The Accidental Bad Girl by Maxine Kaplan

FEATURING⇢

High School Drama

Date Rape

Slut-Shaming

Drug Dealers

Social Media Mystery

and eventually...

Owning Your Mistakes & Your Accomplishments

Real Friendship

Undercover Cops & Take Downs

With Audio Performed by Julia Knippen

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ 4 STARS | GRADE B+

MY THOUGHTS⇢

On the outside, this feels like a vapid high school drama, with a dose of forced drug dealing.  You might even pass it up because of this.  But, you should give it a chance because it might just surprise you.  For the first half it felt just like all that to me...what with her incredibly lax parents and her shitty so-called friends...but it does eventually go somewhere. 

With a little mystery, and the tackling of some tuff issues, including slut-shaming, date rape & rape culture, and by the end, even her parental units step it up a bit.  Ultimately, it had a fairly good overall message and it surprised me how much I ended up liking it.

Narration by Julia Knippen was effortlessly executed, and this would make an excellent movie, too.  It actually reminded me of the movie Easy A.

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 4/5

Narration Performance⇢ 5/5

Characters⇢ 4.2/5

The Feels⇢ 4/5

Pacing⇢ 4/5

Addictiveness⇢ 4/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 4.2/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 4/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 4/5

Originality⇢ 4.2/5

Ending⇢ 4.2/5 Cliffhanger⇢ Nope.

_____

Book Cover⇢ Love it!

Setting⇢ Brooklyn, NY

Source⇢ Audiobook (Library)

Length⇢ 9 hours, 36 minutes

The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson

Molly Southbourne #1

FEATURING⇢

Creep-tastic & Weird AF
WTF did I just read?

First Half of A Complete Story
Duology (of Short Stories)
Horror-if-ic
Sort of Science Fiction &
Sort of Fantasy

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (TOR.COM'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ 4 STARS | GRADE B+

MY THOUGHTS⇢

I got this free from tor.com and on the one hand, it's cool that I got a book for free...but on the other hand, I have to buy the second book for $3.99 and it's barely over 100 pages.  Under-handed is what that is.  You sucked me in...and I caved, I needed the ending to this wholly unique experience that I had with this book.  Well done TOR 👏 (Reading of said book to commence soon, hopefully).

With an almost frenetic pace...or maybe that was just me, that day I read it.  Whatever it was, I found myself racing to read this.  I even found myself telling people at work about it.  It was just so out there.  The premise of this book had me thinking, no way would this plot work...but it actually did.  At least for me.  Overall, if I hadn't gotten this for free, I would have never read this series, because at eight dollars (roughly $4 a book)  it's a little costly to me.

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 3.8/5

Characters⇢ 3.5/5

The Feels⇢ 5/5

Pacing⇢ 3.5/5

Addictiveness⇢ 4.7/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 5/5 for the creep factor...

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 4/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 4/5

Originality⇢ 5/5

Ending⇢ 3/5 Cliffhanger⇢ YUP!

_____

Book Cover⇢ It's Creepy.

Setting⇢ I'm not sure...maybe Ireland or the United Kingdom.

Source⇢ Freebie from Tor.com

Length⇢ 122 pages

Quickie Review for A Quickie Novella --Sidebarred by Emma Chase

Legal Briefs Series #3.5

MY RATING⇢ 4.5 STARS | GRADE A-

For something so short...this was absolutely wonderful, plus so cleverly titled. Jake and Chelsea are my fav couple from this series, and I love the little something extra this gave us. With future life happenings on everyone involved in this series. Also, Sebastian York knocks it out of the park with the narration.

Losing Leah by Tiffany King

FEATURING⇢

Child Kidnapping

Aftermath Of Her Kidnapping
Twisted and Twisty
Mental Illness
High School Bullying
Overwhelmingly Sad

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE--or something like that)

MY RATING⇢ 3 STARS | GRADE C

MY THOUGHTS⇢

I'll admit the title is what initially drew me to this book...I'm a sucker for a book that has a character with my name.  This book had me completely, I was unsettled while reading Leah's POV...I kept picturing Mother (her kidnapper) to look like the Mom from the Goonies because she was pure evil just like Mama Fratelli.

Then came the first twist and I was like, okay...that threw me for a loop, but moving on...then came the second one, and I was...not buying it.  Overall, it felt like some elements were being done as a ploy to achieve a gotcha kind of moment and it became too problematic to believe.

