Book Review : You Have a Match by Emma Lord

 

                                                      Kindle Edition, 309 pages
                                                     Published January 12th 2021
                                                      Buy on Amazon

When Abby signs up for a DNA service, it’s mainly to give her friend and secret love interest, Leo, a nudge. After all, she knows who she is already: Avid photographer. Injury-prone tree climber. Best friend to Leo and Connie…although ever since the B.E.I. (Big Embarrassing Incident) with Leo, things have been awkward on that front.

But she didn’t know she’s a younger sister.

When the DNA service reveals Abby has a secret sister, shimmery-haired Instagram star Savannah Tully, it’s hard to believe they’re from the same planet, never mind the same parents — especially considering Savannah, queen of green smoothies, is only a year and a half older than Abby herself.

The logical course of action? Meet up at summer camp (obviously) and figure out why Abby’s parents gave Savvy up for adoption. But there are complications: Savvy is a rigid rule-follower and total narc. Leo is the camp’s co-chef, putting Abby's growing feelings for him on blast. And her parents have a secret that threatens to unravel everything.

But part of life is showing up, leaning in, and learning to fit all your awkward pieces together. Because sometimes, the hardest things can also be the best ones.

                                                         MY REVIEW:

You Have a Match by Emma Lord
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When Abby signs up for a DNA service, it’s mainly to give her friend and secret love interest, Leo, a nudge. After all, she knows who she is already: Avid photographer. Injury-prone tree climber. Best friend to Leo and Connie…although ever since the B.E.I. (Big Embarrassing Incident) with Leo, things have been awkward on that front.
The DNA reveals she has a secret sister, one she never knew about and that is when things got weird. Abby didn't confide in her parents or ask them questions. Instead she took it upon herself to meet up secretly with Savannah Tully. A shimmery-haired Instagram star.
They end meeting up at summer camp. Abby is a risk taker and Savanah plays by the rules.
I had a hard time thinking that a teenager wouldn't ask their parents what the hell? Why didn't you tell me? Then go meet up with the sister no matter what the parents said.
I don't like lies or secrets so I always confront and did even as a teenager no matter what.
Thank you to NetGalley and St, Martin's for this ARC to review.

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                                                                    Emma Lord
Born
July 09

Website
https://www.emmalordwriting.com

Twitter
dilemmalord

Genre
Young Adult




Emma Lord is the NYT bestselling author of YOU HAVE A MATCH and TWEET CUTE, a BuzzFeed market editor, and dessert gremlin living in New York City, where she spends whatever time she isn’t writing either running or belting show tunes in community theater. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in psychology and a minor in how to tilt your computer screen so nobody will notice you updating your fan fiction from the back row. She was raised on glitter, a whole lot of love, and copious amounts of grilled cheese.

Book Review: Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Kindle Edition, 400 pages

Published December 1st 2015 by Disney Hyperion

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A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness for their planet, and protect them from destruction. Some say Flynn’s a madman, others whisper about conspiracies. Nobody knows the truth. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were rescued from a terrible shipwreck—now, they live a public life in front of the cameras, and a secret life away from the world’s gaze.

Now, in the center of the universe on the planet of Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players, who will bring the fight against LaRoux Industries to a head. Gideon Marchant is an eighteen-year-old computer hacker—a whiz kid and an urban warrior. He’ll climb, abseil and worm his way past the best security measures to pull off onsite hacks that others don’t dare touch.

Sofia Quinn has a killer smile, and by the time you’re done noticing it, she’s got you offering up your wallet, your car, and anything else she desires. She holds LaRoux Industries responsible for the mysterious death of her father and is out for revenge at any cost.

When a LaRoux Industries security breach interrupts Gideon and Sofia’s separate attempts to infiltrate their headquarters, they’re forced to work together to escape. Each of them has their own reason for wanting to take down LaRoux Industries, and neither trusts the other. But working together might be the best chance they have to expose the secrets LRI is so desperate to hide.

                                                    MY REVIEW:

Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The 3rd book of this trilogy and we follow Sofia Quinn and Gideon Marchant.
Sofia Quinn has a killer smile, and by the time you’re done noticing it, she’s got you offering up your wallet, your car, and anything else she desires. She holds LaRoux Industries responsible for the mysterious death of her father and is out for revenge at any cost.
Gideon Marchant is an eighteen-year-old computer hacker—a whiz kid and an urban warrior. He’ll climb, abseil and worm his way past the best security measures to pull off onsite hacks that others don’t dare touch.
When a LaRoux Industries security breach interrupts Gideon and Sofia’s separate attempts to infiltrate their headquarters, they’re forced to work together to escape.
Who to trust is the name of the game. Just when you think someone is a friend then they turn on you but there is always a reason.
These 2 do meet up with Jubilee, Flynn,Tarver and Lilac, from the previous books.
Lilac's father is head of LaRoux Industries and they want to take the company down.

