WHEN THE SKY FELL ON SPLENDOR By Emily Henry

May 6, 2024 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.

WHEN THE SKY FELL ON SPLENDOR By Emily HenryWhen the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry
Published by Razorbill on 3/12/19
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy & Magic, Mystery & Detective, Paranormal, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 350
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Almost everyone in the small town of Splendor, Ohio, was affected when the local steel mill exploded. If you weren't a casualty of the accident yourself, chances are a loved one was. That's the case for seventeen-year-old Franny, who, five years after the explosion, still has to stand by and do nothing as her brother lies in a coma.

In the wake of the tragedy, Franny found solace in a group of friends whose experiences mirrored her own. The group calls themselves The Ordinary, and they spend their free time investigating local ghost stories and legends, filming their exploits for their small following of YouTube fans. It's silly, it's fun, and it keeps them from dwelling on the sadness that surrounds them.

Until one evening, when the strange and dangerous thing they film isn't fiction--it's a bright light, something massive hurtling toward them from the sky. And when it crashes and the teens go to investigate...everything changes.

Short and Sweet Review

The small town of Splendor hasn’t been the same since the steel mill exploded. Granny is our main character and her brother is in a coma because of the accident. Granny is friends with a group of teens that call themselves The Ordinary, they spend their time going around town making YouTube videos about legends and ghost stories. Things change when something from the sky crashes down and the teens go to investigate.

I’m going to start this by saying I felt a need to read this book after watching the movie Nope, because I needed more UFO type vibes in my life. Unfortunately, this book was not satisfying at all and I don’t really know what happened. I think there were two many characters, we only get Franny’s POV but things get muddled when you have to remember five other characters too. A lot of this book just felt disjointed and I wish there was more about legends and ghost stories, but we get Franny and her flashbacks about what happened when the steel mill exploded. The teens get powers but don’t really use them and the pacing was off nothing really happened until we get towards the end of the book. I wish I could tell you guys more about this book but it really feels like there’s nothing to add.

I don’t think I went into this book with the highest hopes and I’m glad because I would be very disappointed. I wouldn’t recommend this book and if I do find a good book about strange things happening in a small town with more UFO type of elements I’ll be sure to let you guys know!

Filed Under: Reviews

TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN By John Green

April 29, 2024 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.

TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN By John GreenTurtles All the Way Down by John Green
Published by Dutton Books for Young Readers on 10/10/17
Genres: Contemporary, Mental Health, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Aza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Pickett’s son Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

Short and Sweet Review

Aza is in her head a lot and not like the average person but she worries about things like microbes and bacteria. When her friend Daisy brings up the idea of trying to find the fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, Aza is reluctant but she ends up agreeing. Aza used to go to camp with Davis Pickett and that’s what Daisy sees as their way in. We see throughout the book Aza try to be normal and please people around her but the more she does that the more she spirals.

Aza is our main character and she’s really interesting in the fact that you can tell that she struggles with her mental health. She’s usually thinking about how unclean things are and if she wasn’t so afraid of the microbes she’d make a good microbiologist. Her best friend is Daisy and she’s more outspoken and adventurous and she gives a lot of Grace to Aza. When Aza is reunited with Davis he already knows what she and Daisy want, the hundred thousand dollar reward. Davis and his younger brother are now alone and Davis is taking care of Noah while their dad is on the run, so he just wants Aza and Daisy to be honest with him. Aza starts to spend more time with Davis and she likes him and for a while the whole search for Russell is put off. You can tell Aza likes Davis but she knows they can’t be happy while she’s dealing with her own issues. I think it was interesting to see how Aza being in her head so much affected those around her and as much as she tried to play it off she wasn’t going to get better until she realized that she does need help. The book starts off with a bit of the mystery of Russell and where he could have gone but it morphs into a contemporary romance with more of a focus on mental health. I will say that sometimes Aza is a bit much with her thoughts and she’s really lucky to have the people she does that support her.

