Source: Publisher (ALA Midwinter)

ARC August Reviews: The Last One and Business or Pleasure

Posted August 24, 2023 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

If there’s one thing Will Dean has, it’s the audacity. What an ending!! I did not see that coming at all. (Had to get that off my chest first, now on to an incredibly vague review!) The synopsis of THE LAST ONE intrigued me so much when I watched a the booktuber vlog her reading experience. Basically the first 10% of the book is the synopsis and a bunch of other stuff happens after that – I strongly recommend going into this book as blind as you can so I’m definitely not going to share anything else that happens lol. My main theories right off the bat were some of the classics (everyone is dead including the MC, it’s all a dream, etc.) – needless to say I won’t tell you if anything was right. I couldn’t put this down and finished it in one day. Once some ~things~ happen and are revealed, the book is a pretty slow-ish thriller. It’s not fast-paced like many others but I still couldn’t stop reading because I was dying to know what would happen next. There are some strong twists but not too many, which was really nice (no whiplash like other thriller books/writers). It’s a little slower at parts like I said and thus I think it’s a LITTLE too long, but the ending was so good. I can’t believe how the author chose to end this lol. There was a lot of character backstory that I think was supposed to make us […]

ARC Review: Caraval

Posted January 12, 2017 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

This book was insanely cool. Completely lived up to the hype for me. I went in expecting an atmospheric, magical story, and that’s exactly what I got! I absolutely loved it. There were a few things that bugged me a little that prevent it from getting a full five stars, but I would still count this among my favorites. The plot, in a few words: Scarlett, our main character, had been writing to the creator of Caraval, an insane traveling circus (to put it mildly), for years, in order to try to get him to come perform. Her grandma had gone years ago and told her and her sister, Donatella, all about it. The girls finally receive invitations, plus one for her fiance, and decide to sneak away from her father before her wedding. A sailor named Julian comes along with them for the final ticket because Scarlett hasn’t actually met her fiance. Her sister essentially gets kidnapped when they arrive and the mission of this year’s game is to find her. Loved It Magical Setting and Atmosphere The setting was easily the best part of this story. I loved learning about Caraval and trying to understand how it all worked. They warn you that it often feels real – and it partly is – but it’s mostly a game. It was amazing to follow Scarlett along as she tried to figure out what in the fresh hell was going on up in there. The atmosphere and magic of the story was […]

ARC Review: The Long Game

Posted July 13, 2016 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

You guys. I just can’t with this book. I was completely smitten with the first one and was SO EAGER to get my hands on the next. I was counting my lucky stars when I ended up with a copy from ALA Midwinter because I planned to read it ASAP after finishing the first one. However, in typical Lauren fashion, I ended up waiting until a few days before its release. I totally shouldn’t have waited because some of the previous book’s plot was a bit muddy in my head. Either way, it didn’t take long for me to settle back into this world. I absolutely loved Tess in this book. I didn’t think it would be possible, but the stakes were even higher. The twists were even twistier. The characters were even asdfghjkl-ier. Sorry, no words there. Just feels. So fucking many feelings about everyone and everything. In the first book, there was literally zero romance. The author hinted at two romantic prospects in general but there really wasn’t even any tension to suggest that necessarily. I won’t spoil anything for this one. Just keep in mind what I said. I love books where you think everything has settled after the main climax, and then the author manages to toss in a few more curveballs. Totally happened here. I read very few mystery/thrillers because not many work for me. Add in politics and I’m even less sure I’ll like it. This duo seriously has me adding political dramas to my […]

ARC Reviews: The Epidemic and Dream On

Posted April 25, 2016 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I was SO excited to grab this one from ALA back in January, but OF COURSE I waited forever to finally sit down and read it. There’s something wrong with me, okay? But after the cliffhanger at the end of THE REMEDY, I knew I had to get to it as soon as there was a break in my reading schedule. Honestly, I kind of created a break in my schedule; I knew this book was one I could finish in three sittings or less because I get sooo addicted to Young’s writing. This was definitely the case with THE EPIDEMIC! It took a few chapters for me to be reminded of what happened in the previous book. Thankfully, there was a pretty solid amount of recapping THE REMEDY without feeling like too much information. I still loved Quinn and was wondering what would happen with Deacon, after the previous book’s major cliffhanger about him. The biggest question I had throughout the story was HOW. How is all of this happening? Does Virginia have something to do with it all? How is it possible that suicide became an epidemic – something contagious – instead of something just related to groupthink. I was so eager to get to the end see everything tie into THE PROGRAM and THE TREATMENT. It’s weird reading a prequel series because you know how the world ends up afterwards… and it’s not a pretty place to be. I knew that my final rating for this story […]

ARC Review: When We Collided

Posted April 6, 2016 / Book Reviews / 14 Comments

I have a ridiculously large amount of mixed feelings on this book. It’s a tough one to rate for me, because what am I supposed to go by – the way it made me feel and my level of enjoyment? The quality of the story and its importance? These two ratings are insanely different. I talked with Angie about it after finishing and she helped me put it to words. The book itself – the story, the portrayal of mental illness – is VERY important. It’s so well-done. However, it just isn’t a book that I like reading about. It was frustrating, sad, and kind of disappointing because of it. I didn’t go into it expecting something super fluffy, like Lord’s other books, but I also didn’t expect to be so upset throughout the whole thing either. I was hoping for a mix of the two. The first third of the book was utter perfection, like the entirety of Lord’s other books that I’m obsessed with. The setting of Verona Cove was amazing and reminded me of all the Sarah Dessen books that happen in Colby. Jonah was fucking adorable and Vivi was vivacious. (See what I did there?) I loved them right away. The book had some instalove but for some reason it felt right. I don’t necessarily have an issue with it because I really think some people do hit it off right away. I have no issue with people feeling like they’re meant to be. I don’t know; […]