Call me Skie

Library student. 24. WordPress: https://stormyskyreads.blog

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Review of A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

Do you like fantasy novels with consumable magic? Do you enjoy books with mysterious elements? If so, A Magic Steeped in Poison is the book

Today's the day! A Magic Steeped In Poison is out now!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for giving me access to this eARC of A Magic Steeped In Poison by Judy I. Lin. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'm going to make this quick. Do you like fantasy novels with consumable magic? Do you like a plot that doesn't stop twisting? Do you enjoy books with mysterious elements? Do you like magic systems that are explained with ease of readers' understanding in mind? If you do, then A Magic Steeped In Poison is the book for you!

Readers join Ning as she competes in the kingdom’s shennong-shi competition. This art of tea-making is an ancient and magical skill Ning’s mother taught her before she died of a poisoning. Poisonings have been common in the kingdom and Ning’s sister is one of the newer victims. To save her sister, Ning ventures off into the imperial city to compete in the shennong-shi competition where she meets new friends and finds herself entangled in the lives of powerful political people. This book grips readers from the beginning with excitement and surprises all the way through, ending in a heart-pounding conclusion that leaves readers anxious to find out what happens in the next installment.

A Magic Steeped In Poison by Judy I. Lin is out today. Check it out now!

5 out of 5 stars

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Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me access to an eARC of Vincent Tirado’s amazing book, Burn Down, Rise Up. All thoughts and opinions are my own. People are going missing and no one knows why. Sixteen year old Raquel finds herself caught in the trap of the deadly Echo Game when her mom mysteriously falls ill. This leads her to reunite with an old friend, Charlize whose cousin has gone missing. As the two team up to untangle the mystery of the Echo Game, they start to unravel some long-buried feelings they have for each other. Meanwhile, Raquel learns about the Bronx Burning for her history class and somehow this seems to be tied to the game. Will Raquel beat the Echo Game and save her mom? This book is wild. First of all, as someone who works with teens, I love books that highlight how resourceful teens are. These teen characters are inventive, funny, and so clever. I love Raquel and her attempts to be prepared for all scenarios while entering the Echo Game. The friendships in this book are fantastic and the romance is realistic for the dangerous circumstances at hand. And the horror? Amazing. The Echo Game and all that comes with it is tragic and terrifying. I think the history of the Bronx and Raquel’s love for her home add complexity to the Echo Game. I also enjoyed reading about Raquel taking both her parents’ religions into account when it comes to protecting herself from the Echo Game and learning more about her papi’s beliefs in Santeria and finding value in his beliefs that she hadn’t really considered before. I think sadness in scary stories always makes them more terrifying because the acknowledgement that characters have something to lose raises the stakes for readers and Tirado knocked this one out of the park. 5 out of 5 stars #books #5outof5stars #netgalley #burndownriseup #bookstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CmCVi3uLf5f/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Happy Sunday! Question: What are your favorite food books? Personally, I love food books. Right now I'm starting Chef's Kiss by TJ Alexander and I'm so excited by the premise! Some of my favorites: With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo Love and Other Disasters by Anita Kelly Batter Royale by Leisl Adams TBR: The Heartbreak Bakery by A. R. Capetta Fake It 'Til You Bake It by Jamie Wesley https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgr3zs9LC2Y/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Today's the day! A Magic Steeped In Poison is out now! Thank you @netgalley and @macmillanusa for giving me access to this eARC of A Magic Steeped In Poison by Judy I. Lin. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I'm going to make this quick. Do you like fantasy novels with consumable magic? Do you like a plot that doesn't stop twisting? Do you enjoy books with mysterious elements? Do you like magic systems that are explained with ease of readers' understanding in mind? If you do, then A Magic Steeped In Poison is the book for you! Readers join Ning as she competes in the kingdom’s shennong-shi competition. This art of tea-making is an ancient and magical skill Ning’s mother taught her before she died of a poisoning. Poisonings have been common in the kingdom and Ning’s sister is one of the newer victims. To save her sister, Ning ventures off into the imperial city to compete in the shennong-shi competition where she meets new friends and finds herself entangled in the lives of powerful political people. This book grips readers from the beginning with excitement and surprises all the way through, ending in a heart-pounding conclusion that leaves readers anxious to find out what happens in the next installment. A Magic Steeped In Poison by Judy I. Lin is out today. Check it out now! 5 out of 5 stars #netgalley #macmillanusa #amagicsteepedinpoison #yalit #yafantasy #5outof5stars #5starreview #books #bookstagram #bookreview #marchreleases #marchreads #springbooks #springyabooks #yaliterature #amazingbook https://www.instagram.com/p/CbteiLGrlCU/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Thank you @netgalley and @macmillanusa for giving me access to an eARC of Robin Gow’s A Million Quiet Revolutions in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. A Million Quiet Revolutions by Robin Gow is a phenomenal coming of age novel in verse about two teenage trans boys who have been intertwined since childhood and have to part ways when Aaron moves due to a family emergency. Oliver and Aaron name themselves after Revolutionary War soldiers Oliver researched and believes were transgender men who were in love with each other. An important topic in this book is the fact that transgender people have always existed, they just haven’t always been acknowledged, and there have been different words to describe trans and queer experiences throughout time. There are serious topics discussed in this book. One of these topics is the difference between Oliver’s coming out story and Aaron’s coming out story. One family is more accepting while the other takes more time to become accepting. Another serious topic is the different experiences Aaron, a Puerto Rican Catholic gay trans teenage boy and Oliver, a Jewish trans teenage boy, have living in a small town. Other serious topics discussed include transphobia, sexual assault, racism, and more. At the beginning of the story, Oliver and Aaron’s point of views are very similar and become more different later on. I wonder if it was by design to show that they were intertwined when they lived in such close proximity, but when they are separated, they learn to flourish into their own people. Something else that I liked was the use of multimedia correspondence. It's one of the things I love about novels in verse: the room for creativity. Readers get the characters’ thoughts, texts, letters, and art which adds to readers’ understanding of the characters. 5 out of 5 stars. A Million Quiet Revolutions by Robin Gow is out now! #yabooks #netgalley #yalit #comingofage #bookreview #amillionquietrevolutions #5outof5stars #5starreview #bookstagrammers #bookstagram #books #queerlit #queerreads https://www.instagram.com/p/CbbChcaLxqf/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Review of Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma

