Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

Synopsis: In the violent urban jungle of an alternate 1828 Paris, the French Revolution has failed and the city is divided between merciless royalty and nine underworld criminal guilds, known as the Court of Miracles. Eponine (Nina) Thénardier is a talented cat burglar and member of the Thieves Guild. Nina's life is midnight robberies, avoiding her father's fists, and watching over her naïve adopted sister, Cosette (Ettie).

When Ettie attracts the eye of the Tiger--the ruthless lord of the Guild of Flesh--Nina is caught in a desperate race to keep the younger girl safe. Her vow takes her from the city's dark underbelly to the glittering court of Louis XVII. And it also forces Nina to make a terrible choice--protect Ettie and set off a brutal war between the guilds, or forever lose her sister to the Tiger. (Amazon)

Publication Date: June 2, 2020
Genre: Fantasy / YA
Rating: 5 stars

***BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

Yes, this, right here!  This book is what I crave in fiction: a story full of characters that are neck-deep in troubles, that are wonderfully flawed, that are sometimes absolutely terrible in their actions yet own them, characters that bring down others so that they can get to their ultimate goal and are unapologetic about it.

What an incredible treasure it was to read The Court of Miracles, and what an intriguing world Kester Grant has brought to life in the mirrored like of Les Misérables.

I don't have too many points to nitpick about this novel.  Yes, sometimes scenes segue into others a little abruptly, and I do want more background on a handful of characters—Montparnasse being highest on my list of these; I believe I love him.  But these are small in the grand scheme of things.

Nina's character has joined the ranks of my favorites.  The progression of who she turns into is fascinating, as is the determination that she has to go through with her ultimate goal.  She is not shy to use those around her so that she can accomplish what she needs, but there's that grain of guilt in her, regardless, that keeps her human and growing.  And at her side, Ettie is a darling.  She has such a sweet heart despite the dreariness in which she has grown, despite the fact that she was essentially abandoned and left in the hands of someone who would've sold her for a profit.  The two are a driving force in the novel.

The introduction of the Guilds of the Miracle Court is not something that hasn't been done before, but the way that they work is still imaginative enough that they become a great fixture to the plot--

Now these are the of
the Miracle Court,...
the Wretched that keep
them may prosper,
but the Wretched that
break them must die.

They're central as the story moves forward, and their laws and symbolism are one of the biggest causes behind Nina's actions.  I can't wait to know the other Guilds in more detail down the line, but those of the Assassins and Beggars hold a dear place in my heart already.

It was a treat to see some favorites of the classic this tale takes inspiration from in Jean Valjean, Thénardier and Enjolras, despite the displeasing nature of at least one of those (looking at you, Thénardier).  And I was almost sorry to see the fate that befalls the Tiger, considering how fantastic the caliber of “wicked” an antagonist such as he withholds.

The Court of Miracles is full to bursting with tragedy, it never fails in its dark and dire undertones, and there is no apology to the reality of how down-trodden the lives are of the souls in this story.  But despite it all, they still find something to fight for and to live for, and that's what makes it so precious: that hope.

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.

But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.

Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire's greatest threat.

Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she's ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be–not even Deka herself. (Amazon)

Publication Date: May 26, 2020
Genre: Fantasy / YA
Rating: 4 stars

***BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

The Gilded Ones is not only a coming-of-age story, but also a perfect example that just because you're female and different to the “norm,” does not mean you are less than what is expected.  If anything, it gives you the opportunity to show the world that you are not just more than they thought, you are exemplary.  

Taken from the life that she has known since birth, our lead Deka is thrust into a class of warriors meant to rid the land of Otera from their enemies, the deathshrieks.  Deka is just like her counterpart female soldiers, girls who bleed gold thanks to the legacy of four banned goddesses from which they hail.  And while this makes them monsters to others, it also makes them invaluable to the emperor, as Deka and her bloodsisters—all known as alaki—are the only ones able to withstand a chance against deathshrieks and conquer them.

The central cast of this story is extremely pleasing to read.  The girls are so strong and bright, they are so resilient despite the horrible things that many of them have had to withstand.  And while all of them have suffered in their own ways, I was drawn to both Britta and Belcalis, especially the latter.  She exudes strength born from years' worth of pain, and against herself sometimes she shows the loyalty and bravery that's undeniable to who she is as a person.  She makes a great contrast to Britta, always warm, always attempting to find the silver lining despite the harsh situations in which they find themselves.  Both of these girls are great complements to Deka as sidekicks and best friends.

