[Book Review] The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro

Watson and Holmes: A match made in disaster.

Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes are looking for a winter-break reprieve after a fall semester that almost got them killed. But Charlotte isn’t the only Holmes with secrets, and the mood at her family’s Sussex estate is palpably tense. On top of everything else, Holmes and Watson could be becoming more than friends—but still, the darkness in Charlotte’s past is a wall between them.

A distraction arises soon enough, because Charlotte’s beloved uncle Leander goes missing from the estate—after being oddly private about his latest assignment in a German art forgery ring. The game is afoot once again, and Charlotte is single-minded in her pursuit.

Their first stop? Berlin. Their first contact? August Moriarty (formerly Charlotte’s obsession, currently believed by most to be dead), whose powerful family has been ripping off famous paintings for the last hundred years. But as they follow the gritty underground scene in Berlin to glittering art houses in Prague, Holmes and Watson begin to realize that this is a much more complicated case than a disappearance. Much more dangerous, too.

What they learn might change everything they know about their families, themselves, and each other.

[Book Review] The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black. 

[Book Review] There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

One-by-one, the students of Osborne High are dying in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, the dark secrets among them must finally be confronted.

[Book Review] Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

"Nothing is a coincidence. Everything has a purpose. You were meant to come to this castle, just as you were meant to be an assassin."

When magic has gone from the world, and a vicious king rules from his throne of glass, an assassin comes to the castle. She does not come to kill, but to win her freedom. If she can defeat twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition to find the greatest assassin in the land, she will become the King's Champion and be released from prison.

Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her.

And a princess from a foreign land will become the one thing Celaena never thought she'd have again: a friend.

But something evil dwells in the castle—and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying, horribly, one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival—and a desperate quest to root out the source of the evil before it destroys her world.

[Book Review] Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh

At seventeen years old Mariko is sent to the imperial palace to meet her betrothed, a man she did not choose and the son of the emperor, for the first time. The trip is cut short when her convoy is attacked by the Black Clan, a dangerous group of bandits that have been hired to kill Mariko before she reaches the palace. Mariko escapes to the woods where she plots her revenge. She cuts her hair short and dresses herself as a boy to infiltrate the Black Clan and hunt down the ones responsible for trying to kill her.

[Book Review] The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.

There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?

[Book Review] More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

 

4 STARS

Before I start the review I want to add a TRIGGER WARNING on this book. It deals with topics like depression, suicide, self harm, and homophobia. Please read at your own caution and stay safe.

[Book Review] The Keeper and the Rune Stone by Paige W. Pendleton

 

3 STARS 

It is always so exciting when Maine is the setting in a book that isn't Stephen King. No shade towards Stephen King! I love his books, but to see this fun middle grade fantasy novel be not only set in Maine but written by an author who has connections to the small island I have called my childhood home for over ten years. It's just really inspirational as a aspiring novelist. 

[Book Review] This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

5 STARS

It has been SO long since I have stayed up late in the night hooked on a book. This book was on my brain as I settled into my bed to sleep. I ended up caving and compromising saying I'd read for fifteen minutes. An hour and a half later and now more than half way through the story I had to force myself to put down the kindle, and get sleep. The minute I woke up I was back grabbing my kindle and needing to be in the fantastic and unique world Victoria Schwab created. 

This Savage Song is a book I feel like is best to go into with little to no information about it (honestly, I think that's the best way to jump into most books) but what I feel is important is knowing the basics. In the world of This Savage Song the United States as we know it has been mostly destroyed because the violence in our world bred monsters, literal monsters, who now are pretty much ruling the lands.

2017 Reading Goals

 

These are twelve reading goals I really want to accomplish this year. The overall theme of this year is for me to try my absolute hardest not to get so caught up in how many books I have completed so I don't get caught up in a reading slump and lose interest in reading for months at a time (which happened in 2016 twice). I am hoping to feel satisfied at the end of the year with most of the books I have stacked waiting for me already read and it will feel a bit like spring cleaning.