Title: Every Stolen Breath

Author: Kimberly Gabriel

Genre: Young Adult Mystery/Thriller

Publication Date: November 5, 2019

Rating:  (4 stars)

Every Stolen Breath is a promising debut novel from Kimberly Gabriel that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

Two years after the brutal murder of her father at the hands of the Swam, Lia Finch isn’t any closer to finding the truth she so desperately seeks. But everything changes after she witnesses the Swarm’s next attack and finds herself thrust into the action … this time with a target painted on her back.

Lia is a gem of a main character. She’s been a fighter for as long as she’s been alive. Others constantly write her off due to her anxiety, PTSD, and severe asthma, but her tenacity makes her a force to be reckoned with. I found myself rooting for her every step along the way. Gabriel does a wonderful job of putting the reader in Lia’s shoes. When her PTSD blurs the lines between what’s real and what’s not, you’ll feel just as winded as Lia as she struggles to root herself back in the present.

“The Swarm” is a fascinating villain. There’s something especially chilling about seemingly random mob violence, even more so when you realize the attacks are loosely based off events that did transpire in Chicago in 2011. Gabriel doesn’t do any sugar coating, and Lia can’t help but constantly replay the traumatic events back in her head. It keeps you aware of the constant threat with every turn of the page.

I enjoyed this novel. With genuine characters, twists and chapter cliffhangers, and an intensity that only ratchets up as you go, Every Stolen Breath is a breeze of a read. Kudos to Gabriel for a strong debut novel, and I can’t wait to see what she cooks up next!

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About the Author

Kimberly Gabriel started writing in fourth grade when she wrote, bound, and gave away books of terrible poetry to family and teachers as holiday gifts. Today she is an English teacher, who still squanders all free minutes to write and uses it as the best scapegoat for her laundry avoidance issues. When she is not teaching or writing, Kimberly is enjoying life with her husband, her three beautiful children, and a seriously beautiful boxer in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Every Stolen Breath is her debut novel and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.

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Warm thanks to BLINK and the Fantastic Flying Book Club for providing me with a finished copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Title: Have a Little Faith in Me

Author: Sonia Hartl

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance

Publication Date: September 3, 2019

Rating:  (4 stars)

What a pleasantly surprising rom-com with a feminist, sex-positive twist!

Have a Little Faith in Me is a blast from cover to cover. When CeCe follows her ex-boyfriend to a religious summer camp in a misguided attempt to win him back, she quickly finds herself in over her head in an environment that seems quick to paint her as a sinner. But with the help of her best friend and some surprising allies at the camp itself, she learns some important lessons about love, about consent, and about her own self-worth.

Hartl’s debut novel tackles heavy issues through the lens of a teenage girl who’s quick to cover her own vulnerability with acerbic humor. CeCe’s sassy personality took me aback in the first several pages, but once you buckle up to enjoy the ride, you learn that there’s so much more to her than the façade she puts on for everyone outside her inner circle. It’s really a joy to see her peel back the layers as summer at “Jesus camp” turns out to be more trying than she had expected.

The characters really steal the show here, and one of my favorite relationships in the story is CeCe and Paul’s. They play off one another wonderfully. I’m a sucker for a good fake dating trope, and this one’s filled with plenty of cliche yet heartwarming moments. But beyond their chemistry is the wonderful contrast of their healthy relationship, rooted in years of trust and friendship, against the toxicity of CeCe’s relationship with Ethan. Paul is everything a best friend should be, patiently and stubbornly helping CeCe open her eyes to the truths that she doesn’t want to see.

I also absolutely loved the scenes with CeCe and her cabinmates. With internalized stereotypes on both sides of the table, there are certainly hurdles to overcome, but the gang hits it off immediately. The candid vulnerabilities and fierce loyalties shared in Cabin 8 and eventually spread throughout all of the girls at camp had me rooting for them every step of the way.

Admittedly, the motivation behind the plot is a little out there, and I had a couple of misgivings with the pacing of the ending, but that didn’t keep me from thoroughly enjoying Have a Little Faith in Me. All in all, it was a breeze to read, and I highly recommend it. I absolutely applaud this important and often overlooked take on consent, and I’m so glad to see more and more of these unapologetically feminist and sex-positive young adult novels hitting the shelves.  Thank you, Sonia Hartl, for adding CeCe’s unforgettable voice to the movement.