Overall, this was a good book. This is my second time reading it and I did remember from my first reread that I didn’t like something and looking back it was because I thought Ava’s thoughts were so intense and debilitating, but the second time around I think I understood her more. I do think this book is worth reading and I’m interested to see how the movie will portray these characters.

Filed Under: Reviews

WHAT IF IT’S US By Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

April 27, 2024 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.

WHAT IF IT’S US By Becky Albertalli and Adam SilveraWhat If It's Us by Adam Silvera, Becky Albertalli
Series: What If It's Us #1
Published by HarperTeen on 10/9/18
Genres: Contemporary, LGBT, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 439
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

ARTHUR is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.

BEN thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.

But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them . . . ?

Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.

Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.

But what if they can’t nail a first date even after three do-overs?

What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?

What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?

But what if it is?

What if it’s us?

Short and Sweet Review

Arthur is in New York for the summer but isn’t really expecting anything exciting to happen, but as a fan of broadway musicals he believes anything can happen.

Ben is at the post office getting ready to send a box of stuff back to his ex and that’s when he runs into Arthur. Who would’ve thought that the universe would have brought these two together?

When Ben and Arthur initially meet. At the post office they don’t go through the proper channels to exchange information so after they meet they keep thinking about each other but have no way to contact each other. Arthur takes a chance and puts a post on Craigslist and also posters which is pretty bold and a little weird but it works. Ben and Arthur go on dates and learn more about each other but they’re not really sure how long this will last because Arthur is going back to Georgia after the summer. I thought this relationship was cute but both of them had a lot to learn. Arthur’s parents argue a lot and so when he looks at them he sees a dysfunctional relationship and Ben just didn’t have the best break up with his ex. The boys do end up having some conflict and although it sucks and it hurt my heart I understood its what needed to happen for both characters to grow. I did enjoy the fact that both of them had supportive families and I also loved their friends especially Dylan.

Overall, this book is just super cute! I loved Ben and Arthur and how different they were but it worked. The broadway references were amazing and I just love how it’s set in New York and the boys are basically on an adventure with each other. Albertalli and Silvera did amazing job bringing these characters to life and I’m excited to read the sequel!

Filed Under: Reviews

AGAIN, BUT BETTER By Christine Riccio

April 18, 2024 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.

AGAIN, BUT BETTER By Christine RiccioAgain, but Better by Christine Riccio
Published by Wednesday Books on 5/7/19
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy & Magic, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 377
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Shane has been doing college all wrong. Pre-med, stellar grades, and happy parents…sounds ideal -- but Shane's made zero friends, goes home every weekend, and romance…what’s that?

Her life has been dorm, dining hall, class, repeat. Time's a ticking, and she needs a change -- there's nothing like moving to a new country to really mix things up. Shane signs up for a semester abroad in London. She's going to right all her college mistakes: make friends, pursue boys, and find adventure!

Easier said than done. She is soon faced with the complicated realities of living outside her bubble, and when self-doubt sneaks in, her new life starts to fall apart.

Shane comes to find that, with the right amount of courage and determination one can conquer anything. Throw in some fate and a touch of magic - the possibilities are endless.

Short and Sweet Review

Shane is about to do a semester abroad in London. Shane is excited for a new start, back home she’s premed which makes her parents happy but here in London she’s about to pursue her passion for writing. Shane is about to do things she hasn’t before like make friends, go on adventures, and maybe find romance. But this new Shane in London is going to have to deal with everything she’s been trying to hide about what her life is really like back home. Things go awry but somehow Shane gets a second chance to try things again and make them better.

We first meet Shane in 2011 on her way to London. She basically lied to her parents about there being a premed track abroad but what’s really happening is Shane is going to take classes and get an internship at a magazine. We meet Shanes roommates and she spends the most time with Babe and Pilot. They go on a lot of trips together and are having the time of their lives. Pilot is Shanes romantic interest and we can tell that they like each other but Pilot actually has a girlfriend so that doesn’t work out. When Shanes parents find out she’s been lying she goes back to New York without the job she really wants, without the boy, and ultimately with unfinished business. We meet Shane again in 2017 and she realizes that she’s not happy and basically wants a do over. She finds Pilot and somehow they’re transported back to 2011 to try everything again. Although those two are happy Shane realizes that she’s been slacking with her internship and starts to rethink things again.