Deka herself is very likable, very driven.  There's immense growth to her by the end of the novel compared to the pious and deeply afraid person that she is at the beginning.  If there is one thing that I disliked about her is the fact that her growth happens too swiftly.  Not just in personality, but in the rendition of her powers.  I would have liked to see this progress maybe even within the span of two books, as impressive as she turns out to be, just to make it come about a little at a time.

That's true throughout the story, however.  The Gilded Ones is very easy to read, it goes by so fast, and it's very enjoyable.  But there are times when decisions, and the beliefs/thoughts/alliances of characters change far too easily.  It takes away sometimes from the struggle of the moment and the steady—and much more believable—pace that could be set.  I would have also liked for the alaki training to last more than it does in as far as us, the reader, witnessing it.  Yes, it might have made the novel longer, but again this is part of the grappling for existence that these young women have to acclimate themselves to.  We begin so strong, and while there are times when it's really rough to read the violence and pain that these alaki-in-training have to resist, it eventually lags and by the time they're going on raids there's no longer that strict sense of livelihood that they apparently had to hold themselves up to when they enter the Warthu Bera where they train.

This aside, the plot is compelling, and there are enough twists and big reveals—the origin of the deathshrieks and their connection to the alaki was my favorite of these—that not only are you kept entertained but it promises future growth for the other book(s) that are coming next.  I would have liked more fanfare given to the awakening of the Gilded Ones considering the big occasion, but I cannot wait to get to know them more and see how they shape this world and the lives of the characters.  And I have such affection for the bond between Deka and Keita, while being appreciative that the novel did not go by the way of many stories which make “the” romance central to the plot, rather than giving everything else its due importance.

I very much look forward to others enjoying this book and getting to know this bunch of courageous young women and their male partners-in-arms.

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

Synopsis: It's good to be Chloe Wynn Berringer. She's headed off to the college of her dreams. She's going to prom with the boy she's had a crush on since middle school. Her best friend always has her back, and her mom, a B-list Hollywood celebrity, may finally be on her way to the B+ list. It's good to be Chloe Wynn Berringer--at least, it was, until the FBI came knocking on her front door, guns at the ready, and her future went up in smoke. Now her mother is under arrest in a massive college admissions bribery scandal. Chloe, too, might be facing charges, and even time behind bars. The public is furious, the press is rabid, and the US attorney is out for blood.

As she loses everything she's long taken for granted, Chloe must reckon not only with the truth of what happened, but also with the examination of her own guilt. Why did her parents think the only way for her to succeed was to cheat for her? What did she know, and when did she know it? And perhaps most importantly, what does it mean to be complicit? (Amazon)

Publication Date: May 5, 2020
Genre: Contemporary / YA
 Rating:  4 stars

***BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

Unapologetically honest.  That is the best description for Admission, and the facts that Julie Buxbaum has given us: those with money want to buy their way toward the bigger and the better, and more often than not, they accomplish it.  I don't want to do the unpleasant thing and group a whole bunch of people with 'X' common denominator into the same group, but, let's face it, this “privilege” mentality happens every single day.  And though it is clearly expressed that this is a work of fiction, one can't help but recall the very famous and real case that was brought to light in 2019 involving an extremely similar college scandal.

I'll be honest, I wasn't high enough on the GPA spectrum or extra-curricular activity side of school to even aspire going to a university like Yale, Princeton or Harvard (although, as an aside, I do want to visit Yale one day, because that campus is gorgeous).  I did well, I was right on that 3.5 GPA line, and I'm proud of my ranking.  But an Ivy League school would've laughed themselves to death if I had so much as attempted to apply to them.

I did, however, know a few students in my high school that not only wanted to attend schools like these, but they were incredibly bright, talented young men and women who would've been incredible assets.  A lot of them did not make it, and while back then I felt bad since their hearts were so obviously set on this, now, as an adult, I better understand the probabilities and possibilities of why they may not have succeeded in being approved for entrance.

There were times when it was uncomfortable to read Admission, because the family around which it revolves is so entitled, without being aware of how much this term applies to them.  They have every material thing that they could possibly want—or need—they have so many doors open to them for all the things that they could want to do in life, they have other people running around town fetching them coffee, or ice cream, or laundry.  And yet, for some reason, they go to specialists so that they can make sure that they poop in optimal position.  

No, really.  

And this truly could happen out there, in the “real” world.  If The Real Housewives of ANYWHERE has taught me anything, is that drama sells and if you have enough money to stop knowing what to do with it, you spend it on other people telling you how to do mundane tasks in a way that will get you best results.  Cause heavens forbid we sit incorrectly on a toilet seat.

