OUT OF BODY By Nia Davenport

January 31, 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.

OUT OF BODY By Nia DavenportOut of Body by Nia Davenport
Published by Balzer + Bray on 2/6/24
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 271
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Seventeen-year-old Megan Allen has been jumping from friend group to friend group in her high school, trying on identities like outfits. Nothing ever seems to fit—until she meets LC, the adventurous, charismatic girl who appears at her favorite coffee shop one day like magic. Finally, Megan feels like she’s becoming the person she’s meant to be: someone like LC.

On the night of their friendiversary, what was supposed to be a bonding experience ends in a waking nightmare. Suddenly, Megan is no longer herself. Too late, she realizes that LC has secrets—dangerous ones. Betrayed by her best friend, thrust into another girl’s life, and targeted by LC’s enemies, she must claim what makes Megan Megan to get her life back . . . or die trying.

Short and Sweet Review

Megan has bounced around from friend group to friend group until she meets LC. LC is like her friend soulmate. One night Megan and LC celebrate their friend anniversary and get matching piercings and go out to a party. Things seem to be going alright until Megan wakes up the next morning and finds that she’s not in her own body but LC’s and LC is in her body. Megan has no idea what’s going on but she knows things aren’t right, and even worse LC is avoiding her and pretending like she didn’t just do something absolutely out of line and messed up. Now Megan is forced to pretend to be LC and while doing that Megan realizes that LC was running from her enemies. Megan just has to successfully pull off being LC, avoid the people coming for LC, and get back into her own body.

Let me just start off by saying that this book was amazing! We follow our main character Megan as she tries to come to terms that someone she trusted would betray her in the manner they did. We get to see why Megan has such a connection with LC and then we see how hurt she is after LC basically takes over her body and her life like nothing is wrong. Megan then has to pretend to be LC or someone named Jade and then she realizes that she never really knew LC the way she thought she did. While Megan is pretending to be Jade we see how she has to earn the trust of Jades parents and try to get a little freedom in order to be able to get back to LC in a whole different part of town. We also see the actually Jade’s friend Ryan and at first Megan has to pretend that she is Jade but eventually she’s able to confide in him about the body swapping and get his help. We also see Megan get help from someone she used to be friends with who she ended up leaving behind when she became friends with LC. I will say that Megan had a lot of character growth, during her time as Jade or LC she was able to see the way she treated people and try to reconcile. I did like that we got little snippets of what LC was doing and we could kind of see her motive of why she did what she did and we kind of end up feeling for her. There was a lot going on in this book but not so much that you can’t keep up, but in a way that you want to keep reading to see what happens next. We find out that there’s more than just Megan who is involved and I liked that even though people were looking for LC they end up finding Megan and she has to be the one to think of a way to fix everything, I also loved the teamwork that went on towards the end. I do think there’s a bit of a sci-fi element going on in this book, with the body swapping and the technology needed for that it did give me sci-fi vibes and I could see this being a movie.

Out of Body quickly became one of my favorite books of 2024. The book is fast paced and it definitely keeps you on your toes and wondering what’s going to happen next. I loved Megan as a character and how she was able to adapt to help her situation but ultimately get her to her final goal of getting back into her own body. I recommend this book 100%, go pick it up and be captivated by the writing and the plot!

Filed Under: Reviews

THE LIES WE TELL By Katie Zhao

January 30, 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.

THE LIES WE TELL By Katie ZhaoThe Lies We Tell by Katie Zhao
Published by Bloomsbury YA on 11/15/22
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Romance, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 352
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Anna Xu moves out of her parent's home and into the dorms across town as she starts freshman year at the local, prestigious Brookings University. But her parents and their struggling Chinese bakery, Sweetea, aren't far from campus or from mind, either. At Brookings, Anna wants to keep up her stellar academic performance and to investigate the unsolved campus murder of her childhood babysitter. She also finds a familiar face–her middle-school rival, Chris Lu. The Lus happen to be the Xu family's business rivals since they opened Sunny's, a trendy new bakery on Sweetea's block. Chris is cute but still someone to be wary of... until a vandal hits Sunny's and Anna matches the racist tag with a clue from her investigation.

