A Touch of Gold by Annie Sullivan

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A pirating adventure full of dynamic characters!
Thanks to NetGalley and Blink for the opportunity to read and review A Touch of Gold by Annie Sullivan.
This story introduces the daughter of King Midas, Princess Kora, who has seen the bad end of “the curse of the golden touch” which was given to her father by Dionysus. Her skin is the color of gold and she’s been kept hidden for her protection since the curse. Someone steals the king’s gold, the gold that gives him strength. Kora can sense where the gold is, so she sets off on a mission with Duke Aris to retrieve the gold and help her father gain his strength back. Kora’s cousin Hettie sneaks on board for the trip only to be disheartened when she discovers how the ship’s living conditions are unlike the palace’s. Aris has gotten the crew that he’s sailed with for years but things seem to be changing and the crew might not be trustworthy anymore. As their search for the gold continues, Kora and Hettie adapt to life on the ship, while training for sword fighting and gaining friendships. The two of them soon discover who they can and can’t trust. The crew also sees the true horror that Captain Skulls encompasses, with dire circumstances. Touch of Gold is a pirating adventure with originality and dynamic characters, 5 stars!

The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Action-packed dystopian!
Thanks to Bookish First and Disney Hyperion for the opportunity to read, review and win a copy of The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken! Suzume is the main character of this Darkest Minds book and she acts as a Psi representative, speaking on the behalf of all Psi. Suzume is expected to mend relations between Psi and non-Psi people. As she’s ending one of her speeches, she receives a message on the teleprompter telling her that someone is there to kill her. Everything turns violent quickly and two teens help Suzume get away only for the three of them to be captured, tied up and drugged. She’s not sure if the two teens are trustworthy and she takes them to Haven to get help from her friends only to discover that Ruby and Liam left two weeks before and haven’t been heard from since. While Suzume catches up with everyone and discusses the teens she showed up with, someone cuts Haven’s power. Haven is under attack and something or someone is blocking their powers. After Suzume escapes with the Haven residents, they discover that she’s being framed for an airplane explosion. Suzume looks for Ruby with Priyanka and Roman, the two teens she’s been with since the attack during her speech. While on their search they come across human trafficking, among other awful discoveries. The ending leaves me pondering Ruby and the future of all Psi. 4 stars for this dystopian action-packed adventure!

Crochet Animal Rugs by Ira Rott

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Adorably fun!
Thanks to Bookish First for giving me a copy of Crochet Animal Rugs by Ira Rott, published by Sewandso!
A great book filled with wonderful inspiration to create your own crocheted projects or create any of the adorable ideas included. Detailed instructions, simplified crochet guide and illustrations and photos are given to help even beginning crocheters. After reading this book, I went online to get a book cover image to post on my blog. I found even more adorable crocheted wonders from people who took their inspiration from Ira Rott’s book and added flourishes to make their own creations, such as a peacock and a unicorn. So cute!
5 stars for this user-friendly crochet guide!

Be Mindful & Stress Less by Gina Biegel

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Completely helpful!
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review Be Mindful & Stress Less by Gina M. Bigel!
The fifty ways to deal with your crazy life are broken down into parts. Pay attention with senses is part one, part two is self-care, part three is always consider other responses, and each of these focuses on how to handle stress, learning to be mindful of our surroundings and stress triggers and self-care. My favorite stress relief is to “just breathe”! So relaxing. Taking mindful pauses to keep stress in check and to become more aware of our responses to problems is a wonderful tip also. The 5 G’s, gratitude exercises to help express and experience gratitude, and encouragement to treat yourself with kindness are resourceful and beneficial advice sections. Wonderful book for dealing with life’s inevitable stresses, 5 stars!

If There’s No Tomorrow by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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If There’s No Tomorrow by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Harlequin teen. The book opens with Lena disoriented and barely waking up while hearing a voice say she’s a fighter and that will make her mother happy. She soon falls asleep after a nurse administers more medication to her. The story backs up to when Leah is looking forward to senior year and spending time with her crush, her best friend and her neighbor, Sebastian. Sebastian and Lena have a comfortable, relaxed relationship and always have until the day she gives him a quick kiss and that’s when things turn awkward. A few days later, Sebastian is back to treating Lena as a friend, as he normally does. They go to a party and he throws Lena into the pool, clothes and all. She gets angry at Sebastian and sits and talks to her friends. That’s the last thing she remembers when she wakes up in ICU after the accident. Her mom and sister Lori tell her that Cody was driving and Megan, Phillip and Chris were in the SUV also. Lena is the only survivor. Now Lena is reeling from the aftermath of the accident, her injuries, knowing she should have been driving because she was the only one sober and survivor’s guilt. With the help of a loving family, loyal and caring friends and a very capable therapist, Lena starts to face the realization of her choices and the fatalities of the accident. If There’s No Tomorrowtells a powerful story and sends a strong message to all of us, 5 stars for this deep thinking realistic fiction novel!

#Murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Horror with a bit of humor!
Thanks to NetGalley and Disney Book Group for the opportunity to read and review Murder Trending by Gretchen McNeil!
Government-sanctioned serial killers entertain citizens on The Postman app, which shows them hunting and killing convicts. A seventeen-year-old has been convicted of killing her stepsister. This teen’s name is Dee and she says she’s innocent. After the trial, Dee woke up on Alcatraz Island in a cell that reminded her of when she’d been kidnapped as an eleven-year-old. She has no recollection of the time between her trial and waking up in a cell on Alcatraz Island. The back and forth telling of the kidnapping and Alcatraz Island was difficult to follow for a while, but I kept reading and the story did get better. The characters grew on me and the unique plot and setting drew my interest. With some twists and turns and a bit of humor, #Murdertrending is entertaining, 4 stars!

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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A down to Earth story with lovable characters!
Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read and review Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith!
Alice has lived with her cousin Leo since she was nine, after her parents died. She’s content and treated well. Leo, Alice and Teddy are three best friends and Alice has had a long-standing crush on Teddy for years. Alice purchases a lottery ticket for Teddy’s birthday and it ends up being a winner! Life gets more complicated after that, plus the fact that the three friends are trying to make plans for the future. They’re each trying to decide what college to attend or whether college is an option at all. Teddy finds out the hard way how people use you after they discover you’re rich, including his own father. Windfall shows a lot of character growth and insights that we can all use and learn from. I love the little added extra about the lottery overseer and how winners and their actions have been observed over time. Windfall is a romance above all and even though it’s about winning the lottery, it’s a down to Earth story, 5 stars for the lovable characters!

Neverwake by Amy Plum

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Never Wake by Amy Plum, the sequel to Dreamfall, starts right where the first book left off. Dreamfall ended with the documented knowledge that one of the teens is a psychopath. The intensity is amplified and the suspense keeps building! The dream state is lasting longer and the void is shortening, so the teens are inside nightmares longer each time and their rest time will eventually disappear. They’re already struggling to survive while the nightmares become more dangerous. The intern observing the trial keeps taking detailed notes and she’s noticed the changes and believes the patients are dreaming and she’s trying to convince the researchers. She was also able to warn Fergus about one of the teens being a psychopath, but he fell back asleep before she stated the psychopath’s name. Neverwake’s intensity kept me glued to the book and this young adult horror full of unique, interesting characters earns 5 stars!

Dreamfall by Amy Plum

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Dream Fall by Amy Plum involves a group of teenagers suffering from insomnia. They meet for the introduction of a medical treatment that’s supposed to help them all get full nights of sleep. This is a medical trial for these seven teenagers who are in the second batch of testing, the betas. One person, the alpha, has been successful with the treatment already. After the seven reach the dream state, there’s a power bump which causes them to enter a comatose state, according to the research doctors. But the teenagers are actually stuck in a horrifying dream world together. One by one, the dreaming teenagers realize that they are together in a combined dream state. None of them can remember the medical trial or any other short term happenings. While the teens sleep on, the doctors over the trial frantically try to fix their comatose state. As the group moves through each other’s nightmares, they began to recall where they are. The danger keeps increasing and death becomes all too real. The ending is a cliffhanger and the scariest part of the story. 4 stars for this young adult horror story!

Seventh Born by Monica Sanz

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Fantasy with a touch of romance!
Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for the opportunity to read and review Seventh Born by Monica Sanz!
Seraphina lives in a society that’s prejudice against her because she’s a seventh born. She’s not allowed to have any friends, not even other seventh borns, and she’s forced to grovel to authority. Sera does have one forbidden friend that’s helpful and kind to her, Mary. As Mary and Sera are gathering books to give themselves a chance to talk to each other, a teen boy “accidentally” knocks books down on top of them. Sera is so angry that she causes his clothes to smolder without using a wand, so he can’t prove her fault without calling her powerful and without getting himself in trouble for dropping the books. A professor gets her out of the situation and later invites her to see him privately. Sera cautiously visits Professor Barrington and is relieved and surprised when he offers her a referral letter if she’ll help him investigate murders and be his investigative assistant. A new world is opened up to Sera as she learns spells, the history and reality of the seventh born persecution and her own abilities. A fantasy with a touch of romance and some twists, 5 stars!