Book: The Cruel Prince

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town.

Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.

Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into.

Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.

But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.

      We read this book for my school's book club at my suggestion after I heard the buzz going around in the booksphere. I honestly didn't know much about the book going in, I just knew it had to do with witches, so I didn't have big expectations. That being said, I enjoyed the book overall. The concept was really interesting. The twists were a bit predictable and I found the resolution surrounding the love interests really problematic, but overall, it was a good read that kept me interested and wanting to know more about the lore.



Book: The Lies We Told
Author: Camilla Way
My Rating: : ★★★ 1/2
Synopsis: The highly acclaimed author of Watching Edie returns with a new novel of dark psychological suspense that explores how those closest to us have the most to hide...

When Clara's boyfriend, Luke, disappears, everyone believes that he's left her, but Clara thinks she knows the truth. Recent evidence suggests that Luke had a stalker, and Clara worries that he's been kidnapped. Then Luke's older sister, Emily, who vanished twenty years ago, suddenly reappears.

Emily wants to help Clara with her search for Luke, but she refuses to talk about what happened--even though it nearly destroyed her family when she vanished. And the deeper Clara digs into Luke's mysterious disappearance, the more convinced she is that the two incidents are connected.

      It wasn't bad or anything, just a little underwhelming after all the hype. I had no idea how to connect the two timelines for the longest time, so that kept me reading and I was excited about what would happen. The ending felt a bit rushed, but really this was an okay thriller.


Book: The Kiss Quotient
Author: Helen Hoang
My Rating: ★★ 3/4 (2.75)
Synopsis: Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases — a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice — with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan — from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he's making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic...

     The only reason why I picked up this book was because of all the hype surrounding it. I was hesitant because of the hype, but decided to give in because I had never read a book with a character on the Autism spectrum. That being said... I really did not like this book. It was probably a mistake to even read this book, as an asexual, but I thought I would be okay with it. There were a lot of comments and ideas presented that seemed very anti-asexual. The author made it seem like being asexual and not liking sex was so wrong, and I understand that she was trying to present the idea that autistic people can enjoy sex too, but in doing so she completely invalidates asexuality. Overall, I liked the idea of the book, but the execution made me incredibly uncomfortable and frustrated.



Book: The V Girl
Author: Mya Robarts
My Rating: ★★★★ 1/2
Synopsis: In post-apocalyptic North America, sexual slavery is legal. Lila Velez desperately wants to lose her virginity before the troops visit her town and take it away by force. She makes plans to seduce her only friend. Lila does not love him, but he is the only man who has shown her true affection, an affection she is willing to take as a substitute for love.

Lila’s coping mechanism to deal with her mother’s loss is her secret. A secret that will bring her closer to Aleksey Fürst, a foreign, broody man who she distrusts because of his links to the troops and his rough, yet irresistible appearance. He offers Lila an alternative to her plans, a possibility that terrifies her…and tempts her in spite of herself.

With threats looming at every turn and no way to escape, Lila fears that falling in love will only lead to more heartache. The consequences of laying down her arms for Aleksey and welcoming hope might destroy more than her heart. They might force her to face the worst of her nightmares becoming a reality. Is love possible in a world that has forgotten what the human touch is?

      This might hands down be my favorite book of the year. The entire book surrounds the idea of consent and choice, and even though I'm asexual, I still understand the importance of these surrounding sex. This book did such a good job of painting this interesting dystopian world that's so different than ours yet still has the same problems as ours, only heightened. I also really enjoy the main romance. The couple went through so much and there was so much weight put on them being on the seem page and understanding each other. I highly recommend this book, though if you are triggered by sexual assault, rape, harassment, or violence, this is not for you.


So those were the books I've read since October, for the most part. There are some others I decided not to include. Have you read any of these books, if so, what did you think? I would love to hear your thoughts. Also, give me some recommendations! I finally have time to read, so give me some good books to check out.

Book: The Frame-Up

Author:  Meghan Scott Molin

My Rating: ★★★1/2

Synopsis: MG Martin lives and breathes geek culture. She even works as a writer for the comic book company she idolized as a kid. But despite her love of hooded vigilantes, MG prefers her comics stay on the page.

But when someone in LA starts recreating crime scenes from her favorite comic book, MG is the LAPD’s best—and only—lead. She recognizes the golden arrow left at the scene as the calling card of her favorite comic book hero. The thing is…superheroes aren’t real. Are they?