In the whole of this novel, my favorite character is Isla.  This young girl, one year beneath our lead Chloe, is more in contact with the reality of the world than the rest of her family, and it is so satisfying to see her throw this in their faces as the story progresses.  She helps them wake up and snap the hell out of it.  Isla, who comes from this wealthy family, works hard, sweats, bleeds for what she accomplishes in life; it's one of the best lessons that Chloe learns: her little sister Isla is going to get into the school of her dreams one day because she struggled for it, not because mommy and daddy were able to pay her way to it.  

This story is a perfect example of what happens when the silver spoon is ripped away from you and you crash to the ground: you suffer, you look like an idiot, and you answer to the law.  We, as the other side of the coin, want this, we hunger for it, and sometimes we are a little crazed and violent in our relish of those who did wrong pay.  It's all spelled here, clear as day.  I'm just glad that those involved are aware of what they do.  I'm glad that the author allows Chloe's mom—and dad—to stop being in denial as the face of this scandal, face what she did, and own up to it.  The interview near the end of the novel, where she basically has a nervous breakdown on life TV and admits her culpability and apologizes, brought tears to my eyes.  

Yes, this is a novel of disgustingly affluent individuals who take complete advantage of their status, but it's about what it means to be a human being.  And as a human being you are going to make mistakes.  Bottom line, emotionally, this is a fantastic novel.  Buxbaum presents us with a less than perfect group of people, who are not great to read about and make you cringe every time an elite-status-related sentence spews out of their mouths—sometimes without them even realizing it, which is somehow worse—and slowly peels away at them until we get a rawer version, stripped of all pretense.  

We still know that they did wrong, but somehow we appreciate it all a little more because now they have awareness.  It's very real, it's very current, and it's very worth the read.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this book. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

Synopsis: Sophie and Joseph’s escape from Northwood is short-lived. The beast survived, and attached itself to Joseph’s young cousin, Elise.

Garrett writes to beg for their help. Joseph and Sophie travel to meet him at Kensington, a long-abandoned mansion that overlooks a dead town.

The house offers a small hope: its original owner had dedicated her life to researching the monster that possesses Elise. Garrett hopes to find a way to kill the creature without harming his daughter.

But Kensington is a dangerous building. Once the carriage leaves, they’re trapped inside the collapsing walls and forced to confront the horrors within.

Shrouded figures stalk them. Whispers echo through the night. Unmarked graves dot the property.

And the dead are not as restful as they seem… (Amazon)

Publication Date: May 12, 2016
Genre: Romance / Gothic / Horror
Rating: 2 stars

***BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

While House of Shadows saved itself with its second half of story, House of Secrets was not as lucky.

One of the things that sorted itself out in this duology was Sophie's character.  Someone who began as a meek, weak and mousy being turned into a stronger and more confident version of herself.  That seems to have completely crumbled in the second book.  Sophie spends so much of the story obsessing about how much, or how little, her husband might care for her, that this all that occupies her mind.

She finds out that the Grimlock is not dead.  

She finds out that Elise's life is in danger.

She confronts and sees the danger they all face at the new setting of Kensington house, with its secrets, and its hauntings, and its dead bodies...  And still, her constant internal monologue about Joseph's feelings, or lack thereof, occupy most of her attention.  

Coupled with this, I did not feel the sense of urgency that House of Shadows eventually built up to.  Yes, there were a few tense moments here and there—the chase from the town alongside Elise to escape the dead, the fight with the Grimlock, Sophie's discovery of Elise's fall—but overall, it was a steady stream of “not much happening”.

I was glad to see the author's inclusion of Bishop's ghost in the story, especially since she and the legacy of her studies are main reason the characters converge in her house, but more often than not I felt like she derailed from the main plot.  And whatever spooks and scares were given to us in the first novel barely showed their faces in this one.

The end of the Grimlock was not only inevitable but foreseen, and though it happened in a very rushed fashion, I was at least gratified by the fact that it was Elise who brought it about.  She was due her own pound of flesh. 

Publication Date: October 15, 2015
Genre: Romance / Gothic / Horror
Rating: 3 stars

***BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

I'm not one to prefer timid, meek little females in novels.  That's not said as an insult to them, that's just my preference. I tend to prefer badass, kickass women who more often than not tend to tear into a room and command all attention.  Both have their pros and cons, but if I'm presented with the former, I just hope that she'll eventually grow a backbone and bring the story around to center around her.

I am delighted that Sophie saved herself in the end.  Quite literally too, as a matter of fact.

