FOUL LADY FORTUNE By Chloe Gong

March 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.

FOUL LADY FORTUNE By Chloe GongFoul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong
Series: Foul Lady Fortune #1
Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books on 9/27/22
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Mystery & Detective, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 525
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

It’s 1931 in Shanghai, and the stage is set for a new decade of intrigue.

Four years ago, Rosalind Lang was brought back from the brink of death, but the strange experiment that saved her also stopped her from sleeping and aging—and allows her to heal from any wound. In short, Rosalind cannot die. Now, desperate for redemption for her traitorous past, she uses her abilities as an assassin for her country.

Code name: Fortune.

But when the Japanese Imperial Army begins its invasion march, Rosalind’s mission pivots. A series of murders is causing unrest in Shanghai, and the Japanese are under suspicion. Rosalind’s new orders are to infiltrate foreign society and identify the culprits behind the terror plot before more of her people are killed.

To reduce suspicion, however, she must pose as the wife of another Nationalist spy, Orion Hong, and though Rosalind finds Orion’s cavalier attitude and playboy demeanor infuriating, she is willing to work with him for the greater good. But Orion has an agenda of his own, and Rosalind has secrets that she wants to keep buried. As they both attempt to unravel the conspiracy, the two spies soon find that there are deeper and more horrifying layers to this mystery than they ever imagined.

Short and Sweet Review

Four years ago Rosalind was brought back from the brink of death and after an experiment Rosalind can’t die. After the things she’s done she’s looking for redemption so she uses her new abilities to act as an assassin for her country. The Japanese is beginning to march into Shanghai and people are being murdered by chemical attacks and that causes Rosalind’s mission to pivot. Now Rosalind has to infiltrate foreign society to find who is behind these murders, but to avoid suspicion Rosalind is teamed up with Orion and they have to pose as a married couple. The more these two unravel the layers to this mystery the more they realize that this mission isn’t as open and shut as it first seemed.

First of all, I love Chloe Gong’s writing. I loved the These Violent Delights Duology and it was interesting to see where some of the characters we know from that series ended up. Rosalind kind of reminds me of Black Widow, trying to get some redemption for mistakes made in the past. It was interesting that Rosalind was working for the Nationalists while Celia was a working for the Communists, they’re on opposite sides but I liked how they still looked out for each other. We also see Alisa, she’s a few years older and ends up running into Rosalind at the office building they’re both infiltrating but for the opposite sides. The partnership between Orion and Rosalind was great, they’re both obviously hiding things from each other. We have multiple POVs which I liked because it just added to how crazy everything going on was, and it was interesting to see how alliances shifted and who might be a double agent. We have some characters we recognize, but there’s also some new comers like Oliver and Phoebe, Orions siblings.

This book brings us back into a world we know and love but with something different. I loved the element of spies and traitors and a whole new era of panic in Shanghai. Orion and Rosalind did a good job at being undercover and investigating the people they worked with and also each other. The chemistry between these two just worked, Rosalind may have been annoyed with Orion at first but throughout the book you could feel the slow burn.

I wasn’t sure about following Rosalind’s story at first but she’s a badass and she makes you fall in love with her one page at a time. The ending was mind boggling and it just made me want the next book in my hand immediately, I can’t wait until Foul Heart Huntsman is released.

Filed Under: Reviews

THE LOST By Natasha Preston

March 9, 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.

THE LOST By Natasha PrestonThe Lost by Natasha Preston
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on 3/26/19
Genres: Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 306
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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It's a fight for survival in a building designed to ensure that no one makes it out alive.

In Piper's hometown, teenagers keep disappearing, and everyone assumes they're just a bunch of runaways. But when yet another person vanishes, Piper and her best friend Hazel suspect something more sinister is going on.

So they decide to investigate, determined to learn the truth. Their search for answers leads them to the source of the missing…and their captors. Piper and Hazel suddenly find themselves locked away in a secluded property in the middle of a privately owned forest.