Anna grew up in this town, but more and more she feels like maybe she isn't fully at home here–or maybe it's that there are people here who think she doesn't belong. When a very specific threat is made to Anna, she seeks out help from the only person she can; Anna and Chris team up to find out who is stalking her and take on a dangerous search into the hate crimes happening around campus. Can they root out the ugly history and take on the current threat?

Short and Sweet Review

It’s Annas first year in college and she’s going to Brookings University. Anna is thinking about a lot and she’s living in the campus dorms while her parents bakery is across town and not doing so well, especially since there’s another bakery across the street. College is hard for any first year but Anna goes in with the intention continue getting good grades but also try to solve the murder of her childhood babysitter who died at Brookings. Things start to get dangerous when Anna suspects she has a stalker and there’s a hate crime committed at the other bakery. Now Anna really has to watch her back or face becoming another victim.

I was drawn to this book because I love a good mystery and the fact that Anna was going to go to the same college where her babysitter met her demise and try to solve a cold case is what got me. Anna is a typical college student trying hard to get good grades and just balancing everything in her life in general. Anna tries to make friends on campus which she finds hard but she makes a friend on an app named Jane and they connect and at first Jane seems to be someone Anna can turn to until she gets too weird. At this point Anna cuts her off and Jane is the stalker but it’s like a catfish stalker because Jane isn’t really Jane. I will say when this happened I think Anna should have been smarter and kept the texts between them as evidence. Anna also connects with Chris, whose family actually owns the bakery across from her family’s. Anna isn’t sure if she can trust him but he ends up becoming her best ally. I wasn’t really into the romance I do think these two were better off as friends. We follow Anna as she tries to get clues and avoid getting caught in the crossfire. I did like how it felt like a thriller in the way that Anna had to watch her back and just be aware of her surroundings. Zhao also did a good job representing how Asian hate is still a thing and she did it in a way that shows how it impacts communities and needs to be talked about. The ending was good and I will say satisfying. I was glad that everything was answered and wrapped up.

Overall, this book was great. I enjoyed the premise and the characters. If I had to nitpick at something it would just be Anna’s decision making she wasn’t good at being sly and staying under the radar, other than that this was a solid book.

Filed Under: Reviews

THE INVOCATIONS By Krystal Sutherland

January 26, 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.

THE INVOCATIONS By Krystal SutherlandThe Invocations by Krystal Sutherland
Published by Nancy Paulsen Books on 1/30/24
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Three girls, one supernatural killer on the loose . . .

Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to consider—that her murdered sister is gone forever and there is nothing she can do about it. Rather than grieving and moving on, Zara decides she will do whatever it takes to claw her sister back from the grave—even trading in the occult.

Jude Wolf may be the daughter of a billionaire, but she is also undeniably cursed. After a deal with a demon went horribly wrong, her soul has been slowly turning necrotic. It’s a miserable existence marred by pain, sickness, and monstrous things that taunt her in the night. Now that she’s glimpsed what’s beyond the veil, Jude’s desperate to find someone to undo the damage she’s done to herself.

Enter Emer Byrne, an orphaned witch with a dark past and a deadly power, a.k.a. the solution to both Zara’s and Jude’s problems. Though Emer lives a hardscrabble life, she gives away her most valuable asset—her invocations—to women in desperate situations who are willing to sacrifice a piece of their soul in exchange for a scrap of power. Zara and Jude are willing, but they first have to find Emer.

When Emer’s clients start turning up dead all over London, a vital clue leads Zara and Jude right to her. If a serial killer is targeting her clients, Emer wants to know why—and to stop them. She strikes a tenuous alliance with Zara and Jude to hunt a killer before they are next on his list, even if she can’t give them in return what Zara and Jude want most: a sister and a soul.

Short and Sweet Review

The Invocations, centers around three girls, Zara, Jude, and Emer. After the death of her sister Savannah, Zara feels as if she has no choice but to believe in magic because she plans on bringing her sister back from the dead. Jude is looking for a witch to undo the damage she did to herself when she unsuccessfully tried a spell to attach her soul to a demon. Emer is a witch and she’s helped plenty of women by giving them invocations, but the women she’s helped are ending up murdered. The three girls end up connecting over their need to believe in something bigger than them and also to stop a killer.

