So despite reading only 1 scary book this month, I was pleased with my 20 books and I am around 80% done with my reading goal for this year.
SeQuence Unbound by Lorraine L M L – So I haven’t reviewed this book yet as I am doing it closer to the release date, but I did read it in October and it was amazing, highly recommend this series.
2. The Monsters We Deserve by Marcus Sedgwick ***** – So, I didn’t know anything about the Monsters We Deserve when I requested it, but Marcus Sedgwick is a well-known author. However, the synopsis (below) doesn’t give much away. The Villa Diodati, on the shore of Lake Geneva, 1816: the Year without Summer. As Byron, Polidori, and Mr. and Mrs. Shelley shelter from the unexpected weather, old ghost stories are read, and new ghost stories imagined. Born by the twin brains of the Shelley’s is Frankenstein, one of the most influential tales of horror of all time.
3. Educated by Sabrina Kade ***** – So, Educated is a short prequel novella to both Purchased and Guarded which I gave 5* reviews. So, from what I can gather this novella follows both Arizona and Blythe during the same timeline as Purchased and Guarded. We are introduced to Arizona’s perspective in the second bunker as she begins telling stories to Drozass, a young Sidyth, who is interested in her, about her life before and how she formed her own little family.
4. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo ***** – So, I didn’t know much about Six of Crows going into it, so I was pleasantly surprised when I learned this book is set in the same universe as the Grisha trilogy which I loved despite the fact the romance we ended up with wasn’t the right one. We are first introduced to Joost who is the first in a cast of characters we are you going to meet. Boost works with the guard of a mercher who also owns Grisha and Joost has a crush on one; Anya. However, things take a darker turn early on when Anya is used in an experiment for her owner’s pleasure. In this experiment she is given a drug that increases her Grisha healing power to an incredible level, but it also allows her to display abilities that were never associated with her type of Grisha. One thing I noticed was in the Grisha universe the Grisha themselves are seen as a rare warrior while here they are portrayed as nothing more than pets kept on the whims of their masters.
5. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo ***** – So, after the ending of Six of Crows I was determined to find out what happened next and where the crew would end up and would they get their “happy endings”? We are introduced to some new perspective in this book as the first perspective we are given is that of Retvenko, one of Hoede’s indentured Grisha from the first novel as he encounters a whole new class of enemy. We also finally get a perspective from Wylan which we didn’t have in Six of Crows and while I was spoiled for a specific death in this series I am hoping and praying they were wrong because this character is my baby.
6. Matched to a Billionaire by Mio Takai & Kat Cantrell **** – So, we are introduced to Daniella on her wedding day, where we learn she is getting married to a man that she has never meant before. We then jump back several months, where we learn Daniella was looking for someone who could provide for her and her terminally ill mother and Leo is looking for someone who would support his very hectic and work-obsessed lifestyle. Both join a matchmaking service and obviously end up matched together where they agree to tie the knot almost immediately.
7. The Blackmail Marriage by Penny Jordan **** – In the Blackmail Marriage we are introduced to Carrie, who once upon a time had a relationship with the Prince of Santander; Luc until they were ripped apart when he supposedly paid her off as a fling. She spends many years in Britain earning a degree and getting a very well-known job.
8. Twice Dead by Caitlin Seal **** – So, I didn’t know much about Twice Dead, but the synopsis sounded very interesting, we are introduced to Naya, whose father is a merchant of some sort, but they live in a world where the dead can be reanimated. Her father sends her on her first solo outing to collect a signature for a trade deal from quite a tricky customer. However, Naya runs into trouble along the way when she learns she is being followed and has an encounter with one of the undead. For an opening chapter this certainly was gripping and given that I didn’t know much about the book going into it, I felt I made a good choice here.
9. When Falcone’s World Stops Turning by Shion Hanyu ***** – In When Falcone’s World Stops Turning we are introduced to Rafaele Falcone who has two half-brothers all from his mother’s three marriages and he is very wary of women and doesn’t allow himself to get close to them. So when he meets Samantha, a flame from the past, he is confused about his feelings towards her. However, what he doesn’t know is Samantha feel pregnant before he dumped her, and she never got the chance to tell him about the child. Four years later circumstance brings them back together, but Samantha is worried about how he will react if he finds out the child is his.
10. Girl on a Diamond Pedestal by Riho Sachimi **** – In Girl on a Diamond Pedestal we are introduced to Noelle Birch who was a child prodigy at playing the piano until she grew up and lost her novelty, so her mother ran away with all of her earnings. As she is preparing to sell the home she grew up in she meets Ethan Grey (for some reason it makes me think of fifty shades, but these are on the same level), who offers her a chance to get back at her mother, but he also has an ulterior motive as his father abandoned their family for his mistress who was Noelle’s mother although Noelle doesn’t know this. In order to get back at the people who hurt them, they decide on a sham engagement in order to shame her mother and ruin his father.
11. The Sabbides Secret Baby by Keiko Yamada ***** – In the Sabbides Secret Baby we are introduced to a part-time hotel receptionist Phoebe and Greek multimillionaire Jed who were lovers until she becomes pregnant after falling in love with Jed, but he turns her away as a mistress and demands she gets an abortion. Phoebe tries to run away but ends up having a miscarriage and disappears from Jed’s life but five years later he has returned.
