The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda

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Twenty-six-year-old Olivia keeps her history private and most people at a distance. It’s been twenty years since she was swept away by a rainstorm and was missing for three days. She has no recollection of what happened in those three days. She’s also changed her name from Arden to Olivia and moved to a new town to avoid anyone knowing about her history. Reporters bothered her for years and she wants to keep to herself. She hasn’t been sleepwalking for years, until her neighbor Rick finds her outside one night. The next time she sleepwalks, she trips over a dead body and gets blood all over her hands. She runs to Rick’s house, without thinking, because that’s where she feels safe. The more I read, the more the story twisted! The suspense builds and questions continue to pop up so Olivia doesn’t know who to trust or what to believe. An interesting mystery with just the right amount of creepy suspense, 5 stars!

Not Even Bones by Rebecca Shaeffer

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Nita listens to her Disney playlist while she dissects dead unnatural beings. She lives with her mother and helps her with the collecting and dissecting that she does for a living. Nita’s mother sells body parts on the black market on the dark web. The first chapter shows her cruelty when she brings home a creature that looks like he’s an eighteen-year-old human. She locks him in a newly purchased cage and handcuffs him. She wants to keep him alive as long as possible while she removes and sells pieces of his body. Nita can’t stand to see him suffer so she helps him escape. Her mother is furious but calm. Soon after, Nita is kidnapped and imprisoned. After witnessing torture and seeing some black market buyers, Nita manages to escape and takes her neighboring cellmate along. Through suspenseful danger and action, Nita discovers more information about her kidnapping. Twists and intrigue, 4 stars!

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

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Amara is set to be the next ruler but she doesn’t pass the test in front of her father or the people of the kingdom that are watching. She’s imprisoned but escapes with Bastian, a mysterious pirate. Amara’s fiancé Ferrick travels with them also. They’re trying to figure out how to stop Kaven. He’s become a ruthless leader and vows to conquer Amara’s father. Along the way, the three of them meet a mermaid and help her escape her servitude and she willingly helps the crew of rebels. They reach Kaven and see firsthand what his rule has cost his people. Amara touches a cursed dagger and sees the memory of what truly happened to the magic so many years ago. The truth could crush her father’s rule. When Amara and her crew return home, they find it under a vicious attack. They jump into the fight and have to do some quick thinking if they’re going to survive. I love the main characters and the development they underwent throughout this book. Amara, Bastian, Ferrick and Vataea are strong, brave and have great loyalty and integrity. I enjoyed the section on Sira’s memory and how it adds a twist to everything Amara and her kingdom know. A grand adventure, 5 stars!

The Deep by Alma Katsu

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Titanic horror/historical fiction

This story jumps back and forth in several different ways, mostly from 1912 to 1916 when the main characters are on the fateful journey of the Titanic in 1912 and four years later on the Brittanic. Desperation, sadness and selfishness turn anger into an invitation to the supernatural that becomes a possession causing chaos, confusion and harm. I truly didn’t see the possession coming but it all made sense in the end. I also didn’t realize that the Britannic also sunk which just added more tragedy to the story. Some of the storyline felt choppy, 3.5 stars.

The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor

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Alice’s grandmother leaves her a Paris apartment in her will when she passes away. So, Alice travels with her mother and father to Paris to see the tourist attractions and to visit the apartment that no one in the family knew about. Alice discovers a diary from a teen Adalyn, her grandmother’s sister that her grandmother never spoke of. The diary was written in during World War II and ends on May, 30, 1944. Alice meets Paul, a French teen, and the two of them work together to figure out her family’s secrets. Surprising discoveries open Alice’s eyes to her ancestors and to her mother’s depression. Wonderful young adult historical fiction, 5 stars!