This book is jam packed with action and we have three strong female characters that are at the forefront. Jude is somehow friends with an officer that lets Jude come in and look at some of the crime scenes and consult. Zara ends up finding Jude and together they find Emer who seems to be connected to all of the women being murdered. The three try to piece everything together and end up finding that the person behind this isn’t going to stop and he has it out for witches. I liked how dark this book was tone wise. Jude is dealing with some nasty stuff and because of that she’s been isolated from her family, this is why Jude is seeking out Emer, she needs a curse writer to get ride of the chronic pain she’s in by being tethered to demons. Zara believes that everything will be better if she just has her sister back which is why she also needs Emer. Emer is a talented curse writer and because of that her clients have become targets. Each girl brings something special to the book and they have a different personality. We get to read from all three POVs. This feels like one of those books where the characters start off with rocky family situations but end up finding family with the people who are now surrounding them. It was interesting to see how magic and demons worked in this book, it was also cool that only women were able to do magic.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and the dark tone of it. The demons, magic, and characters really brought everything to life.

Filed Under: Reviews

THESE DEADLY PROPHECIES By Andrea Tang

January 24, 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.

THESE DEADLY PROPHECIES By Andrea TangThese Deadly Prophecies by Andrea Tang
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on 1/30/24
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Mystery & Detective, Young Adult
Pages: 255
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Being an apprentice to one of the world's most famous sorcerers has its challenges; Tabatha Zeng just didn’t think they would include solving crime. But when her boss, the infamous fortuneteller Sorcerer Solomon, predicts his own brutal death—and worse, it comes true—Tabatha finds herself caught in the crosshairs.

The police have their sights set on her and Callum Solomon, her murdered boss’s youngest son. With suspicion swirling around them, the two decide to team up to find the real killer and clear their own names once and for all.

But solving a murder isn’t as easy as it seems, especially when the suspect list is mostly the rich, connected, and magical members of Sorcerer Solomon’s family. And Tabatha can’t quite escape the nagging voice in her head asking: just how much can she really trust Callum Solomon?

Short and Sweet Review

Tabitha is a sorcerers apprentice for Sorcerer Solomon one of the most famous sorcerers. For a while Sorcerer Solomon has been telling Tabitha about the prophecy of his death and it’ll be by someone he loves. When Solomon actually dies Tabitha becomes one of the suspects and she teams up with Callum, Solomon’s son, to figure out who actually killed him because they’re both the biggest suspects.

These Deadly Prophecies, is a book that really pulls you in and I think the biggest reason is Tabitha’s voice, she narrates the book to the reader like we’re friends and she’s telling you a story. It’s almost like those shows where someone breaks the 4th wall, Tabitha is amusing and a bit sarcastic, but she really knows how to tell a story. Anyway Sorcerer Solomon told her if he did die to go seek out Callum, which is what she does. They haven’t really talked much before this but now they’re spending lots of time together trying to figure out who in the family could have killed him or if it was one of his apprentices and why. The pacing was a little slow at first but once we see Tabitha and Callum start investigating things do start to pick up. The magic system here is interesting, Solomon, Tabitha, and Callum were working more with prophecies but we other characters that are able to do kinetics and illusions. The book was interesting because most of the suspects were family members like Solomons two other kids and his wife and mistresses. There’s a lot going on in this book, which could be a good or bad thing depending on how much content you like and how you have to keep up to piece everything together. The added element of magic to a mystery storyline made it even more extraordinary. I will say I wasn’t sure who the culprit was but the ending was satisfying and the mystery was wrapped up nicely.

Overall, These Deadly Prophecies was a fun ride! I definitely recommend this book for people who love mysteries and this one has the added element of magic and also if you enjoyed the movie Knives Out!

Filed Under: Reviews

YOU WILL BE MINE By Natasha Preston

January 3, 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.

YOU WILL BE MINE By Natasha PrestonYou Will Be Mine by Natasha Preston
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on 2/6/18
Genres: Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 306
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

ROSES ARE RED

VIOLETS ARE BLUE

WATCH YOUR BACK

I'M COMING FOR YOU

Lylah and her friends can't wait to spend a night out together. Partying is the perfect way to let loose from the stress of life and school, and Lylah hopes that hitting the dance floor with Chace, her best friend, will bring them closer together. She's been crushing on him since they met. If only he thought of her the same way…

The girls are touching up their makeup and the guys are sliding on their coats when the doorbell rings. No one is there. An envelope sits on the doormat. It's an anonymous note addressed to their friend Sonny. A secret admirer? Maybe. They all laugh it off.