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About the Author

Sonia Hartl is a YA author who calls Michigan home, even though she’s lived in several different states. Her debut novel, Have a Little Faith in Me is forthcoming from Page Street Publishing. When she’s not writing or reading, she’s enjoying pub trivia, marathoning Disney movies, or taking a walk outside in the fall. She’s a member of SCBWI and the communications director for Pitch Wars. She has been published in The Writers Post Journal and Boston Literary Magazine. She lives in Grand Rapids with her husband and two daughters.

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Warm thanks to Page Street Publishing and the Fantastic Flying Book Club for providing me with a finished copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Title:

Author: Megan Goldin

Genre: Thriller, Fiction

Publication Date: July 30, 2019

Rating:  (4 stars)

‘Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.’ 

In the lucrative world of Wall Street finance, Vincent, Jules, Sylvie and Sam are the ultimate high-flyers. Ruthlessly ambitious, they make billion-dollar deals and live lives of outrageous luxury. Getting rich is all that matters, and they’ll do anything to get ahead.

When the four of them become trapped in an elevator escape room, things start to go horribly wrong. They have to put aside their fierce office rivalries and work together to solve the clues that will release them. But in the confines of the elevator the dark secrets of their team are laid bare. They are made to answer for profiting from a workplace where deception, intimidation and sexual harassment thrive.

Tempers fray and the escape room’s clues turn more and more ominous, leaving the four of them dangling on the precipice of disaster. If they want to survive, they’ll have to solve one final puzzle: which one of them is a killer?

The Escape Room is a fun and breezy guilty pleasure read about four coworkers who find themselves trapped in an elevator escape room. It isn’t long before the claustrophobic confines start to shed light on all their darkest secrets. Although this isn’t quite a twisty mystery or psychological thriller, it still keeps you on your toes and is an enjoyable novel.

The plot is told in two threads, the first being an omniscient present timeline that spans the twenty four hours trapped in the elevator. Up close and personal, it’s clear to see that all four characters are simply despicable people. They’re greedy and manipulative, quick to knock each other down as they claw their way to the top.

The second timeline spans the past several years and is told in the first-person perspective of an ex-coworker pointedly missing from the present. Sara Hall’s voice was often a much-needed breath of fresh air from the ruthlessness crammed into the elevator. The two narratives complemented each other well with sections that were short and succinct, revealing just enough to leave you hungry for more and then flipping back to the other timeline.

There’s nothing flowery or figurative about the prose or dialogue. Everything is as blunt and to the point as the characters themselves. Often, this can be off-putting in a novel, but the choppy diction and syntax really helped build the tension and desperation that had flooded the elevator by the final pages.

I had fun with this one! If you’re looking for a quick read that’s enjoyable but not too deep, it’s definitely worth checking out The Escape Room.

Warm thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Title:

Author: Laura Steven

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Publication Date: June 11, 2019

Rating:  (4 stars)

Eighteen-year-old Izzy O’Neill knows exactly who she is—a loyal friend, an aspiring comedian, and a person who believes that milk shakes and Reese’s peanut butter cups are major food groups. But after she’s caught in a compromising position with the son of a politician, it seems like everyone around her is eager to give her a new label: slut.

Izzy is certain that the whole thing will blow over and she can get back to worrying about how she doesn’t reciprocate her best friend Danny’s feelings for her and wondering how she is ever going to find a way out of their small town. Only it doesn’t.

And while she’s used to laughing her way out of any situation, as she finds herself first the center of high school gossip and then in the middle of a national scandal, it’s hard even for her to find humor in the situation.

Izzy may be determined not to let anyone else define who she is, but that proves easier said than done when it seems like everyone has something to say about her.

What do I want to be now? Bold. Fierce. Honest. A fighter. A revolutionary. A bitch. Because the way the world treats teenage girls – as sluts, as objects, as bitches – is not okay. It’s the exact opposite of okay.

The Exact Opposite of Okay is an eye-opening novel with a powerful and timely message. Self confidence is never something that Izzy O’Neill has struggled with. As an aspiring comedian, she knows all too well that the trick to getting through high school (and life in general) is not taking herself too seriously. But Izzy soon finds herself in a very different kind of spotlight that’s no laughing matter, and she comes face to face with the blatant sexism that exists in modern society.

Heavily laced with the sarcasm, wit, and self-deprecating humor that are cornerstones of Izzy’s personality, the narrative unfolds in a blog post format. It’s a perfect vehicle for the candid intimacy with which Izzy shares the ups and downs of her tale. Izzy is a very messy but real character, and I found her confidence in her sexuality and unapologetic attitude about enjoying sex to be quite refreshing. Yet her core, Izzy is still a vulnerable teenage girl, and the moments where she lets herself break down are powerful reminders that the plot isn’t pure fiction. Slut-shaming and revenge porn are horrifying realities that high school girls face on a daily basis, and even though Izzy puts on an incredibly strong front she shouldn’t have to.