I did like the first half of the book and found myself connecting with Shane and the position she’s in because college is hard especially when you’re going for someone else’s dream instead of your own. When we meet Shane again she kind of forces Pilot to go on this endeavor with her and at first he’s pretty upset but they both realize this is a chance to see where things kind have gone. I think what annoyed me about this is when Shane realizes she’s not focusing enough on the internship she kind of ghosts Pilot. Anyway things do get better in a way, and we can see how things changed from the first time in London to the second. I will say Shanes parents were toxic and I just couldn’t stand them not understanding her position. So romance was good, adventures and roommates were also good. Shane did learn a lot about herself during this time and for that I was happy, but I do think she needed to think things out a bit better.

Overall, this book was good. I did prefer the first half to the second I do think the redeeming quality the second half had was the ending. I would recommend this book its a good representation of coming of age and truly living life for yourself and not those around you.

Filed Under: Reviews

WE’RE NEVER GETTING HOME By Tracy Badua

April 6, 2024 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.

WE’RE NEVER GETTING HOME By Tracy BaduaWe're Never Getting Home by Tracy Badua
Published by Quill Tree Books on 4/16/24
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Pages: 316
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Jana Rubio and her best friend, Maddy Parsons, have an epic senior year finale queued up: catching their favorite band at the Orchards, an outdoor music festival a two-hour drive away. When a blowup over Maddy’s time-sucking boyfriend exposes a rift that may have already been growing between them, Jana calls off their joint trip and gets a lift to the festival from her church friend Nathan…only to realize Maddy and her boyfriend are along for the ride, too.

All Jana wants is to enjoy the concert and get home as soon as possible. But then Nathan loses his car keys crowd-surfing, and it’s up to Jana and Maddy to find them. As they navigate stolen phones and missing friends, scale Ferris wheels and crash parties, the two of them are forced to reckon with the biggest obstacle of all: repairing their friendship.

Will Jana and Maddy find their way home—and also back to each other?

Short and Sweet Review

Jana and her best friend Maddy are about to see their favorite band at an outdoor music festival two hours away. After the two have a fight Jana has to find another ride to the show, and she ends up asking Nathan a friend from church. Funny enough Maddy and her boyfriend Tyler are also carpooling with Nathan. At this point Jana just wants to go to the concert and go home right after, but after Nathan loses the car keys it’s chaos. Jana and Maddy have to resolve their issues and also look for the keys so that Jana can get home.

Jana and Maddy have been friends since elementary school and just recently Maddy started dating Tyler and Jana feels left out which is the reason for their fight. I get where both girls are coming from and I don’t blame Maddy for the fight in her mind she was trying to include Jana but whenever he was brought up Jana would make excuses to not hangout. I will say that things that Jana perceived weren’t true but she wanted them to be and she came across as a victim. Anyway Nathan his younger brother Everett along with Maddy, Tyler, and Jana head to the festival. It doesn’t take long for Nathan to lose the keys after crowd surfing and that’s when things start to go downhill for Jana. After the festival Jana promised to pick up her dad at a work conference and she feels like she’s letting her parents down so she’s stressed and also determined to find those keys. I think the pressure that Jana feels to make her parents happy shapes her to be the person she is. I found Jana to be someone who wanted to be perfect and was afraid to step one foot out of line but also it was hard for her because she had a friend like Maddy who was able to be a little more carefree. Over the course of the book we see the group try to find the keys and also a whole bunch of shenanigans like Nathan hurting his knee, Jana’s phone being stolen and crashing parties, but the biggest thing is resolving her friendship with Maddy. I feel like Jana did go through some character development but I thought she could have grown some more. The ending wasn’t my favorite mainly because somethings happened so late in the book it felt like the resolution was just solved way too fast.

