Source: Paperback ARC from Publisher

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Apr 12

${ARC Review+Giveaway} Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian @sebastian_lk @DelacortePress$

{ARC Review+Giveaway} Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian @sebastian_lk @DelacortePress

Ash Princess is the first book a young adult fantasy series by the same name by author Laura Sebastian. Ash Princess is Laura Sebastian’s debut novel, which impressed me even more. I really liked this novel. I know it might seem like a storyline that you have heard before, and while I am not going to say it so shockingly different, it was different enough to stand out against other young adult fantasies. I especially loved the foreword, where she describes her heroine as someone who does not battle with a sword, but rather, with her own wits and cunning. It is really refrshing to see such a heroine portrayed, because it made her so much more relate able to me. Theo is the princess of her country that was invaded and taken over when she was a little girl. Her parents, and most of her people, were killed and Theo, or Thora, was kept as a palace prisoner. The invading ruler, called the Kaiser, believes that he completely broke… Read more »

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Apr 09

${ARC Review} Bound to You by @_AlyssaBrandon_ @SwoonReads$

{ARC Review} Bound to You by @_AlyssaBrandon_ @SwoonReads

Bound to You is a young adult paranormal romance by Alyssa Brandon. Bound to You is the first book in a new series about Werewolves (at least I hope so!). Now, let’s just get this out of the way up front. I have been pretty burnt out on wolves for a while now. I have always enjoyed a good werewolf story, but after seeing countless dozen iterations of the same thing, I got a little bored. So I haven’t really read too many young adult novels featuring werewolves in the past couple of years. Sure, there have been some of my favorite series in the past have been about werewolves, but I have not found any novels in the past 2 or 3 years that have grabbed my attention. In fact, almost all I have read were either DNF or under 3 stars. Until Bound to You. Holy cow, I loved this book. I really loved this book. I read it in one sitting and I stayed up until about… Read more »

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Mar 14

{ARC Review+Giveaway} Lost Crow Conspiracy by @RosalynEves @KnopfBFYR ‏@TheNovl

Note: this is the second book in a series that must be read in order. Though I will keep spoilers to a minimum there may be spoilers for the first book in the series. If you are new to the series, you can check out my review of book one- Blood Rose Rebellion, HERE Lost Crow Conspiracy is the second book in the young adult fantasy series, called Blood Rose Rebellion. It is also author Rosalyn Eves debut series which really impressed me. The first book, Blood Rose Rebellion was an excellent read for me, and I can’t wait to journey back into this crazy world. The first book ended on a great note, with Anna breaking the binding with her breaking magic and releasing magic to the masses. Initially it seems like a fantastic idea, but this is only the start of the second book, where we get to delve deeply into the class struggles and political drama that have really heightened in the world that Rosalyn Eves has… Read more »

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Feb 14

{Review} Layover by Amy Andelson & Emily Meyer @GetUnderlined

Layover is a young adult contemporary novel by authors Amy Andelson & Emily Meyer. I love a great sibling story, which is exactly what I got with Layover. Layover follows three step-siblings- Amos, Flynn & Poppy. Layover felt refreshing and delightfully “not canned”. I really enjoyed the emotional themes explored as well as the dynamic between the characters. There is a romance as well, but it didn’t take over the story and best of all, it didn’t take anything away for our three main characters and the other things they are going through. Layover is told in the point of views of Poppy, Amos and Flynn. I really liked this multiple perspective format. It was great to see the rotating chapters because we got to delve deeper into what each of the siblings were going through. Let’s start with Flynn. Flynn’s mom has just passed away, so she goes to live with her father and step-mom, which is Amos and Poppy’s mother. Then we have Amos, who escaped to boarding… Read more »

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Feb 08

{ARC Review+Giveaway} The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk @DelacortePress @GetUnderlined

The Beauty That Remains is the debut young adult novel by Ashley Woodfolk. The Beauty That Remains is powerful book featuring wonderfully diverse characters. It is a realistic fiction piece about how people deal with loss differently, and also about how this new era of social media can shape the grieving process. I really enjoyed this novel. I found it to be so multi faceted, and so interestingly put together. I think this is a great book to recommend to reads of realistic contemporary fiction. Ashley Woodfolk is a wonderful new voice in young adult literature. The Beauty That Remains is told in three different point of views, following our three main characters- Autumn, Shay, and Logan. Each of our main characters has lost someone close to them. Autumn lost her best friend, Shay lost her twin sister and Logan lost his ex-boyfriend. There were a few things that I really loved about this novel. First, I loved the diversity in the cast of characters, and I loved how each of their journeys… Read more »

