book review – Page 14

Spoiler Free Review: Undercover Bromance (Bromance Book Club #2) by Lyssa Kay Adams

Title: Undercover Bromance (Bromance Book Club #2)

Author:Lyssa Kay Adams

Pub. Date: March 10th 2019

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: eGalley

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 320 Pages/9 hours & 7 minutes

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🖤ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review🖤

Isn’t it awesome how we didn’t have to wait long for more of our fave characters? In The Bromance Book Club we met Mack & Liv who are probably two of the unlikeliest characters you’d imagine shipping & yet their banter made the chemistry undeniable. Mack has always been charming, women find him attractive and easy to talk to. He had yet to find the one who’d stir in him feelings of wanting to settle down but always eyed married life/kids with admiration & keen interest. He’s the member of the Bromance Book Club dishing out advice and now he finds himself on the opposite side of the fence. Liv has moved out of her sister Thea’s home & is working at her dream job in Nashville as a Sous Chef. The only/last interaction she had with Mack was when finding out he’d helped himself to her leftover Chinese food at Thea’s. Liv is a feminist who views Mack as a self appointed Romance expert. She knows all about the book club & isn’t interested in being the next female he can rescue. When Liv discovers that the Chef aka her boss has been sexually harassing one of the other Sous Chefs, she sets out to expose him.

Content Warning: Sexual harassment, Domestic Violence, sexual assault, gaslighting, alcoholism

We follow Liv as she attempts to gather evidence to bring to light & stop him from ever taking advantage of his position. Mack gets wind of her cause & asks to join her on the mission to which she begrudgingly accepts. This of course leads the Bromance Book Club’s to their next read…a Romantic Suspense! We get to see the Book Club guys back at the table discussing toxic masculinity, this time helping Mack recognize where he’s going wrong with Liv. Sometimes throwing the script away is necessary in order to win the heart of someone who doesn’t trust easily & has been hurt in the past. We see Mack & the fellas become allies with regards to stopping the sexual degradation of women in the workplace. We also see both Mack and Liv sort through their own personal baggage, emotions tied to their parents and upbringing. It was interesting and at least for me, very relatable to see how toxicity stemming from childhood can have an impact on your own relationships as an adult. My only wish was for there to have been more of the courting aspects of this relationship. This follow-up was definitely more focused on bringing down the villain which I enjoyed but also would’ve loved more of Liv & Macks fun flirtattious interactions. Nonetheless, it was a really good time seeing some of my fave characters back on the page. Also, was anyone else cheesy smiling when we learned “The Russians” real name? 😂🙌🏽 I wouldn’t mind seeing him get a story arc…Jussayin 🤷🏻‍♀️💜

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SPOILER FREE REVIEW: THE LAST HOPE (THE RAGING ONES #2) BY KRISTA & Becca Ritchie

Title: The Last Hope (The Raging Ones #2)

Author: Krista & Becca Ritchie

Pub. Date: August 13th 2019

Genre: YA Sci-fi

Format: eGalley

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Pages: 400 Pages/12 hours & 53 minutes

Rating: 3.75 Stars

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*This is the sequel to The Raging Ones & although it is a spoiler free review for The Last Hope, you will get spoiled for The Raging Ones*

Taking off right where we left off, our three main characters Court, Franny & Mykall have been captured and are accused of being humans and not Salterians. Turns out there is a huge war taking place between Earth & Saltare with Earth being at a huge disadvantage. Saltarians all know their death days from the day they are born & as such have made great strides in winning the war against Earth. The trio are rescued at the very beginning of this story by Stork, a new character in the mix who has sought them out as part of his plan. Stork holds his cards close to his chest, he’s on a mission to even out the playing field between Earth & Saltare. Plotwise, The Last Hope had a lot going on with many twists & turns. Ultimately though, towards the very end it felt as if too much was thrown into the pot which made the story feel off kilter. That being said, the driving force for this book is the bond shared between Court, Mykkel, and Franny. I LIVE for character driven stories which is what made me LOVE The Raging Ones when I picked it up in 2018. Reconnecting with these characters once again makes you feel like you’re experiencing a rare bond that is truly unconditional. This time around Franny gets a love interest which I was full on hoping for. If anything, I only wish we’d had more time for their relationship to be as fleshed out as Court & Mykkels. Connected by taste, touch, and smell these characters EVERYTHING is intertwined. Some steam was brought this time around as these characters explored their passions & tested boundaries.

