Month: September 2022

Book Review of I’m with the Banned by Marlene Perez

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Title: I’m with the Banned

Series: Afterlife #2

Author: Marlene Perez

Review by: Dani Hoots

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: 5/5

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I never wanted to be a vampire queen.

But on the bright (if not sunny) side of the debacle, I’ve got a super-hot new boyfriend. And he just might be the perfect guy.

Well, if the perfect guy ghosts you for a month and then comes back to school with a new look, a pack of friends, and a secret. But we have bigger problems.

The Drainers are back. They’re singing a different song, but have they really changed?

Even worse, werewolves’ hearts are being ripped from their bodies—which is putting the people I love in danger. I need to figure out who is behind the murders before there’s an all-out vampire werewolf war.

No one is going to mess with my friends, even the ones who like to get wild and howl at the moon.

Sometimes, all a girl can do is grab her tiara and start kicking some supernatural ass…

This is the second book in the AFTERLIFE Trilogy and I love it! I was curious what could happen next and I did not see all this coming! We are back with our favorite characters, including Travis who I kind of like more in this book.

There were a lot of twists and turns in this book, but I don’t want to spoil them for people. I liked the development in the characters. The only wish I had was to see more of high school life, but with everything goin on outside of school, it made sense not to delve deep into HS life.

All in all, if you love vampires, I highly recommend this series! We have more types of creatures in this book, which was a lot of fun!

~Dani

 

Book Review of You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M McManus

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Title: You’ll Be The Death of Me

Author: Karen M McManus

Review by: Dani Hoots

Genre: YA Thriller/Mystery/Dark Academia
 

Rating: 5/5

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Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day. Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out from working two jobs since his family’s business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up . . . again. 

So when the three unexpectedly run into each other, they decide to avoid their problems by ditching. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they’ve barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say. . . 

. . . until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school—and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it’s about to get worse. It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common…like a connection to the dead kid. And they’re all hiding something. 

Could it be that their chance reconnection wasn’t by chance after all? 

Karen M McManus has become one of my favorite authors in the past year. She can bring her characters to life in ways that makes me very jealous. She does a great job making you think a character is going to be a stereotype and then weaves in secrets and has the characters grow in ways you don’t expect. This is the second book of hers that I have read and I can’t wait to pick up her other books.

This book starts out a lot like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which is always a great call back. It definitely takes a different turn when they witness a fellow classmate’s murder. Realizing they had been spotted, they know they need to clear their names. But what secrets would be revealed as they search for clues?

I don’t want to giveaway any of the secrets, so it’s hard to write what I liked about this book. I did like how Karen addressed some issues that teens face every day and brings them to light in her writing. All in all, I highly recommend this book if you like thrillers, mysteries, and young adult books!

~Dani

 

Book Review of Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray

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Title: Master & Apprentice

Author: Claudia Gray

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 5/5

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A Jedi must be a fearless warrior, a guardian of justice, and a scholar in the ways of the Force. But perhaps a Jedi’s most essential duty is to pass on what they have learned. Master Yoda trained Dooku; Dooku trained Qui-Gon Jinn; and now Qui-Gon has a Padawan of his own. But while Qui-Gon has faced all manner of threats and danger as a Jedi, nothing has ever scared him like the thought of failing his apprentice.

Obi-Wan Kenobi has deep respect for his Master, but struggles to understand him. Why must Qui-Gon so often disregard the laws that bind the Jedi? Why is Qui-Gon drawn to ancient Jedi prophecies instead of more practical concerns? And why wasn’t Obi-Wan told that Qui-Gon is considering an invitation to join the Jedi Council—knowing it would mean the end of their partnership? The simple answer scares him: Obi-Wan has failed his Master.

When Jedi Rael Averross, another former student of Dooku, requests their assistance with a political dispute, Jinn and Kenobi travel to the royal court of Pijal for what may be their final mission together. What should be a simple assignment quickly becomes clouded by deceit, and by visions of violent disaster that take hold in Qui-Gon’s mind. As Qui-Gon’s faith in prophecy grows, Obi-Wan’s faith in him is tested—just as a threat surfaces that will demand that Master and apprentice come together as never before, or be divided forever.

If you love Star Wars and need more Obi-Wan & Qui-Gon, then you definitely need to read this book. This book gives an insight on their relationship and how both of them were as padawans. There are flashbacks to when Qui-Gon was a padawan to Count Dooku, which was really fascinating. I still need to read the book Dooku.

The book itself was written very well and now Claudia Gray is one of my favorite authors and Star Wars authors. She is probably my favorite of the new canon books. After reading this book, I went and gathered the rest of her Star Wars books, and a couple of non-Star Wars books. I can’t wait to read more books by her.