I applaud Laura Steven for tackling such a relevant issue in a way that manages to infuse levity without detracting from the very real, very infuriating dichotomy between how society treats sex when it comes to young men versus young women.

I did feel that the ending came across as somewhat rushed, but it’s hard to have any sort of true closure when what Izzy faced is the type of burden that leaves a mark for years to come. Still, I’m excited to see that her story continues in a sequel, A Girl Called Shameless, where I can’t wait to watch Izzy continue to take back her own narrative and challenge the sexist notions of the society we live in.

The world really does need more books like this one. Hats off to Laura Steven for capturing such a poignant topic in a manner that manages to be both hilarious and frustrating, but most of all real. I highly recommend giving The Exact Opposite of Okay a shot!

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About the Author

Laura Steven is an author, journalist and screenwriter from the northernmost town in England. The Exact Opposite of Okay, her YA debut, was published by Egmont in March 2018. The sequel, A Girl Called Shameless, will follow in 2019.

As well as mentoring aspiring authors through schemes like Pitch Wars, Laura works for Mslexia, a non-profit organisation supporting women writers. She graduated with Distinction from her MA in Creative Writing in 2017, and her TV pilot Clickbait – a mockumentary about journalists at a viral news agency – was a finalist in British Comedy’s 2016 Sitcom Mission.
​
Laura is represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary and Media Inc.

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Title:

Author: Ashley Herring Blake

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Publication Date: May 15, 2018

Rating:  (5 stars)

“I need Owen to explain this. Because yes, I do know that Owen would never do that, but I also know Hannah would never lie about something like that.”

Mara and Owen are about as close as twins can get. So when Mara’s friend Hannah accuses Owen of rape, Mara doesn’t know what to think. Can the brother she loves really be guilty of such a violent crime? Torn between the family she loves and her own sense of right and wrong, Mara is feeling lost, and it doesn’t help that things have been strained with her ex-girlfriend and best friend since childhood, Charlie.

As Mara, Hannah, and Charlie navigate this new terrain, Mara must face a trauma from her own past and decide where Charlie fits in her future. With sensitivity and openness, this timely novel confronts the difficult questions surrounding consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault.

Some parts of me are gone. Some others have come alive, woken by the need to fight, to matter, to be heard. Some parts are wary, others angry, others heartbroken. But I’m still me. I’m still moving. We all are, in some way or another.

What a phenomenally moving and all-too-relevant novel.

As the founder of the feminist newspaper on her high school campus, Mara holds certain beliefs near and dear to her heart and isn’t afraid to get loud about them. But when one of her best friends accuses her twin brother of rape, suddenly there’s no such thing as black and white.

Girl Made of Stars is an emotional story about the questions that don’t have answers. How can someone you’ve known your entire life be capable of such an atrocious crime? Can you still love someone despite the worst thing they’ve ever done? How can anyone move on from such a tragedy?

The prose is beautifully written yet still so hard to read because of the heavy spread of topics it covers. And it’s exactly because of those topics that everyone should read it. Girl Made of Stars analyzes slut shaming, victim blaming, and consent. Yet at its core, it’s still a novel about hope, about love, about survival.

This. This is why I never said anything. Because no one ever believes the girl.

Mara is so, so easy to fall in love with as a main character. She’s fiercely brave yet incredibly vulnerable, and I was invested in her from the very start. Her struggle to untangle her emotions from what is becoming increasingly clear as the truth behind the situation is heart-breaking. Hannah’s accusations hit close to home not only because of who is involved, but also because they force Mara to face a trauma buried deep in her own past.

It’s impossible not to get caught up in the same doubts that plague Mara throughout the novel when the rest of the cast is filled with characters just as rich and three-dimensional: Owen, the twin brother who’s been at Mara’s side her entire life, whose goofy and kind-hearted exterior shows cracks of something darker underneath if Mara forces herself to look hard enough; Mara’s parents, who always inspired Mara’s moral compass but seem to refuse to look hard enough themselves; Hannah, so broken yet so strong, who feels the need to apologize for the trouble she’s causing Mara even while weighed down by a shadow that will haunt her for the rest of her life. These achingly realistic characters only highlight the fact that there are no easy answers, no clear cut path forward.

My hands itch to hold my family—hold them together. But we’re already in pieces.