The Audiobook experience delivered A+ performance, told by way of multiple POV’s we got to experience Mykkel’s accent which for me at least gave me Viking Babe VibeZ haha! Court ever the intellectual is always stuck in his head & trying to put others before his needs. Franny a Fast Tracker who has ditched a life of drugs for the connection she has with Court & Mykkel. The romance between Mykkel & Court will forever go down as one of my favorite ships. These guys are from completely different backgrounds but there’s a deep tenderness in every interaction that will have you rooting for their love. I loved being back in this world but it was our new character Stork that truly gets the award for stealing the show. I LOVED Stork’s sarcasm! He’s someone who was dealt a crummy hand but managed to make the best of it & carries with him a deep appreciation for those who saw to his well being. It’s hard to believe our story has come to an end but it was a satisfying one at the very least. This being my first experience with Krista & Becca Ritchie’s books, it’s safe to say I’ll be looking into their backlist titles throughout the year ahead 🙂

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SPOILER FREE REVIEW: HEROINE BY MINDY MCGINNIS

Title: HEROINE

Author: Mindy McGinnis

Pub. Date: March 12th 2019

Genre: YA Contemporary

Format: eGalley

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Pages: 419 Pages

🖤ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review🖤

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Mickey Catalan is a star player for the High School Softball team and on the fast track to making history. Her prospects for college softball are looking promising but that all changes as a result of a car crash that brings her dreams to a halt. Given Oxycodone for painkillers & a lengthy period of recovery from her life threatening injuries, Mickey is left feeling desperate for a quick fix. Her encounter with someone who offers her more of the drug that is quickly sinking its teeth into her is only the start of a downward spiral. We see Mickey distance herself from her loved ones, making friends with others who like her have developed a co-dependent relationship with the drug. It starts with pain killers & escalates to other drugs, ultimately taking Mickey and leaving her a different version of the girl before the accident.

Whenever I pick up a Mindy McGinnis book its safe to say I know what I’m signing up for. I’ve come to deeply appreciate this author for taking on such tough real themes and handling them so well. There is no shying away from the dark & ugly truths here, instead we get a raw accurate portrayal of what it’s like to fall into addiction. Whether we’ve experienced it first hand or not, we’ve all known someone or had a close loved one experience this battle. Here we see a young teen who has a promising future & loved ones she finds herself lying to in order to continue to feed her addiction. While reading this book I felt despair & a sense of loss of control that I’m sure only scratches the surface. Every time I thought she was close to being exposed & wasn’t I worried for Mickey because I knew it only drove her further to push the limits. The book almost feels as its written in the stages of addiction one experiences. Denial was a tough one because the desperation comes through as well as the lying, stealing, and cover ups. The only reason I didn’t 5 star it was simply because although the addiction itself was deeply fleshed out, Mickey could’ve used more depth. Besides knowledge of her place in the softball team, we don’t get much on her life prior to the accident which didn’t allow for me to connect with her character. Despite this however, I feel this book absolutely carries importance & most of all hope.

Content Warning: Detailed drug addiction, overdose, withdrawals, death, car accidents, separation, infertility

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SPOILER FREE REVIEW: AN ANONYMOUS GIRL BY GREER HENDRICKS & Sarah Pekkanen

Title: An Anonymous Girl

Author: Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Pub. Date: January 8th 2019

Genre: Thriller Suspense

Format: Audiobook

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Pages: 375 Pages/11 Hours; 40 minutes

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“You’re Invited: Seeking women aged 18 to 32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality conducted by a preeminent NYC psychiatrist. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed. Call for more details.”

We meet Jessica who is stressed beyond measure & feeling a bit over burdened with a sense of duty to her family. Self appointed financial care taker of her sisters medical bills, Jessica is struggling to make ends meet. Her job as a on the go makeup artist is barely allowing for her to make a living let alone supplement her struggling parents income. When she catches word of a study that’s being held by a University Professor she seizes the opportunity. Things get weird rather quickly during the initial survey questions…

“Question #1: Could you tell a lie without feeling guilt?”

Nevertheless, Jessica was dead set on earning a bit of extra cash & answering some questions for a reputable doctor seemed harmless no matter how odd these morality/ethical questions seemed. As I listened to the audiobook which btw had excellent narration, I started to feel as if our MC was legit a spider caught in a web. I honestly got stalker vibes all the way through & wondered how the MC who was super inquisitive still managed to get lured in deeper. This was a very narcissistic read & our MC formed a co-dependent relationship from the very beginning. I can’t say I was honestly shocked by the twists & turns that were taken. However, the vibe of this book was so unsettling that it grabbed a hold of me & wouldn’t let go. If you’re looking for a suspenseful novel featuring some very toxic relationships then this would be the book to pick up. There were times I didn’t know for sure who was in the know vs. who was being drawn into a corner. Overall I enjoyed An Anonymous Girl & will most definitely be picking up this duo’s current title You Are Not Alone.

