Incriminating Dating by Rebekah L. Purdy

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Incriminating Dating by Rebekah L. Purdy. Ayla’s point of view alternates with Luke’s point of view throughout the story. Ayla is a good student that minds her own business and doesn’t like to make waves. That changes when funds are being cut for drama and the school paper; the activities she participates in. Luke looks like a normal popular high school guy but he struggles with poverty and a dysfunctional family and he has only one true friend that he feels like he can confide in. Ayla decides to run for class office to make a difference but she’s taking on the entire school culture when she runs. Luke and Ayla build a relationship under interesting circumstances, but sometimes that’s the only way to find out who your true friends are. 4 stars for this realistic fiction story geared towards young adults who want to see fairness in the world a little more often!

The Castaways by Jessika Fleck

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to Entangled Teen and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Castaways by Jessika Fleck. Olive is relentlessly bullied by three girls she has named The Trio. She meets her friend Tawny at the pirate-themed traveling carnival after hours, so they won’t be bothered by anyone. They decide to go into the corn maze, which has a mysterious and dangerous past. Teenagers have gone missing and never come out of the maze. Olive ends up going into the maze alone and, while running from bullies, she ends up being transported to a secluded island where no one ages. This island is completely surrounded by ocean as far as the eye can see and seems to be inescapable. Olive meets people on the island that are considered missing in real time. These teenagers were born long ago and have stayed teenagers and only have memories from decades past. Such as sixteen-year-old Tilly, who is from Sheffield England, 1940 and fifteen year old Lewis from 1953 Memphis, Tennessee. Olive discovers each of their stories and secrets and she eventually shares her own. They all realize that they transported to the island because they were running from something and they work together to find out how to face their problems and give each other the hope of returning home someday. I fell in love with the island inhabitants and relished the relationship between Will and Olive. This book is so much more complex than I thought it would be when I first began reading it. The complicated story line and dynamic characters all come together to make The Castaways an interesting read and the cover is perfect for this story, in more ways than one. 4.5 stars for the fantasy realism and lovable characters!

Argyle Fox by Marie Letourneau

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Tanglewood Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Argyle Fox by Marie Letourneau. The Argyle Fox picture book is a beautifully illustrated story of a wind ruining a young fox’s imaginative play. After the warnings from the friendly animals and the frustration of his play being ruined, clever Argyle comes up with something wonderful that he can play with in the wind. I like the details in the artwork showing Argyle’s creativity and his comfortable home. 4 stars for a story that shows how well improvisation works!

Other Breakable Things by Kelley York and Rowan Altwood

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the opportunity to read Other Breakable Things by Kelley York and Rowan Altwood! The beginning dropped my heart into my stomach. Immediately after, the story goes back three years and shows a mother waking her son, Luc, because there’s a heart available for his needed transplant. Back to the present beginning with Chapter One and Evelyn’s point of view. Then the chapters alternate between Luc and Evelyn. Evelyn has returned to town with her mother and, once again, they live with Evelyn’s grandmother. Luc and Evelyn were friends three years ago and when she moved away they kept in touch fairly well, until the past four months when Luc hadn’t replied to any of Evelyn’s emails. Luc has been dealing with transplant recovery and therapy but he doesn’t want Evelyn to pity him, so he doesn’t explain this to her. He has kept his sickness from her and she has no idea why he doesn’t feel well and no idea that he has undergone transplant surgery. While reading, we learn about what Luc has been through and what Evelyn’s life has been like. They have both kept things from each other. Now they try to rekindle their friendship and both want to be more than just friends, but they are afraid of scaring the other one off if they share their secrets. Luc doesn’t feel that it’s fair to Evelyn to become involved when he’s not sure how long he will be around and Evelyn has always kept her problems to herself. Little by little, they overcome their obstacles and are able to spend time together on an adventurous road trip to Oregon. I grew to love Luc and Evelyn and cared for their future together. Other Breakable Things is a wonderful love story with a heartfelt touch and appreciation for how short life can be; 5 stars!

Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know Of) by F.J.R. Titchenell

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to YA Bound Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know Of) by F.J.R. Titchenell! This is a humorous story about Cassie and her discovery of zombies and how she dealt with this not-so-great turn of events. While she travels across the country with friends, she spends the time pondering how the zombies came to be and observes how each person deals with the tragedy in their own way. Cassie’s personality makes the story funny and lightens the dystopian mood. 4 stars for this action packed fun zombie story!

