The Apparat is supposedly caring for Alina, the Sun Summoner, while all of her allies have been accused of treason. The group escapes and goes in search of the Firebird, the third and last amplifier. Once again, Nikolai saves them and he brightens up everything with his clever wit and resilient personality. The elevator scenes made me laugh, with the great dialogue! The group fights the Darkling again and horrible things happen. The author brings the characters to life with her details and the development of Genya is impressive and creates empathy for her struggles and amazement for her bravery at the same time. The descriptive world building made me feel as though I was in the middle of the action. I could feel the air move as the Firebird flew by and my ears hurt with its screech!
32yo Summer and 22yo Leo are con artists and thieves who prey on rich people and they’re very good at it. Summer comes from a hippie lifestyle and her mom never gave her a last name and she doesn’t have a clue who her father is or where her mom has been for the last fifteen years after she left so Summer could “spread her wings”. Leo left her desolate family after her sister died because everyone was so depressed and when her parents looked at her they became sad all over again because Leo looks so much like her deceased sister Amber. When Leo doesn’t keep in contact with Summer for a day, she assumes Leo is missing. She’s determined to find her and make sure she’s alright but when the guy Leo was with denies being with her still, Summer worries that the worst has happened. Riveting mystery! 5 stars!
Likes/dislikes: The story kept my attention and I didn’t want to put it down. I liked learning the backstory of Summer and Leo and the mystery was nicely intertwined. I don’t appreciate the book being promoted as young adult because it is written for adults as the characters are full-fledged adults. Language: R for 100 swears and 24 f-words. Mature content: R for somewhat detailed sex and gaslighting. Violence: PG-13 for strangulation and shooting. Ethnicity: White and olive skin main characters and mixed races present in side characters.
Hart and Ruby, both 17 and Latinx, are a couple of teens living in El Celio, California who are deeply and truly in love and they see a wonderful future ahead of them. Ruby wants to travel the world and Hart is a natural musician. Ruby has this ominous feeling that something terrible is going to happen. When tragedy strikes, everything changes and unusual complications arise. An Angel allows Hart’s spirit to occupy another teenager’s body but with the conditions that he can’t tell people who he is and that his memories of his past will fade a bit each day until they’re completely gone. This is pure torture to Hart, especially when he sees how sad Ruby is. Will Ruby be able to move on?
Likes/dislikes: The intensity of suspense about what’s going to happen to the characters kept me riveted. I love the cute relationship between Hart and Ruby. I like how the author keeps the reader hoping throughout the story. Language: R for 152 swears and 6 f-words. Mature Content: PG-13 for passionate kissing. Violence: PG for drowning and non-bloody fighting. Ethnicity: Ruby and Hart are Latinx, and Jameson is white.
Claire has been sent on an enrichment retreat by her parents. She meets Reyva and Mariana who have also been sent to “grow through experiences” at The Lake House summer camp. The three soon discover that nothing is what they expected. The danger builds along with the creepy foreboding. The teens learn that they have to run and hide to save themselves because no one is coming to help.
Likes/dislikes: I enjoyed the whole mystery of the story. I like how ominous the reveal was. The three main characters grew on me. Mature content: PG for brief kiss, survival struggles such as hunger and dehydration. Violence: PG-13 for finding a body killed by shooting, being shot at, being held at knife point, suicidal death by gunshot with no details. Language: PG-13 for 14 swears, no f-words.
17yo Joss, Prince Elian, Viktor, and Jericho are hiding from the Queen after escaping the palace. Prince Elian wants to be cured of his beastly curse, Viktor wants to help his brother Jericho, and Joss wants to learn more about magic in the kingdom, and all of them want to be free. The more Joss learns about magic, the more she wants to know. She’s learned that everyone is born with magic but they’ve been deceived by the royal family for centuries to believe magic is dangerous and anyone found with magic will be sentenced to death. The queen has been using magical people secretly for her own benefit all along and Joss wants the world to know, even though she’s risking her life and those she cares about to expose the deception.
Likes/dislikes: This book is a fun read. I enjoyed the mystery surrounding the kidnapping of Celina. The character growth blossomed in this book. Language: R for 78 swears, no f-words. Mature content: PG for brief kiss with no details. Violence: PG-13 for bloody fighting to the death. Ethnicity: Joss, Jericho, Viktor, Prince Elian, and Celina are white. Other characters are described as having light brown skin.
17yo Josslyn lost her father, the Prime Minister, to an assassin a year ago during the Queen’s Gala. She’s attending the current Gala to support Celina, her best friend and the first daughter of the present Prime Minister, and to help Celina gain confidence. While at the Gala, Josslyn wanders to the art treasures display and accidentally absorbs magic when an artifact opens during the robbery she walked into. The robber, Jericho, knows the magic will cause swift action and punishment for Josslyn if the Queen finds out because she has completely banned all magic, so the two of them run and end up in the Queens prison after they search for help in removing the unwanted magic and discover they have something in common: the same assassin that killed Josslyn’s father, Lord Banyon, also killed Jericho’s parents. The magic Josslyn absorbed shows her Lord Banyon’s memories from sixteen years ago when he was being tortured and she continues to have these memories in full force, showing her a side of Lord Banyon that isn’t cruel at all. Lazos is the prison overlord and also a warlock who used to be the queen’s magic advisor, so Josslyn and Jericho ask him to get rid of the unwanted magic, but he strikes a deal first; Jericho must kill the beast in the prison before Lazos will help them. When the beast is discovered, many more secrets are revealed and the danger has just begun.
