Giulia

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Tw: domestic abuse, mental illness, child death, kidnapping, physical abuse, grief

Tom and his mom have finally found peace after a turbulent past and they move into their dream house with Mom's new partner and his daughter. Everything seems perfect until Tom notices strange messages written on the walls and locks on the outside of the bedroom rooms. He starts investigating the previous owners, a seemingly perfect family who moved across the street. Their daughter, Amy, is Tom's new classmate and she's charismatic and intriguing and Tom is sure she has something to hide and won't stop until he uncovers her secrets.

I really enjoyed the characters and I could emphatize with Tom and Amy, even though the dual perspective sometimes made it hard to create well-rounded and complex characters.

The atmosphere was so creepy and I found myself holding my breath and flying through the pages to find out what would happen next. I found the writing style very fluid and intriguing and the chapters were only two-three pages long, which is my ideal length, so I was able to read for longer than I usually do.

I highly recommend this to thrillers lovers and to anyone who's looking for a spooky and compelling read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy!

I Killed Zoe Spanos was such an exciting and thrilling read that I'm so sad it's over now! I loved the alternation between past and present and how it all came together! At first, everything was just as fuzzy as it was in Anna's mind and we embark on a journey with her to discover the truth! The only thing I didn't really understand was the initial obsession of Anna towards Caden, I mean I get that she's lonely and looking for friends and at the same time curious about the Zoe case but to me it sounded a bit forced.. but the ending was so perfect and there's nothing that remains unresolved. Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to read Zoe early and I can't wait to promote this book along with my fellow Novel Sleuths!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Let me starting by saying that the letter to the reader was honestly one of the most validating things I have ever read: “Dear Reader, I want you to know it's OK to be angry. Your anger is important.”

Like YES WOW, THANK YOU.

Eli is such a great character, the whole fact that she's a made-up thing created by witches for their own purposes is such a great metaphor! Like how many times have we felt objectified and powerless and stolen from our identity?! I loved it so much.

And the greatest thing, EVERYONE IS QUEER!

AND THERE'S A SEQUEL!!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity!

My mothertongue is Italian but I read it in English because I couldn't find the italian pdf anywhere... maybe that's why i didn't fully enjoy it. But it's John Green and he can make you feel connected to his characters. I loved every single one of them and it's a beautiful book about self-discovery. The end is pretty predictable but there are some lines that you can't but love them.
I suggest it!

 I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Tw: homophobia, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, toxic relationships, emotional abuse

I love both Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich so I was suuuper excited to get my hands on this one!

If This Gets Out is a beautiful story about two members of the most famous boy-band who fall in love, discover themselves and take down the music industry, one song at a time.

I loved all the characters, they were very well-written and I could feel the friendship that bonded them. I especially appreciated the fact that being queer wasn't an issue for any of them and they weren't weirded out by people shipping them.

Sophie and Cale both write beautifully and I hope this is just the first of many more collaborations in the future!

I highly recommend this to any YA lover and to those who love a story about discovering themselves and finding love in the most unexpected places. 

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was one of my most anticipated 2021 reads and it delivered!! Also, the cover is stunning and it really reflects the soul of the book.

Lara has been obsessed with Chase Harding for YEARS and after a summer that changes everything, he finally start noticing her and flirting with her too. Lara's life couldn't be more perfect then, she has amazing friends, a fun job and the boy of her dreams. Except that in the summer, she met a wonderful girl, Jasmine, that makes her question everything about herself. And when Jasmine walks through her high school doors declaring that she will stay permanently, Lara is faced with a choice: she either needs to be honest with herself or completely forget the best summer of her life.

I LOVED Lara and Jasmine, and all the other characters too. Usually in books when you have a group of friends, their only personality trait seem to be “the best friends of the main character”. In this case, they were all well-rounded, with their own interests and their own stories. I also really appreciated how diverse they all were.

I loved the cheerful and humorous atmosphere and the writing was so descriptive and fluid that I felt like I was in the story with all the characters.

Dahlia Adler's writing is fun, romantic and reflective and her distinctive voice made this one a very special book.