12. The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli **** – The opening of The Upside of Unrequited was, we are introduced to Molly Peskin-Suso and her twin sister Cassie at a club where they meet Mina and Molly knows instantly that Mina is the kind of girl Cassie would date unlike herself who has had 26 crushes and not a single boyfriend or kiss. I think this could be related to the fact that Molly is insecure about the way she looks especially where her weight is concerned. One thought I did have in these opening chapters was how the hell can you fit so much rep in? Like seriously we have Jewish characters, lesbian characters, sperm donor babies, POC and much more. After the night in the club Cassie is trying to set Molly up with Mina’s friend Will, but after starting a summer job she meets Reid who she isn’t necessarily attracted to but really liked as a person.
13. Perfect Harmony by Emily Albright ***** – In the opening to Perfect Harmony we are introduced to Pippa Wyndham who is a top cellist and wants to get into Goddards which is the best music school and she has her audition today. Pippa has always had a crush on her childhood friend Noah who is best mates with her brother but when Declan Brogan transfers to her school from New York and he is also a cellist she knows she is going to have some competition for the top spot and first chair. Pippa and Declan immediately dislike each other but I have a feeling as this book is labeled as a romance that at some point there will be a love triangle between Pippa, Declan, and Noah. When Pippa and Declan are forced to work on a duet together in order to pass their class I was hoping this would lead to some surprising situation given the fact they are both fighting for the same thing.
14. Decorated by Sabrina Kade *** – So Decorated follows some characters we already know such as Korben, Blythe, Azan, and York as well as some we haven’t seen before such as Ellis and Hujun at Christmas. We learn that both Blythe and York are pregnant, but Blythe is further along than York. It was really adorable seeing York trying to explain to concept of Christmas to Azan who doesn’t have the best handle on human customs and holidays. The humor York comes out with during these scenes are amazing and the other girls are down for a Christmas celebration. An interesting thing we see here is York and Blythe ended up with their mates rather easily while Hujun wants to choose Ellis, but she has no interest in him because he is quite ugly compared to the other aliens, but I have a feeling that is going to change in this novel.
15. Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh & Ivanka Hahnenberger (Translator) ***** – I have seen the movie Blue is the warmest color and it is one of the best LGBT movies I have seen in a long time so when I got my hands on the graphic novel the movie is based off I couldn’t wait to read it. We are introduced to Emma, whose lover Clementine has died, and she is collecting her diaries and we jump back into Clementine’s life starting in her teen years. When Clementine is a sophomore she meets Thomas, a cute boy who her friends are pushing her to date, but she is already questioning her sexuality when she sees a girl with blue hair and begins having feelings she has never had before.
16. Something Like Summer by Jay Bell ***** – Something like Summer opens in 1996 with Ben who has known he is gay since he was 12 and he is a crush on a guy in his neighbourhood and this crush is boarding on stalking behaviour. However, he does learn his crush’s name is Tim Wyman, but Ben knows he and Tim are around the same age, so he is hoping to be put in at least one of the same classes. So far, I was really liking Ben despite some of his behaviour he is honest about who he is and the way he feels. After school starts again Ben is eager to catch a glimpse of Tim but he hasn’t yet. However, his best friend does and when he tries to encounter Tim he learns that he is seemingly friends with the biggest bullies in the school. Fate intervenes one day when Ben decides to shake home instead of taking his bike and he accidentally crashes into Tim, seemingly twisting his ankle and while getting Tim home he gives away the fact that he already knows where he lives but as this novel spans a decade I am sure they are going to get to know each other very soon.
17. Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire RE-READ ***** – So, I have read this series before but with book 4 In an Absent Dream early next year I decided to re-read the series again as I re-read this series when I managed to get an arc of Beneath the Sugar Sky. Every heart opens with Nancy arriving at Elanor West’s home for Wayward Children, Nancy has been living in another world, but no one believes her and fears she is suffering from delusions. Learning about Nancy’s world and how passionately she feels for it is beautiful, the nicest thing though is the relationship between her and the Lord of the Dead. I know from previous readings that this book is full of representation, there is asexual rep, f/f relationship rep, transgender rep, as well as having many characters of different races present throughout the story.
18. A Daring Proposition by Yoshiko Hanatsu (Illustrator) & Miranda Lee *** – In the opening of A Daring Proposition we are introduced to Samantha who is the secretary of Guy, an extraordinarily handsome and sexy CEO who she has secret feelings for, but he always dates women who are the complete opposite of her. After five years of being hopelessly in love with a man who will never notice her Sam decides to quit her job and move back home.
19. Craving Jamie by Keiko Okamoto (Illustrator) & Emma Darcy ** – In the opening of Craving Jamie we are introduced to Beth and Jamie who are best friends growing up and when Beth moves away Jamie promises to become successful and find her when he can. However, we jump forward, and Jamie is a successful businessman which has made him very rich when he meets a young girl at an art gallery, unknown to him this girl is Beth.
20. Playing the Dutiful Wife by Takako Hashimoto (Illustrator) & Carol Marinelli ***** – In the opening of Playing the Dutiful Wife we are introduced to Meg, an innocent and cautious woman, finds herself seated next to handsome millionaire Niklas on an airplane. Meg has a huge fear of flying alone and when Niklas is seated next to her she is grateful for the distraction and eventually they begin talking and find that they are attracted to one another.
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