Overall, I liked the premise of this book and the festival was a fun setting. I do like that Jana ended up learning a lot about herself during the course of the book. I will say that I enjoyed Maddy a lot and I think Jana should have spent more time trying to see things from her perspective. It was a good book and a lot of important lessons were learned.

Filed Under: Reviews

FOUR LETTER WORD By Gretchen McNeil

March 26, 2024 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 LETTER WORD By Gretchen McNeilFour Letter Word by Gretchen McNeil
Published by Disney-Hyperion on 3/5/24
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

For most of her life, Izzy has been looking forward to fulfilling her mother’s dream of studying abroad in Italy. Going into her senior year, Izzy is counting down the days until she can leave her humdrum life behind, until Alberto, a handsome and mysterious Italian exchange student shows up for his stay with her family. Now life in her hometown doesn’t seem so drab, as Izzy, and everyone else, is immediately charmed by Alberto and his irresistible accent.
But something about Alberto isn’t quite…right. As an avid true crime fan, Izzy has been following a serial killer case in San Francisco and the murderer, whose description bears a passing resemblance to the Italian exchange student living in her house, seems to have made his way north. As Izzy pays closer attention to Alberto—his actions, his temper—she finds more and more holes in his story that he has trouble explaining away.
When a local girl is murdered, Izzy thinks Alberto might not be who he seems. Worse, a series of “accidents” seem to target Izzy herself. In a race against the clock, Izzy must convince anyone that Alberto could be a notorious killer before another girl ends up dead.

Short and Sweet Review

Izzy has wanted to follow her mothers dream of living in Italy and now that it’s her senior year she’s counting down the days until she can leave. When Alberto an Italian exchange student comes for his stay with Izzy’s family things in town don’t seem so dull anymore. Alberto is able to charm everyone around him with his Italian accent and curiosity but Izzy feels that something is off with him. Izzy have been following a crime case about a serial killer in San Fransico and she thinks it may be Alberto. When a girl is murdered Izzy knows she needs to convince everyone around her about who Alberto really is before someone else ends up dead.

Let me start by saying I usually love McNeils books but this one was not good, in the slightest. I gave it a rating of 2 and I think that was being generous. Izzy and her family are dysfunctional, her dad is around but not really there and her mom has anger issues and is taking them out on people around her. The only thing that seems to make her mom happy is Albertos pressence. Izzy has a horrible best friend Peyton who has a boyfriend but likes to flirt with Alberto, and this ends up causing a lot of trouble. Anyway we see how Peyton doesn’t like to take the blame for her actions and she’s also keeping a big secret from Izzy. I won’t ruin it for you guys but Peyton would not be my friend after the way she acted in this book. Anyway someone ends up murdered and the gears in Izzy’s head start turning and then someone attempts to kill her multiple times. The only person who believes Izzy is Jake and she spent most of the book trying to avoid him because she thought he was trying to break things off with her. I think Izzy was a hard character to root for and honestly everything about this book is a mess. The characters are just off and its called four letter word because the mom doesn’t like four letter cuss words. Oh and the ending and what the mom does is just crazy like she definitely needed to be in a psych ward.

The premise of this book sounds great, a thiller/mystery with an italian exchange student who might also be a serial killer sounds like it’ll be intriguing. Instead I got a book full of dysfunctional characters some who just had blinders on and their heads in the clouds. It was also very predictable. I think this book would have been better off it was just Izzy facing off with Alberto and she didn’t have all her crazy family members and friends get in the way. This book is a prime example of if your child is telling you something you should believe them but the only people who believed Izzy were Jake and the police. As hard as this is for me to say this I think this is a book that should be skipped.

Filed Under: Reviews

ICARUS By K. Ancrum

March 23, 2024 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.

ICARUS By K. AncrumIcarus by K. Ancrum
Published by HarperTeen on 3/26/24
Genres: Contemporary, LGBT, Mythology, Retellings, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Icarus Gallagher is a thief. He steals priceless art and replaces it with his father’s impeccable forgeries. For years, one man—the wealthy Mr. Black—has been their target in revenge for his role in the death of Icarus’s mother. To keep their secret, Icarus adheres to his own strict rules to keep people, and feelings, at bay: Don’t let anyone close. Don’t let anyone touch you. And, above all, don’t get caught.