Except Sonny never comes home. And a new note arrives:

YOUR TURN

Short and Sweet Review

Lylah and her friends love to party, but one night when getting ready the doorbell rings and an envelope is left on the doorstep and then one of her roommates ends up missing. The notes keep coming and more of Lylah’s friends are put in danger.

This book was one of those books that makes you wonder if the main character has brain cells. Lylah’s friends are going missing but her and her roomies that are still alive think it’s smart to sneak away from their security detail just to get some alone time. The culprit in this book is cutting out peoples hearts and it’s just a bad plot used from an episode of Criminal Minds. Also Lylah isn’t a Nancy Drew, her and her friends pick one person they think can do it and decide to blame that person for everything and of course they end up being wrong. Anyway the actual culprit was off their rocker and had some real dependency issues going on. While Lylah’s friends are being slaughtered like pigs she’s out and about thinking about her crush Chace and trying to get closer to him because she’s had a crush on him for like ever.

Overall, not a good book. I read most of Prestons books and I don’t love them but I’m always hopeful that one of them will be good enough for me to change my mind and this book just tilted the seesaw to the no don’t read anything else by this author! Anyway, this is like a bad horror movie where the characters make you want to slap your forehead and shout out “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Filed Under: Reviews

THE CELLAR By Natasha Preston

January 1, 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.

THE CELLAR By Natasha PrestonThe Cellar by Natasha Preston
Series: The Cellar #1
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on 3/1/14
Genres: Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 344
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Summer is trapped in a cellar with the man who took her—and three other girls: Rose, Poppy, and Violet. His perfect flowers. His family. But flowers can't survive long cut off from the sun, and time is running out...

Short and Sweet Review

Summer is kidnapped by some man calling himself Clover and she’s locked into his cellar with three other girls who he calls Rose, Poppy, and Violet, and Summer becomes Lily.

Honestly there’s not much to this book. Our main character was kidnapped and now she has to figure out how to survive and escape. Summer is trapped in the cellar with three other girls who have been there longer than her and tell her to play along because if she doesn’t she’ll be killed. We have three POVs Summers, her boyfriend Lewis, and the kidnapper Clover. I will say I enjoyed Summers the most but I did like how Clover’s gave us an insight into why he was doing what he was doing. This book reminds me of a famous case that happened during the 2010s. I will say I enjoyed the ending of this book or at least I think I did, I was on a NyQuil kick when I got to final chapter.

Overall, this book was okay. There wasn’t a lot to it, a majority of the book just follows the girls life in the Cellar and we see Clover find more potential victims and Lewis try to find Summer. I plan on reading the sequel to this book just to see what it has in store.

Filed Under: Reviews

THE INHERITANCE GAMES By Jennifer Lynn Barnes

December 25, 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 INHERITANCE GAMES By Jennifer Lynn BarnesThe Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Inheritance Games #1
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on 9/1/20
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 385
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why—or even who Tobias Hawthorne is.

To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch—and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.

Short and Sweet Review

Avery doesn’t have the best financial situation going on for her. Avery plans on doing her best in school to get a scholarship to eventually go to college and do better. Things change when Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves a majority of his fortune to Avery, the thing is Avery has no idea who Tobias is. Now Avery is in Texas at the Hawthorne mansion with the family who has it out for her, but the four grandsons grew up believing the fortune would be theirs. Tobias left one last puzzle before he died and now its up to Avery to solve it and also maybe one of the boys will help her.

Avery lives a less than glamorous life like sleeping in her car kind of low. Avery’s older sister Libby takes care of her and honestly she’s one of those guardians who’s super young and has no business taking care of someone younger but this was obviously something she felt she needed to do because Avery is her half sister. Moving on, Avery finds out that Tobias Hawthorne some man she’s never met before has left her his entire fortune and she doesn’t know why. She goes to Texas and her whole life is different it’s almost like The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. She meets the family, who aren’t thrilled about her existence and she also learns that Tobias liked playing games and that the house is full of tunnels and passage ways. I didn’t enjoy the characters in this book, I don’t feel like Avery had any character development and the love triangle between two of the brothers was not it. I did like that the chapters were short but nothing in this book held my attention. I love mysteries so the thought that Avery had to solve a puzzle was what really got me to read this book but I feel like that plot was just a small part of this book. Let me just make this clear, the whole synopsis played like 20% of this book the other 80% revolved around unnecessary drama with other characters and a love triangle where I wasn’t rooting for anyone.