The representation in Girl Made of Stars also deserves praise. Mara’s ex-girlfriend and long time best friend Charlie struggles with her gender identity, and Mara has the opportunity to explore her own bisexuality and conflicted feelings about sex. I found a connection to these characters that’s still not as common in YA novels as it should be, and I’m still in awe at how much ground was covered in just over 300 pages.

This is a book that doesn’t shy away from the hard questions; it tackles them head-on and unflinchingly. There were times when I wanted to scream, when I felt sick to my stomach, when the tears flowed freely. This is a book that made me feel. Kudos to Blake for packing so many timely topics into a tale that still manages to flow seamlessly and poignantly. It’s not an exaggeration to say this is the most important novel I’ve read in a long, long time. I’d recommend Girl Made of Stars to absolutely anyone.

Even girls made of stars aren’t asked, aren’t believed, aren’t considered worth the effort unless they can offer something in return. Even girls made of stars buy into those lives sometimes.

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Title:

Author: David Gordon

Genre: Mystery, Fiction

Publication Date: August 7, 2018

Rating:  (4 stars)

In David Gordon’s diabolically imaginative new thriller, The Bouncer, nothing and no one is as expected—from a vial of yellow fragrance to a gangster who moonlights in women’s clothes.

Joe Brody is just your average Dostoevsky-reading, Harvard-expelled strip club bouncer who has a highly classified military history and whose best friend from Catholic school happens to be head mafioso Gio Caprisi.

FBI agent Donna Zamora, the best shot in her class at Quantico, is a single mother stuck at a desk manning the hotline. Their storylines intersect over a tip from a cokehead that leads to a crackdown on Gio’s strip joint in Queens and Joe’s arrest—just one piece of a city-wide sweep aimed at flushing out anyone who might have a lead on the various terrorists whose photos are hanging on the wall under Most Wanted.

Outside the jailhouse, the Fed and the bouncer lock eyes, as Gordon launches them both headlong into a nonstop plot that goes from back-road gun show intervention to high-stakes perfume heist and manages to touch everyone from the CIA to the Flushing Triads. Beneath it all lurks a sinister criminal mastermind whose manipulations could cause chaos on a massively violent scale.

David Gordon’s debut is an unexpectedly fun heist-gone-wrong story filled with plenty of action and humor. Unwittingly pulled into a job where absolutely nothing is as it seems, Joe Brody proves himself again and again as anything but your average bouncer.

Gordon’s wildly entertaining writing style meshes perfectly with a main character like Brody, who rolls with the punches even as the stakes are constantly shifting. He can be calm and collected in the most dire of situations, but he can also turn his body into a lethal weapon at the flip of a switch, and it’s so much fun to tag along for the ride.

Although we start out primarily from Brody’s perspective, at the plot picks up, so do the point of view shifts. We flit between a variety of the colorful individuals in Gordon’s eclectic cast of characters. During several of the scenes, the quick shifts in perspective were handled in an almost tongue-in-cheek sort of way that had me grinning and appreciating Gordon’s unusual and specific writing style.

What didn’t quite work for me was how the fast pacing only left room for rather shallow characters. I would have liked to dive deeper into the backgrounds of especially Joe Brody and Donna Zamora, and I could have done without the forced attraction between them. Nevertheless, because The Bouncer only clocks in at just over 200 pages, it’s clear that this is a book that intends for its readers to get lost in the action rather than the characters, and once you embrace that, it’s still a fun ride.

The Bouncer is a short, action-packed read that makes for a solid debut from David Gordon. What it lacked in character development, it certainly made up for in its zany roller coaster plot, and it certainly succeeded in putting a smile on my face!

Warm thanks to Grove Atlantic and Mysterious Press for providing me with an advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Title:

Author: Kit Frick

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Publication Date: August 14, 2018

Rating:  (4 stars)

It’s hard to find the truth beneath the lies you tell yourself.

THEN They were four—Bex, Jenni, Ellory, Ret. Electric, headstrong young women; Ellory’s whole solar system.

NOW Ellory is alone, her once inseparable group of friends torn apart by secrets, deception, and a shocking incident that changed their lives forever.

THEN Lazy summer days. A party. A beautiful boy. Ellory met Matthias and fell into the beginning of a spectacular, bright love.

NOW Ellory returns to Pine Brook to navigate senior year after a two-month suspension and summer away—no boyfriend, no friends. No going back. Tormented by some and sought out by others, troubled by a mysterious note-writer who won’t let Ellory forget, and consumed by guilt over her not entirely innocent role in everything and everyone she’s lost, Ellory finds that even in the present, the past is everywhere.