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Book Review: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Kindle Edition, 400 pages

Published December 23rd 2014 by Disney Hyperion

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The second installment in the epic Starbound trilogy introduces a new pair of star-crossed lovers on two sides of a bloody war.

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.

                                                                  MY REVIEW:

This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the 2nd book of the trilogy and the story of Jubilee and Flynn.
Lee(Jubilee) is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

These 2 are on opposite sides but still want the same thing in the long run. Constantly being caught by each others sides and fleeing seemed to go on for quite a bit in this story.

The last book was about Tarver and Lilac and you will read about them a little bit in this book too.
I liked how Jubilee and Flynn helped each other and he realized she isn't really the enemy and she finds that he isn't as bad as she thought he would be.

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Book Review: Once Upon A Dream by Liz Braswell

Hardcover, Twisted Tales, #2, 440 pages

Published April 5th 2016 by Disney-Hyperion

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What if the sleeping beauty never woke up? Once Upon a Dream marks the second book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways.

It should be simple—a dragon defeated, a slumbering maiden, a prince poised to wake her. But when said prince falls asleep as soon as his lips meet the princess', it is clear that this fairy tale is far from over.

With a desperate fairy's last curse infiltrating her mind, Princess Aurora will have to navigate a dangerous and magical landscape deep in the depths of her dreams. Soon she stumbles upon Phillip, a charming prince eager to join her quest. But with Maleficent's agents following her every move, Aurora struggles to discover who her true allies are, and moreover, who she truly is. Time is running out. Will the sleeping beauty be able to wake herself up? 

                                                        MY REVIEW:

Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I would have liked this more but it felt confusing on what was real and what was the dream world. Are they in the real world or not? It bounced back and forth so much. This is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and I liked the whole mystery of the story.
Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell begins with the defeat of Maleficent. Prince Phillip goes to wake his princess, Aurora, with true loves first kiss. When thei Prince goes to kiss Aurora,. Prince Phillip collapses and Aurora does not wake up. Little does Aurora know that she is trapped inside a dream world. Her parents are evil and Malifacent treats Aurora like a niece.
I received this from NetGalley for review plus I own the hardcover.

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Liz Braswell

Born

Birminghan, England, The United Kingdom

Website

http://www.themessydesk.com/

Twitter

LizBraswell

After the sort of introverted childhood you would expect from a writer, Liz earned a degree in Egyptology at Brown University and then promptly spent the next ten years producing video games. Finally she caved into fate and wrote Snow and Rx under the name Tracy Lynn, followed by The Nine Lives of Chloe King series under her real name, because by then the assassins hunting her were all dead. She also has short stories in Geektastic and Who Done It and a new series of reimagined fairy tales coming out, starting with A Whole New World—a retelling of Aladdin.
She lives in Brooklyn with a husband, two children, a cat, a part-time dog, three fish and five coffee trees she insists will start producing beans any day. You can email her at me@lizbraswell.com.

Book Review: The Captain and the Queen by Phillip Vega

                                                                       Kindle Edition, 251 pages

                                                 Published September 10th 2018 by thewordverve inc.

                                                                              Buy from Amazon 

When the “thunderbolt” of love really happens and there is no denying its heat, its intensity. When life events threaten to pull loved ones apart. When the world is a smaller place than you imagine. When true love never dies.

This is the story of the “captain” and the “queen,” a coming-of-age romance set on Long Island. The passions of a daughter of a Greek tycoon and a Hispanic boy from a middle-class family are tested against all odds as they become more than just friends. The question is: how long can it possibly last?

                                                                      MY REVIEW:

The Captain & the Queen by Phillip Vega

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This takes place in the 80's where there are no computers or cell phones.
Mateo and Callie are seniors in high school, at a private school. She is a new student who catches Mateo's eye as soon as he sees her. She is Greek and he is hispanic. Her dad is a Greek tycoon and Mateo has a dad being unemployed. His family loves Callie but she is afraid to tell her dad as he expects her to marry and have kids once she is 21. It's young love and getting caught up in their lives and romance, young love.
This was so well written and I read it in 1 day. I could not put it down. And the ending was perfect!
Thank you to Edelweiss for the ARC to review.