Honestly, I don’t know how to feel about this book, I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. I prematurely bought the rest of the books in the series and I’m hoping they’re better than this first installment. Also, Happy Holidays!

Filed Under: Reviews

MAKE ME A LIAR By Melissa Landers

December 15, 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.

MAKE ME A LIAR By Melissa LandersMake Me a Liar by Melissa Landers
Published by Disney-Hyperion on 12/5/23
Genres: Mystery & Detective, Science Fiction, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 256
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

It’s an open secret at Harvey Davis High School that Tia Dante can solve all your problems (for a fee, of course). As one of the few blessed with the genetic gift of transferable consciousness, she can slip inside your mind and do your dirty work—humiliate your cheating boyfriend, bring a bully to his knees, tell your boss where to stick it—and then return your body with no one the wiser. No task is too awkward, and unlike the competition, she takes care of business without peeking at your goods. Her rules are simple: pay in full, don’t report her side hustle to the government, and let her gorge on all the foods that would otherwise send her and her weak stomach fleeing to the nearest bathroom.

Everything is going smoothly during a routine job, until Tia catches a breaking news broadcast: live video coverage of her (body) murdering the town prosecutor in cold blood. With the crime caught on camera and no concrete alibi, Tia is forced to ask her infuriatingly gorgeous ex to help clear her name and bring the criminal who hijacked her unconscious body to justice. But they quickly find the heat is on, in more ways than one, as their investigation unearths multiple scandals, massive corruption, and more than a few stray bullets.

Short and Sweet Review

Tia Dante has the ability to put her mind into other people’s bodies, so she’s pretty popular in school and has clients that hire her to do jobs that they can’t do. While on a job, Tia ends up seeing herself on TV and committing a crime and now she has to find the actual murderer who used her body or face a lifetime behind bars.

The premise of this book was actually pretty cool. I liked the idea that there’s people who can put their conscious in other peoples bodies. Our main character Tia does it for a small fee and after seeing her body being used for a crime she realizes she could have been more careful with where she left her body. Tia gets help from her ex Nash. This book is a quick read but it will have you hooked. We meet different characters, and follow clue to try to find who could be the actually murderer. I feel like I don’t have a lot to say mainly because I flew through this book, I think it’s a book that can be finished in a couple of hours. I enjoyed the interactions between characters and learning how this immersion worked.

Make Me a Liar, is a fast paced mystery novel with some sci-fi elements packed in. This was a good book and one you can devour in a day. I do think this book is worth picking up, check it out!

Filed Under: Reviews

THEIR VICIOUS GAMES By Joelle Wellington

December 13, 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.

THEIR VICIOUS GAMES By Joelle WellingtonTheir Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on 7/25/23
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 415
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

You must work twice as hard to get half as much.

Adina Walker has known this the entire time she’s been on scholarship at the prestigious Edgewater Academy—a school for the rich (and mostly white) upper class of New England. It’s why she works so hard to be perfect and above reproach, no matter what she must force beneath the surface. Even one slip can cost you everything.

And it does. One fight, one moment of lost control, leaves Adina blacklisted from her top choice Ivy League college and any other. Her only chance to regain the future she’s sacrificed everything for is the Finish, a high-stakes contest sponsored by Edgewater’s founding family in which twelve young, ambitious women with exceptional promise are selected to compete in three mysterious events: the Ride, the Raid, and the Royale. The winner will be granted entry into the fold of the Remington family, whose wealth and power can open any door.

But when she arrives at the Finish, Adina quickly gets the feeling that something isn’t quite right with both the Remingtons and her fellow competitors, and soon it becomes clear that this larger-than-life prize can only come at an even greater cost. Because the Finish’s stakes aren’t just make or break…they’re life and death.

Adina knows the deck is stacked against her—it always has been—so maybe the only way to survive their vicious games is for her to change the rules.

