You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi REVIEW

You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty

by Akwaeke Emezi

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Blurb

Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again.

It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career.

She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the dangerous thrill Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits. This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers. Who is she ready to become? Can she release her past and honor her grief while still embracing her future? And, of course, there’s the biggest question of all—how far is she willing to go for a second chance at love?

Akwaeke Emezi’s vivid and passionate writing takes us deep into a world of possibility and healing, and the constant bravery of choosing love against all odds.

Review

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty begins with a slap. It starts off so vulgar and hard and in your face and then blooms and softens into a heartbreaking love story.

In all honesty this book took me so long to get through and I'm not quite sure why. The writing was good, the story was good, the characters were good, I just really struggled to focus. Maybe if I had of read this at a different time I may have been able to get through it easier.

What I love about Akwaeke Emezi’s writing is how unapologetically sexual and sensual they can be. The sex scenes are spicy and the sexual tension is strong. Emezi writes about sex as a normal human occurrence rather than something to be hidden or embarrassed by. They open up sexual experiences in a way that shows sex as a natural form of human connections. I will say that after the first chapter or two I was expecting more explicit content than what was actually in the book.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

The Woman in the Library

by Sulari Gentill

narrated by Katherine Littrell

Blurb

In every person's story, there is something to hide...

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who'd happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with The Woman in the Library, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.

Expected Publication Date: June 7, 2022

Review

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this audio book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

So I kept seeing posts about this book all over social media. I've heard a lot of good things and just had to check it out for myself.

Unfortunately, for me this book just didn't hold up and I don't understand the hype. I mean it's fine, but it's not anything that stuck out to me or that will stay with me. I finished it, was like okay that's done and now I'm already forgetting it. I managed to finish the audio book but if I had of had to physically read it I probably wouldn't have finished.

The narrator seemed to fit the story quite well. Her voice and tones fit the story perfectly. Katherine Littrell did a good job making the characters distinguishable from each other making the storyline easier to follow, which given that it's a story about a story was super helpful.

Summer's End by Kristy Brown SPOTLIGHT

Summer's End

by Kristy Brown

Summer's End is the first of the YA Paranormal Romance trilogy which is free on KU. She wakes up in hospital, badly burned with no memory.
He’s been trained to kill her before she burns the world to ashes.

When they finally meet, will he be able to take her life now that he’s started to feel for her?

His fate is already written. The prophecy is already set… Love between them is forbidden.

Purchase Links:

 

US: https://www.amazon.com/Summers-End-Summer-Solstice-1-ebook/dp/B098T9NW59

CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Summers-End-Summer-Solstice-1-ebook/dp/B098T9NW59

Author Bio

Hi I'm Kristy and I live in the U.K. I have always written short stories and poetry. I went to university to study acting which I loved, but my real passion has always been writing. So, now I write the kind of stories I would have wanted to read as a teen. "Kiera's Quest- part one & two," a Middle-grade/ teen fantasy series, is now available on e-book and paperback. If you like shape shifters, magical realms and a chosen one, then this may be for you!

My YA contemporary romance book, "Just Sam," about a young tennis star who loses someone important and has to trust in life and love again, is available on Amazon in print & on Kindle, as is my YA/NA fairy-tale retelling, "Cinderfella."​ Cinderfella has all roles reversed and is aimed slightly older, as there is a little passion and darkness to this tale, but still keeps the magic of the original.
I also have a YA Paranormal Romance trilogy, 'The Summer Solstice series.' "Summer's End," book one, "Summer's Lost" (2) and "Summer's Time," are all available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited, as are all my titles. I love reading of course. I have lots of new projects in mind, and I'm currently working on a retelling of Romeo and Juliet.

Socials:

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kristybrownauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristybrownauthor/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KristyBrownWrites/

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5290332.Kristy_Brown

Game of Strength and Storm by Rachel Menard REVIEW

Game of Strength and Storm

by Rachel Menard

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Blurb

Once a year, the Olympian Empresses grant the wishes of ten people selected by a lottery—for a price. Seventeen-year-old Gen, a former circus performer, wants the freedom of her father, who was sentenced to life in prison for murders she knows he didn’t commit. Castor plans to carry the island Arcadia into the future in place of her brother, Pollux, but only after the Empresses force a change in her island’s archaic laws that requires a male heir.

To get what they want, Gen and Castor must race to complete the better half of ten nearly impossible labors. They have to catch the fastest ship in the sea, slay the immortal Hydra, defeat a gangster called the Boar, and capture the flesh-eating Mares, among other deadly tasks.

Gen has her magic, her ability to speak to animals, her inhuman strength—and the help of Pollux, who’s been secretly pining for her for years. But Castor has her own gifts: the power of the storms, along with endless coin. Only one can win. The other walks away with nothing—if she walks away at all.