I highly recommend this to any YA lovers, especially those who are still looking to find themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Tw: sexual harassment, abuse, terminal illness, homophobia, vomit, alcohol and weed consumption, mention of conversion camp, misogyny, teen pregnancy, murder

Trixie and Lux are excited to finally get out of their town for the weekend but a night of violence changes everything and the girls will have to try survive on their own.

I LOVED this book! I could really feel the anxiety the two girls felt while they were escaping from the media and the cops. At times I had to put down the book and just breathe.

Trixie was passionate, impulsive and hopelessly in love with her best friend Lux. At first I was rooting for them, but reading further I realized their relationship was quite toxic because they completely isolated themselves from the rest of the world and they wouldn't let anyone into their little bubble.

I really loved the description of the places and I really felt like I was travelling alongside with Trixe and Lux.

The book was fast-paced and a total page-turner and I ended up devouring it in less than three days.

I highly recommend it to fans of Courtney Summers and those looking for an intriguing YA thriller!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy!

I have a big thing for Belles and the South (blame on Hart of Dixie) so when I first discovered this book I had to read it even though english isn't my mothertongue.
And I really loved it. Until the last pages.
It is an amusing, full of suspence book, even though I found the storyline a little slow in certain points but it's definitely a good story and I enjoyed a lot.
But the beginning and the end are the most important parts of the book and the end was totally disappointing.
What was the point of Saylor dying and passing her powers to Ryan??? It was surprising and a heck of a plot twist but I didn't like it at all.
And what about Bee? She's taken somewhere by Blythe and Harper does nothing about it? But who cares, she has two boys at her feet.
In the end, it is a lovely book but it left me a little disappointed.

THIS BOOK WAS GIVEN TO ME BY EDELWEISS+ IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

OVERALL
The idea was there but I felt like the author didn't go deep enough to make us feel something and feel connected with the characters. If you like character-driven novels in verses, this could your book!

Read the full review here

A Convenient Marriage is not a book about marriage. It's a book about friendship, accepting yourself, letting go of family's expectations and lastly, about love.

This book was different from all others because it brought attention to two very important stigmas: mental health and homosexuality, all in the context of conservative Sri Lankan families.

The protagonists are Chaya and Gimhana, both workaholics and excellent in what they do but not so much when it comes to love. Chaya still suffers from letting go her first love because it was considered unsuitable by her family and her culture while Gimhana is a gay man who works in a very conservative company and therefore can't come out and have to keep appearances in order to succeed in his field. Their families are both pushing them to get married, so since they get along great and none of them wants to settle down, they arrange a fake marriage. All seems to work out until they fall in love.

When I talked about it with some friends, they highlighted that I'm picky and that's totally true. If you look at my Goodreads, you'll mostly see positive reviews because I don't usually finish books that don't really resonate with me.
When I started reading A Convenient Marriage I wasn't so convinced about it. The characters seemed bland and the writing seemed basic but I didn't give up on it because I was intrigued by the plot and the fact that the protagonists were Sri Lankan.

So I kept on reading and then I found myself hooked. The writing style improved and the characters became more well-rounded and relatable. When I wasn't reading, I couldn't wait to get back into the story, to see if Chaya was making progress with her mental health and Gimhana was accepting himself a bit more.

Seeing a strong and successful woman dealing with anxiety was so important for me because it reminded me that I'm not alone and everyone deals with something different, even if they seem perfectly fine from the outside.

I found myself rooting for Chaya and Gimhana and their respective love interests because I could deeply understand them and they deserved love, despite the mistakes they made in the past.
I adored the ending, I was grinning so hard reading the last pages that I kept on smiling even after I finished the book.

To sum up, despite a weak start, I really connected with the characters, I both loved the original plot and setting. It was definitely an enjoyable and quick read and I recommended it to my friends.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

What started as a book about two friends making a pact about losing their virginity before college became so much more and I'm so happy I had the lucky opportunity to read it early.

Meredith Beaumont doesn't take risks and sometimes she wonders why she's friend with Johanna, who's the exact opposite of her. One night, the two girls, after a few drinks, sign an anti-virginity pact and that's where the troubles begin.

Johanna sets her mind on losing her virginity to their hot teacher, but don't worry, you won't get teacher-student romance (which I personally despise, so thank you Kate Wismer for that!). Meredith, on the other hand, finally convinces herself to start talking again to her childhood friend Sam.