The path forward isn’t a straight line. And moving on will mean sorting the truth from the lies—the lies Ellory has been telling herself.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I—”

“I took the one back to you.”

See All the Stars is a thoroughly impressive debut novel from Kit Frick that explores themes of toxic friendship, young love, and finding oneself. A powerful coming-of-age tale, this young adult contemporary manages to be unexpectedly fun despite being laced with dark themes, and I couldn’t be more pleased to be sharing my thoughts with you today as part of the blog tour leading up to its release.

Told in a dual timeline structure (my forever weakness), See All the Stars explores the multifaceted friendship of Ellory, Bex, Jenni, and Ret: their strengths and the cracks in their armor while they were together, as well as the aftermath of the catastrophic event that tore them all apart. The plot certainly kept me on my toes and guessing throughout, but it’s worth noting that See All the Stars is first and foremost a character-driven novel. All of the characters are intriguingly flawed, and it’s riveting to watch their personalities clash against one another. The female friendships in this book run deep and true, but there’s undoubtedly an undercurrent of toxicity; think Pretty Little Liars or We Were Liars or even Gossip Girl. Ellory is constantly pulled back into Ret’s orbit, even when she acknowledges just how manipulative the other girl is being. And Ellory herself isn’t entirely innocent. She’s a gem of a protagonist, and she isn’t above getting her hands dirty with lies of her own if she can convince herself they’re for the better.

I’m still baffled that this is Frick’s debut novel; it’s hard to tell from her gorgeous writing style. The prose is almost lyrical, and it’s wonderfully evocative in both the past and present threads. A blissful naïveté colors the events of the previous year as Ellory explores her first relationship and its effects on her closest friendships, and there’s a hazy detachment that permeates her senior year as she tries to come to terms with the horrible ending of the year before. Rich metaphors breathe another layer into the characters and their relationships; I especially loved the recurring constellation-themed allusions to Ellory, Bex, Jenni, and Ret’s friendship, making See All the Stars really earn its title. I also loved the motif of the opening lines of the famed Robert Frost poem, which starts as an inside joke between Ellory and Ret and yet comes to symbolize all of the choices and roads not taken by the end of the novel.

The twist at the ending is two-pronged and executed well, and I thought it made for a very fitting conclusion to Ellory’s story. I will say that I felt the parts leading up to it were rather predictable and fell somewhat flat, but that didn’t take away from the impact of the overall reveal and how impressed I am that Frick was able to pull it off seamlessly.

I had a blast with Kit Frick’s debut novel, which is rich with lyrical prose, engaging themes, and vivid characters. I’ll be eagerly on the lookout for more of her work in the future, but in the meantime, I highly recommend giving See All the Stars a shot!

Soon Ret’s world was my world, her friends my firneds. It was like it had always been that way. Everything Ret touched felt electric, a little bit dangerous. Including me.

Before Ret, I was basically invisible.

With Ret, I was somebody.

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About the Author

Kit Frick is a novelist, poet, and MacDowell Colony fellow. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, she studied creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from Syracuse University. When she isn’t putting complicated characters in impossible situations, Kit edits poetry and literary fiction for a small press, edits for private clients, and mentors emerging writers through Pitch Wars. Her debut young adult novel is See All the Stars (Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books, August 14, 2018), and her debut full-length poetry collection is A Small Rising Up in the Lungs (New American Press, fall 2018).

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Check out the full tour schedule for See All the Stars here.

Warm thanks to Simon & Schuster and the Fantastic Flying Book Club for providing me with a finished copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Title:

Author: Meredith Miller

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Publication Date: July 31, 2018

Violence in the small, suburban town of Highbone, Long Island, is escalating, and best friends Joan and Daisy are finding themselves in the centre of it.

Joan has always been fascinated by the inner workings of living things: dogfish, eels, stingrays. But the more she sees of life outside her microscope, the more she realizes that people aren’t as easy to read as cells on a slide, and no one, not even Daisy, tells the truth.

Daisy’s always wished he had a family more like Joan’s, and that desire has only grown since his dad went to jail. But not even Joan can help Daisy keep his deadbeat older brother from putting everyone close to them in more danger.

When tragedy strikes too close to home, Joan and Daisy need each other more than ever. But no matter how hard they try, their secrets and lies have driven them apart. It’s only a matter of time before their friendship, just like their town, goes up in flames.

I’m thrilled to be participating in the blog tour for How We Learned to Lie by Meredith Miller, which reeled me in with its vivid description. I was fascinated by the concept of two friends growing apart due to the insurmountable weight of their own lies and the roles they play in the violence seeping into their town.