Phillip Vega

Born

in New York, The United States

Website

https://www.phillipvega.com

Twitter

AuthorPhilVega

Genre

Contemporary, Fiction, Romance

Phillip Vega has always been a storyteller, but he’d never put pen to paper until a few years ago. Suddenly, he had a publishing contract, and in the midst of the vortex of marketing, analytics, refining, and continuing to write, he discovered what he defines as his true calling, his passion. He is now fully and happily immersed in the whirlwind that is the publishing industry, even as he diligently continues his work in software sales.

Phillip is a Long Islander with Hispanic roots, now living Florida, and it is from those memories of summers in Long Island that he crafted his book, Last Exit to Montauk. Now he can’t stop his brain from working through new ideas for future stories.

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Cover reveal: Talk Derby To Me by R.H. Tucker

Talk Derby to Me
R.H. Tucker
Publication date: August 2020
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

As the editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper, Evan Maldonado is right on track for college next year and pursuing his dream of being a journalist. To put the finishing touch on his college applications, he’s taking an intern position with a well-known newspaper where he’ll receive a letter of recommendation from the editor. There’s just one little problem. The business intern spot he was expecting to get is taken. The only other position they have available is covering the local roller derby league.

Mari Valdez isn’t worried about getting into college. All she’s concerned with is getting through the repulsive world of high school. Sure, she has her best friend, but she still has to put up with teasing because of her multi-colored hair or bruises. The bruises are from roller derby, by the way, the only thing that Mari looks forward to. It’s been her safe haven since her world imploded.

In order to get more information on the derby league, Evan follows Mari to her practices and games. To call their friendship rocky would be an understatement, but the more Evan and Mari are together, the more they seem to connect. When Mari’s personal life boils over, she finds herself confiding in Evan. And just when everything seems to be coming together for the two, a horrible mistake may separate them for good.

Talk Derby to Me is a stand-alone, YA romance novel.

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Author Bio:

RH Tucker writes cute & edgy YA romance. He also lives in Southern California, consumes too much caffeine, eats too much pizza, and firmly believes Rocky Road is the best flavor of ice cream.

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Cover Reveal: The Witch with Nine Lives by B. Austin.

The Witch with Nine Lives
B. Austin
(A Dysfunctional Family of Witches)
Publication date: August 27th 2020
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Nikki and Medea are half-sisters and the daughters of Dima. Their mother is 130-years-old, but because of a shapeshifting stone, she appears to be 19. She insists her daughters treat her as a sister and not a mother. Dima can live forever, due to the shapeshifting stone.

Medea and Nikki are both 18-years-old, but Medea is no ordinary, young woman. Medea turns into a cat at night, due to her mother’s irreversible curse. Medea is living the first of her nine lives. She, too, will live a long time. Medea has a secret that can destroy the sisterly tie between her and Nikki.

Nikki is beautiful but jealous of her mother and sister because she has no magic and works as a maid, rather than in the family witchcraft business.

Unknown to Nikki and her family, she, too, has a magical gift she cannot yet control, a sorcery that will threaten Medea and pit two powerful sisters against each other.

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Author Bio:

B. Austin writes Science Fiction and Fantasy, spellbinding tales filled with suspense, mystery, and unique magic. She loves creating future worlds with cool technology.

B writes under two other names. BELINDA AUSTIN writes Psychological Thrillers, Suspense, and Hysterical Fiction. BELINDA V. GARCIA has written award-winning Historical Fiction and middle-grade fantasy.

Before writing fiction full time, B. Austin was a Computer Programmer, Web Developer, and Software Engineer. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Applied Mathematics. If you are still curious about Belinda, she has written a series of memoirs entitled: MEMOIRS OF A BIGAMIST'S DAUGHTER. She thanks you humbly for your interest.

In her own words: "I would like to have a dinner party on Halloween with all my fans, and Edgar Allan Poe as guest of honor. I fell in love with his writing when I was a kid. We will have chocolate cake, chocolate-covered strawberries, and fudge for dessert. With bated breath, we will ask Eddie the real story of how he died. Everyone loves a good horror tale."

Belinda invites you to subscribe to her newsletter at her website http://authorBelinda.com under the tab CONNECT. At her website are, also, other social media links.