The Afterlife of the Party by Marlene Perez

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The Afterlife of the Party by Marlene Perez
Tansy is a witch with a crush on Vaughn, one of her best friends. The three of them go to a party with their mutual friend Sky because she’s dying to see a new band perform. She’s supposedly dating one of the band members and wants Tansy and Vaughn to meet him. Once they arrive at the party, he doesn’t treat Sky any differently than any other girl and seems overly interested in Tansy, to the point where he bites her neck. Vaughn and Tansy freak out and Sky seems to be in some kind of trance that they can’t snap her out of. They manage to get Sky and leave the party and go to Tansy’s home to get help and advice from her grandmother. Sky is missing the next morning, so Tansy and Vaughn leave to find her. They’ve infiltrated a vampire cult and, with Tansy and her grandmother being witches, they have some power to use against the bloodsuckers. When Travis bit Tansy, he unknowingly created a striga Vie which gave her more powers against the vampires. Tansy also learns things about her mother that have been kept secret from her. I like Vaughn’s character and the values he has. The strong relationship between Vaughn and Tansy warms my heart. We all need true friends like that. 4 stars for this witch/vampire story combo!

Love Spells and Other Disasters by Angie Barrett

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Love Spells and Other Disasters by Angie Barrett
Rowan lives with her ghost-whisperer mom in an old family mansion that belonged to Rowan’s deceased father’s family. Her mother is famous for her abilities and Rowan is slightly embarrassed by it all, since she doesn’t believe in any of that stuff. At school, she’s paired with a snobby Abby who isn’t nice to Rowan. Their assignment is to create a lucrative business together. Abby comes up with the idea of making love spells and has Rowan write them up and fold them into origami hearts. Luca is helping with the renovation of Rowan’s home. Luca and Rowan talk and begin dating and everyone seems surprised by this because Luca is popular and was a star athlete until an injury ended that and everyone thinks Rowan is odd. The love spells were supposed to be harmless fun but Abby finds a real love spell and Rowan uses it on her mom because she seems lonely. Afterward, Rowan notices that some of the couples are unhappy and her mom has gone loopy. She finds a reversal spell that undoes the real spells, causing angry customers. She deals with the backlash through acts of kindness that seem to appease and calm people down. 4 stars for this romance with a bit of magic!

All This Time by Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott

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Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review All This Time by Rachel Lippincott!
A long-lasting relationship broken. A conversation harshly interrupted. A devastating reality. Those are the beginnings of this story. Kyle and Kim have broken up seven times over the course of their relationship. Now Kyle wishes he could go back and let her go and give her the freedom to be happy. He realizes how self-absorbed he’s been since his football accident and his relationships suffered because of it. He moves on and feels accomplished after his loss until he receives another eye-opener! Great writing and a unique storyline and if I give details, I will spoil it for future readers. Fantastic book full of hope, perseverance and love, 5 stars!

  • I received an arc in exchange for voluntary review consideration and all opinions and thoughts are my own.

Fable by Adrienne Young

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Fable is on her own, trying to survive long enough to get off the island her father left her on years ago. Her mother died in a shipwreck and her father deserted her and left her to survive completely on her own. She’s tough and has gained survival skills all by her wits. She manages to get off the island by buying passage aboard the Marigold, a ship that she later discovers is one of her father’s. She finally reaches Saint and he’s just as cold to her as she expected, even though she hoped for more. He does give her the inheritance her mother would have left her but nothing is given easily or with any help when Saint is involved. She also figures out why Saint carved into her arm all those years ago. Fable bargains cleverly and becomes a true part of a crew and she finally feels like she has a place where she belongs. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, a pirate adventure with strong characters, great character development and dangerous setting, 5 stars!

To Whatever End by Lindsey Frydman

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Quinn has inherited a curse that follows the females in her family. This curse shows the future but each female’s version is a bit different from the others. Quinn’s mom saw choices and Quinn sees the death of each person she touches. She meets Griffin at the museum and then discovers he’s her new neighbor. He’s moved from states away for a fresh start. Quinn’s vision of Griffin shows his death by a gunshot, in the near future. Quinn struggles to change his fate and the two of them go on a relationship roller coaster. In the meantime, someone is doing cruel things to Griffin and Quinn and she’s determined to get to the bottom of it all. Someone breaks into Griffin’s apartment and smashes his guitar into pieces and later cuts the brake line on his car. The pranks don’t end there. The problem is revealed and Quinn is devastated by what she finds out. The story is an interesting mystery with a touch of romance, 4 stars!