I wanted a happy ending for these characters...and I didn't feel like I got it...and that's all I'm going to say about this since it is almost impossible to say how I feel about this book, without giving away spoilers.

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 3/5

Characters⇢ 4/5

The Feels⇢ 3.3/5

Pacing⇢ 3.5/5

Addictiveness⇢ 3.8/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 3/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 3.5/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 3.5/5

Originality⇢ 3/5

Ending⇢ 1.5/5 Cliffhanger⇢ ???

_____

Book Cover⇢ It's all right...

Setting⇢ Somewhere with a warmer climate...I don't think a city is mentioned at all.

Source⇢ Kindle eBook (Library)

Length⇢ 312 pages

The First Girl Child by Amy Harmon

FEATURING⇢

A New Favorite
Nordic Inspired Fantasy
With A Historical Feel

Rune Magic
Secrets, Lies & Betrayals

Love With Some Romance
With Audio Performed by Rob Shapiro

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ 5+ STARS | GRADE A++

MY THOUGHTS⇢

I. Could. Not. Stop. Listening.  I really loved this and I still can't believe this is available on KU, for a read & listen even.  Thank you, Amy Harmon, for writing such a heartbreakingly beautiful story.

Let me start off with saying that the narration by Rob Shapiro was fantastic.  When I first started listening, I didn't believe that he would do the book justice, I mean, after all, this is Amy Harmon.  He not only won me over but he did it fairly early on.  I always knew whose head I was in within seconds of the changeovers.  Bravo.

As the story unfolds it transports you to another time, another world with curses, blood runes, corrupt kings, keepers, and love...so much love.  And characters that you will love like Bayr, Alba, Dagmar, and Ghost.  I know I loved them.  There is a video on Youtube of a review that explains the intricacies of the world in this perfectly and I totally suggest watching it before you read it.

All I can say is read it. Or listen to it. Just consume it.

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 5/5

Narration Performance⇢ 5/5

Characters⇢ 5+/5

The Feels⇢ 5+/5

Pacing⇢ 5/5

Addictiveness⇢ 5+/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 5/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 5/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 5+/5

Originality⇢ 5/5

Ending⇢ 5/5 Cliffhanger⇢ Not really...

_____

Book Cover⇢ Love the dark wood with the barely discernable artwork or rune.

Setting⇢ Saylok

Source⇢ KU Read & Listen

Length⇢ 14 hours 32 minutes

The Girl With A Clock For A Heart by Peter Swanson

FEATURING⇢

Twisted Scheming

Switching Identities
Blah Characters

With Audio Performed by Paul Boehmer

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ 3 STARS | GRADE C

MY THOUGHTS⇢

I haven't been reading the Mystery genre for all that long now...I only ventured into it because I was not feeling Romances so much, they are starting to be the same story over and over.  I find that my tastes in murder mysteries don't always tend to be what everyone else really likes.  Maybe, it's that this is under the elusive category of Noir (I still haven't figured out what makes a mystery a noir).  Maybe, I don't like Noir styled stories.  It also could be about the Narrator...I didn't really like him, after all.

Basically, I was unable to really get invested in this story or the characters...especially the characters.  It was well written and it was very twisty, with a cleverly crafted title (I always like when the title doesn't really make sense until you read the book).  But...it just wasn't for me.

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 4/5

Narration Performance⇢ 3/5

Characters⇢ 2/5

The Feels⇢ 2/5

Pacing⇢ 2.7/5

Addictiveness⇢ 2/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 2.5/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 4/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 3/5

Ending⇢ 3.5/5 Cliffhanger⇢ Nah...just an open ending.

_____

Book Cover⇢ Meh...

Setting⇢ Boston, Massachusetts

Source⇢ Hoopla Audiobook (Library)

Length⇢ 8 hours, 39 minutes

Where the Crawdad's Sing by Delia Owens

FEATURING⇢

Surviving A Life Lived Alone
Coming Of Age
Two Timelines in the '50s & '60s
Literary

Murder Mystery
Splash of Romance

With Audio Performed by Cassandra Campbell

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ 4.5 STARS | GRADE A-

MY THOUGHTS⇢

Everyone seems to be raving about this and it is easily deserving of the praise.  As you can see by my rating, I had a teeny tiny issue...while I found the descriptive writing made the story more memorable and distinctive, especially when read by the incomparable Cassandra Campbell, after a while, it became a tad tedious.  I basically had a few instances where I was like, okay already...get on with the story.  Although, the Alternate POV concerning the Murder Mystery helped to keep the story more interesting whenever I was feeling bogged down with the prose.

