Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly featurefor book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?Here are the rules:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but donโt give anything else about the book away just yet โ you need to hook the reader first
Finallyโฆ reveal the book!
First lines:
“Hex-A-Gone. The name didn’t quite inspire visions of magical greatness. It was a pun. A bad one but funnily apt for a local emergency on-call curse-breaker.”
Hello, friends! I’m back with a blog tour review + my favourite quotes for Alex Wise vs. the End of the World by Terry J. Benton-Walker. Special thanks to the TBR & Beyond Tours team for organising the tour and including me in it!
Thanks to Labyrinth Road for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Click here or on the banner above to check out the rest of the fantastic bloggers on tour!
Alex Wise vs. the End of the Road Publisher: Labyrinth Road Publication Date: 26 September 2023 Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy Rep: Queer, Black, Non-binary
Panda Rating: (4.5 pandas)
๐SYNOPSIS
Welcome to the summer of the apocalypse. One 12-year-old boy is up against the forces of evil as he tries to stop the Four Horsemen from taking over the world in the start to a wildly funny and addictive fantasy series about accepting yourself and finding your inner hero.
Alex Wise feels like his world is ending. His best friend Loren is leaving town for the summer, his former friend and maybe sort of crush Sky hasnโt spoken to him since he ditched Alex on first day of sixth grade, and now his mom is sending him and his annoying younger sister, Mags, on a cruise with the dad who abandoned them. And, as if things couldnโt get worse, a creepy shadow monster may or may not be stalking him.
But none of this could prepare Alex for the actual end of the world. Too bad that is exactly whatโs coming, after the definitely-real Shadow Man kidnaps Mags and she is possessed by the ancient spirit of Deathโone of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Luckily (depending on who you ask), Alex is possessed as well by a powerful god who imbues Alex with their powers in an effort to stop the Horsemenโฆif he can figure out how to use them. So begins an epic battle between good and evil: Alex, Loren, a grumpy demi-god and Alexโs fourth grade teacher vs. Death, Pestilence, Famine, War, and the waves of chaos and destruction they bring to LA and soon the rest of the globe. Just your average summer vacation.
Alex is more used to being left behind than leading the way, but now heโs the only one who can save his sisterโand the world. That is, if he can unlock his new powers and and see himself as the hero he is.
TL;DR:Alex Wise vs. the End of the World was an emotional, action-packed and engaging MG fantasy. From start to finish, I didn’t want to put it down. I loved the exploration of difficult family relationships, sibling bonds, and best friendships. The found family vibes were great and I also adored how the author explored identity and self-love. Alexโs journey toward loving and accepting himself made me feel sad at times but ultimately, so happy for him. For those kids who never saw themselves in books, especially being the heroes of said books, this one is definitely for you. A great read and recommendation for young readers but also readers of all ages!
Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
This week’s topic isactually Secondary/Minor Characters Who Deserve Their Own Book… But I’m going rogue today and I’ve combined the Birthstone Book Covers monthly meme with this week’s list!
Special thanks to SparkPoint Studio and HarperAlley for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Northranger Publisher: HarperAlley Publication Date: 04 July 2023 Genre: Young Adult Contemporary, Graphic Novel
Panda Rating: (4.5 pandas)
๐SYNOPSIS
In this swoony and spooky teen summer romance graphic novel set on a Texas ranch, sixteen-year-old Cade Muรฑoz finds himself falling for the ranch owner’s mysterious and handsome son, only to discover that he may be harboring a dangerous secret.
Cade has always loved to escape into the world of a good horror movie. After all, horror movies are scary–but to Cade, a closeted queer Latino teen growing up in rural Texas–real life can be way scarier.
When Cade is sent to spend the summer working as a ranch hand to help earn extra money for his family, he is horrified. Cade hates everything about the ranch, from the early mornings to the mountains of horse poop he has to clean up. The only silver lining is the company of the two teens who live there–in particular, the ruggedly handsome and enigmatic Henry.
But as unexpected sparks begin to fly between Cade and Henry, things get… complicated. Henry is reluctant to share the details of his mother’s death, and Cade begins to wonder what else he might be hiding. Inspired by the gothic romance of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and perfect for fans of Heartstopper and Bloom comes a modern love story so romantic it’s scary.
โ ๏ธCONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Homophobia, racism, homophobic and racist slurs, death of parent (breast cancer), misogyny, alcoholism, mention of attempted suicide (past)
TL;DR:Northranger was an unexpected surprise in the best way. This was spooky and gothic and delivered a very emotional coming-of-age story featuring compelling main characters, entertaining side characters and an important story about learning to be yourself in a place where you won’t be accepted for who you are.
