part of this book was learning about Indian culture and the star charts. I wish the romance played out better and we got to see more of a connection between the two. This book didn’t play out the way I thought it would but it is still a decent read.

THE LAST ONE TO FALL By Gabriella Lepore

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.

THE LAST ONE TO FALL By Gabriella LeporeThe Last One to Fall by Gabriella Lepore
Published by Inkyard Press on 5/9/23
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 316
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Six friends. Five suspects. One murder.

Savana Caruso and Jesse Melo have known each other since they were kids, so when Jesse texts Savana in the middle of the night and asks her to meet him at Cray’s Warehouse, she doesn’t hesitate. But before Savana can find Jesse, she bears witness to a horrifying murder, standing helpless on the ground as a mysterious figure is pushed out of the fourth floor of the warehouse.

Six teens were there that night, and five of them are now potential suspects. With the police circling, Savana knows what will happen if the wrong person is charged, particularly once she starts getting threatening anonymous text messages.

As she attempts to uncover the truth, Savana learns that everyone is keeping secrets—and someone is willing to do whatever it takes to keep those secrets from coming to light.

Short and Sweet Review

Savana and Jesse have been friends since they were kids, so when he texts her late at night asking her to come to Cray’s warehouse she doesn’t question it. When Savana arrives she sees someone falling from one of the windows, turns out it was murder. Now Jesse, Savana, and three others (Tara, Owen, and Freddie) are being looked at for murder. Everyone has their secrets and Savana has been getting anonymous text messages about what will happen if the wrong person is implicated.

The Last One to Fall, starts off in a timeline before the murder and we see everything that leads up to what happens. I liked this because we got to see the dynamic between the group of friends. Raf is the teen who gets murdered and he has a pretty manipulative personality and to be honest I’m not surprised one of his friends finally had enough. We alternate between Jesse and Savana’s POV. Jesse has more of a hard home life and Savana is there for him, so when it looks like Jesse is the main suspect Savana tries to help prove his innocence. Savana wasn’t in the warehouse like the others so she isn’t really looked at that closely but she does start to try to unravel everyones stories. It’s not hard to tell that Savana is on Jesses side and she won’t let him go down for something he didn’t do. This book held my attention with all of the secrets and twists. Savana and Jesse were characters you could relate to. I did enjoy seeing the snippets of news articles and the police interviews. When we did get to the timeline after the murder it was interesting to see how everyone started turning on each other. Even after death Raf was still very influential in this group of friends.

The Last One to Fall, held my attention until the very end and the mystery was told very well. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries, and this one is full of shocking revelations and twists and turns to keep you guessing!

SALT AND SUGAR By Rebecca Carvalho

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.

SALT AND SUGAR By Rebecca CarvalhoSalt and Sugar by Rebecca Carvalho
Published by Inkyard Press on 11/1/22
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 353
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Trust neither thin-bottomed frying pans nor Molinas.

Lari Ramires has always known this to be true. In Olinda, Brazil, her family’s bakery, Salt, has been at war with the Molinas’ bakery across the street, Sugar, for generations. But Lari’s world turns upside down when her beloved grandmother passes away. On top of that, a big supermarket chain has moved to town, forcing many of the small businesses to close.

Determined to protect her home, Lari does the unthinkable—she works together with Pedro Molina to save both of their bakeries. Lari realizes she might not know Pedro as well as she thought—and she maybe even likes what she learns—but the question remains: Can a Ramires and a Molina truly trust one another?

Short and Sweet Review

Lari and Pedro’s families have bakeries across the street from each other, Lari’s family owns Salt and Pedro’s family owns Sugar. Their families have been feuding for a long time and even Lari and Pedro are “enemies.” There’s a big supermarket that has moved into town and is forcing small businesses to close and Salt and Sugar are in jeopardy and Lari thinks the best way to save the bakeries is to team up with Pedro.

If I were going to describe this book I would say its a hot mess. We only have Lari’s POV but I found her to be such an annoying and insufferable character and not only her but the supporting characters as well. This is a Romeo and Juliet retelling and I didn’t really feel the chemistry between Lari and Pedro and the way things build up and the pacing wasn’t great. The characters are always yelling at each other the drama was over the top it was like reading the script to a very bad soap opera. Honestly Lari’s mother and Pedro’s family would have screaming matches in the street and it was too much like almost every other chapter they had something to yell at each other about.

Lari basically calls Pedro her enemy and ends up having to join his cooking club. Lari is so like defensive, she doesn’t know how to cook or bake and if anyone even suspects that she doesn’t know what she’s doing in the kitchen she’ll go off on them and I just couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t admit that she needed to learn how to cook. Anyway I’m guessing the more time that Pedro and Lari spend time together the more they start to develop feelings for each other and even call a truce. Like I said earlier the pacing in this book is off way off. It isn’t until 90% through the book that they realize that they like each other and when they come up with a solution to try to save their bakeries and everything is resolved so quickly it seemed unrealistic especially with how much bad blood was between the families.

I just didn’t enjoy this book and really had to push myself to finish it. I didn’t like the characters, the plot sounded good but the pacing just ruined it for me. Probably not a book that I would recommend.

A FORGERY OF ROSES By Jessica S. Olson

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.

A FORGERY OF ROSES By Jessica S. OlsonA Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson
Published by Inkyard Press on 3/29/22
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Mystery & Detective, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 397
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Myra has a gift many would kidnap, blackmail, and worse to control: she’s a portrait artist whose paintings alter people’s bodies. Guarding that secret is the only way to keep her younger sister safe now that their parents are gone. But one frigid night, the governor’s wife discovers the truth and threatens to expose Myra if she does not complete a special portrait that would resurrect the governor's dead son.

Once she arrives at the legendary stone mansion, however, it becomes clear the boy’s death was no accident. A killer stalks these halls--one disturbingly obsessed with portrait magic. Desperate to get out of the manor as quickly as possible, Myra turns to the governor’s older son for help completing the painting before the secret she spent her life concealing makes her the killer’s next victim.

Short and Sweet Review

Myra has a gift, she is a prodigy and her paintings can alter people’s bodies. Recently prodigies have gone missing and Myra knows she can’t risk anyone finding out who she is, after all she has to take care of her younger sister Lucy. Unfortunately for Myra the governor’s wife discovers her secret and threatens to expose Myra unless she paints a portrait of her son. The portrait needs to resurrect the governor’s dead son and Myra only has four days to do it. Upon arriving at the Governors manor Myra knows that something isn’t right about Will’s death and knows that there’s a killer out there.

A Forgery of Roses was a book that I did not want to put down. I loved the premise and the world. Myra is able to paint special portraits which can alter people’s bodies. Myra has to keep this ability hidden because prodigies aren’t safe. When Myra begins her work at the manor she knows that something isn’t right and that’s when she enlists August’s help, the governors oldest son. Together the two uncover secrets and meet some shady characters. I think August had a lot of character development, Myra also had some. Myra’s main goal was to complete this portrait so that she could get the money to better take care of Lucy, who has an illness that has not been diagnosed. Lucy was also a good character she was smart and helped with trying to find out what happened to Will even if it was from a distance. I really liked seeing Myra work her magic through her paintings, the magic system her was intriguing. There were a few twist at the end which I was not expecting but it was great. Overall I was satisfied and would recommend this book. The magic system, the world, the characters, and the mystery, just pop and will keep you reading and wanting more!