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Feb 02

${Review+Giveaway} Winner Take All by @Laurie_Devore @ImprintReads @FierceReads$

{Review+Giveaway} Winner Take All by @Laurie_Devore @ImprintReads @FierceReads

Winner Take All is a young adult contemporary by Laurie Devore. It was a really interesting read for me. There were parts of it that I liked and parts of the story that I didn’t love as much, but I will say one thing about this novel, it really made me think. Even the characters that I didn’t love, made me think. And for that, I enjoyed Winner Take All. It was different than I expected, but not necessarily in a bad way. Winner Take All was a very entertaining read that made me think a lot about double standards that exist in our society today. Winner Take All is the story an extremely competitive main character. Nell wants to be the best at everything. Nell is a very polarizing character. I can see readers either really liking her or really disliking her. Personally, I liked Nell. I liked that she is who she is. No, she is not perfect. Yes, she can be brash and abrasive at times, but… Read more »

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Dec 08

{Review} Ever the Brave by @ErinSummerill @HMHKids

*Note: This is the second book in a series that needs to be read in order. If you are new to the series, you can check out my review of book one, Ever the Hunted HERE* Ever the Brave is the second book in the young adult fantasy series, Clash of Kingdoms by Erin Summerill. I loved the first book in the series, ever the hunted, and I have to say I really enjoyed Ever the Brave as well! I found the story to be an excellent follow up novel to the first book. It was just as strong of a story. ever The Brave picks up shortly thereafter the events of the first book, so you do need to read this series in order. There are lots of interesting aspects to touch on in Ever the Hunted- there is magic, romance, political intrigue and action and suspense. Plenty for any fan of fantasy. One of the things I loved about Ever The Hunted was the interesting magic abilities found… Read more »

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Nov 27

{Review} The Booke of the Hidden by @JeriWesterson @DiversionBooks

The Booke of the Hidden is the first book in a new series by the same name, by Jeri Westerson. I really, really enjoyed this supernatural/urban fantasy read. It follows our main character Kylie, as she moves across the country to a town in Maine, where she opens up her own Herb & Tea shop. There she finds a book hidden in the wall, called the Booke of the Hidden. From there, she is swept up in a crazy whirlwind demon hunting adventure that reminded me of part Buffy the Vampire Slayer and part Supernatural. I cannot wait to read more about this series. Kylie is a feisty main heroine. She has no problem standing up for herself, which I loved about her. Even when she first meets the mysterious Mr. Dark, she doesn’t mind putting him in his place. I loved that Kylie was immediately embraced into this quirky small town. It is already a spiritual town. Kind of like in Buffy, where the town seemed to be the… Read more »

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Nov 01

{Release Day Review+Giveaway} #Otherworld by @jasonsegel & @bankstirregular @DelacortePress

Otherworld is the first book in the young adult science fiction series of the same name by author duo Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller. I know they have teamed up to write the nightmare! series, but this is the first book I have read from them. I love the concept of Otherworld because virtual reality technology is developing at an astounding rate, so it is the perfect time to visit a crazy virtual reality world and see what kind of implications that might have. And Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller took that concept and blew it out of the freakin’ water. I am chomping at the bit for the second book! Otherworld is hands down, one of the best novels I have read all year. I loved it. There are so many layers to Otherworld. First, there is the new Otherworld headset technology that was released to a couple thousand test users, which was awesome by itself. You basically got to experience a whole world where you could do anything… Read more »

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Oct 29

{Mini Review+Guest Post+Exclusive Extra} The Wicker King by @KaylaAncrum @FierceReads

Hi Guys! I hope you are having an excellent weekend! Today I am super excited to be a part of The Wicker King blog tour! I really enjoyed the book, so you can check out my mini review. I also have a guest post from the author, K. Ancrum and an exclusive GIF extra from the cover shoot for the book cover. How awesome is that? Be sure to jump around to the other blogs on the tour to see more exclusive extras! Today we have author K. Ancrum here to tell us 10 things we didn’t know about her. Thank you so much for being here Kayla! blue is Book Briefs commentary Even though I write YA, I actually prefer MG for my recreational reading. My current favorite is The Mysterious Benedict Society. I used to have an expansive personal library, but recently donated all of my books so that I could participate more actively in our public library system. I’ve always only written novels and long-form fiction, and… Read more »