Author – Christopher Paolini

Publication date- 15 September 2020

Genre – Science Fiction

Review by – Amanda Hyde

Source- Review copy

Rating- 5/5

“The hardest lesson in life is learning to accept that there are some things we can’t change” Falconi.

Kira Navarez, wants to discover life on new worlds, make a name for herself, but with first contact with an ancient dust found during a routine mission her life quickly turns into what nightmares are made of and a war across the universe explodes with Kira in the middle and the only one who can stop it, but is she also the reason it started? First contact isn’t what she imagined as she is thrown into the odyssey of the universe and must transform and adapt or let the whole universe end.

I don’t know how to review this book without giving spoilers, but I’ll do my best. This was my first step into adult sci-fi, I’m in love, I read the back of the book where Paolini explains how much work and time he put into this book, it was worth it, it was nine years by the way. 

It was so heart-breaking and beautiful! So much happens from Kira’s first contact with the suit to the insane ending that had me venting to my husband while he played video games. You can tell how much work and attention went into this novel and it shows through every chapter, character, and the intense world building. Paolini says this book took him nine years! Nine freaking years guys, and he scraped it a few times? What? And honestly it shows it’s completely different from Eragon, the growth is crazy! 

It was beautiful, so well thought out. The world just made so much since, everything flowed together no strings have been left untied. I'm so upset this story is over, I’m going to miss the Wallfish crew, Kira, the Soft blade aka the Seed. The ending kicked me in the gut and when I realized that was the end I cried. I always want an ending like this. Where it’s not perfect it’s still messy, not everything is fixed, and for once when I finally got that I felt so heartbroken. But this couldn’t have ended any other way even if you could have stopped a chapter ahead or so. This is perfect, bitter sweet. But it’s life! Everything is not perfect and sometimes you have to make the choices you truly don’t want to make.

I grew up reading @christopher_paolini The Inheritance Cycle, it was one of my favorite series and after this read I’ll be doing a reread real soon. @christopher_paolini thank you for bringing us another story, I caught a few sneaky references and thought I was misunderstanding, so glad I wasn’t. This was wonderful. I’m so sad it’s over but I can’t wait for what you bring us next.

Author – Emily M. Danforth

Publication date- 20 Oct 2020

Genre – Humor, Horror Fiction

Review by –  Amanda Hyde

Source- Review copy

Rating- 5/5

 The book follows two different timelines, the first starting with our first PBH Flo and Clara who are absolutely in love with each other in 1902. And then our new Heroines, Harper Harper, Merritt Emmons, and Audrey Wells in the present day. You get to see from each perspective and I love getting in the heads of these characters! They are so different yet seem to struggle with very similar things in their life but go about dealing with it in their own ways. I do think going into this blind is amazing. I had a vague knowledge of what the story was about, but when it comes to spooky telling go in blind you won’t be sorry.

This book is a horror-comedy, which is a first for me, that was so whimsical and wicked! This is a gothic-like horror comedy that takes place in many time periods,1900s and present day, of a private boarding school for girls, with lesbians, mysterious deaths and accidents, secrets (so many freaking secrets), and stories within stories and of course the book by Mary MacLane. It was so good I couldn’t put it down, and the ending I like how it’s kind of unfinished and unsaid in a way but coming away from it it’s just a really great story. “Sapphic love and the rebellious female spirit—“

When a book makes me want to look and see if these characters are real, that’s when I know I’m hooked and I’m in love! The last time this happened for me was with Daisy Jones, and I think all of us felt that way. But this story was so different, I found myself sucked in and spooked just as much as the girls. I loved the format of this book for one. All the little footnotes giving extra information, all the illustrations by Sara Lautman are creepy and a wonderful add to the story. When I finished, I was sad I didn’t want this story to be over. I was obsessed! And I did order Mary Maclane’s book as well. I had a serious book hangover after this one all I wanted was more!

Author – Katrina Leno

Publication date- 2020

Genre- Young Adult Fiction

Review by- Amanda Hyde

Source- Advanced Review Copy

Rating- 5/5

Three little girls all eating things they weren’t supposed to eat. Three little girls all eating things in order to fill their bodies with something other than the anger, the rage, that would otherwise consume them.

The book follows Jane North-Robinson and her mother as they move away from the sunshine of California to a dreary and possibly haunted house in Maine, where her mother grew up. But secrets are behind every door, and everyone seems to know what happened in that house, but Jane herself. With her mother acting strange and her new friend talking around the subject, Jane tries to control her own bad nature, keep her head low, and just make it to graduation. But when she discovers the old locked “storage room” isn’t that, it’s a little girl’s bedroom Jane starts searching for answers that are just really horrid.

This book tackles on many issues that I haven’t really seen in the YA genre, though now I’m seeing it is becoming more and more popular which is great if done right and Leno did it right; grief, anger, depression, and mental health to name a few. These themes are woven into the story in such a way that it’s so realistic, it’s not being shoved in your face but laid out in layers to be seen and understood without it feeling like the only purpose of the book.