Ultimately, this story has a way of getting under your skin and into your heart.  The character of Kya is so endearing that I couldn't help loving her.  I found myself fully invested in not only her struggle for survival but also her need for someone to love her, and to love her enough to stay with her.  This girl just perseveres.

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 4.5/5

Narration Performance⇢ 5+/5

Characters⇢ 5/5

The Feels⇢ 5/5

Pacing⇢ 4.3/5

Addictiveness⇢ 4.8/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 5/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 4.5/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 5/5

Originality⇢ 5/5

Ending⇢ 5/5 Cliffhanger⇢ Nope.

_____

Book Cover⇢ Well...they got the boat all wrong, she doesn't have a canoe...the boat has a motor.

Setting⇢ (The Marsh) North Carolina Coast

Source⇢ Audiobook (Library)

Length⇢ 12 hours 18 minutes

Immunity by Erin Bowman

Contagion #2

FEATURING⇢

Duology
Deadly Virus With Some Being Immune-ish

Telepathy & Super Human Strength

Tween Romance
Deep Space

Interstellar Traveling

Book #1 Rating 5 STARS
With Audio Performed by Amy McFadden

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ 4 STARS | GRADE B+

MY THOUGHTS⇢

Contagion, the first book absolutely blew me away.  The Zombie-Esque virus, the scary intense action, the mystery of what the flip is going on.  Unfortunately, Immunity dragged a bit for me...without giving away any spoilers...I was wondering if the story was ever going to progress from where it was, at the end of Book One.  I get that the author was trying to expand on the relationship between Thea and Cohen, but I just wasn't always feeling it...and I  wanted more of the action.  

Thankfully the last third did kick it back up, way up, and I thought the ending was a perfect way to end the duology.  It even left it open for a continuation of series, which I would totally listen too.  I also believe...

Amy McFadden gave good narration...I just couldn't tell when things shifted to a new POV, because she never changed her voice at all. But, I always say this and I'm hoping if I say it enough, they'll start to listen.

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 4/5

Narration Performance⇢ 3.5/5

Characters⇢ 4/5

The Feels⇢ 4/5

Pacing⇢ 4/5

Addictiveness⇢ 4.3/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 4.5/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 3.7/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 4/5

Originality⇢ 4.3/5

Ending⇢ 4.3/5 Cliffhanger⇢ Nah...but it might not be fully contained...

_____

Book Cover⇢ I freaking Love it!!!  The colors are amazing.

Setting⇢ Mostly Conna 7 (not sure of the spelling because of Audio) A space station.

Source⇢ Audiobook (Library)

Length⇢ 9 hours, 14 minutes

Stronger Than A Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan

FEATURING⇢

Asian Inspired Fantasy
A Magic System
Steampunk-ish
Iron Dragons

Splash of Romance
Stand-Alone

With Audio Performed by Emily Woo Zeller

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ 2.5 STARS | GRADE D+

MY THOUGHTS⇢

I wanted to like this, but it just never grabbed me, I liked the idea of the story more than the actual story.  It had many elements including mechanical dragons, that never really came to life for me.  Fantasy lovers who are tired of the same old cliched romance might like this because, while it has a splash of romance, it doesn't overshadow the story at all; and only comes into play towards the end.

I think the biggest reason I couldn't get into this was Emily Woo Zeller's narration.  Her voices were altogether too whispery, gruff or high-pitched squeaky, like make your ears pop kind of squeaky. That is the reason I listened to this at a speed of 1.65.  Which in turn made it difficult to follow the action scenes, although they could have been written in a way that was difficult to follow as well.  Sadly, I just didn't care that much to find out.

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 3/5

Narration Performance⇢ 2/5

Characters⇢ 3/5

The Feels⇢ 1.5/5

Pacing⇢ 2.5/5

Addictiveness⇢ 2.5/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 3/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 2.5/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 2.5/5

Originality⇢ 2/5

Ending⇢ 2.5/5 Cliffhanger⇢ Nah...

_____

Book Cover⇢ Hey, it has a Dragon on it, and I've needed one of those for a Reading Challenge for forever now.

Setting⇢ A fantastical realm with a name I more than likely missed...and I'm not sure how it would've been spelled, anyway.

Source⇢ Audiobook (Library)

Length⇢ 11 hours, 19 minutes

Impact by Haley Jenner

FEATURING⇢

Aftermath of Rape

Book Club

Contemporary Romance
Moving On With Life

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ ☆4.2☆STARS - GRADE= B+

MY THOUGHTS⇢

When it comes to contemporary romance, I need something different...this fits that fairly well.  A love story about a woman dealing with the aftermath of rape.  