Content Warning: Suicide, Death, Sexual Assault, Adultery

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SPOILER FREE REVIEW: THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL BY MAUREEN GOO

Title: The Way You Make Me Feel

Author: Maureen Goo

Pub. Date: May 8th 2018

Genre: YA Contemporary

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Pages: 336 Pages

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This book will forever go down in my little corner of the universe as THE book that snuck up & delivered such a beautiful message of finding yourself and the connections we make along the way. Our MC Clara Shin is known as the school prankster & she sort of thrives on being disruptive. When one of her pranks goes a bit too far, she comes face to face with her archenemy. Rose Carver is the polar opposite of Clara, she’s very rigid and serious about her academic journey. Rose has made it very clear to Clara that she can’t stand her chill laid back approach to school. This last confrontation ends up getting a bit physical and both girls get heir parents called. Clara’s dad is a single parent trying to run a successful food truck in hopes of one day opening his own restaurant. It’s his idea to have the girls hash out their issues by working together at the food truck. The Way You Make Me Feel serves up delicious Korean-Brazilian dishes, teenage drama, cute romance, new found friendships, and parent/child relationships.

At first glance I thought I was getting into a cute light hearted Contemporary & to some extent it is but at a further glance, it’s so much more. Clara doesn’t know why she’s never taken school all that seriously however in her efforts to maintain a relationship with her mother, she discovers some truths about herself. I loved seeing the teens & parents in this story take on the hard task of introspection, facing that which drives them to behave a certain way. There’s discussion of the after effects of separation, academic pressures, anxiety, as well as the challenges of parenting for a single dad. My favorite aspect of this book revolved around the father/daughter relationship, Adrian gets all my love for being a rockstar Dad. Those that have been around my blog long enough know I have a weakness for father/daughter bonds as I had an amazing one with my own. Adrian doesn’t pretend to be perfect, he’s just a single dad trying to get back on track with providing some structure for his teen daughter. He’s known as the cool, fun, handsome dad & that worked for some time but he has a what I call “get real” moment. Finding a balance between Cool Dad vs. Tough Love Dad which he handles so well! On the topic of writing I will say there were times where Clara’s attempts at sarcasm felt a bit awkward. I don’t think the humor hit home with me & at times I sort of just looked past it. Instead I took away the bigger message and that’s that the road to self discovery is a journey worth making.

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SPOILER FREE REVIEW: ASHLORDS BY SCOTT REINTGEN

Title: ASHLORDS

Author: Scott Reintgen

Pub. Date: January 14th 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Format: Audiobook

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 368 Pages/10 Hours

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*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

There was a time where the Gods gifted their people Pheonix horses to battle in war, now those same horses are used for sport. What is required to become a Pheonix rider? Knowledge of Alchemy, fighting, and riding. A Pheonix is created by way of combinations in Alchemy & by Sunset that Pheonix bursts into flames. Each rider has the opportunity during a rebirth to create a Pheonix with specific skill sets/defenses. We follow three characters from very different backgrounds with a whole lot invested in winning this race & securing the bag aka Money & lots of it. It’s been a long time since there’s been an uprising & the Ashlords who are considered the elite in this word have been sitting pretty. Unchallenged since the last rebellion they quelled, the last thing they’d expect is for the people to turn against them. Many lives were lost as a repercussion of the last rebellion as a way to punish the people & ensure they never rise up again, many were ordered to be killed. This race is only the start of a war that’s been brewing & our MC’s have a stake in it all.

Imelda aka The Alchemist –Comes from a humble family who don’t have much funds but are rich in the love they have for one another. Imelda is a skilled Alchemist who has gained some notoriety with the help of her friend who records her creations with Pheonix horses & livestreams them. Imelda has no idea she is recruited as a pawn to divert the attention away from someone with elite status caught in a less than favorable position. Imelda is my favorite character simply because she is proving to be someone who may just flip the script *fingers crossed*

Pippa aka The Favorite –Comes from a family of Ashlords & famous Pheonix riders. The pressure is real for Pippa to make it big but her current relationship with another major Pheonix Rider is making her question a whole lot. Can her boyfriend handle her winning the race? or will that be too much for his ego? Pippa is very intelligent, competitive, and knows how to look out for her best interest. A worthy opponent she does make.