But the building isn't only meant to keep them imprisoned; every room is a test to see if they can make it out alive.

And failure means being lost…forever.

Short and Sweet Review

Teenagers in Piper’s hometown are going missing. Piper and her friend Hazel get the bright idea that they should investigate. Piper and Hazel go to a party and end up leaving with two guys who are the actual kidnappers. The girls are taken to some secluded warehouse in the middle of the forest. In the warehouse there are the other teens that have gone missing and they inform the girls that there are six rooms made to torture them. Each room is made to break a person and if they can survive it they may be able to make it out of this situation alive.

This book read like an episode of Criminal Minds. Piper and Hazel were naive, like why did they think that they were going to be the ones to solve this mystery of missing teens and then they ended up getting taken themselves. In the warehouse they meet four other teens who have been there a various amount of time. The different rooms are: sound, light, sleep deprivation, temperature, one with water, and one where there was supposed to be like a fight to the death. Room zero is where people fight to the death and it’s mentioned but Piper never goes to that room. In this place Piper tries to take on the role of a leader which doesn’t go over well with everyone, and Hazel just gets insufferable, the situation obviously isn’t ideal but she is the biggest pessimist in the room. Anyway we see Piper endure some of the rooms and we see other characters come and go into them. The main thing everyone wants to do is get out alive and see their families. The captors are deranged and honestly I think the best thing about this book like I mentioned before was that it was like an episode of Criminal Minds, it really added a lot of suspense to the book. In the end there was another captor who just came out the woodwork and you can tell that everyone who came up with the idea of kidnapping people and making them endure such crazy things is not right in the head.

Overall the concept was great but the characters were horrible and so was the ending. I think that’s a common theme in Preston’s books, the endings just throw me off so much that the book becomes off-putting to me. This was an okay book but I don’t think Preston’s books are really for me.

Filed Under: Reviews

THE ISLAND By Natasha Preston

March 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.

THE ISLAND By Natasha PrestonThe Island by Natasha Preston
Published by Delacorte Press on 2/28/23
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 309
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Jagged Island: a private amusement park for the very rich—or the very influential. Liam, James, Will, Ava, Harper, and Paisley—social media influencers with millions of followers—have been invited for an exclusive weekend before the park opens. They’ll make posts and videos for their channels and report every second of their VIP treatment.

When the teens arrive, they're stunned: the resort is even better than they’d imagined. Their hotel rooms are unreal, the park’s themed rides are incredible, and the island is hauntingly beautiful. They’re given a jam-packed itinerary for the weekend.

But soon they'll discover that something's missing from their schedule: getting off the island alive.

Short and Sweet Review

Paisley and five other influencers are invited Jagged Island a private amusement park for the rich. For the weekend each of the influencers will post videos and pictures to their social media, so that the park can get some recognition before the park opens. The group thinks that the amusement rides are fun and their hotel rooms are amazing, the only problem is not everyone is going to leave the island alive.

The Island is a pretty straightforward book, it’s not something we haven’t seen before. I did like the setting of a fancy island amusement park and hotel. The aesthetic was creepy and threw some of the characters off. Each of the influencers invited have different interests and our main character Paisley is into true crime. When the characters find the first victim they’re all thrown off and start to panic. They all realize that they’re stuck on the island without a way home and one of them is a killer.

It was pretty interesting seeing all the characters run around the island and try to get away from the killer. It was also hard trying to figure out who the killer was especially when Paisley would flip back and forth between whether someone could do it or not. There was a bit of romance which was ridiculous because who has time for romance when someone is coming at you with a knife.

Overall, this was an okay book. The whole time I thought this was a three heart book for me but it was the ending that got me to take it a little lower. I think it would have great to experience more of the amusement park but I think the only thing that could’ve saved this book for me was something else happening in the end than what actually did.

Filed Under: Reviews

EMPIRE OF STORMS By Sarah J. Maas

March 3, 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.

EMPIRE OF STORMS By Sarah J. MaasEmpire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #5
Published by Bloomsbury USA Childrens on 9/6/16
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 703
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don't.