Likes/dislikes: This book is such a fun read! I enjoyed the humor and sarcasm. There’s plenty of action. The story is entertaining almost immediately and I loved the twists. Mature Content: PG-13 for brief, passionate kissing and underage drinking. Language: R for 115 swears and no f-bombs. Violence: PG-13 for bloody kicking, bloody shooting and bloody death. Ethnicity: Josslyn is white, the queen is white, Overlord is olive skinned, and all shapes, sizes and skintones are at the Fight Club.
Once again 17yo Enola becomes inadvertently involved in a mystery when a customer asks for help from the new false identity she’s using, Dr. Ragostin. This new London mystery is a missing man who was bitten by a rabid dog. His sister Caroline and best friend Rudyard Kipling ask for help in finding him. Enola throws herself into the search and comes across strange characters, a strong leader and an odd group with the mark of the mongoose. She’s determined to find the missing man no matter how much danger she puts herself in.
Likes/dislikes: I like how the author ties history into the fictional Enola Holmes’ stories. The author states what’s true history and what’s fictional in the ending notes. I enjoy Enola’s perseverance, bravery, and generosity. Mature content: none Language: PG for 6 swears and no f-bombs. Violence: PG for fighting. Ethnicity: Predominantly white.
17yo Merit is cursed to be a beast until she agrees to marry someone who her mother approves of. She meets 19yo Tevin, a professional conman, and they strike a bargain. Merit’s mother has set her up with three worthy candidates and Tevin is going to help Merit navigate their intentions because she doesn’t trust her instincts after being jilted by her boyfriend Jasper. Jasper left Merit after her mother offered him money to leave. Merit feels trapped by her mother and she doesn’t feel anything for the three candidates. As she confides in Tevin, the two of them become friends and more. As they work together, they unknowingly walk into danger and discover deception and they’re going to have to rely on each other more than they realize.
Likes/dislikes: I enjoyed the wonderful descriptions of the setting. The humor is cute and funny. I grew to love the charming characters. Mature content: PG for brief passionate kissing. Language: PG for 7 swears and no f-bombs. Violence: PG-13 for bloody death of an animal. Ethnicity: Merit is white, other characters are of mixed ethnicity, including fairy.
18 year-old Elwood runs away when he overhears his father talking about sacrificing him for the church he resides over in the Garden of Adam Community, located in the Upper Peninsula. He’s been told throughout his entire life that he’s a burden. He’s been punished and unloved by his parents. 18 year-old Wil is sure that her mother was sacrificed by the church and Elwood’s father. Wil and Elwood help each other hide from danger, investigate the community’s weird happenings, and try to find out what happened to Wil’s mother. Their lives will be thrown into chaos before it’s over.
Likes/dislikes: I enjoyed the creepy aspect of Elwood’s family and his father’s effect on the community. The prose represents beauty and pain, hurt and happiness, perfectly. The story was too quick to achieve well developed characters. Mature content: PG-13 for Underage drinking and smoking, passionate undescribed kissing (PG) Language: R for 79 swears and 6 f-bombs. Violence: PG-13 for Bloody sacrificing of a rabbit, sacrificing son by bleeding him to death, father plunges knife into son’s chest. Ethnicity: falls to white.
Soon to be a Netflix movie! 20yo Elodie is excited to meet her betrothed, Prince Henry of Aurea. Elodie is one of three princesses who will be given to the dragon during Harvest Week in exchange for Aurea’s prosperity. Each year for the last eight centuries, three princesses from different parts of the world have been brought to Aurea under the guise of marrying Prince Henry, only to be sacrificed to the dragon. After unceremoniously being sent into the dragon’s lair, Elodie keeps going by relying on her wits, her strength and the help of past princesses through clues they’ve left behind. She might just survive to save the next princess.
Likes/dislikes: The story is slow in the beginning to give the reader a sense of calm but then the action picks up once Elodie learns the secret of Aurea. I enjoyed how the author meshed the past and present princesses together and the perseverance of each. I’m impressed how the author’s 13yo daughter created a functional language for the dragons in this story. The language syntax, grammatical rules and words are in the back of the book. Mature content: PG for brief kisses. Language: R for 35 swears, no f-bombs. Violence: PG-13 for Men being eaten by dragon, detailed sounds. Being burnt by flames. Pierced through skull by dragon wing point. Ethnicity: The ethnicity of Elodie and Henry fall to white, but brown skinned characters are found in the book also.
The Thought Spot 