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Book Blitz: Thee Dark Awakening by D. L. Blade

The Dark Awakening
D.L. Blade
(Chosen Coven #1)
Publication date: October 2nd 2018
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Get ready for a new kind of witch—she’s about to save humanity.

Haunting secrets, witches, vampires, werewolves, love, betrayal, & twists you won’t see coming!

Mercy’s life has devolved into a string of bad events. A brutal beating that nearly stole her life, a dangerous stalker lurking in the shadows, and a car accident, where the man who rescued her disappears right before her eyes.

But this man who she thought was a hallucination, tracks her down at a nearby cove, and claims they were once in love from another time. Another century. But Mercy has no memory of this world he shares, and instinctively doesn’t trust him. He also reveals to her a life-changing secret—she’s an ancient witch, vampires are real, and she’s destined to destroy them.

There’s also the troubling discovery that her blood is lusted after by the undead, and a sadistic vampire leader sets his eyes on her, and will stop at nothing until he takes Mercy as his own.

Mercy needs to fight. Fight for her life, fight to discover the truth, fight to remember who—or what—she really is before it’s too late.

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

They were there in the shadows again. This was the third time this week I had thought someone was watching me.

The last few weeks, I’d heard the rustling of leaves and the crackling sound of old fallen branches beneath someone’s feet, or the hairs at the back of my neck would stand straight because I knew someone stood silently behind me. Last night wasn’t any different. I exited my car after an exhausting day at work and heard what sounded like a low, deep exhale coming from the forest next to Lily’s house. I swiftly turned around, fumbling with the flashlight on my phone, but when the light pierced the darkness, the sound stopped.

Tonight, it was a silhouette behind my aunt Lily’s fence in the backyard. It wasn’t someone walking by with their dog or a neighbor taking out their trash. They were standing there, staring, as I walked to the sink to rinse my dinner bowl. I wasn’t going to tell her again. She’d just tell me what she’d told me last time I brought it up. She’d say I was just seeing things and that it was normal to feel this way after trauma.

“Your turn, Mercy,” Lily said. Her voice pulled my gaze from the window.

“I’m coming,” I said, taking one last glance toward the silhouette.

They were gone.

Author Bio:

D.L Blade grew up in southern California where she studied at The California Healing Arts College for massage therapy, then working as a Massage Practitioner for thirteen years. She now lives in Colorado, where she worked in the real estate business for a time, before deciding to focus on family and writing.

She has always loved writing, concentrating on poetry rather than prose when she was younger. That changed however, when she had a dream one night that inspired her debut novel, 'The Dark Awakening.'

In D.L. Blade's spare time, she enjoys a wide variety of hobbies, including reading, attending rock concerts, playing pool, wine tasting, and exploring new vegan restaurants in Denver.

In the future, she hopes to continue to write exciting novels that will captivate her readers and bring them into the world that she created using her imagination.

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Book Review: The Void of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler

When banished Princess Maia is captured by her father and threatened with execution, it appears that all is lost…until the people rise in rebellion against their king. Suddenly, the cast-aside royal finds herself crowned the first Queen of Comoros. But enemies appear on all sides as her father’s conniving supporters assemble a new army against the fledgling ruler. While Maia struggles to keep the peace within her own walls, she rushes to form historical alliances with her neighboring kingdoms against an impending invasion of the ruthless Naestors—led by the cruel Corriveaux—who will destroy anyone Maia loves in order to ruin her kingdom and prevent the mastons from regaining power.

Realizing that Muirwood Abbey is once again her only hope for survival, Maia gathers her people there for protection. When she discovers an adversary greater than she’s ever known, she must use all the magic, strength, and wisdom gained from her life’s trials to prevent the Void that would bring destruction to herself, her true love, and the entire kingdom.

MY REVIEW:  

The Void of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Princess Maia was banished by her father and then was captured by him. He threatens to execute her if she does not abide by his rules and believe in him. The people do not want him to be king and then all of a sudden Maia is Queen. She has many enemies as there has never been a Queen before and they were supporters of her father. While she works with the people in her kingdom and make the wrongs all right from the cruelty of her father, she is fighting many enemies to come and destroy her. Maia gathers her people to Muirwood Abbey where they will be safer. As she is working with the magic within her and around her to fight against the people who want to do harm.
This story is full of friendship, love, betrayal and so many other emotions that it was hard to put down. I did find it a little slow at a couple of points and sometimes had to reread a couple of sections but overall I did enjoy the book.

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