Adrian aka The Longhand – Son of the past rebellion leader, Adrian has been groomed all his life to one day lead their people against the Ashlords who have kept them oppressed. Adrian is described as being very strong & knowledgeable in these races. He’s studied them & has been mentored to recognize his competitors strengths & weaknesses. For Adrian this is about retribution.

Having read Scott Reintgen’s Nyxia trilogy, I was pretty confident we’d get a set of characters I’d love & I’m happy to report this proved to be the case. I listened to the audiobook version after learning that it was narrated by a full cast which is my absolute favorite way to listen to multiple POV stories. The voice actors were PHENOMENAL! you can’t go wrong when you’ve recruited Rebecca Soler who is known for voice acting for Marissa Meyer’s The Lunar Chronicles. We get a good grasp of the Pheonix Riders themselves, I just wish we’d had more on the history of the turmoil as well as the depths of the Gods involvement. Also, as a lover of all things Greek Mythology I really enjoy learning about the myths behind the Gods. I didn’t come away feeling satisfied on my knowledge of the gods in this world but hope we’ll get more of them in the sequel to come. It’s pretty bad a** to have a world where you can create magical horses! also, for all animal lovers the fact that these horses vanish at sunset since they are alchemical creations means they aren’t real horses suffering in this sport & that’s always a plus!<3

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Spoiler Free Novella Review: Mangos and Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera

Title: Mangos and Mistletoe

Author:Adriana Herrera

Pub. Date: December 16th 2019

Genre: F/F Romance/LGBTQIAP+

Pages: 152 Pages

Format: Kindle

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I’ll preface my review by mentioning that this novella was my first Kindle pre-order EVER! I’ve never been moved to click on that button until I saw this F/F LATINX Romance show up on my Twitter timeline cause it’s just not that common. I’m SO happy I did! this was one of my December reads & a easy 5 stars at that…

We meet Kiskeya Burgos as she arrives in Scotland straight from the Dominican Republic as a contestant in a televised Holiday Baking Challenge. Kiskeya is highly driven & focused with one goal in mind and that is winning. She has a lot to prove back home and that means she has a plan and a set of rules she’s made for herself to keep her sharp and on track. One of the key rules is to NOT mingle in any romantic sense but all of that changes when Sully Morales walks into her life…

Sully Morales is the complete opposite of Kiskeya, she’s an extrovert who is proud of her Dominican roots. Sully is super friendly, affectionate, and VERY attractive. When Sully sees Kiskeya there’s instant sexual attraction and so begins to flirt with Kiskeya in what has to be the cutest & most fun way I’ve ever seen on the page. She knows she makes Kiskeya uncomfortable but she really likes her & isn’t shy about it.

For the Holiday Baking Challenge contestants are paired up such that there’s one professional baker and one home baker per team. Kiskeya & Sully are paired up which makes for some SUPER (level 10 😉) steamy chemistry that will have you wanting release between these two. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun with any romance I’ve read! We get two polar opposites who have to share a hotel room & come to an agreement on the recipes/decor/presentation for the challenges. They’re both Dominican who’ve had different cultural experiences and baking is the one thing that brings them together. I LOVED the inclusion of ingredients & the colorful descriptions of all their baking creations. I haven’t read very many F/F romance books but after this one I’m on a mission to gather up some recommendations. This was the PERFECT read around Christmas even though the holidays aren’t the main focal point, it gave me all the warm holiday feels.

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Spoiler Free Review: The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2) by Holly Black

Title: The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2)

Author: Holly Black

Pub. Date: January 8th 2019

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publisher: Little Brown Books

Pages: 336 Pages

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Fan art credit by Monolime (click on image)

This sequel is one I’ve had on deck for a very long time simply because I knew I’d want to binge the rest of the trilogy after that EPIC ending in The Cruel Prince. We pick up right where we left off with Jude as the new Seneschal to the newly ordained King Cardan. Jude has bound Cardan for exactly 1 year & 1 day to serve as the King while Oak the real heir is sent to the mortal world. This of course places Jude in a position of power where she can pull strings & eliminate any threat to the throne. This time the world of Fae is more expansive with the inclusion of Princess Niccasia & her mother Orlagh who is Queen of the Undersea. We see tension build up between land & sea which strains the long standing peace treaty forged between the two. All the while, Jude and Cardan walk a fine line between hate & want for each other. Cardan bids his time in service to the crown by training with The Court of Shadows, growing stronger as the days go by & he is further connected to the land. Jude knows the time is running out & pretty soon Cardan will be liberated. She knows he has no desire to rule over the land but feels she can convince him to renew their bond in order to keep her in control until Oak comes of age.