https://stormyskyreads.blog/2022/03/15/review-of-dating-dr-dil-by-nisha-sharma/

Do you believe in love?

Nisha Sharma’s novel Dating Dr. Dil is a fun but heart-wrenching re-imagining of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew set in modern day New Jersey starring two South Asian leads. The dual point of view book starts on romantic Kareena’s thirtieth birthday during which she is hit with a torrent of uncomfortable surprises and family expectations. On the night of Kareena’s birthday, she meets love-phobic Prem who she clicks with immediately…until he leaves her in a compromising position at a bar which leads to a blow-up the next day. Prem experiences similar family expectations: both families want Prem and Kareena to get married soon now that they’re in their thirties. Both characters are provided financial reasons why they should get engaged. If Kareena gets engaged then she’ll get the money her father has put away for her marriage and she wants to use that to buy her late mother’s house from her father who is retiring and planning to sell their family home. If Prem gets engaged then he will get the financial backing he needs to open a community health center directed at the healthcare of the South Asian community in New Jersey.

So Prem comes up with a plan: they pretend to get engaged to get the money they need to fund their dreams. The main conflict is that Prem believes love is fake and that a lasting marriage is built on a connection and partnership, while Kareena believes in love marriages. This is a problem because Prem has a tv show where he talks about how love causes stress to the heart and how love should not be a deciding factor in match-making. His show has a high population of elder members of South Asian communities in the U.S. which Kareena believes creates more pressure for women within their communities to get married by or around thirty. This is something seen throughout the novel as Kareena attempts online dating.

This book is fun and cute but it also has serious moments due to the family expectations of getting married as soon as possible and because both Kareena and Prem have lost people very dear to them. There are lots of hilarious shenanigans and these two manage to have a meet cute and a meet ugly which you don’t read about everyday.

Dating Dr. Dil is out now so go check it out!