In this slow burning, coming-of-age tale, the characters steal the show. Joan and Daisy have been through thick and thin together, an unlikely duo that has just clicked for as long as they can remember. Joan is strong-willed and stubborn with an insatiable appetite for facts. She’ll dissect anything to get to the truth, both metaphorically and physically when it comes to her interest in marine life. Daisy, on the other hand, is more reserved but loyal to a fault. He’s much less willing to question the status quo if doing so would threaten his friends or family, but for his friends or family, he would go to the ends of the earth. When things begin to fall apart and Joan turns her attention inward, putting everything under a microscope in her search for the truth, Daisy looks outward, finding solace in the telephone lines he can engineer and manipulate to broaden his horizons beyond his hometown.

How We Learned to Lie is such an honest and real look at a friendship crumbling apart even when both participants are trying so hard to cling to the remnants. As violence and drugs begin to plague their small town, Daisy and Joan’s relationship becomes fraught with half-truths and outright lies that can’t help but spiral. It’s an incredibly relatable and well-thought character study of how, once you start lying, it can become almost impossible to stop.

Be warned, this is not a fast-paced novel. It’s not the plot-driven mystery I thought it was going to be when I picked it up. Instead, it’s a vivid and unapologetically self-aware coming-of-age tale that really explores every facet of its lead characters. I do wish the mystery element had been a bit stronger, though. There’s some wonderful meta commentary throughout the book, where both Joan and Daisy actively call out moments and wonder why they didn’t tell the truth, but some of that meta commentary builds up foreshadowing that fell flat for me because the book always opted to shine a light on the characters rather than the plot.

If you’re looking for a novel that really gets into the heads of its characters and picks apart how well-intentioned lies can wear down even the strongest of friendships, consider giving How We Learned to Lie a shot!

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About the Author

Meredith Miller is the author of Little Wrecks and How We Learned to Lie. She grew up in a large, unruly family on Long Island, New York, and now lives in the UK. She is a published short story writer and literary critic with a great love for big nineteenth-century novels and for the sea. Her short stories have appeared most recently in Stand, Short Fiction, Prole, Alt Hist, and The View from Here.

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Warm thanks to Meredith Miller and the Fantastic Flying Book Club for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

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This week’s theme is supposed to be Favorite Novellas/Short Stories, but I apparently …. don’t read short stories? Aside from required reading back in school—and I wasn’t looking to go so far down memory lane—I can’t think of any short stories I’ve read outside of the occasional novella for series that I follow. So I decided to put a slight twist on the topic and instead make it Favorite Series with Novellas.

I focused on book series I’ve read at least one book from, even if that book wasn’t a novella. And to be completely honest, even with those caveats, I *really* struggled to come up with this list. Shorter books just really aren’t my thing!

For my picks, I’ve included the cover and synopsis of the first book in each series with the cover linked to the series page on Goodreads. Check out my picks below!

Cainsville

The first book in this series is Omens.

Twenty-four-year-old Olivia Taylor Jones has the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.

But Olivia’s world is shattered when she learns that she’s adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence. When the news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancé, Olivia decides to find out the truth about the Larsens.

Olivia ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her efforts to uncover her birth parents’ past.

Aided by her mother’s former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, Olivia focuses on the Larsens’ last crime, the one her birth mother swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. Because there are darker secrets behind her new home and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her.

• • •

Although this urban fantasy series had its ups and downs for me, I was fascinated by the rich mythology and characters. I just recently read its first post-series novella, Rough Justice, and I hadn’t realized several other novellas were written during the series … I’ll have to circle back!

Harry Potter

The first book in this series is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Harry Potter’s life is miserable. His parents are dead and he’s stuck with his heartless relatives, who force him to live in a tiny closet under the stairs. But his fortune changes when he receives a letter that tells him the truth about himself: he’s a wizard. A mysterious visitor rescues him from his relatives and takes him to his new home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

After a lifetime of bottling up his magical powers, Harry finally feels like a normal kid. But even within the Wizarding community, he is special. He is the boy who lived: the only person to have ever survived a killing curse inflicted by the evil Lord Voldemort, who launched a brutal takeover of the Wizarding world, only to vanish after failing to kill Harry.

Though Harry’s first year at Hogwarts is the best of his life, not everything is perfect. There is a dangerous secret object hidden within the castle walls, and Harry believes it’s his responsibility to prevent it from falling into evil hands. But doing so will bring him into contact with forces more terrifying than he ever could have imagined.