I could eat this book up! If you know you know. When I first got my hands on an ARC earlier this year, I was not aware it was a YA Thriller, and if I had known I’m not sure I would have picked it up because I have never had the best luck with the genre, but OMG this has made me think I should try them again. It’s been years since the others and writing has changed so much, I’m here for it if this is what it has to offer!

This book's beautiful cover may make you pick it up, but from the very first chapter and Jane’s interesting habit you will be sucked in wondering if ghosts are real or if Jane needs help.

as a sunbather loves the sun-

enjoy the moment, soak it up, feet up

but know when it’s time to go

inside, or dive into the water

if it gets to be too much

but my heart is a red, burning thing

that wants all or nothing. wants

to be redder, hotter, or to be

frozen solid. there is no

sitting in between

patches of shade-

either I stay inside all day

and watch life through the window,

or I lay out and let love poison me-

feel the names of past loves peel

from the surface of my blistering heart

as I stare at my person

as though he

or she

is the sun.

and once again,

I let love blind me

again, and again and again.

Find more from the poet on IG- @lizarosepoetry

We all breath the same

We all bleed the same

We all drink the same

We all come from a mother’s pain

With a beating heart gone in vain

Functioning the same

With no different organs

Yet why did they act justly

In omitting innocence unjustly

Yet why do they conclude by colors

Shadow

Conclude by lives worth shadow

Look a little more

See a little more

Be a little more

And you will know a little more

For who did just when injustice went

 it’s way.

Find the poet on IG- @rose_merlin_john

Author- Angie Thomas

Publication date- 28 February 2017

Genre- Young Adult Fiction

Review by- Prakriti Singh

Source – E-book

Rating- 4.8/5

Khalil is killed. The reason of his death? A hairbrush and the fact that he was black. Starr is the witness. She saw One-fifteen killing Khalil. It’s the second time she sees her best friend die. She always thought she would be the first one to speak if any such thing happens but now, she is quiet. King Lord is threatening her, her friendship at the school is at stake, whole of her family is death threatened. The media and the ‘whites’ say that Khalil deserved to die. Will she speak? Will she use her weapon for justice for Khalil?

The Hate U Give is a riveting story standing out to lay emphasis on the oppression that the black lives feel and revolves around the idea of THUG (The Hate U Give Fucks Everybody). The novel broadly illustrates their lives, their suffering and how they survive in the society. It involves injustices that occur to people just because they are of a certain color- ‘black’.

The main focus of the story- Starr, is a black girl. She lives in a neighborhood famous for drug dealing. But she goes to a White school. At first, she is ashamed of her backgrounds. But no more, she is now determined to seek justice for her people, to eradicate the reasons for such mess, one such being King Lord, the biggest Drug-Dealer of the area.

I loved the novel. The story touched my heart. The novel makes the reader stand in the shoes of a black person and see the oppression through their eyes. It certainly is a revolutionary novel that stand out to make a difference in the society. I highly recommend this book.

The Hate U Give is now a major picture released in 2018.

Author – K. Lee Middleton

Publication date- 10 September 2018

Genre- Psychological suspense, Crime thriller

Review by- Prakriti Singh

Source- Kindle store

Rating- 4.1/5

You will pay for what you’ve done…

When a deranged lunatic starts targeting single mom, Amanda Schultz, with threatening letters and “presents” on her doorstep, she turns to the police, who offer advice but no real help. At the mercy of a psychopath, Amanda realizes she’s in a game of cat-and-mouse, where the killer keeps changing the rules and the winner… is the only one left standing.

Amanda Schultz and her son, Kevin is back in town. Her ex-husband, Brad died unexpectedly and left her with all of his property and a beautiful house by a lake. It was not more than one day passed in the town when she started receiving threatening letters and gifts from “HIM”. Her psychological state takes a turn when she founds out that her ex-husband was a pedophile. The madman kidnapped her twice but left her without killing. The third time he was determined not only to kill her son but also to do something worse with Amanda. Will he succeed in his “resolution”?

 Amanda is a caring mother and a beautiful and pleasing woman who is liked by all. She is a simple single mom who wants to give her son a beautiful life but the circumstances put herself into a situation where she is not left with any other option but killing, for self-defense. The scene is set in Summit Lake, and all other characters in the story are well portrayed.

For the mystery part, one can understand from the prologue that Brad was killed and not died in accident. But the real suspense comes as to how a man who is handsome and has everything in life, turned out to be a lunatic killer. This story covers a nostalgic horror which Amanda is unaware of but the killer is determined to take revenge.

Forget Me Not is a suspense thriller that will shake your mind. It touches the inhumane practices that are done to children and women. It is an engaging story that will increase your suspicions till the criminal reveals himself. But it is not end there, the thriller that takes place at the end with Amanda trying to save herself and her son makes the reader more involved in the story.