5 out of 5 stars

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Thank you so much @netgalley and @macmillanusa for giving me access to the stunning Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore! All thoughts and opinions are my own. I don’t have the words to describe how amazing this book is. It’s full of hope and pain and joy and fear and it’s so beautifully written. McLemore discusses so many important topics: ADHD, dyslexia, different experiences being nonbinary, and what it’s like to experience all those things as a teen of color. In the author’s note at the end of the book, McLemore tells readers that these topics are very dear to their heart because McLemore writes from their own experiences as a nonbinary Mexican-American with ADHD and dyslexia. At the very beginning of the book, Bastián and Lore meet in a moment of crisis when they are kids and the bulk of the book takes place years later when they meet again as teens when Lore moves into Bastián’s town. They’re drawn to each other because they’re the only two people in town who realize there’s something strange about the lake. The two work together to figure out why the lake is acting up. As the lake acts up, it unearths a lot of the secrets that Bastián and Lore hold dear to their hearts. This book is about being seen for all that you are: the things you love about yourself and the things you hate about yourself and finding acceptance from not only yourself but those around you. As the only nonbinary teens they know in town, Lore and Bastián bond over their triumphs and trials of being nonbinary and neurodivergent teens of color who have experienced bias against them. There are serious topics discussed and heart-wrenching moments, but there’s so much joy that bubbles to the surface too. (Click the link in my bio for full review) This book is a must-read for teens who love emotional books that are filled with magical realism and wish to read about neurodivergent trans teens of color learning to thrive. 5 out of 5 stars Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore is out today so go check it out! #netgalley #lakelore #bookrecommendations #bookstagrammers #5outof5stars #books #yabooks #yalit https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca3eQvRLU6o/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Review of Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore

https://stormyskyreads.blog/2022/03/08/review-of-lakelore-by-anna-marie-mclemore/

Thank you so much NetGalley and MacMillan Children’s Publishing Group for giving me access to the stunning Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I don’t have the words to describe how amazing this book is. It’s full of hope and pain and joy and fear and it’s so beautifully written. McLemore discusses so many important topics: ADHD, dyslexia, different experiences being nonbinary, and what it’s like to experience all those things as a teen of color. In the author’s note at the end of the book, McLemore tells readers that these topics are very dear to their heart because McLemore writes from their own experiences as a nonbinary Mexican-American with ADHD and dyslexia.

At the very beginning of the book, Bastián and Lore meet in a moment of crisis when they are kids and the bulk of the book takes place years later when they meet again as teens when Lore moves into Bastián’s town. They’re drawn to each other because they’re the only two people in town who realize there’s something strange about the lake. The two work together to figure out why the lake is acting up. As the lake acts up, it unearths a lot of the secrets that Bastián and Lore hold dear to their hearts. This book is about being seen for all that you are: the things you love about yourself and the things you hate about yourself and finding acceptance from not only yourself but those around you.

As the only nonbinary teens they know in town, Lore and Bastián bond over their triumphs and trials of being nonbinary and neurodivergent teens of color who have experienced bias against them. There are serious topics discussed and heart-wrenching moments, but there’s so much joy that bubbles to the surface too. One of the best parts of the book is reading about these two finding joy in their varied experiences as nonbinary teens. For instance, they give each other forecasts on their gender. It’s so uplifting to read about the complexity of gender put into positive and joyful terms. Bastián and Lore also discuss the pain that comes with their neurodivergence because adults failed to help both of them soon enough, but they also discuss the way their brains are awesome: Bastián can zoom in on lovely things just as much as they can zoom in on horrible things and Lore has an excellent memory to the point where they learn directions quickly and can find things after hearing the directions once or twice. It’s all about balance. Also, their families are so loving. Both families are accepting of their children and do their best to give them the care that they need.

This book is a must-read for teens who love emotional books that are filled with magical realism and wish to read about neurodivergent trans teens of color learning to thrive.

5 out of 5 stars

Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore is out now so go check it out!

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Review of A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee

Review of A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee

Lovers of grim fantasy are sure to love this action-packed and often hilarious story. 5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley and Clarion Teen for giving me access to this incredible eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Traci Chee’s Japanese-influenced coming of age fantasy novel, A Thousand Steps Into Night tells the tale of Miuko, a girl from the servant class who always finds herself in trouble, gets caught up in the biggest misadventure of her life. While on her way home from getting a replacement for a tea set that she accidently broke, Miuko is cursed and begins to slowly transform into a demon with the ability to injure or kill with just a touch. Making friends along the way, Miuko journeys through Awara trying to find a way to stop her curse while battling a mischievous demon prince. This book truly has it all: questions about what it is to be human and what it means to be good or bad, friendships, laughter, demons a plenty, gods, feminism, monsters, curses, beautiful fantasy descriptions, and hope. Readers will devour every page as they travel with Miuko as she makes difficult choices in her quest to save her very soul.