Full of sympathetic characters, wildly imaginative situations, and countless exciting details, the first installment in the series assembles an unforgettable magical world and sets the stage for many high-stakes adventures to come.

• • •

This is a little bit of a cheat, but I’m totally counting the Hogwarts Libraries stories, including Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. I actually haven’t read any of them, but I love that they exist!

Otherworld

The first book in this series is Bitten.

Elena Michaels is the world’s only female werewolf. And she’s tired of it. Tired of a life spent hiding and protecting, a life where her most important job is hunting down rogue werewolves. Tired of a world that not only accepts the worst in her–her temper, her violence–but requires it. Worst of all, she realizes she’s growing content with that life, with being that person.

So she left the Pack and returned to Toronto where she’s trying to live as a human. When the Pack leader calls asking for her help fighting a sudden uprising, she only agrees because she owes him. Once this is over, she’ll be squared with the Pack and free to live life as a human. Which is what she wants. Really.

• • •

This was the first adult series I ever read, and it’s where I fell in love with Kelley Armstrong’s writing. The thirteen book series is creates a rich urban fantasy world filled with so many lovable characters, and many of them get their back stories fleshed out with novellas.

Gallagher Girls

The first book in this series is I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You.

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school-that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it’s really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real “pavement artist”-but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her? 

Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she’s on her most dangerous mission-falling in love.

• • •

I adored this series when I was back in high school but never got beyond the third book or so. It was a little cheesy but a lot of fun! Apparently it has a couple novellas, which I didn’t realize before searching for series that would fit this theme.

Darkest Powers

The first book in this series is The Summoning.

My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don’t even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost – and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won’t leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a “special home” for troubled teens. Yet the home isn’t what it seems. Don’t tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It’s up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House… before its skeletons come back to haunt me

• • •

I love that there’s a young adult series set in the same world as Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld series. I think this is the first book I ever read by her, but as you can tell, it was far, far from the last. I definitely thought the adult series was the stronger series, but the Darkest Powers series had a lot to love, too.

Darkness Rising

The first book in this series is The Gathering.

Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn’t know much about her background – the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip – but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town – from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend’s hidden talent for “feeling” out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel…different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya’s biological parents and it’s easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet

• • •

I didn’t realize this series existed until years after I had finished both the Darkest Powers and Otherworld series, but it continues on in the same world after the events of the Darkest Powers. Again, I felt the Otherworld series is the strongest of the three, but I did really enjoy the characters and powers introduced in these books.

The Mediator

The first book in this series is Shadowland.

Suze is a mediator — a liaison between the living and the dead. In other words, she sees dead people. And they won’t leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living. But Jesse, the hot ghost haunting her bedroom, doesn’t seem to need her help. Which is a relief, because Suze has just moved to sunny California and plans to start fresh, with trips to the mall instead of the cemetery, and surfing instead of spectral visitations.

But the very first day at her new school, Suze realizes it’s not that easy. There’s a ghost with revenge on her mind … and Suze happens to be in the way.

• • •

This was definitely a childhood favorite series, and I about lost my mind when I found out Meg Cabot was releasing a final novella and book targeted at an adult audience years after the original series closer had been released. I’ve still yet to read Remembrance, mostly because I want to do a full series re-read first, but I’m so excited.

Nadia Stafford

The first book in this series is Exit Strategy.

Nadia Stafford is one of the world’s few female contract killers. A former cop, drummed out of the force because of a scandal, she is an expert at disguise and cool under pressure. But when fellow hitman Jack arrives on the scene, Nadia’s very private existence is seriously challenged.

A series of victims are being murdered seemingly at random all over the country — different areas, different walks of life, different MOs. There is nothing to tie them together except a random page torn out of a single book: Helter Skelter. But does the Helter Skelter killer — as the hysterical media now dub him — have a real connection to Charles Manson? Or is there something even more sinister at work?

Is this, in fact — as Jack believes — the carefully planned exit strategy of a fellow professional killer, determined to leave the life, but equally determined to clear up an old mistake? And, if so, which is the real victim?

Now, the highly suspicious and secretive hitman community will have to break their cover — at least, to each other — and help take down this killer before the cops and the Feds discover his true connection to their own secret, exclusive society….

• • •

Although this is probably Kelley Armstrong’s least well-known series, I love it to pieces. The books are dark and gritty, but the characters feel very real and the plot is gripping. I’ve been aching to do a re-read for ages, and I’ll have to make room for the novellas in the series if I do.