I'm forever grateful for the teacher that introduced Edgar Allan Poe into my syllabus back in the year I-no-longer-remember, because it began my lifetime love affair with all things Gothic in literature.  Granted, when you read a book of this genre, there is going to be the chance that the author writes a story which falls into a traditional setting rather than a modern one.  That will bring to the forefront the romantic, sometimes angsty, sometimes eye-rolling moments that accompany these settings.  And you have plenty of that here, but there's also the delightful dark ambiance that one is to hope for.

Sophie's introduction to the Argenton's family estate of Northwood is as bleak and imposing as one might expect, with mazes of hallways and plenty of skeletons in the closet.  Again, quite literally.  The story brought to mind so many references to Dark Shadows, Rebecca and even the film Crimson Peak, that it was hardly surprising to stumble through the first half of the book.  But, thankfully, right around the time that Sophie began to show the little granule of strength hiding within herself, the plot became more intriguing.

I only wish that we'd had more time for our characters to be tortured—I mean that lightly, mostly—by the Grimlock, the dark creature that has haunted the Argenton family for generations since its initial pact with it.  What a cruel and vicious being this is, with its own little army of the dead.  The red door, often used in various forms in other stories, was an entertaining factor to include.  Step through it and you step through the Northwood mansion's alter and mirror image, where the Grimlock lives and its heart resides.  How the creature is (supposedly) destroyed and the family is saved brought the novel to a climaxing conclusion and made up for any dragging in storytelling that occurred for the first part.

Sophie and Joseph's romance is incredibly rushed—with her love for him being a revelation after they have been in each others' company for no more than whopping five days—but it's sweet, even if it's also incredibly corny more often than not.  Rose was a good antagonist, albeit flat.  But I look forward to Elise's part in the second book, House of Secrets.

With an open-ended possibility at the close, the Argentons might not quite have been saved yet, and I'm eager to see this brought to a close.

Publication Date: April 21, 2020
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.5 stars

***BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

At the center of The Ranger of Marzanna we have the siblings Sonya and Sebastian, two very different people, tugged in very different directions amid the upcoming war in their land.  Sebastian wants to be a soldier for the Aureum Imperial Army that has overtaken their land of Gogoleth in Izmoroz.  Sonya wants to take down said army and free the Izmoroz people, eventually lifting them to the status that they once possessed.  

Despite the fact that Sonya and Sebastian are the central figures in this story, they were the two characters that I had the most difficulty associating with.  I could never quite put my finger on who Sonya was, between her bursts of eager friendliness and her mindless animalistic tendencies—which, did make sense, considering how the gifts of the Lady of Marzanna are granted.  I think that we just did not mesh as reader/character.  And Sebastian was unlikable; rather than raise above circumstances, he would behave like the child others thought him to be, and break into murderous tantrums whenever he would become upset.  Whenever the two of them would come together in a scene, any maturity they might have retained would collapse into a mess of terrible comebacks and immature behavior.

Just because they're fighting for different causes, and are, in essence, enemies, does not mean that they need to act like ten-year-olds battling over a toy.

Among the rest of the cast, Jorge, Blaine and Galina were some of the most entertaining to read.  Jorge was a great source of balance for Sonya's impetuousness, he's bright, sweet, loyal.  Blaine is full to bursting of a strong warrior spirit, he's funny, and a lot more intelligent than he appears to be.  And Galina is incredibly smart, a great tactician, and wonderfully manipulative.  It doesn't sound like that last one is a good quality to have, but it fits her personality beautifully, and therefore complements her quite well.  For me, those three drove the story.

The story itself was easy to get through despite its length, and I did want to know how it would wrap up, but it was dry for the most part.  It's slow-going, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but there's a lot of nothing happening throughout.  I really enjoyed the inclusion of the Lady of Marzanna/Morena/Mara/Morana in the plot, and her scenes were some of the best.  She gives us enough of the disturbing darkness that portrays her role as goddess of winter and death in-story very nicely.  But these scenes were far too few and far in between.  Her appearance at the very end—alongside whom I assume to be the Uaine's god of death, Bás—was enough to make me want to read the second book, but this first one did not meet enough of my expectations.

All in all, it's a fair novel, I'm a huge fan of the Russian influence stroked into it, and I do want to see how things develop in the next installment.  I just hope for growth in the future.

Publication Date: March 3, 2020
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5 stars

***BEWARE POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

Being the fan of an author's work is both a blessing and a curse.  You count down the days until their next—usually hyped up—release is to be published.  You talk about it more and more the closer that said release day approaches.  You try to enter any possible pre-order special is available, in the hope of getting a lovely exclusive pin, or a poster, or a print.  

And then the book releases...

I don't know about you, but once that book hits shelves, I am violently torn between a crazed eagerness to read it, and a nearly crippling fear that I am going to hate the book no matter how much I have loved this author's stories in the past.  Which, let's face it, is one of the worst things to happen in a reader's life.