This book is fascinating. Firstly, the feminist aspects are so important because Miuko is constantly considering not just the way that her life as a girl in the servant class has affected her, but also the way that the demographics of other characters have affected their lives too. There’s intersectionality here as Miuko learns more about the power structures of this vast world beyond her hometown. Secondly, this book answers questions about the battle between good versus evil with the possibility that everyone has the capacity for both. It’s all about choices. And Miuko makes a lot of choices throughout the book. This is essentially a coming of age book about a seventeen year old who finds herself with power and freedom to make choices for the first time and those choices have very real consequences, so it was interesting to see the way the consequences affect Miuko. She hasn’t been able to change the lives of others before and sometimes she does it for good and sometimes she does it for bad. This story has a solid plot, but it’s also very character-driven. Miuko grows a lot in the span of a few days.

Lovers of grim fantasy are sure to love this action-packed and often hilarious story. 5 out of 5 stars.

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Review of The Lost Dreamer by Lizz Huerta

https://stormyskyreads.blog/2022/02/27/review-of-the-lost-dreamer-by-lizz-huerta/

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for access to an eARC of The Lost Dreamer by Lizz Huerta in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I just want to start by saying that this book is amazing. It has a lot of elements I personally have come to expect when it comes to fantasy such as gorgeous prose that makes me feel like I’m really there with the characters. The trope of a fantasy character having a prophecy about them is here and it plays out in a phenomenal way. I won’t give away spoilers, but I never would’ve guessed the ending in a million years. It’s one of those ones where Huerta lays a lot of crumbs for readers to follow, and I missed all the clues, but it made perfect sense once it was all said and done. I also enjoyed reading the two points of view. I thought that having these two characters tell the story in these two different parts of the setting really added value to the story.

The world-building is done gracefully; it never felt like there was any info-dumping. I also thought the setting and magic system of the book were fascinating. This book was inspired by ancient Mesoamerica which is cool because there have not previously been a lot of young adult fantasy books that are inspired by the cultures and the people that lived in (what we now call) Mexico and Central America prior to colonization. So hopefully this book will lead the way for more stories inspired by ancient Mesoamerica to be given life because there needs to be more.

This book is a page-turner. Once I really got started, I couldn’t put it down. I had to know how it ends and now that I know, I have so many questions regarding what will happen in the sequel. (This book deserves a sequel and a TV show. It’s wonderful and I can’t wait for it to come out so more people can read it and give it the praise it deserves.)

This sprawling fantasy is sure to be a must-read for lovers of young adult fantasy. I have a feeling this will become a young adult fantasy classic. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Lost Dreamer by Lizz Huerta comes out on March 1, 2022!

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Thank you @netgalley and @bookouture for the opportunity to review an eARC of this wonderful book! All thoughts and opinions are my own. The Rebound is a story about failure and coming home. It’s not Abby’s fault that her life has been falling apart for the past few months: first her fiance broke up with her and now her company is going under which leaves her without a job and without funds because workers were encouraged to put everything they had into the company bank. So now Abby is heading home to Ireland where she awkwardly interacts with her sister and her sister’s husband who she hasn’t had much of a chance to get to know. Even though Abby’s unfortunate situation is not really her fault, Abby feels like it is and that she has not rebounded fast enough. With friends new and old, Abby works through her feelings of failure and tries to bounce back, applying for every job she can. As Abby stretches herself to find work, she does the opposite when presented with an opportunity for love. An old friend re-enters her life leaving her wondering if she can have everything she realizes that she wants if she goes abroad again: a good job, a love story with someone who respects and cares about her, and a closer relationship with her sister. Or will she have to give one of those things up to find happiness? What I like about this book is that readers get to meet an ambitious young woman who believes she has failed and must redeem herself around people who she believes find fault in her ambition. It’s interesting because Abby has expectations for everyone around her that aren’t always true. Additionally, I liked reading about the relationships romantic, familial, and platonic that build over the course of the novel. This book is full of surprises and the ending was wonderful. (I’m giving it four stars out of five because the beginning felt a little slow, but I came to really love this book by the end.) This amazing book has been published today, February 14, 2022! 4 out of 5 stars #NetGalley #romancenovel #4outof5stars #bookrecommendations #bookreviews #bookstagram #bookouture https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ91J2SLSyc/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Review of The Rebound by Catherine Walsh