Expected Publication Date: June 7, 2022

Review

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Well shit.. that was an interesting ride. I had so much fun reading this. Once I started reading it I was hooked instantly. I ended up reading the entire thing in two sittings. It's incredibly fast paced and such a quick read, especially for how long the book is.

GAME OF STRENGTH AND STORM is told in multiple perspectives. We hear from Gen, Castor and Pullox, however Gen's perspective is what we read about the most. I would say Gen is portrayed in a more favorable light than Castor and along with being the main POV it makes her easier to cheer for even though Castor is hard not to like as well.

Judging by how things ended I'm guessing and hoping there is a sequel in the works and I'm going to need it asap. As the story was wrapping up I was thinking about how I would have liked if things had of ended differently, then things happen and well, is there a place I can sign up for the next book yet??

Deep In Providence by Riss M. Neilson REVIEW

Deep In Providence

by Riss M. Neilson

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Synopsis

For best friends Miliani, Inez, Natalie and Jasmine, Providence, Rhode Island has a magic of its own. From the bodegas and late-night food trucks on Broad Street to The Hill that watches over the city, every corner of Providence glows with memories of them practicing spells, mixing up potions and doing séances with the help of the magic Miliani’s Filipino grandfather taught her.

But when Jasmine is killed by a drunk driver, the world they have always known is left haunted by grief...and Jasmine's lingering spirit. Determined to bring her back, the surviving friends band together, testing the limits of their magic and everything they know about life, death, and each other.

And as their plan to resurrect Jasmine grows darker and more demanding than they imagined, their separate lives begin to splinter the bonds they depend on, revealing buried secrets that threaten the people they care about most. Miliani, Inez and Natalie will have to rely on more than just their mystical abilities to find the light.

Publication Date: May 31, 2022

**There is a pre-order campaign for this novel with some beautiful swag! Check out the post on @rissmneilson 's page on Instagram for more details! Hurry up and get those pre-orders in.** 

Review

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book was so dam delicious! I grabbed every chance I could to just devour it. Deep in Providence gave me everything my little heart hoped for. There's friendship, family, dark magic, love, healing and even some laughs along the way. There was nothing this book was lacking, there is nothing that could have made it any better.

There is a lot going on in this story. Each main character has their own things they're dealing with stitched into the main story. Normally I wouldn't enjoy so much going on but everything is woven together so magnificently. It's incredibly fast paced and the flow is just incredible! I'm still in shocked how a book can have so many different things going on and still have it all coherent and effortless. It's been days since I finished this book and I'm still stunned by how well done it is.

This is Riss M. Neilson's debut novel and I'm calling it now, Riss is an author to watch! Deep In Providence is an incredibly written work of art and I can't wait to see what she releases next. Sign me up!

Nacimiento by J.R. Agramonte SPOTLIGHT

 Nacimiento

by J.R. Agramonte

Synopsis

The Cinans were created to surpass humanity, but a god has decided they are an aberration, so they have a time limit to prove they deserve existence. Failure to so will mean their extinction.

Alice Gurra, a young and promising scientists, is the sole witness of an abnormal event:
The birth of a child from the corpse of an Alas Sangros, an extinct race of Cinans incapable of conceiving new life. He breaks yet another law of biology as he is the only known being that can control both black and white energy.

Will this hybrid be the salvation or perhaps, the doom of it's spieces?
This is the story of Lidel, a child that only dreams of becoming a hero.
With this Nacimiento, his adventure begins.

Purchase Links:

☆☆ AVAILABLE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED ☆☆

English Version:

🇬🇧 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09TZGP9DH

🇦🇺https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09TZGP9DH

🇨🇦 https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09TZGP9DH

🇺🇲 https://www.amazon.com/J-R-Agramonte-ebook/dp/B09TZGP9DH

🇫🇷 https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09TZGP9DH

🇮🇳 https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09TZGP9DH

🇯🇵 https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B09TZGP9DH

Spanish Version:

https://amzn.to/3vk0kQx

Author Bio

J. R. Agrmamonte is an author born and raised in the capital of Cuba, Habana .
As a professional tourguide, he has been the host for thousands of tourist. Listening stories from so many cultures, reading and gaming, J.R learned of many worlds, brought from the past and/or from imagination. One day, he decided to create his own.

Social Media Links

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22221604.Javier_Rodriguez_Agramonte

Instagram: https://instagram.com/j.r.agramonte

Twitter: https://twitter.com/javyfromHabana

The Favor by Nora Murphy REVIEW

 The Favor

by Nora Murphy

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Synopsis

Staying is dangerous. Leaving could be worse.

Leah and McKenna have never met, though they have parallel lives.