I enjoyed the rest of the characters in this book. The princess was different than the other princess written about in the Star Wars universe, and I liked what Claudia did with her. I also liked the other Jedi and the backstory he had. Each character had great development.

I also listened to the audiobook for this book and really enjoyed Jonathan Davis’ performance. He did a great job sounding like Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson and it made it feel like I was listening to an actual Star Wars movie. He also did the audiobook for BROTHERHOOD by Mike Chen, which I will be reviewing soon.

All in all, if you love Star Wars, I highly recommend this book!

~Dani

Book Review of The Counselors by Jessica Goodman

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Title: The Counselors

Author: Jessica Goodman

Review by: Dani Hoots

Genre: YA Thriller/Mystery
 

Rating: 4/5

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From New York Times bestselling author Jessica Goodman comes a twisty new thriller about three best friends, one elite summer camp, and the dark secrets that lead to a body in the lake.

Camp Alpine Lake is the only place where Goldie Easton feels safe.
 
She’s always had a special connection to the place, even before she was old enough to attend. The camp is the lifeline of Roxwood, the small town she lives in. Alpine Lake provides jobs, money and prestige to the region. Few Roxwood locals, though, get to reap the rewards of living so close to the glam summer that camp, with its five-figure tuition and rich kids who have been dumped there for eight weeks by their powerful parents. Goldie’s one of them.
 
Even with her “townie” background, Goldie has never felt more at home at camp and now she’s back as a counselor, desperate for summer to start and her best friends, Ava and Imogen, to arrive. Because Goldie has a terrible dark secret she’s been keeping and she is more in need of the comfort than ever.
 
But Goldie’s not the only person at camp who has been lying. When a teen turns up dead in the lake late one night, she knows that the death couldn’t have been an accident. She also knows that Ava was at the lake that same night.
 
What did Ava see and what does she know? Why hasn’t she said anything to Goldie about the death? Worse—what did Ava do?
 
But asking questions offers no answers, only broken bonds of lifelong friendship, with hidden danger and betrayals deeper than Goldie ever imagined.

YA Thriller/Dark Academia and sci-fi westerns are definitely my favorite genres, so I had to pick up this book! It was a great book to read to bring the summer to a close. It was full of emotions, mystery, and friendship.

Although I enjoyed the book a lot, I had a couple of issues. One, it was said no one knew about the accident, but there was something Goldie had to sign written up by either a lawyer or the father of her ex, but later it was mentioned that the father didn’t know the truth of the accident. Then what did the paper say? And I feel the ex would have told his father to help him get all the legal stuff straight. I also felt the book was a bit predictable on who the killer was. There was also some things that weren’t sorted out, but I don’t want to spoil the ending. Goldie was a very relatable character that was in love and made the wrong choices. I feel we all can relate to that.

All in all though, it was a great book and I enjoyed it and recommend it to people who love thrillers or mysteries. It had a great summer camp feel and it left you wanting to read more. 

~Dani

 

Book Review of Afterlife of the Party by Marlene Perez

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Title: Afterlife of the Party

Author: Marlene Perez

Review by: Dani Hoots

Genre: YA Fantasy
 

Rating: 5/5

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Back cover:

I didn’t even want to go to the party. I just wanted to stay home with my librarian-witch grandmother and her mystical book club. But my best friend Skyler begged me. So I went.

Not only was it the worst party of my life, it was the last party of my life.

I should have known there was something really strange about the band―especially when the lead singer bit me afterwards and then took off with my best friend.

Now I’m chasing down a band of dangerous vamps with my best guy friend, Vaughn. Who also happens to be the boy I’ve been secretly crushing on forever. And out on the road, anything can happen.

All I ever wanted was for things to change with Vaughn. For him to finally see the real me. But this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.

So be it.

Let the afterlife begin.

As a fan of anything vampires, I had to read this book! I ended up picking up the audiobook and really enjoyed Samara Naeymi’s performance for the book. Samara does a great job with all the voices throughout the book and I was able to tell who was talking even if there wasn’t any tags.

The book itself was really superb. The vampire antagonist feels a lot like THE LOST BOYS and that made it all the more enjoyable! I really enjoyed the main character Tansy. She is a strong character who is trying to save her friend from a band of vampires. Her love interest Vaughn is also a great supportive character and I really enjoyed the semi-slow burn romance they had.

The combination of vampires, witches, and other creatures later on the series makes this series stand out. It didn’t feel like any other vampire series I have read. If you enjoy vampire books, I highly recommend!

~Dani