Jude I still haven’t come across another fictional character more strategic, intelligent and downright cut throat like Jude. She continues to impress me with her thirst for power & ability to think ten steps ahead of the game. Jude is truly a great example of the student overcoming the master. She is still dealing with deep emotional issues with regards to Madoc who is her adoptive father of sorts. This is one complex character ou can’t help but admire.

Cardan I wasn’t completely sold on Cardan when we first met him in The Cruel Prince but here he had my FULL attention! it could have been his training with The Court of Shadows or the fact that he never truly submits to Jude even though that’s what it may appear to be. Theres more than meets the eye with Cardan who we learn has had a pretty messed up childhood & has been prophesied since birth to be the ruination of the land. By far my favorite character in this installment to the trilogy.

Taryn Continues to be as unlikeable as ever, Taryn is honestly the sister I’m glad I never had to deal with. Superficial and motivated by all the wrong reasons, Taryn is the complete opposite of Jude. We do get more understanding on her character but it’s just not enough to redeem her as a person to me & that’s ok we don’t have to love them all *shoulder shrug*

Vivi/Heather/Oak These characters I’ve bunched together since they move as one single unit in the mortal world. Vivi is Jude & Taryn’s fae sister entrusted to care for Oak until he comes of age. Vivi has no desire to live in Fae especially now that she has her girlfriend Heather in the mortal world. This is a cute trio who we also see encounter issues since Heather doesn’t know Livvy & Oak are Fae.

Maddoc Ruthless as always Maddoc has FINALLY learned to stop underestimating his adoptive daughter Jude. The master is seeing first hand how well his student has learned & adopted many of his tactics. Still, Maddoc has an agenda of his own & he’s still much peeved at having the crown stolen from right under his nose by Jude when she had Oak crown Cardan. Maddoc is someone I’d love to hate but find myself fighting my inner feelings for. I should despise him but “it’s complicated” to say the least.

Nicassia & Orlagh The Princess & Queen of The Undersea had much bigger roles in this installment & I quite enjoyed seeing their Kingdom & Mer-folk. Nicassia is still Queen B or rather Head Mean Girl In Charge. She had her eyes set on a marriage with Cardan until Jude showed up & ruined that. Out of all the parent/child relationships we see play out in this trilogy, much respect goes to these two because it is the healthiest of them all. Orlagh loves her daughter & has her back just as Nicassia goes hard for her Mother.

Fan art credit by Melie Scribbles (Click on image)

If you’re a fan of smart political cut throat stories set in fantastical worlds, then this is in my opinion top tier in YA Fantasy. Other than Oak who is still pretty young to be anything other than innocent, all of the characters are morally grey. I LOVED seeing Holly Black expanded Fae to include the Undersea & its key players. It’s a massive world open to many possibilities if they wanted to continue writing stories set in this world. I continue to enjoy Jude & Carden as main characters with many layers. These characters hold their cards close to their chest giving them an air of unpredictability I’ve come to appreciate and enjoy.

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Audiobook Review: The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

Title: The Wall of Winnipeg and Me

Author:Mariana Zapata

Pub. Date: February 28th 2016

Genre: Sports Romance

Run Time: 16 Hours

Format: Audiobook

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It’s safe to say I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of romance & I have ZERO regrets! Mariana Zapata is an author I’ve been hearing about for quite some time on Booktube & on Bookstagram. Some have dubbed her the Queen of Slow Burn. This being my first book by this author, I can’t really say if I agree but if the others are anything like The Wall of Winnipeg and Me then it’s a well earned title. This was slow burn to the max & I was HOOKED till the very last page! We start off with our MC Vanessa who is an assistant/cook/EVERYTHING to the popular football player Aiden Graves. She’s been working for him for two years & for those two years she’s pretty much felt invisible. Nevertheless, it paid the bills & helped her get back on track with debt reduction/savings. It was time to consider leaving the job now that she’d accomplished her goal. It was also time to focus more on her freelance graphic design gig. However, It was once she quit that Aiden had no other choice but to speak up. It was time for Aiden Graves to get his assistant back. The one he’d ignored on birthdays & every other morning. Of course there’s also a reason why he needs Vanessa back but that turns into so much more as the story unfolds and this is a spoiler free review 😉