With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

Short and Sweet Review

After the events of Queen of Shadows, Aelin learns that the path to the throne is going to be a long and hard one. War is also coming and now its up to Aelin and her friends to find allies that will fight alongside them.

This book is on par with the previous books and is filled with action. Aelin meets with some Lords who won’t accept her as queen, while at this meeting they hear that Rifthold is under attack so Rowan is sent there to get Dorian and make sure he’s safe. Elsewhere Elide is trying to make her way to Celaena who is Aelin but she doesn’t know that and she meets Lorcan and they start traveling together. Eventually Aelin and her group meet at Skulls Bay and make some more acquaintances along the way. Also Maeve is looking for Aelin and will stop at nothing until she gets what she wants.

I loved this book and the characters just make it everything that it is. Aelin is just so smart and calculating and even when it seems like she doesn’t know what she’s doing she’s actually 2 steps ahead. The ending was just jaw dropping and it set up the ending of the series beautifully. I’m excited to read Tower of Dawn and see what Chaol was up to while everyone was getting ready for war in this book. This series just gets better and better and I love the characters and the set up.

Filed Under: Reviews

ON THE COME UP By Angie Thomas

February 24, 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.

ON THE COME UP By Angie ThomasOn the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Published by Balzer + Bray on 2/5/19
Genres: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 452
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri’s got massive shoes to fill. But it’s hard to get your come up when you’re labeled a hoodlum at school, and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral . . . for all the wrong reasons.

Bri soon finds herself at the center of a controversy, portrayed by the media as more menace than MC. But with an eviction notice staring her family down, Bri doesn’t just want to make it—she has to. Even if it means becoming the very thing the public has made her out to be.

Short and Sweet Review

Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers, but first she has to get through a battle at the ring and win. When Bri does win she starts to get some traction and eventually she ends up recording her first song On the Come Up, unfortunately the people closest to her don’t approve her song and outsiders are hyping it up. Bri knows that she’s getting attention for all the wrong reasons but with her family struggling she feels like she has to make it in this industry.

On the Come Up becomes viral and for the wrong reasons, Bri is talking about a life she’s never lived and people start to think the song is about hating police and being in gangs when Bri wanted it to be about how people with her skin color are looked down upon as these things. Anyway Bri hasn’t had the easiest life her dad a well known rapper was murdered, her mom is a recovering addict, and her aunt is in a gang and a drug dealer. Bri is passionate about rapping and her aunt is probably her biggest supporter, but her aunt Pooh is also not as committed as Bri would want her to be. So when Supreme her dads old manager offers to start managing Bri and get her a record deal, Bri says yes mainly because she knows if she makes it she’ll be able to support her family. I think my biggest problem in this book was Bri. Like she may be struggling but she has a great support system around her, one that won’t let her reach rock bottom. Bri gets a lot of advice from the people around her that the song isn’t who she is and that its a bad representation of her but she takes the advice as if someone is attacking her and that bothered me the most. She really ended up learning that the things she was doing had consequences. I guess that’s a big thing in books people have to continue to be hard headed until the lesson smacks them right in the face. There was a love triangle which didn’t work out because first of all one of the boys had a girlfriend and it just ended up being awkward. Also there’s a lot of things that kind of remind me of The Hate U Give mainly that the character goes to a predominately white high school and that the peers don’t understand how black kids may be treated differently, and they definitely start saying that Bri’s song incited a violent incident that took place at the School. I did like how different issues were dealt with, like the gangs, drug usage, institutional racism and other things. Bri talks about most of these things in her raps and I feel like when she’s being authentic is when we see her best self.

Overall this was a good book, I can see how it’s like a love letter to hip hop and rap. I just think the hardest thing for me was seeing Bri make these bad decisions when everyone around her is giving her the best advice. The ending was a little rushed but I’m glad that in the end we see the support system Bri has around her and that she knows its okay to be herself.