Full Disclosure/TW:  The rape is told in flashbacks.  With most of the gory details there for you to read.  It was a scene that felt all too real, like something you could totally see happening.  The story itself takes place five years later and she is slowly trying to piece her life together.  She has a job in a coffee shop and there she meets a guy.  My main issue, and it wasn't a deal killer or anything like that, was with the believability of this guy.  He really was too good to be true.  So, that basically left me not feeling all the feels...right up until the ending.  The ending was fantastically done and I didn't predict any of it.  Not like that, anyway.  

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 4.2/5

Characters⇢ 4/5

The Feels⇢ 3.7/5

Pacing⇢ 4/5

Addictiveness⇢ 4/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 5/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 4.3/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 4/5

Originality⇢ 4/5

Ending⇢ 4.3/5 Cliffhanger⇢ Nope.

_____

Book Cover⇢ Love it!

Setting⇢ New York, NY

Source⇢ KU eBook

Length⇢ 268 pages

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

SKYWARD #1

FEATURING⇢

Fighter Pilot Training

Distant Planets & Mystery Aliens
Artificial Intelligence

Fantastic World Building
Overcoming Adversity
With Audio Performed by Suzy Jackson

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ ☆5+☆STARS - GRADE= A++

MY THOUGHTS⇢

How come I didn't hear about this sooner...Seriously, I loved this.  This book hooked me from the beginning with great narration and an insanely good overall story.  Not only a new favorite but also one of the top two books of my year so far.  Audio for this was absolutely amazing.  The varied voices Suzy Jackson performed were exceptionally done.  So very happy that I used my Audible credit for this.

I've also read/listened to Brandon Sanderson's Reckoner's trilogy and I really liked that series too...but this far exceeded that series and with only one book.  Skyward has a curiously mysterious plotline, plus an instantly likable cast of characters.  Set against a backdrop of interstellar planetary combat against some enigmatic aliens with fighter pilots in training, no less.   Plus that ending has me anticipating book #2, like what!  I have to say that I highly recommend Skyward!!!

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 5/5

Narration Performance⇢ 5/5

Characters⇢ 5/5

The Feels⇢ 5+/5

Pacing⇢ 4.8/5

Addictiveness⇢ 5+/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 5+/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 5/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 4.8/5

Originality⇢ 5/5

Ending⇢ 5/5 Cliffhanger⇢ More or less...

_____

Book Cover⇢ I like the English version, at least on amazon UK it shows that cover, way better (pictured below).  The US version is okay, though.

Setting⇢ Planet Detritus

Source⇢ Own Audible Audiobook

Length⇢ 15 hours, 28 minutes

Dev1at3 by Jay Kristoff

LIFEL1K3 #2

FEATURING⇢

Crazy Good Action Scenes

Lots of Lemon Fresh

Dystopian Earth
Futuristic Techy With Bots & Such
What It Means To Be Human and/or Different Themes
Book #1 Rating:  ☆5☆
With Audio Performed by Erin Spencer

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ ☆5☆ Neo-Meat™ STARS - GRADE= A+

MY THOUGHTS⇢

After listening to this book...I have the urge to recycle like a mofo, the overall theme here is Plastic is going to bury us one day.  But seriously, this book is chocked full of important messages, intense action scenes, and lovable characters.  The world that Jay has created here is insanely cool, multi-layered, and altogether frightening.

My only issue and it's obviously a small one because I didn't really let it affect my rating, is WHY only one narrator...I know you know how important it is to give everyone their own voice...is it the publisher that decided on only one?  Erin Spencer is really good, but she should just be only one voice, either Eve or Lemon's, not everyone's, including the male POV's.

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 5/5

Narration Performance⇢ 4.3/5

Characters⇢ 5/5

The Feels⇢ 5/5

Pacing⇢ 5/5

Addictiveness⇢ 5/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 5/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 4.5/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 5/5

Originality⇢ 5/5

Ending⇢ 5/5 Cliffhanger⇢ Spank my spankables...Hells yes!

_____

Book Cover⇢ It's a little boring...it hides a lot of un-boring inside of it...but it is starting to make sense why he chooses honeycombs for the covers.

Setting⇢ YouSay, Planet Earth

Source⇢ Audiobook (Library)

Length⇢ 11 hours, 58 minutes