★★★★

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

April 14, 2021 3 Comments

I did the thing. I saw a fantasy written by a female author and assumed it was YA. I am not proud of how long it took me to realize this wasn’t YA. I t convinced I was calculating the character ages wrong. *sigh*. Anyway…

Black Sun is an immersive pre-Columbian-inspired fantasy with intrigue, danger, and magic. The countdown is on as we follow an ensemble of characters to the day of a prophetic solar eclipse, where a vengeful god is set to claim his rightful place from the Sun Priest. The characters and plot completely pulled me into the story and left me wanting more.

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Skyhunter by Marie Lu

December 30, 2020 Leave a Comment

11 hours 58 minutes| Macmillan Audio| Dystopian| Release Date: 9/29/2020

Skyhunter feels like a follow-up to Legend (which is almost a decade old at this point). It has all of the things that made Legend such an enticing read; betrayal, biological warfare, experimentation, and coats. Lu loves to write characters in sweeping coats…though there are noticeable fewer epaulets in this one.

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Harrow The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

November 17, 2020 Leave a Comment

512 pages | Tor | Sci-Fi/Fantasy | Release Date: 08/04/2020

Harrow The Ninth dives back into the dark futuristic world of Gideon The Ninth as Harrow begins her journey to Lyctorhood. Not all is what it seems and Harrow learns some secrets refuse to die. Muir brings her signature blend of cerebral horror, fantasy, and gore with a side of (purposefully) obnoxious humor that will keep dedicated readers wondering …what’s going on? How? Who is that? Wait…what?

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Audiobook Review: The New David Espinoza by Fred Aceves

September 16, 2020 Leave a Comment

Audiobook length: 7 hours 50 min. | Publisher: Harper Audio | Genre: YA Contemporary| Release Date: 2/11/20

Jess gave a glowing review to Fred Aceves debut, The Closest I’ve Come, making me particularly eager to pick up his sophomore novel.

After a video of 17-year-old David Espinoza getting slapped unconscious goes viral, David is too embarrassed to ever show his face around town. He’s tired of being bullied for how thin he is and spends the summer of his senior year working out to attain a physique like his favorite action movie stars. He joins a bodybuilding gym where he is slowly pulled into the insanely toxic community of professional bodybuilding and steroids.

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Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

March 16, 2020 Leave a Comment

9 hours 58 min. | G.P. Putnam’s Son | Adult Fiction | Release Date: 12/31/19

2020 has been kind of a meh reading year for me so I decided to switch it up with some upmarket book club-y fiction. This is one of those books where it’s better to go in with as little information as possible. Such a Fun Age starts with 25-year-old Emira, a Black girl living in Philadelphia, being racially profiled while babysitting a white child. The book then follows Emira as she tries to figure out how to become a “real adult” and her boss, Alix Chamberlain, who starts noticing Emira in a new way after the incident.

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Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

February 6, 2020 Leave a Comment

15 Hours 54 Minutes | Hachette Audio | YA Fantasy | 10/02/2018

There is just no way Laini Taylor’s brain works the way everyone else does. Her vibrant and expansive imagination allows her to dive into fantasy worlds that are beautiful, mystifying and devastating.

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