Until one night, he does. Not by Mr. Black but by his mysterious son, Helios, now living under house arrest in the Black mansion. Instead of turning Icarus in, Helios bargains for something even more dangerous—a friendship that breaks every single one of Icarus’s rules.

As reluctance and distrust become closeness and something more, they uncover the gilded cage that has trapped both their families for years. One Icarus is determined to escape. But his father’s thirst for revenge shows no sign of fading, and soon it may force Icarus to choose: the escape he’s dreamed of, or the boy he’s come to love. Reaching for both could be his greatest triumph—or it could be his downfall.

Short and Sweet Review

Icarus is a thief and he and his father work together to steal valuable things from Mr. Black and replace them with forgeries. Mr. Black has been the target because of his involvement in the death of Icarus’s mother. To avoid being caught Icarus has to follow his father’s strict rules and that mainly leaves Icarus very isolated. One night while Icarus is in Mr. Blacks house he runs into Helios the son of Mr. Black who is under house arrest and like Icarus is pretty isolated and just wants a friend. This new friendship puts both boys in danger but Icarus is willing to risk it all.

Icarus is our main character and he tries to be a normal kid by day and by night he’s a thief. We see Icarus struggle with balancing these two things and it’s interesting when people at school start to notice. I will say one of the rules his father gave him is not to get close to people so Icarus doesn’t really know what its like to have friends which is why I appreciated when Luca and Celestina became his friend and taught him the meaning of friendship. Icarus is good at a lot of things but he does lack social skills which I will blame on the fact that he isn’t really allowed to have social time. When we meet Helios we see he’s currently being treated like a prisoner in his father’s house so even though he knows Icarus is stealing from his father he welcomes his company. We see Icarus risk his safety to spend more time with Helios and they begin to form a bond. I did like their relationship and how they cared about each other, I do kind of think they trauma bonded. The more time Icarus and Helios spend together they realize that their families hatred for each other is what led them to this very moment. Icarus wants to break the cycle and I liked that he was brave enough to stand up to his father to make a change for him and Helios.

Overall, this book was beautifully written, and the characters were ones you could connect to and want to see a happy ending for. I would recommend this book!

Filed Under: Reviews

WITH A LITTLE LUCK By Marissa Meyer

March 22, 2024 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.

WITH A LITTLE LUCK By Marissa MeyerWith a Little Luck by Marissa Meyer
Series: Fortuna Beach #2
Published by Feiwel & Friends on 2/13/24
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy & Magic, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 363
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Jude is determined to fly under the radar. He just wants to draw comics, host D&D night with his friends, work at his parents’ vinyl record store, and escape high school as unscathed as possible. That is, until the night he finds himself inexplicably gifted with a bout of supernatural good luck.

Suddenly, everything Jude has ever wanted is within reach. His art is being published. He helps his friend’s song become a finalist in a songwriting competition. And he wins a pair of coveted concert tickets, which he can use to ask out the popular girl he’s been crushing on since elementary school.

But how long can Jude’s good fortune last? And why does he find himself thinking about Ari, his best friend since forever? If Jude has been dreaming of the wrong girl this whole time, does that mean he's doomed to be unlucky in love forever?

Short and Sweet Review

Jude is okay with staying low-key, he wants to play dungeon and dragons with his friends and draw comics when he has the time, and work at his parents record shop. One day Jude finds a 20 sided dice and he finds himself with a lot of luck. Almost everything Jude has wanted is now in reach and he uses his new found luck to the best of his ability but he doesn’t think about what will happen when his luck runs out.

