The Saturday Review - 8 June 2019

The Saturday Review is back! I got so backlogged on ARCs the past month I didn't have time to do a full Saturday review, but I'm back with less than 20 minutes to spare. Oh well, it's still Saturday somewhere! What have you been reading lately bookdragons?

The Haunted

by Danielle Vega

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: June 4, 2019

Genre: Young adult, Horror

Blurb

From Danielle Vega, YA’s answer to Stephen King, comes a new paranormal novel about dark family secrets, deep-seated vengeance, and the horrifying truth that evil often lurks in the unlikeliest of places.

Hendricks Becker-O’Malley is new in town, and she’s bringing baggage with her. With a dark and wild past, Hendricks doesn’t think the small town her parents moved her to has much to offer her in terms of excitement. She plans on laying low, but when she’s suddenly welcomed into the popular crowd at school, things don’t go as expected.

Hendricks learns from her new friends that the fixer-upper her parents are so excited about is notorious in town. Local legend says it’s haunted. Hendricks doesn’t believe it. Until she’s forced to. Blood-curdling screams erupt from the basement, her little brother wakes up covered in scratches, and something, or someone pushes her dad down the stairs. With help from the mysterious boy next door, Hendricks makes it her mission to take down the ghosts . . . if they don’t take her first.

Cover: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Confession: I like this cover so much more than Vega's Merciless series. It gives you that awesome optical illusion cover, like the girl is in motion and the font is nice bold block letters. 

Summary/Tagline: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 “You will pay for what she did." - This quote appeared on the back of the wrapper of the ARC I got for this book and it definitely drew me in. I mean immediately the reader would wonder who is "she" and what did she do?

Characters: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Hendricks, despite the strange unusual name, is a character I found myself liking straight off. A bad experience with an ex-boyfriend led her to where she is at the beginning of the story and we can see that she's still pretty shaken by those events while at the same time missing and reminiscing about the one person whose existence she should forget all about. In her new town she meets Portia who folds her into her group of friends, the "in-crowd" of today. The queen bee / mean-is girl who is an LGBTQ+ character, the artsy Asian girl, and the "aw-shucks" it boy that immediately takes a liking to her. But there's also the moody, brooding, outcast boy-next-door with the tragic past, Eddie who I liked immediately.

Worldbuilding: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Based entirely on the author's set up of the scare factor in this book I give it a strong 5 stars. This was my first book by Danielle Vega but I can definitely see what the hype is all about, the lady can definitely weave an eerie tale! Read this book in a well lit room and maybe check behind the shower curtain and under the bed for ghosts. ;)

Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 This book was such an easy read and I was hooked on this story from start to finish. It's been a while since I read a book in one sitting but this book was made to keep you up late reading, hair sticking up in odd angles, fingernails bitten down to the nubs, and bags under your eyes from needing to stay up to get to the very last page. This book takes a spin on the saying "the sins of the father shall be rested on the heads of the children" with a heartbreaking revelation toward the end that is so worth it. 

Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 4.8 of 5 Stars!

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 

4.8 of 5 Stars!

She Was the Quiet One

by Michele Campbell

Published by: St. Martin's Press

On: July 31, 2018

Genre: Thriller

Blurb:

From the author of Its Always the Husband comes a riveting new suspense audiobook about privilege, power, and what happens when we let ambition take control.

 When twin sisters Rose and Bel Enright enroll in The Odell School, a prestigious New Hampshire boarding school, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. But the sisters could not be more different. The school brings out a rivalry between them that few ever knew existed. 

And the school itself has a dark underbelly: of privileged kids running unchecked and uninhibited; of rituals and traditions that are more sinister than they seem; of wealth and entitlement that can only lead to disaster. 

For Sarah Donovan, wife of an ambitious teacher who is determined to rise through the ranks, Odell also seems like the best thing that could happen to their small family. But how well does she really know her husband? What lengths will he go to to achieve his goals?

 And when one dark night ends in murder, who is guilty, who knows the truth, and who has been in on it all along? 

