 To read the official synopsis, click here.
Grace is the school outcast. The entire student body as well as the rest of the community believes she is the girl who cried rape. Ian once had a crush on Grace but when she hooked up with his best friend, he knew she was off limits. When a week long detention forces them together they both must have to find a way to survive it. Argh this book was so frustrating. I did not expect this book to be told in two point of views. I thought this was a going to be a book following Grace as she tries to deal with the aftermath of her rape. Instead this book also had Ian’s POV. He is best friends with the boy allegedly attacked Grace and is unsure about how he feels about her. I am not a fan of Ian. I thought he was a stereotypical dude bro for the majority of this book. He is very dismissive of Grace’s assault. He refuses to acknowledge her around his friends. He is just such a waffler. While I enjoyed Grace’s POV, I just couldn’t make sense of her affections for Ian. I thought this was about a girl dealing with a traumatic event but instead I got a story about a boy who is reluctant to believe a girl over his best friend until he tries to save her. I gave this book a D.
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 To read the official synopsis, click here.
This is a mystery set in Japan. When Ren’s sister Keiko is killed he travels to the town she used to live in. He is trying to process his grief while trying to find out what happened to his sister. I wanted to love this book. It had a beautiful backdrop, a close sibling relationship and a good mystery. Unfortunately, this book was very dry. I don’t think this was just about the culture. While the characters were reserved, there just wasn’t enough to have this book be very memorable. There was a murder mystery and an almost supernatural element but it still didn’t feel like enough. I kept hoping there would be an event that pushes the story further. I gave this book a C.  To read the official synopsis, click here.
Xiomara is about to start a new school year. She feels so isolated in her home and school. When she feel like she can no longer talk to her twin or her mother, she turns to slam poetry. I LOVED this book. There were so many moments that I could relate to her and her family. Xiomara is a young latinx girl that has to deal with double standards that her twin brother doesn’t have to deal with. She is very self conscious of her body and she has a rocky relationship with her mother. Growing up as a young girl being a first gen America is daunting. Xiomara has a hard time finding herself because of how strict her family is on her. So she is so protective of her emotions and her poetry. This book was written in verse and I actually listened to the audiobook, which I highly recommend. The author read the book herself and just hearing her brought a new into the words. It was a captivating story. I loved Xiomara’s relationship with her family. It wasn’t the easiest family dynamic but they felt so authentic. There is so much love and compassion between the twins. And I just can’t get over Xiomara’s relationship with her mom, it very much reminded me of my own relationship with my mom. While they do love each other, they just can’t see eye to eye. I gave this book an A.  To read the official synopsis, click here.
Sylvie and Dan has been happily together for the past ten years. They have two beautiful daughters. But when their family doctor tells them they could potentially spend the next seven decades together they begin to panic. I absolutely loved the premise of this book. Here is a couple that are so happily in love but once they realize they could spend almost 80 years together they begin to worry about how they will keep their relationship alive. Sylvie and Dan begin to plan surprises for one another that don’t always go as plan. I thought these were such great characters. They are both just content with their lives and the surprises really reveal that they want more with the lives. I thought this was a great book with a realistic relationship. They have their ups and downs. They are trying their best to understand one another but they don’t always communicate. This was a wonderfully entertaining book filled with so many laugh out loud and cringe worthy moments. I gave this book a B+.  To read the official synopsis, click here.
This is the final installment in the Tao series. This book takes place a decade and some change later. I am not sure how to write this review without going into spoilers. So while this book follows the same character it does feel very different than the previous two installment. Tao and Roen are no longer as close as they once were because Tao has a new host. Their dynamic that I once loved is no longer there. Tao and his new host have a very different bond. And while the Prophus and Genjix are still fighting their battle is now out in the open. Both fractions of this alien race now have a common enemy in humans. This was an interesting conclusion to the series but overall it wasn’t my favorite book. I gave this book a C.  To read the official synopsis, click here.
Angel, Venus, Juanita and Daniel are living in New York City in 80s during the height of the glamourous drag culture and AIDS epidemic. This book broke my heart over and over again. This book isn’t for everyone. There is no overarching plot, each chapter is snippet of a character’s life. This reads more a snapshots of key moments rather than one continuous story. But this was a wonderfully written book with captivating characters each one very unique. This book doesn’t hold back any punches either. This book talks about rape, prostitution, AIDS and gay bashing. While I greatly enjoyed each character, NYC was a wonderful setting for this story. In many ways the city acted like another character. This book highlighted real places that were integral to gay culture. I do recommend having a box of tissue handy while you read this. I gave it a B. To read the official synopsis for each book click on their titles: Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless and Timeless.
This is a five book steampunk Victorian urban fantasy. We follow our protagonist Alexia Tarabotti a 26 year old spinster who has the ability to take the supernatural powers from the werewolves and vampires and the ability to exorcise ghost. We follow her throughout this series as she falls in love, gets married, gets attack by vampire clans, trying to stop dastardly plans and all while trying to understand her abilities. I absolutely love this author and her writing. This series was so funny and filled with memorable characters. Even though this series was written first, I do recommend starting with the Finishing School series. It seems like all of the author’s works take place in the same universe, but since each series takes place at different times we do see fan favorite characters make references to one another and cameo appearances. This series was so funny and I absolutely loved the romance between Alexia and Conall. There were so many great friendships and storylines. Overall I give this series a B+  To read the official synopsis, click here.
This is the second book in the Tao series. This book takes place a few years after the first book. Roen and Tao have become quite the team. They have actually been living on their own away from Roen’s family in order to hunt down the Genjix. What I really liked about this book was we got to expand on other character’s POVs. We got to see Jill and her prophus POV as well as those of our villains. We definitely got a more well rounded story because of this. Now that the stakes were significantly higher and Roen proved to be a capable fighter, we see him go out on missions. The author does a really good job of giving Roen a believable skill set. Yes has improved so much since the first book but he doesn't turn into an amazing fighter and strategist overnight. Not every mission was a success and even the one that were successful didn't leave Roen feeling accomplished. I loved how Roen kept questioning everything around him. The only issue I had with this book was that it just wasn’t that funny. The first book had so many hilarious moments while also being a fun spy, alien training montage. This book was definitely a lot more serious. Overall, I did enjoy this book I gave it a B.  To read the official synopsis, click here.
Lucy and her best friend Harper form a band and audition for a reality tv show competition. They never thought expected to pass the first round but now they are in L.A. living the so-called dream. I picked this book up on a whim and while it was entertaining it didn’t leave a lasting impression. This book started out with Harper’s murder and then jumped back to before the competition. It was filled to the brim with drama, boys and surprisingly an actual amount of music. I wanted to love this book but it read like a heightened reality tv show. While this made it a fun read it was also predictable and filled with every Hollywood cliche. There were drug additions, eating disorders, torrid affairs and it just continued getting larger than life. Because there were five girls in the bad the author tried to give each girl a major story arc. Unfortunately, known of the stories felt truly fleshed out, they mostly felt rushed. I wish this book focused more on friendship rather than the out of this world drama. I gave this book a C.  To read the official synopsis, click here.
This is the conclusion to the Zeroes series. After a prison escape and scavenger hunt the whole team is reunited to fight a new foe. The crew not only has a new branch of the police following them but they are quickly finding out that there are a lot more people with abilities. I absolutely adored this series. We saw our core characters develop so much, each character really got to shine. We finally received some answers on why the abilities started developing in some people. The group also got a better understanding of their abilities. This also had a very satisfying conclusion with epilogue. I gave this book a B. |
Becca "Buho"I devour worlds with each new book. I am making up for lost time as a late bloomer of the reading world. Archives
March 2018
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