Filed Under: Reviews

PROMISE BOYS By Nick Brooks

February 23, 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.

PROMISE BOYS By Nick BrooksPromise Boys by Nick Brooks
Published by Henry Holt and Co. on 1/31/23
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 279
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

The prestigious Urban Promise Prep school might look pristine on the outside, but deadly secrets lurk within. When the principal ends up murdered on school premises and the cops come sniffing around, a trio of students—J.B., Ramón, and Trey—emerge as the prime suspects. They had the means, they had the motive—and they may have had the murder weapon. But with all three maintaining their innocence, they must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested. Or is the true culprit hiding among them?

Short and Sweet Review

Ramón, Trey, and J.B., all go to the Urban Promise Prep School, which may look nice on the outside but has a lot of problems on the inside. It’s almost like these boys are in boot camp or prison. When the Principal gets murdered, the three boys become the prime suspects. All three of them claim their innocence but one of them may have had the murder weapon. Now the three boys have to find who actually murdered Principal Moore, or risk getting locked up for life.

Promise Prep school is one of those places where it sounds great and you would probably want your child to go so that they have a chance at succeeding, but that’s not what actually goes on in this school. They have to abide by the Moore Method which is basically extreme discipline and if they don’t they face the consequences. On the day of Moores murder Ramón, Trey, and J.B. are all in detention and the main reason they’re suspects is because they all have reasons for wanting him dead. Moore stops Ramón from selling pupusas which helps with his family’s income, Trey tells Moore he’s going to kill him, and J.B. is mad that he’s in detention and now it looks like he stood up his girlfriend.

I liked the format of the book we learn about each character by having the other people in their lives basically give character witness statements and we also see the transcript from the police interviews. The best part for me was that the boys don’t really know each other, so when they team up to try to prove their innocence they’re still weary of one another. There’s nothing wrong with any of the boys I think they’ve just been subjected to bad circumstances and a lot of scrutiny because of the color of their skin. Trey is a basketball star, Ramón is just trying to help his family, and J.B. is just a quiet kid. It was nice seeing all the boys team up and they each had a support system behind them. The mystery was well written and the format added a lot to the book.

This was a good read and it was short so I was able to finish it in one sitting. The characters were great and I’m glad they didn’t let their circumstances make them a statistic.

Filed Under: Reviews

HEX YOU By P.C. Cast AND Kristin Cast

February 16, 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.

HEX YOU By P.C. Cast AND Kristin CastHex You by Kristin Cast, P.C. Cast
Series: Sisters of Salem #3
Published by Wednesday Books on 1/31/23
Genres: Fairy Tales & Folklore, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 287
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Twin sisters, Mercy and Hunter are witches, direct descendants of the Goode family, the founders of their town. After the murder of their mother at the hands of a foul demon, they have become the protectors of the Gates to different underworlds--ancient portals between their world and realms where mythology rules and the darkest of creatures exist.

Mercy and Khenti are trapped in the Ancient Egyptian Underworld and need Hunter’s help to escape. But while Hunter searches for a way to save them, other evil threatens Goodeville. Amphitrite is still looming–and she wants vengeance against Hunter. With the gates rapidly weakening, Amphitrite lures out a deadly creature and sets it free on the residents of Goodeville. It will take everything in Mercy and Hunter’s power to stop the goddess and seal the gates once and for all.

Short and Sweet Review

After the events of the last book Mercy and Khenti are still trapped in Egyptian hell and Hunter is trying to figure out a way to get them back home. Back home Hunter is still dealing with the aftermath of making the goddess Amphitrite angry. When Mercy and Khenti escape hell it’s all hands on deck to figure out how to get rid of Amphitrite.