I really liked the character of Meredith, except for some poor choices she made that had me screaming: “why, why, would you do that?” The description of her anxiety was well-done and on point and I'm grateful it's being talked about without being romanticized.

One of my favorite quotes of the book is:

“Because when you're quiet, you learn to speak in short, fast sentences, because you're not sure how long people will listen to you. You get the words out as quickly as you can - sometimes so quickly, they start to slur and trip over each other, just so you won't have to be the center of attention for too long.”

As an anxious mess myself, I can't count how many times people told me to slow down while I was speaking, because I was rushing to the end, because I believed that someone else was gonna take away my spotlight soon enough.

I thoroughly enjoyed how everything was wrapped up in the end and I highly recommend this to YA lovers and everyone who ever made a pact with themselves or a friend to experience more.

Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy!

Lost Girl, A Shelby Day Novel is a book about following your passions, kicking ass and letting yourself feel things deeply.

This book was different from all others I've read before because it featured a young reporter going after her dreams, despite being mentally ill. It's so important to see positive representation of mentally ill women.

Shelby Day is a Jewish twentysomething suffering from PTSD who comes from a rich family but wants to make it on her own. That's why, she leaves LA and her family home to pursue her passion as reporter. In a small town where nothing important really happens, a murder of two teenage girls in their home shock the community and changes Shelby's life. Aside from being the most important story of her career, Shelby feels a strong connection with the murdered girls and can't let go of the story, even when she starts receiving death threats. But she must unravel the mystery fast or she'll be the killer's next victim.

I really loved the character of Shelby, her being headstrong and passionate but also incapable of sharing her true feelings. I have to say I found a lot of myself in her and it honestly feels so good when a few pages in, you can already see that you're going to get attached to a character.

My favorite part of the book was a dialogue that Shelby was having with Jack about her mental illness. It felt so raw and real and it's so important to normalize this and try to eliminate the stigma.

“Did something I say trigger you?”
“No, sometimes they just happen.”
“How often?”
[...] “Often enough. Meds help, but it's always there. My whole family is the same way. I swear it's like Jew disease. PTSD is in our DNA. We're all carrying on the suffering of our ancestors.”
“Why'd you pick such a stressful job if you're anxious all the time?”
“I'm a mess no matter what. Might as well do what I want.”

I'll never stop screaming about how perfect this whole scene is. Thank you, Holly Kammier.

The story is quick paced and unpredictable, and I really enjoyed following Shelby in her adventures and seeing her finally open up to the possibility of love.

I wish we could have known more about her past, especially about her relationship with her mother but I get that the book was relatively short and focused on her resolving the murders, rather than her past. Shelby wanted to let go of her past and be brand new, so it kinda makes sense that we only know who she is now.

To sum up, I really loved both the plot and the characters, and the writing style was fluid and it kept me hooked. I would recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery story and badass female characters.

I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Okay so lesbian noir was the thing I didn't know I desperately needed! I finished this book in two days and definitely wanted more!

Micky Knight is a private investigator and she's hired by a woman to find her missing sister. Until that woman, or someone who looks like her ends up in the morgue. She also discovers that she's the contact for that same woman who was in the process to buy a house from her ex girlfriend's cousin Karen Holloway. Micky has to uncover what the game is and who's playing. Because the stakes are murder.

This book was such a fun, quick-paced and smoth read and the plot twists were well placed and unpredictable! I didn't know this book was part of a series before I picked it up but I'll be sure to check out the rest of them because I can't get enough of Micky. She's smart, relatable and interesting and the secondary characters were also well written.

Thank you J.M. Redmann for allowing me to read this early!

BOOK REVIEW- WHAT IF
THIS BOOK WAS GIVEN TO ME BY EDELWEISS+ IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Josh Baker isn't sure why his brain tells him to do things that other people don't need to do: checking his locker again and again, counting cracks in ceilings, and always needing to finish a song, for starters. He is a talented drummer, a math genius, and he knows everything about rock and roll. Yet, he knows his problems have the power to hurt his family and make him fail at school. When Josh is diagnosed with OCD, it's a blessing and a curse. Can he overcome his thoughts, or will they break him?