Losing Kyler by Siobhan Davis

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
Losing Kyler by Siobhan Davis, is the second book of The Kennedy Boys series and broken hearts are as prominent as the dysfunction in this family. More secrets come out into the open and cause more family distress, along with one of Kyler’s brothers being accused of rape. Faye shows extreme maturity and true empathy for the situation that her mother and her new guardian James found themselves in many years ago. I appreciate how open minded she tries to be and this shows that she is wise for her age. Her wisdom helps everyone else deal with their struggles. This second book has so much going on that it is intense reading! Siobhan Davis pulls it all together so well and in such a smooth way that makes the suspense build and when the ending hit, I just wanted to read the next book in the series immediately! I am in awe of Siobhan’s writing and I love her style. She has taken a good story and made it great and brings the characters to life realistically. I am looking forward to reading more about the Kennedy boys! 5 stars for this engrossing romantic story!

The Summer Marked by Rebekah L. Purdy

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the opportunity to read and review The Summer Marked by Rebekah L. Purdy, the second book of The Winter People series! The story opens with a taste of Shakespeare’s writing. Salome is now living with Gareth in the Faerie realm and the opening of the book shows us more about her grandmother and her secrets. Kadie receives a message from Salome asking her to meet at a club. Kadie goes, but Salome is not there and she ends up being captured by the Winter Queen’s helpers. They demand to know where Salome is but Kadie doesn’t know, so they keep torturing her. I love the descriptions of the beautiful tattoos Salome receives as she becomes a part of each season and she gains power to help the Fae. The character pool grows in this second book of The Winter People series, making the story more complex and interesting. As people and their relationships evolve, the danger grows. I’m very happy there is a third book to this series because I am not ready to let these characters go. 5 stars for dialogue that matches and portrays the characters perfectly in this fantasy story!

Redux by A.L. Davroe

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Redux by A.L. Davroe! Redux is more action packed than Nexis, the previous book in the Tricksters series. Ella is on a tumultuous ride between virtual reality and actual reality and her friends keep flip-flopping so she feels completely alone. Her society is in shambles and she wants to do everything she can to make it better and to make up for the problems that she feels she caused. The story is smoothly transitioned between the events taking place and the reader is given concise background information from the first book. The action has been pumped up to even include cannibals! Creepy, sci-fi dystopian fun. 4 stars!

The Boyfriend Whisperer by Linda Budzinski

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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The Boyfriend Whisperer by Linda Budzinski is a fun, young adult clean read! Lexi has made a small business of helping young women gain the attention of guys they are interested in. She calls herself The Boyfriend Whisperer and no one knows it’s Lexi, except her assistant Abi. All seems fine until Lindsay hires the boyfriend whisperer to help her get Chris, Lexi’s best friend and long time crush. Lexi questions her matchmaking business, her friendships, her future as a basketball player and even her relationship with Chris. It becomes a roller coaster ride of teen angst and young love. This realistic fiction and romance story is cute and charming with a wide range of characters that keep Lexi on her toes; 5 stars for this enjoyable read!

Birthright by Jessica Ruddick

Posted on by lynndellwatson

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Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to NetGalley and YA Bound Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review Birthright by Jessica Ruddick! Ava has always seen people’s auras in color and when she turned sixteen, she became a seeker for one of the many Grim Reapers. This is her inheritance. She seeks people with white auras that could become angels and then she tells Xavier (a Grim Reaper) the person’s name and he takes their life. Ava lives with her mother and they move quite often and don’t have much money. Her mother is a seeker also. She meets Cole when he saves her from getting run over by a car. They end up being project partners and have to do internship work together for 80 hours at the mechanic shop where he works. Ava and Cole annoy each other and the annoyance is described perfectly in this statement of Ava thinking about Cole; “He did a good job, worked hard, went the extra mile. God, it pissed me off.”. Funny! Another great line shows how mechanically inclined Ava isn’t, “I couldn’t tell you the first thing about a catalytic converter other than it was metal and shiny. And it probably converted something”. The down to earth sense of humor is great, the chemistry between Ava and Cole is charming and the fact that both of them have less than happy backgrounds makes them perfect for each other. An enjoyable supernatural read, 5 stars and I look forward to the sequel, Retribution!