As the previous books in this trilogy, Hex You was nothing special. For some reason I just can’t relate to Mercy or Hunter and don’t get me started on that weird Cat person (still makes my skin crawl). Mercy still talks with a British accent for whatever reason and in this book Hunter is finally facing the consequences for her actions in the last book. Anyway Hunter and Mercy’s friends are willing to rush their lives to help stop Amphitrite from wreaking havoc on the town, which is honorable and everything but it was so predictable and I will say losing a character in the end didn’t bother me. There’s just something about the dialogue that makes it hard for me to appreciate these books. The plot always sounds interesting but the characters and execution fall short every time. There’s no reason that these teenage girls should act like they’re in elementary school and what’s even worse was the tension between Mercy and Hunter for the first half of the book. This book was predictable I feel like the only thing people might consider a twist is what happens to one of the characters. Thinking about it now I wouldn’t have minded if we lost more than one character because in the end they really didn’t add anything to this series.

The only positive thing I can say about this was that it was the last book in this series because I don’t think I can deal with another book with fake British accent Mercy and feel bad for myself Hunter.

Filed Under: Reviews

GOING DARK By Melissa de la Cruz

February 11, 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.

GOING DARK By Melissa de la CruzGoing Dark by Melissa de la Cruz
Published by Union Square & Co. on 1/31/23
Genres: Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 338
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

#WhereisAmeliaAshley

The Influencer
Amelia Ashley shares everything with her followers – her favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants, her best fashion tips, and her European trip-of-a-lifetime with her hot boyfriend.

The Boyfriend
Josh has no choice but to return home without Amelia after she abandons him in Rome. He has no clue where she went or how her blood got in his suitcase. Why won’t anyone believe him?

The Hacker
To Harper Delgado, Amelia Ashley is just another missing white girl whipping up a media frenzy. But with each digital knot she untangles about the influencer, Harper wonders: who is Amelia Ashley?

The Other Girl
Two years ago, another girl went missing, one who never made headlines or had a trending hashtag.

The Truth
Amelia’s disappearance has captured the world’s attention. What comes next? Watch this space…

Short and Sweet Review

Amelia Ashley is a popular influencer who just recently went on a vacation in Rome with her boyfriend Josh, the problem is she didn’t return to the States with him and now she’s missing. All Josh remembers is she got mad at him and left him to go by the airport by himself. Now that Josh is back without Amelia he looks like suspect number one in this missing persons case. Harper Delgado is a hacker and she’s asked by one of Amelia’s friends to look into her disappearance, but what Harper learns about Amelia is shocking and it may help solve a case about a girl who went missing two years ago.

The book starts off with Josh on an airplane back to California without Amelia. Josh is pretty optimistic that she’ll come back even though she’s not with him. Things start to get more serious when Amelia doesn’t answer any phone calls or text and because she’s pretty popular word spreads fast that she’s missing. Josh is an okay character, we see that he’s not right and he’s holding things back when he gets interviewed by the detectives, also he’s kind of stupid because he talks way more than he should. When we meet Harper she’s digging into Amelia Ashley and anything she can find about her life and where she may currently be. There are chapters where Amelia’s blog post are shown and there are transcripts of her vlogs, I liked that this was incorporated into the story because it gave us more of an insight to Amelia’s character. Things got really interesting when we learn about the girl that went missing two years ago and how Amelia Ashley is not a real person. We learn that Josh is the target of this big plan and Harper is really good at finding things that people try to keep hidden.

The plot was great and the different POVs really worked to tell this story. This book will keep you reading until the end to figure out #WhereIsAmeliaAshley.

Filed Under: Reviews

OFF THE RECORD By Camryn Garrett

February 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.

OFF THE RECORD By Camryn GarrettOff the Record by Camryn Garrett
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on 5/18/21
Genres: Contemporary, LGBT, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 307
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Ever since seventeen-year-old Josie Wright can remember, writing has been her identity, the thing that grounds her when everything else is a garbage fire. So when she wins a contest to write a celebrity profile for Deep Focus magazine, she's equal parts excited and scared, but also ready. She's got this.

Soon Josie is jetting off on a multi-city tour, rubbing elbows with sparkly celebrities, frenetic handlers, stone-faced producers, and eccentric stylists. She even finds herself catching feelings for the subject of her profile, dazzling young newcomer Marius Canet. Josie's world is expanding so rapidly, she doesn't know whether she's flying or falling. But when a young actress lets her in on a terrible secret, the answer is clear: she's in over her head.