This is a verse novel, a genre I'm not accustomed to and I tend to dislike but this was not the case. The book was fluid and pleasant to read and it tackled an important theme, the OCD, and it did it so well and not in a heavy manner because we saw the story through the eyes of a 17-year-old boy. The author really managed to connect us with Josh and to make us feel his emotions and his struggles. The end of the book teaches an important lesson: it's okay to ask for help and surround yourself with your loved ones.

I really recommend this book if you are looking for something short but deep!

I received a eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Angst, so much angst!!

Iris is a great football player at her work company's football team and a proud lesbian while Cam is a blunt American who just transferred from the US because of her fiancé's new job. They become incredibly close in a few days and what starts as a beautiful friendship, then becomes something else entirely...

This book was full of feelings and the author punched us in the gut with some breathtaking lines. I related so much to the character of Cam, she's always been the good little girl who always put other people's wishes before her own, always too scared to make her own choices. Then Iris came along and she realized that she wasn't living the way she wanted, the way she deserved to. The end left me all fuzzy and I ‘m a sucker for happy endings.

In conclusion, if you are a fan of slow burn, friends to lovers and lots of angst, this is definitely the book for you!

I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this book so much!! Willa's story is so important in the era of social media, where we all try to perfectly curate our life and make it seems so perfect from the outside. I love her character so much, her spontaneity but also her seriousness when the situation requires it. I can say the same thing about Lane, how many times did I change myself just to please my loved ones. I believe there's a bit of Willa and Lane in every one of us.

The only thing I didn't really like was the age gap, I mean 14 years is a lot, but Lilah Suzanne did an excellent job at depicting it, not making it too heavy but at the same time not hiding it completely.

The scenario was lovely, I would totally love to live on a small island, going to the beach every day on a skateboard - if only I knew how to skate -

The writing style was fluid and compelling and the comic scenes were really well done.

The ending left me feeling all warm and fuzzy and that's my favorite kind of ending. Happy ending or death!!

Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this marvelous book early!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed reading this powerful poetry collection by Tolu' A. Akinyemi, I particularly loved the captivating title that encapsulates the meaning of the book.

One of my favorite poems was the one not marrying a writer if you have secrets because they will expose you. I could very much relate to that!

One lesson that I got from this book is that words, in whatever form, can be very hurtful, so it's important to ponderate what we want to say whether it's online or in real life.

I highly recommend this to lovers - and non-lovers - of poetry, since it's a collection that will leave a mark on every type of reader.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy.

I received an eARC in exchange for a honest review.

Elliott Parker is Colton Crest, Hampton High's Golden Boy best friend and on the day of his funeral he finds a letter that leads to six other clues that Colton's killer left for him in a twisted game to figure out his identity and his motives. Elliott embark on a mission to get justice for his friend but he has to be careful because his life is also on the line...

The story was original, the ending was totally unexpected and the characters were very well-outlined. I could really feel the suspence and the tension that Elliott felt while trying to uncover Colton's murderer.

I would definitely recommend this book to people who love a good mistery YA novel!

Thank you Netgalley and Wattpad Books!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Alison is your awkward, average-looking nerd who wants more than anything to become valedictorian. In order to help her chances, she agrees to produce her school play and that's when her life starts getting more complicated. For starters, she has to deal with her best friend Becca, who is in love with her oldest friend Jack, but won't ever consider speaking to him and her crush Charlotte, who is way too cool for her. On top of that, she still has to study hard to achieve her dreams. This sounds like a recipe for disaster, but maybe things have to get really messy before they get really good.

This book was so cute!! The characters were well-rounded and relatable and screaming at Alison to stop creating messes bigger than herself was so fun. It was a light read with a happy ending and that was definitely what I needed.

One thing I disliked was the conflict between Alison and Charlotte, it wasn't built up appropriately, so I felt like it was coming out of the blue. Nevertheless, I loved their romance and I was cheering them on the whole time!

I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a cute lesbian romance!

I didn't know what to expect about this book, I read the plot and the reviews and I decided to start it. I thought it was kind of a light reading but I was definitely wrong, I'm still in shock after the ending. But I liked it, I liked it because I didn't expect anything. So if you're looking for a book with a shocking ending, this is your book. Don't let yourself fooled by the cover or the title or the plot, I read it in 3 days and it was worth it!