We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent your time curled up reading in bed with or which book you wish you had time to read today!
I’ll be spending my Sunday night finishing Alex Wise vs. The End of the World. This has been an awesome MG fantasy with great characters to root for and friendships! I’m not sure if this is a series but I’m really looking forward to seeing how this book ends.
New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean returns with a blazingly sexy, unapologetically feminist new series, Hell’s Belles, beginning with a bold, bombshell of a heroine, able to dispose of a scoundrel – or seduce one – in a single night.
Sometimes the best gentleman for the job is a lady.
After years of living as London’s brightest scandal, Lady Sesily Talbot has embraced the reputation and the freedom that comes with the title. No one looks twice when she lures a gentleman into the dark gardens beyond a Mayfair ballroom…and no one realizes those trysts are not what they seem.
No one, that is, but Caleb Calhoun, who has spent years trying not to notice his best friend’s beautiful, brash, brilliant sister. If you ask him, he’s been a saint about it, considering the way she looks at him…and the way she talks to him…and the way she’d felt in his arms during their one ill-advised kiss.
Except someone has to keep Sesily from tumbling into trouble during her dangerous late-night escapades, and maybe close proximity is exactly what Caleb needs to get this infuriating, outrageous woman out of his system. But now Caleb is the one in trouble, because he’s fast realizing that Sesily isn’t for forgetting…she’s forever. And forever isn’t something he can risk.
TL;DR: Bombshell was such a fun, empowering, sexy, and totally swoony historical romance! MacLean’s writing is so entertaining and made it incredibly easy to devour this in one sitting. I loved this group of powerful society ladies working to smash the patriarchy, one power-hungry, corrupt and deplorable man of the ton at a time. Sesily and Caleb were a fantastic couple who had incendiary chemistry and a deliciously angsty romance full of pining, and that had me feeling giddy with delight. I can’t wait to continue this series and see what else these Hell’s Belles get up to!
Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly featurefor book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?Here are the rules:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but donโt give anything else about the book away just yet โ you need to hook the reader first
Finallyโฆ reveal the book!
First lines:
“”Excuse me, sir?” Ari stands her ground, feet shoulder-width apart, on the sidewalk in front of the Brooklyn Museum. “I know that someone who waited ten minutes for a six-dollar cold brew has the time to stop and talk to me about protecting the second-largest bobcat habitat in New Jersey.” Always best to start with a provocation. None of that “do you have a moment?” crap. No pedestrian in this city has “a moment” for a canvasser.”
Hello, friends! I’m back with a blog tour review for A Prayer for Vengeance by Leanne Schwartz. Special thanks to the TBR & Beyond Tours team for organising the tour and including me in it!
Thanks to Page Street YA for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Click here or on the banner above to check out the rest of the fantastic bloggers on tour!
A Prayer for Vengeance Publisher: Page Street YA Publication Date: 19 September 2023 Genre: Young Adult Fantasy Rep: Neurodiverse, plus-sized, LGBTQIA+ (side characters)
Panda Rating: (3 pandas)
๐SYNOPSIS
An orphan out to find the truth within a warped religion turns his poetry into prayerโa prayer that awakens a cursed girl hungry for revenge.
Centuries after a miracle vanquished Tresttatoโs monsters and turned the soldiers fighting them to stone, Milo lovingly tends to the statues of those who protected the city. Raised with devout templars and scholars, autistic temple ward Milo wants nothing more than to be accepted into their ranks. When his prayers admiring her heroic sacrifice accidentally free Gia from stone, she wakes with a fury to kill the man Milo owes his life to, Primo Sanct Ennio.
Gia claims that the immortal holy leader Milo lives to serve is the same man who betrayed her and transformed her into a statueโand what Milo always believed was a miracle was actually a curse that Gia will stop at nothing to break. Even if she has to kill his followers to do it. Even if she must kill the boy who woke her.
TL;DR:A Prayer for Vengeance was a historical fantasy that had an interesting premise that delivered on some of it and fell short on some of it. The world was interesting and the characters had great moments that had me rooting for their success in overthrowing this “first saint” megalomaniac. I also really appreciated the representation of Gia’s and Milo’s characters! Ultimately, while I liked enough of it to want to keep reading, I also wished that the writing had been stronger and we had more character development.
Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
dinipandareads 