Short and Sweet Review

Adina has had to work hard for a lot of things in life. She attends Edgewater Academy on a scholarship and ended up getting into the Ivy League school of her choice, but one fight ends up getting her blacklisted from the school and trying to figure out what her options are. The Remington family has a lot of power in town and they have a competition called The Finish. The Finish is a contest that has 12 of the most ambitious girls compete in three different events and the winner gets the Remington family’s power to get what they want, and Adina just wants to be able to go to Yale. Adina is invited to the finish but it wasn’t a competition where people get eliminated and go home, they die.

The synopsis of this book is what really drew me in, but I initially thought that The Finish would be more like The Hunger Games, but this was kind of like The Selection but more cut throat. The Finish takes place in a mansion and all the girls are together, every other girl knows what she’s in for except for Adina. After the first girl dies it’s made very clear for Adina that she needs to get with the program or die. Not only is the prize for the winner to become part of the Remington fold but it’s really to win the heart of Pierce Remington. Although most of the girls are there to win Pierce, Adina ends up making a connection with his older brother Graham who ends up helping her out for the three challenges. The first challenge is the ride, the next is the raid, and the last is the Royale. I didn’t particularly care for any of the challenges I was more invested in who was going to die next and which girl would show her true colors. This book was just okay to me, I can’t really pinpoint what element didn’t hold my interest but maybe it was Adina. Adina was like hot and cold towards Graham who was invested in making sure she stayed safe and alive and it was almost like she didn’t appreciate the help it was weird and it threw me. Also the beginning of the book starts off slow and some of the focus on the challenges wasn’t necessary, for example we spent two to three chapters talking about the ride when we didn’t have to. Anyway the ending was chaotic and it was interesting to see how everything played out. The Remington house was beautiful in the beginning but in the end it became a house of horrors.

Overall, this book was just okay to me. For some reason it felt like there were times where a lot was happening and then. there’d be a lull in the action and Adina was not my favorite character. I did like the premise and seeing how things did play out though. I do think that other people should give this book a shot, because there was honestly more good attributes to this book than the bad, for me anyway.

Filed Under: Reviews

BORN OF DECEPTION By Teri Brown

December 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.

BORN OF DECEPTION By Teri BrownBorn of Deception by Teri Brown
Series: Born of Illusion #2
Published by Balzer + Bray on 6/10/14
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Mystery & Detective, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 341
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

After scoring a spot on a European vaudeville tour, Anna Van Housen is moving to London to chase her dream and to join an underground society for people like her with psychic abilities. But when Anna arrives, she finds the group in turmoil—one of its members has been kidnapped, and members of the society are starting to turn on one another. Her life in danger and her relationship with her boyfriend, Cole, fizzling, can Anna track down the kidnapper before he makes her his next victim—or will she be forced to pay the ultimate price for her powers?

Short and Sweet Review

Anna is in London after she got a spot with European Vaudeville tour, and she found an underground society with people like her with psychic abilities. When Anna gets to London she learns that things aren’t so great within the society, one of the members was kidnapped and the others aren’t sure if they can trust each other, to make matters worse her relationship with Cole isn’t going the way she wants. Anna wants to find whoever the kidnapper is before anyone else especially her becomes the next victim.

Born of Deception had the same problem Born of Illusion did for me, there wasn’t a lot going on. Anna is in London she’s apart of this tour to do magic and show off her abilities, and she’s also in with the society with other people with psychic abilities. The book has a good premise about someone being kidnapped and Anna trying to find the kidnapper but she’s not a detective and there wasn’t a lot of investigating on her part. We also have her romantic interest Cole who actually is investigating the missing person. Anna and Cole are supposed to be a thing but I don’t think it’s official which was ridiculous because those two lost it when they saw the other talking to someone who could have been considered another romantic interest. There was a bit of a love triangle between Anna, Cole, and a guy named Billy. I think this aspect is to blame for the book being subpar because Anna was jealous and thinking about Cole just brought her mood down. Anyway we see Anna do some magic tricks, meet other people in the society, and attempt to solve a mystery. The pacing of this book is slow and I think if there was more investigating it really would have picked things up.

Overall, I didn’t have the highest expectations for this book, but I was hoping that it would be better than the first book. I don’t think this duology was for me, I genuinely feel like there wasn’t a lot going on plot wise and that just made the book seem slow and dull.

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