This amazing book has been published today, February 14, 2022! 4 out of 5 star

Review of The Rebound by Catherine Walsh

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to review an eARC of this wonderful book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Rebound is a story about failure and coming home. It's not Abby's fault that her life has been falling apart for the past few months: first her fiance broke up with her and now her company is going under which leaves her without a job and without funds because workers were encouraged to put everything they had into the company bank. So now Abby is heading home to Ireland where she awkwardly interacts with her sister and her sister's husband who she hasn't had much of a chance to get to know.

Even though Abby's unfortunate situation is not really her fault, Abby feels like it is and that she has not rebounded fast enough. With friends new and old, Abby works through her feelings of failure and tries to bounce back, applying for every job she can. As Abby stretches herself to find work, she does the opposite when presented with an opportunity for love. An old friend re-enters her life leaving her wondering if she can have everything she realizes that she wants if she goes abroad again: a good job, a love story with someone who respects and cares about her, and a closer relationship with her sister. Or will she have to give one of those things up to find happiness?

What I like about this book is that readers get to meet an ambitious young woman who believes she has failed and must redeem herself around people who she believes find fault in her ambition. It’s interesting because Abby has expectations for everyone around her that aren’t always true. Additionally, I liked reading about the relationships romantic, familial, and platonic that build over the course of the novel. This book is full of surprises and the ending was wonderful.

(I’m giving it four stars out of five because the beginning felt a little slow, but I came to really love this book by the end.)

This amazing book has been published today, February 14, 2022!

4 out of 5 stars

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Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books for providing me an eARC of Phil Stamper’s golden book, Golden Boys! All thoughts and opinions are my own. Summary: Four queer boys from a small town in Ohio go on a summer of adventures. Gabriel heads off to work on an environmental nonprofit project in Boston. Sal goes to Washington D.C. for an internship with a senator. Reese ventures off to design school in Paris. Last but not least, Heath goes to Florida to help his aunt’s business while his parents work out their divorce. As the four best friends spend a summer apart, they worry how long their friendship will last when they don’t see each other every day, how they will handle their upcoming senior year of high school, and discover who they are without their best friends around. This book is packed with romance, tear-jerking discoveries, personal growth for all four boys, and lots of love. This was a nice summer read that cut through the chill of winter. It’s full of love: love of family, love of friends, love of new friendships, and plenty of blossoming romantic love. 5 out of 5 stars Golden Boys is set to get published on February 8, 2022. Go check it out at your local library or nearest bookstore! Check out the link in my bio for the full review! #goldenboys #yalit #netgalley #februaryreads #winterreads #yaromance https://www.instagram.com/p/CZklCvRLJLE/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Review of The Temperature of Me and You by Brian Zepka Thank you @netgalley and @disneybooks for letting me review The Temperature of Me and You! I have mixed feelings about this book. I want to start by saying that I don’t think it was a bad book, there were just things I personally didn’t love. I really wanted to like this one because it was an interesting concept: a superhero-esque romance between two guys when historically these romances have been between guys and girls. While I like that the book took a common trope and turned it on its head a little by making it about queer characters, I didn’t love the execution of the book as a whole. It’s not bad; there were just things I didn’t like. For instance, there’s a bit of an insta-love situation between the main character and his romantic interest. I wish the two could’ve had a few more conversations before falling head-over-heels for each other, but that’s a personal preference and not a genuine critique.   There were a lot of good moments in this book. I really love the lifelong friendships Dylan has and I also enjoyed reading about the development of friendships he makes throughout the book. Readers see a lot of growth in Dylan as the story progresses. He has a hard time putting himself out there socially and he finds himself doing that quite a bit throughout the novel. It wasn’t done in a flawless way by any means, it was difficult for him which I thought was very realistic. In addition to the fascinating friendships, there’s also a lot of humor in this story which kept me reading even in moments when I thought the story fell a little flat otherwise.   I thought this concept was fun and it had some good moments, but ultimately, this wasn’t my favorite book. It’s not bad, it’s just something I didn’t enjoy that much which is why I’m giving it three stars.   Decide for yourself when The Temperature of Me and You by Brian Zepka comes out on January 25, 2022! (I have a slightly longer review on StormySkyReads.blog so please check out the link in my bio!) #yabooks #netgalley #bookreview #books #yasciencefiction #yaromance #bookreviews #bookstagrammers #bookstagram #3starreview #3outof5stars https://www.instagram.com/p/CYy8xidrbG5/?utm_medium=tumblr