With a Little Luck is a companion novel to Instant Karma. I didn’t read Instant Karma before reading this book and I don’t think you have to for this one to make sense, but I did realize characters from that book are in this one. Jude is our main character and I feel like he likes to keep a low profile one of those people who’s super nice but likes to stay within his friend group. Judes best friend is Ari and she’s a musician and they spend a lot of time together. When Jude begins to get lucky he decides to ask out Maya a girl he’s had a crush on for a while and it was okay but from the start you could tell that these two were better off as friends. I do think that Jude went for Maya instead of going with his gut and asking out Ari. Anyway we see Jude use his luck to get his artwork published, win concert tickets, and get Ari into a songwriting competition. There’s a lot of things I liked about this book, like seeing Ari’s song lyrics, the D&D game nights, and also seeing Judes artwork.

With a Little Luck, was a cute book and I enjoyed it. I did like Jude as a character and seeing him with all the luck, he didn’t always use it for himself he did think of others. I also liked seeing the romance between Jude and Ari even if it took a while for both of them to realize that they were meant for each other. Overall, this was a fun contemporary romance and I would recommend it!

Filed Under: Reviews

UNDER THIS RED ROCK By Mindy McGinnis

March 18, 2024 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.

UNDER THIS RED ROCK By Mindy McGinnisUnder This Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 3/19/24
Genres: Contemporary, LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 331
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Neely’s monsters don’t always follow her rules, so when the little girl under her bed, the man in her closet, and the disembodied voice that shadows her every move become louder, she knows she’s in trouble. With a history of mental illness in her family and the suicide of her older brother heavy on her mind, Neely takes a job as a tour guide in the one place her monsters can’t follow—the caverns. There . . . she meets Mila. Mila is everything Neely isn’t—beautiful, strong, and confident. As the two become closer, Neely’s innocent crush grows into something more. When a midnight staff party exposes Neely to drugs, she follows Mila’s lead . . . only to have her hallucinations escalate.

When Mila is found brutally murdered in the caverns, Neely has to admit that her memories of that night are vague at best. With her monsters now out in the open and her grip on reality slipping, Neely must figure out who killed Mila . . . and face the possibility that it might have been her.

Short and Sweet Review

Neely has monsters and they don’t always follow her rules. There’s a history of mental illness in her family and she recently lost her older brother Lance to suicide. Neely decides to get a first job where her monsters won’t follow her, so she becomes a tour guide at the caverns. At the caverns she meets Mila who seems to understand her and give her a chance. When the employees have a staff party to get to know each other. Neely ends up trying drugs and her hallucinations seem to go from 0-100. When the staff comes back after the weekend Mila is found dead and Neely has no idea what happened or if she was even the cause of it.

Let me start by saying mental health is really important and our main character Neely is suffering from something that I can’t diagnose but I can tell you guys that she hears multiple different voices in her head, from the girl under her bed to the guy in her closet. It was interesting to see how Neely would deal with this and honestly she would just go with it and have conversations with these voices so she looked crazy to everyone around her especially her coworkers. I think because its a small town and people knew about her brothers suicide it didn’t make it any better that she would be in public having conversations with herself and doing different voices. Neely lives with her grandparents and they know something isn’t quite right with her but I wish they would have gotten her help sooner. I also think because Neely has been so isolated she doesn’t have great social skills so when she does start asking people questions about Mila’s murder she’s not so tactful. The setting of the caverns were pretty cool and I liked that Neely was somewhat okay while she was there. It’s there that she meets Mila and eventually gets a crush on her. I think on Neely’s side it was more of a crush and in her head it could go places but Mila really just saw their interactions as friendship. When Mila dies Neely kind of spirals and I think people take the fact that there’s something wrong with her to pin the murder on her. I think because of this we have a narrator we don’t know if we could trust or not which I liked because we have to think about what could have happened in the caverns that night.

Under This Red Rock, was a great book. I liked McGinnis’s portrayal of mental health and the plot of this book. Neely is a character you want to root for but there’s also seeds of doubt that make you question her. I definitely recommend this book, it was a unique and a captivating read!

Filed Under: Reviews

BAD LIKE US By Gabriella Lepore

February 22, 2024 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.

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
Buy on Amazon

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!

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