Princess Diaries

The first book in this series is The Princess Diaries.

Mia Thermopolis is pretty sure there’s nothing worse than being a five-foot-nine, flat-chested freshman, who also happens to be flunking Algebra. Is she ever in for a surprise.

First Mom announces that she’s dating Mia’s Algebra teacher. Then Dad has to go and reveal that he is the crown prince of Genovia. And guess who still doesn’t have a date for the Cultural Diversity Dance?

• • •

I remember breezing through these books in early high school, but I don’t remember much more than that! I though they were a great companion to the much-loved movie, though, and I had fun comparing and contrasting the plots. There are a handful of novellas tucked in there, but I don’t believe my library had them, so I didn’t even realize they existed until throwing this post together.

Throne of Glass

The first book in this series is Throne of Glass.

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her … but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead … quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

• • •

I am loving this series. I just recently finished the fourth book, Queen of Shadows, and could totally see myself circling back to finally read the small anthology of prequel novellas before continuing on with the series … gotta make these awesome books last, after all.

Real talk, of this entire list, I’ve only read some of the novellas from the Otherworld series and the Cainsville series. I’m not exaggerating when I say I really don’t do novellas and short stories!

I love that there’s five series on here by the same author. I simply didn’t have enough books to talk about otherwise. Thanks for coming in clutch, as always, Kelley Armstrong  And I’m also amused that about half of these were books I read in high school. Did anyone else struggle immensely with this topic?

Feel free to link your posts this week – I’d love to see all your picks. Check out That Artsy Reader Girl’s host post for even more inspiration!

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Title:

Author: Kerry Wilkinson

Genre: Young Adult Mystery

Publication Date: July 26, 2018

Rating:  (4 stars)

‘I will never forget the night I drowned…’

A village with something to hide.

Seventeen-year-old Eleanor Parker wakes up cold and alone in the river that twists through her quiet village. She has no memory of how she got there. But she does know that another girl was drowned in the same river the summer before, held under the water by an unknown killer…

A community torn apart.

Eleanor is a normal, every day teenager. She argues with her mum, spends her days with her best friend, and is looking forward to a carefree summer of sunshine and music. Who would want to hurt her?

A shocking secret.

Determined to unlock the mystery of what really happened to her, Eleanor can’t escape the feeling that something awful links her to the previous summer’s murder. But will she find out the truth before it’s too late?

The Death and Life of Eleanor Parker isn’t your typical young adult mystery — it’s a genre-defying, original spin on investigating your own murder … after the fact.

Ellie Parker is just your average teenage girl who suddenly finds herself with a slew of not-so-average problems when she wakes up on a riverbank with large gaps in her memory. Last night might be a blur, but she has the unsettling certainty that she was drowned the previous evening.  And it’s not just Ellie’s memory that’s gone—she’s missing her sense of smell, can’t stomach food, and is absolutely freezing all of the time.

How can you investigate your own murder when no one realizes you’re really dead? Ellie struggles to determine who she can and can’t trust, keeping everyone at arm’s length as she begins trying to plug the holes in her memory. Her brother’s girlfriend died in the river the previous year—is it connected? Or does it have to do with the mysterious man who’s been spotted on the outskirts of town? Or with the way her boyfriend is suddenly hesitant to be around her? Wilkinson injects a witty humor into Ellie’s voice that makes her mishaps and cynical societal commentary a joy to read. With far more suspects than clues, she must retrace her steps and solve her own murder, doing her best to ignore the fact it feels like time is running out, and she’s not quite sure what will happen when it does.

I didn’t realize just how literal Ellie’s return from the death would be, but despite my initial surprise and wariness, I became fascinated by the unique plot. Not wanting anyone to find out the truth behind her not-so-alive predicament, Ellie does her best playing the expected role of best friend, girlfriend, sister, and daughter, even when she’s doubting the intentions of everyone around her. It’s a fun dichotomy, and I flew through this novel so much quicker than I had expected.

I love that we don’t get bogged down by the existential technicalities of what happened to Ellie, but it does make her return from the dead come across as rather hand-wavy at times. I also wish there had been more focus on scratching beyond the surface of Ellie’s interpersonal relationships. It felt like some of her friends and family were just plot points, which left me unsure where she stood with them at the end of the novel.

Nevertheless, The Death and Life of Eleanor Parker is a quite enjoyable young adult mystery novel. It’s got plenty of unique twists and a refreshing protagonist that will keep you on your toes. Be sure to be on the lookout for when it’s released later this month!

Warm thanks to Bookouture for providing me with an advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

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