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https://stormyskyreads.blog/2022/01/16/review-of-the-temperature-of-me-and-you-by-brian-zepka/

Review of The Temperature of Me and You by Brian Zepka

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to review The Temperature of Me and You by Brian Zepka! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I want to start by saying that I don’t think it was a bad book, there were just things I personally didn’t love. I really wanted to like this one because it was an interesting concept: a superhero-esque romance between two guys when historically these romances have been between guys and girls. While I like that the book took a common trope and turned it on its head a little by making it about queer characters, I didn’t love the execution of the book as a whole. It’s not bad; there were just things I didn’t like. For instance, there’s a bit of an insta-love situation between the main character and his romantic interest. I wish the two could’ve had a few more conversations before falling head-over-heels for each other, but that’s a personal preference and not a genuine critique.

There were a lot of good moments in this book. I really love the lifelong friendships Dylan has and I also enjoyed reading about the development of friendships he makes throughout the book. Readers see a lot of growth in Dylan as the story progresses. He has a hard time putting himself out there socially and he finds himself doing that quite a bit throughout the novel. It wasn’t done in a flawless way by any means, it was difficult for him which I thought was very realistic. In addition to the fascinating friendships, there’s also a lot of humor in this story which kept me reading even in moments when I thought the story fell a little flat otherwise.

I think the book led a lot to be desired especially when it comes to world-building. I still have a lot of questions about the way that the powers were acquired and how long the solutions keeping the powered-up characters alive will last. I can’t tell if perhaps this was done to lead up to a sequel or if it was just an intentionally confusing landscape. I keep going back and forth on this because readers are meant to know only what Dylan knows, but the part of me that is nosy and desperate for more information is left frustrated by the lack of answers at the end. This is another thing that isn’t necessarily bad; I just didn’t like it.

I thought this concept was fun and it had some good moments, but ultimately, this wasn’t my favorite book. It’s not bad, it’s just something I didn’t enjoy that much which is why I’m giving it three stars.

Decide for yourself when The Temperature of Me and You by Brian Zepka comes out on January 25, 2022!

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Review of Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

Review of Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

I loved this book from the beginning to the end. I’m so enthralled by this series. I love getting to explore these new worlds (only this tim

[stormyskyreads]

Thank you @netgalley and XpressoBookTours for providing me with an eARC of Asiel R. Lavie’s novel, The Crossing Gate. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Okay, I’m going to be honest: this book wasn’t for me. However, there were some things I appreciated about the book, so I’ll start with those. First of all, the world-building in this book was done through our protagonist, Lenora, who isn’t given any knowledge about the society she is in due to her status as a minor. I thought that was an interesting way to do world-building because the government forbids adults from informing minors about anything that the government deems “adult” and there’s a lot of commentary about how keeping teens in the dark about important things is a bad system because it doesn’t prepare them for the rest of their lives. That being said, a lot of the plot hinges upon keeping readers in the dark by keeping our main character in the dark. I think this is common in the first books of a dystopian series. The problem I had was that there were a lot of things revealed in the final ten percent or so of the book and it was often difficult to keep up with the ever-changing rules of the story. I will say that I was intrigued enough to finish the book; I couldn’t stop reading until I found out what happened next. Dear readers, I lost sleep over this book, so I can say that Lavie did a good job of giving just enough information to pique a reader’s interest to keep them reading. One of my main problems with the book is that Lavie seems to be intending to write a feminist story, but I had trouble taking it seriously simply because a middle-class white female character is meant to be revered as the epitome of oppression. I think Lavie probably means well with the commentary on the way women are treated, but the problem I have with the way it’s executed is the examples given are almost exclusively white women. There are so many people left out of the equation. I ran out of characters. Please read the rest on my blog: https://stormyskyreads.blog/2021/12/27/review-of-the-crossing-gate-by-asiel-r-lavie/ #NetGalley #bookstagram #bookreview #books #winterreads #yalit #2outof5stars https://www.instagram.com/p/CYAkWMXgmPh/?utm_medium=tumblr