They don’t—ever—find themselves in the same train carriage or meet accidentally at the gym or the coffee shop. They don’t—ever—discuss their problems and find common ground. They don’t—ever—acknowledge to each other that although their lives have all the trappings of success, wealth and happiness, they are, in fact, trapped.

Because Leah understands that what’s inside a home can be more dangerous than what’s outside. Driving past McKenna’s house one night, she sees what she knows only too well herself from her own marriage: McKenna’s “perfect” husband is not what he seems. She decides to keep an eye out for McKenna, until one night, she intervenes.

Leah and McKenna have never met. But they will.

Review

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I have very little to say about this book. While I thought the story itself was fine it didn't do much for me. I was waiting for something suspenseful to happen but it never did.

What this book did do was provide an insight to the different way abuse can take place besides physical along with the different fears victims face when making the decision to knave or stay. The husband's behavior in this book can be very triggering so I think you should take that into consideration.

Poūkahangatus: Poems by Tayi Tibble REVIEW

Poūkahangatus: Poems

by Tayi Tibble

Synopsis

The American debut of an acclaimed young poet as she explores her identity as a twenty-first-century Indigenous woman.

Intimate, moving, virtuosic, and hilarious, Tayi Tibble is one of the most exciting new voices in poetry today. In Poūkahangatus (pronounced "Pocahontas"), her debut volume, Tibble challenges a dazzling array of mythologies--Greek, Māori, feminist, kiwi--peeling them apart, respinning them in modern terms. Her poems move from rhythmic discussions of the Kardashians, sugar daddies, and Twilight to exquisite renderings of the natural world and precise emotions ("The lump in her throat swelled like a sea that threatened to take him from her, and she had to swallow hard"). Tibble is also a master narrator of teenage womanhood, its exhilarating highs and devastating lows; her high-camp aesthetics correlate to the overflowing beauty, irony, and ruination of her surroundings.

Poem by poem, Tibble carves out a bold new way of engaging history without merely telling it, of straddling modernity and ancestry, desire and exploitation: a truly twenty-first-century negative capability. These are warm, provocative, and profoundly original poems, written by a woman for whom diving into the wreck means taking on new assumptions--namely, that it is not radical to write from a world in which the effects of colonization, land, work, and gender are obviously connected. Along the way, Tibble scrutinizes perception and how she as a Māori woman fits into trends, stereotypes, and popular culture. With language that is at once colorful, passionate, and laugh-out-loud funny, Poūkahangatus is the work of one of our most daring new poets.

Expected Publication: July 26, 2022

Review

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Poūkahangatus is the debute poetry collection by Tayi Tibble. I just have to take a second and and recognize how incredibly stunning that cover is! The second I saw it I just had to read this book.

I can't say I connected to every poem in hate. I also can't say I enjoyed every poem in here, but the ones I enjoyed made this entire collection worth reading. I loved being able to read a poetry collection by a young indigenous woman getting a glimpse into her perspective of the world.

My favorite poem in this collection is "Our Nan Lets Us Smoke Inside". It brought back memories of smoking and playing cards with my own nan (yes, I was legal age). The nostalgia I felt reading this poem was just wonderful.

Poūkahangatus is a very small book coming in at only 96 pages. So if you're looking for just a quick dip into someone else's perspective through poetry than this could potentially be a great option for you.

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren REVIEW

 Love and Other Words

by Christina Lauren

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Synopsis

The story of the heart can never be unwritten.

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.

But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.

Review

I enjoyed this one a lot more than I expected, well most of it anyways. After how much I disliked "In A Holidaze" I had no intention of trying Christina Lauren again but this ended up being the book club pick so here I am.

I'm really not a big fan of Macy, or I should say the way that nobody can let go of her. Like, it's been 11 years since she has seen Elliot and his family. Yet 10 years after the last time she spoke to them Elliot finally brings home a girlfriend and his mom can't get her name right because she is calling her Macy! After 10 years! Like what? I get that we're all supposed to love Macy and she is so special but this was laid on so thick that it started taking away from the story.

Another issue I have is Macy's breakup with her fiancé, it was way too easy. Their whole relationship was there more as a statement to her love for Elliot rather than an actual obstacle to face. There was no drama, no emotion, no conflict at all just calmly and quietly done. I feel like the fiancé character was only created so she would have someone to leave when Elliot came around and it was time for them to reunite.

What I dislike about romance in general is how predictable it is. You basically know when you start how things are going to end and ultimately it's just the journey of getting there. While Love and Other Words was also predictable, the journey there was mostly enjoyable. I liked watching everything play out and seeing how the characters got from the beginning to the end. If you're into romance than you'll probably enjoy it more than I did. Personally, I thought it started strong and then lost me in the last 150 pages.