When the too-handsome-for-his-own-good Detective Kildaire asks for her comic book expertise, MG is more than up for the adventure. Unfortunately, MG has a teeny little tendency to not follow rules. And her off-the-books sleuthing may land her in a world of trouble.

Because for every superhero, there is a supervillain. And the villain of her story may be closer than she thinks…

Disclaimer: I was provided a free ARC from Little Bird Publicity of "The Frame-Up" in exchange for an honest review.

      This book had a lot of potential to be a lot more than it was. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed reading it because it was quite entertaining, but my main problem was that it was so saturated with pop culture and comic book references that it was just too much at times. It's one thing to have your crimes based on comic books and to have comic book culture as a part of the story, but damn it, it got really annoying and almost elitist at times.


      The circumstances surrounding the plot were completely unrealistic. It's one thing for the police to use an outside expert, it's another thing for that outside expert to be a random ass person you happen to meet at a coffee store that you then allow to come to all crime scenes, watch interrogations, etc.


      Overall, I kind of liked the characters (at times) and thought the romance was cute, it was just really unprofessional and completely unrealistic. Granted, this is fiction, so that doesn't matter as much, but there is still boundaries to be followed. I would say if you like crime books as well as geeky fandom culture, then this is the book for you. You might not understand all of the references, but that's what Google is for.

Book: The World Breaks Everyone

Author: Lauren Clark

My Rating: ★★1/2

Synopsis: Every day, I wake up certain of only three things: I am responsible for my mother's death. My father has vanished. Someone wants me dead. I'm on the run. It's me against the world. I cannot let it break me. When sixteen-year-old Olivia Jacobs and her celebrity chef father are brutally attacked after his French Quarter restaurant opening, the shell-shocked Olivia finds herself on the run on the streets of New Orleans. Who wants her dead? And why?

Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy by the author for an honest review.

      What really hurt this book was there were a lot of errors and inconsistencies with plot and especially characters. Gosh there were so many issues with the actual characters themselves and the characterization. It's like this book wasn't edited properly because a lot of things were clearly overlooked. As far as plot, it was basic, highly predictable, and not at all plausible. The whole scenario surrounding the character Olivia being on the run doesn't make any sense. Kate's whole plot and background could have been removed honestly as it added nothing. Overall I feel like the story has potential, but there need to be some real edits and reworking done to the plot and characters.

...and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. 

After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.

Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things--including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he's a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she's more than interested. There's just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden's adopted father, a man she's sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out. However, she's willing to do anything to hold her sister's hand again. And hell, she'd also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn't?

But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not've been an accident at all, she's not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life.

For real this time.

      I want to preface this by saying that Jennifer L. Armentrout is probably one of my favorite authors. Her characters, writing, and romance have always drawn me and and really stuck with me. That being said, I did not like this book. Like, at all.


      This book really disappointed me, though I guess I shouldn't have been surprised considering this is probably one of her least talked about books. I've actually not come across another booksphere person who has talked about this book. It's a shame because the premise for this book is something that Jennifer could have really drove home, but for me, it just fell flat.


      Nothing about this book was redeemable, which is really strange cause there is at least one thing that should have been done write, but wasn't. The writing and plot fell really flat for me. Nothing really happened until the last 15% of the book, and everything before was just unnecessary drama and padding. Jennifer tried to cram all the action, drama, climax, and resolution in a short amount of time, and it just didn't work. If this book wasn't written by her, I probably would have just straight up DNFed it.


      Now let's get to the most disappointing part of the book: the romance. If there is one thing Jennifer L. Armentrout can do write, it's romance, but this was not one of those cases. This relationship was so unhealthy, creepy, and in my opinion, quite toxic. Hayden, the main love interest, has been STALKING Ember, the main character, for damn near two years before they even fucking meet each other ! Then, when they get together, he's possessive, creepy, and just everything come off of him screams ISSUES. He does some pretty shady shit and Ember just glosses over it and forgives him, like the whole stalking thing.


      Overall, I'm sad that I didn't enjoy the book, but I don't regret reading it. It just goes to show that everything your favorite authors put out aren't going to necessarily be good.


      Have you read "Cursed"? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts about it down below in the comments. If not, have you read Jennifer L. Armentrout's other books? What are your thoughts on her works?