This was my first Romance audiobook & I’ll admit I was a bit hesitant on quality. I was overjoyed when I realized that I was really getting into the story & MC Vanessa. 10/10 performance, in my opinion the narrator was the perfect fit for Vanessa. We don’t get a big cast of characters here which only allowed for A+ character development on behalf of our MC. I did wish we’d gotten a bit more of a fleshed out backstory on Aiden to start with as opposed to it being dished out at the very end. With Vanessa we get a female lead who has had a very toxic abusive relationship with her siblings & has pretty much distanced herself. She’s very much on her own making wiser money moves to get out of debt & working for Aiden was a means to an end. Still, it was hard not to be bothered by the fact that he made her feel invisible on a daily basis. We see her get back her power when Aiden goes looking for her with an offer. He’s in a difficult situation (it would be spoilery to mention the specifics) & he doesn’t trust very many people but Vanessa has never really been invisible to him no matter what appearances he gave off. Their interactions are limited until after she quits but Vanessa isn’t without a friend in the house. Zach who is Aiden’s roommate is by far a new favorite side character. He’s got this Southern charm & is all around a respectful fun loving guy who proves to be the friend Vanessa needed. I’d LOVE to read a story centered around Zach *a gal can dream* who made me smile whenever he walked into their fictional kitchen.

This is the type of story you pick up if you don’t mind the all powerful slow burn to the max. I definitely had moments where I just wanted these two to face their feelings for one another ASAP! but then again a part of me quite enjoyed having it drawn out #noshame Will I be picking up any other of Maria Zapata’s books? ABSOLUTELY! I already have Kulti & From Lukov with Love on deck…

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Spoiler Free Review: The Last True Poets Of The Sea by Julia Drake

Title: The Last True Poets Of The Sea

Author: Julia Drake

Pub. Date: October 1st 2019

Genre: YA LGBTQIA+ Contemporary

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Pages: 400 Pages

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This character driven story set in atmospheric Maine with its lyrical writing truly enveloped me every time I jumped into its pages. A story about familial bonds, depression, anxiety, self harm, and friendships. A family going through some very tough times & navigating as best they could in an effort to hopefully recover. We meet Violet who finds herself experimenting with drugs, alcohol and risky sexual behavior as a coping mechanism. Violets brother has just survived a suicide attempt & has been sent away to get help. Violet’s parents decide to send her to Maine with her uncle in an effort to get her back on track. Violet’s approach to a summer in Lyric is to do the opposite of what got her sent away. She decides to fade into the background, stepping away from center stage in an effort to become invisible. Giving up her clothes, hair, and makeup Violet claims a new identity in Lyric. While there, she is made to work at a nearby aquarium that is having a hard time keeping its doors open due to lack of funding. She was given the position because her great great great grandparents who were shipwrecked in Lyric are said to have discovered the island & therefore were the first to lay down roots.

We follow Violet as she makes friends with Orion, an animal lover who loves working at the aquarium. Orion then introduces Liv to his tribe of friends and from there bonds are formed. We also get a bit of a love triangle seeing as there’s history between Liv & Orion before Violet steps into the mix. This love triangle is the only reason for which I docked it 1 star, I just wasn’t a fan of how Violet went about her relationship with Liv & Orion. I understood Violet could be reckless at times but it really came across as her being self centered. Which again is something Violet is aware of & tries to work on but still I just couldn’t get behind it. Maybe it’s because I LOVED Orion & still think he was dealt a pretty crummy hand. Apart from this love triangle I did appreciate an enjoy each of these characters for different reasons. Liv is a historian in the making & is researching Violets great great great grandparents/shipwreck. She has a ton of questions as to what really happened and this is how she comes to connect with Violet. Orion is easily my favorite because he’s just a chill laid back guy who loves this struggling aquarium and all of the animals that live in it. There are two other side characters, one of which is a tarot card reader in the making who I enjoyed but don’t think he got much page time. Last but not least is Violets Uncle who also has a complicated relationship of his own with his sister (violets mom) and can relate best. He also happens to bake & work on puzzles on his down time as a method of coping with his own anxiety. We all need an uncle like this in our lives 🖤

At its root, this book is about the bonds we have with our family & those we make along the way. How no family is perfect & though we may get lost along the way, the journey to finding our way back makes us all the better/stronger. I’m looking forward to reading more books in the future by Julia Drake, especially ones centered around family.

Content Warning: drug/alcohol abuse, talk of suicide attempt, talk of anxiety & panic attacks