SHE WAS THE QUIET ONE. Because murderers are almost never who you expect.In an audiobook full of twists, turns, and dark secrets, Michele Campbell once again proves her skill at crafting intricately spun and completely compelling plots.

Review:

Cover: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 The cover is perfect for a Thriller/Suspense novel, giving me Lisa Jackson or Sandra Brown vibes. I believe that is what drew my attention to this book in the first place.

Summary/Tagline: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 “The guilty one is never who you think." - For 75% of this book I kept guessing which Enright sister would end up dead, because you know it has to be one of them. This led me to believe that *spoiler alert* was the killer.. but you'll have to keep reading to see if your assumption and mine is correct.

Characters: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Each character is wonderfully well rounded. You switch between the perspectives of Rose, Bel, and Sarah Donovan with interspersed interviews between the detective and state police lieutenant and various minor characters. You feel each character's insecurities, understand their rage and pain and hopes and desires. I admit the character I connected with the most was Bel, but I seem to be drawn toward the rebellious characters and turn up my nose at the "goody-two-shoes" characters but by the end I even liked Rose and Sarah. 
Worldbuilding: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 I could picture the Odell campus so well, it reminded me of the setting for Kate Brian's Private series and I could picture old brick buildings and the rich, privileged kids walking the campus grounds so clearly it was as if I stepped into the book and walked among them.

Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 I loved this book, it's basically my newest bookish obsession and I didn't want it to end! I haven't read anything by this author previously but I really like the way she plotted this one. 

Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 6 of 5 Stars!

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

6 of 5 Stars!

The Beholder 

by Anna Bright

Published by: Harper Teen

On: June 4, 2019

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Retelling

Blurb:

Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match, a partner who will help secure the future of her people. Now that day has finally come.

But after an excruciatingly public rejection from her closest childhood friend, Selah’s stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic, where a series of potential suitors awaits—and if she doesn’t come home engaged, she shouldn’t come home at all.

From English castle gardens to the fjords of Norge, and under the eye of the dreaded Imperiya Yotne, Selah’s quest will be the journey of a lifetime. But her stepmother’s schemes aren’t the only secrets hiding belowdecks…and the stakes of her voyage may be higher than any happy ending.

Review:

Cover: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 I'll confess, the cover is what first drew my attention to this book. I think I saw it for the first time on Twitter when the author revealed the cover and had to find out more!

Summary/Tagline: 🌟 “Sparkles with beauty, intrigue, and romance. " - Author blurb from Keira Cass, author of The Selection. As far as taglines/blurbs go, this tells me nothing about the book itself and if I hadn't have liked the cover and looked at the plot summary itself I probably would not have picked it up on just Ms. Cass's words (especially since I am personally not fond of The Selection series and if it were being compared to that I might have had second thoughts)

Characters: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Honestly, Selah was not the shining star for me in this book. I liked her okay, found her a bit naive and childish at other times. The real shining stars for me were the rest of the cast of character; Bear, Torden, Lang, Skop, Homer, Althea, Anya, Alexei and Cobie were all such different yet enjoyable characters. I enjoyed reading about them more than our MC.
Worldbuilding: 🌟🌟🌟 I'm slightly confused by the worldbuilding in this book. Back in Potomac Selah talks about Algebra and school and such yet when she gets to England they're riding around in carriages like its 1700 and Norge is a blend of the old Viking world of Scandinavia and more modern Norway and obviously Imperyia is based on Russia from the author's talk of the Baba Yaga legends. I know this is fantasy and not meant to be based on our world but I'm trying to figure out an adequate timeline to compare it to. I'd rather the story be set in a completely fantastical world instead of a hodge podge of our modern world, imaginary kingdoms, and old and new standards of living.

Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 I enjoyed this book. There were times where I could breeze through 100 pages in nothing flat while other times I'd put the book down for a day and not pick it back up for a week not knowing if I really wanted to pick it back up. I liked aspects of the book, there were other parts I would have wanted more of, and I definitely do want to read the conclusion to the duopoly to see how it ends. But this book reminded me of a story about stories, like the author was exploring what elements of a fantasy novel to incorporate. 

Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 3.4 of 5 Stars!

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟🌟

3.4 of 5 Stars!