One woman's account leads to another and another. Josie wants to expose the man responsible, but she's reluctant to speak up, unsure if this is her story to tell. What if she lets down the women who have entrusted her with their stories? What if this ends her writing career before it even begins? There are so many reasons not to go ahead, but if Josie doesn't step up, who will?

Short and Sweet Review

Josie wants to be a writer, writing is basically her identity. When Josie wins a contest to write a celebrity profile for Deep Focus magazine she’s nervous and excited. Josie and her sister, Alice, set off on a multi-city tour. Josie meets celebrities, but the main focus of her article is Marius Canet an up and coming actor. But her mission for one profile ends up on the back burner after learning an actress has dealt with sexual assault at the hands of a director. More actresses start telling Josie their story, Josie knows that this is important but this story could also end the writing career that is just beginning.

Josie is our main character and she was okay, I’m sure she was written to be relatable, she’s a plus size girl, all for black inclusion, and she likes speaking out about topics that are important to her. My thing about Josie is that even though she was written to be relatable I found myself annoyed with her. Josie’s romantic interest is Marius and he’s obviously smaller than her in the weight department and he likes Josie but Josie will ruin the moment talking about how she could crush him and how he couldn’t like someone like her because she’s fat. Anyway it felt like Josie was way more interested in a relationship with Marius than writing her profile about him. Josie is also approached by an actress named Penny who tells her about a director who has sexual harassed her and others. Josie tells Penny she’ll help by writing an article to expose this director. Things start to get complicated because she believes Marius doesn’t care and the director threatens to sue. I also mentioned Alice, Josie’s sister, she’s on this trip as a chaperone and I feel that she was more level headed than Josie. Josie and Alice fought a lot and that’s normal between siblings but Josie would take everything to heart.

I could see the direction that this book was going in, and how important it is to help victims but Josie made loving this book hard. This book just didn’t meet my expectations.

Filed Under: Reviews

ALLEGEDLY By Tiffany D. Jackson

February 8, 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.

ALLEGEDLY By Tiffany D. JacksonAllegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 1/24/17
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 394
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Mary B. Addison killed a baby.

Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: a white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it?

There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary’s fate now lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But does anyone know the real Mary?

Short and Sweet Review

Mary B Addison killed a baby, allegedly. No one really knows what happened that night except for Mary and her mother, Mary didn’t say much to the detectives but she did end up taking the fall for baby Alyssa’s death. Now Mary is 15 and living in a group home, she has a secret boyfriend and she’s pregnant. Because Mary is a ward of the state, when her baby is born she isn’t going to be able to keep it and Mary is determined to keep her baby even if it means finally telling the truth about what happened that night.

When we meet Mary she’s in a group home and she doesn’t really talk to anyone. The girls in that group home are crazy, Mary couldn’t really trust anyone in there especially the people running the home. We see Mary working at a nursing home and also trying to take her SAT and maybe try to go to college. When Mary finds out she’s pregnant she learns that she won’t be able to keep her baby. Mary tells one of the girls in the house what actually happened that night and they suggest Mary gets a lawyer and get her verdict reversed. Mary and her lawyer start the proceedings but things with Mary’s story start to get complicated. We also meet Mary’s mom and she isn’t all there, she’s very spacey. The more we learn about Mary and her indecision about whether she really wants to go through with this it makes us question her story.

Allegedly is such an interesting book and it keeps you reading until the very end trying to figure out what happened the night Alyssa died. There’s a lot of twist and we learn that Mary may not be the most reliable narrator. This book is crazy but I’ve learned to expect nothing less from Tiffany D. Jackson. I love her books and this one was just as good as the other books I’ve read by Jackson. This book will have you on the edge trying to figure out what happened that night and what Mary’s fate will be. Definitely recommend this book!

Filed Under: Reviews