Thank you, Maas, for delivering the goods once again.

House of Earth and Blood is not a perfect novel.  I'm not even sure that such a thing is possible, to be frank, because our love of books is a very personal thing.  But, this novel is a punch to the heart, in the best possible way.  I absolutely fell in love with the story, with the characters, with the world that was created.  And it is definitely a complex and intricate world of which we get a glimpse, but that is sure to open up to us even more, and I cannot wait to continue exploring it as the series progresses.

I'm a huge fan of badass female leads in novels.  What can I say, I live vicariously through them.  Ironically, I usually don't like so-called “badass” female leads in novels, because most of the time what we're given are annoying females that try too hard.  I initially read the sample for HoEaB that NetGalley provided, and I was a bit unsure about Bryce.  She came off a tad strong for me, and I was instantly worried that this meant negativity throughout the rest of the novel.  Maybe my mindset was not in its proper place then, but I am so glad that I decided to read the full novel from the first chapter again, because my opinion of Bryce completely changed.

I love this woman.

Despite the fact that we are reading a fantasy, despite the fact that Bryce is half-Fae, she is very human in her actions and emotions.  She makes her mistakes, she suffers through them, she learns, she picks herself back up, puts on a new pair of teal-colored panties, and she keeps going.  She's believable and realistic in who she is, and it's very easy to become connected to her.  

This is actually true of the rest of the characters.  They don't always connect right away—I was unsure of Hunt at first, of Ruhn, of Jesiba even—but once they do, they stick and you root for these people.  You suffer with them, you are excited alongside them, you want them to kick ass and come out winning on the other side.  

Hunt—or as I like to think of him in my head, Orion...such a gorgeous name—had one of the best evolutions.  I can see that Maas wanted to make him this dark, introverted being at the beginning, and I saw hints of it, but I couldn't quite see him that way full-force.  I think that's one of the things that made me question him for those first few chapters of his appearance in-story.  I see what you want me to see, because you're telling me what to see, but that's not really who he is, and that's coming out more so than the facade he's portraying.  Athie is a deep, tortured, sweet and loving male who slowly opens up to the reader, and he swept me right off my feet.  

That's probably why the sudden twist at the end of the novel's third part was such a slap to the face, and the biggest problem that I had with this book.

We're navigating a story that's centered around the death of Bryce's best friend, Danika, and her pack of shape-shifting wolves—one of the most heartbreaking moments of the book, by the way, even if the synopsis warns us about it (the writing in this piece, at the start, was wonderfully done and it tore through me).  Eventually, we know that Danika's death, and that of the pack, is surrounded by the use of a drug called synth, which makes people—both human and non—have strength and violence to such a degree that they can tear others apart.  And the culmination of that is that Hunt is involved in this so that he, and those with him, can use this drug to help themselves be freed from those who have enslaved them.

It did not fit with his character.  

Hunt, who strives to keep others safe, who works and does the horrible things that his handler, Micah, tells him to do so that he can keeps streets safe?  Hunt, who deals in killing demons that come through rifts?  Yes, he has been suffering for over two hundred years, and he has been tortured within an inch of his life, and the love of his life was killed in the midst of this.  But to make him be a buyer, when he comes to know the consequences of the usage of synth, did not fit in with who he is.  As the last part of the novel progressed, things were smoothed out a bit and it sort of fit in.  But this nagged at me so much that I was not able to let it go.  

I did, as a matter of fact, stop reading for the day once I hit this point, and had to force myself to pick up the book again the next day so that I could continue.

It doesn't take away from the story, mind you.  I said it once, and I say it again, I love this book.  I felt every single emotion that was in here, and that's one of the best things that I can ever ask for in a story: make me feel.  And you certainly feel.  You feel to the point of tears sometimes.  Lehabah's end did it for me, that little fire sprite was one of the good ones.  Bryce's phone call to Hunt when she's in the middle of taking out demons after the Gates open and knows she might very well die, did it for me again.  Danika and Bryce's reunion after Bryce makes her Drop did it for me a third time.  And then that bittersweet moment, near the end of the book, when Bryce gets just a glimpse of the pack and Connor waves to her, brought tears to my eyes once again.

But I still think that there is, and was, so much to explore.  And while we're taken to the brink of those moments that can be darker, like the ones that Hunt described having experienced during his years with Sandriel alongside Pollux, we're not taken there.  It's not that I want to see my beloved characters suffer, it's that sometimes that suffering can have room for that much more growth.  Sometimes when we bypass that, things appear a little too easy.

At the end of the day, though, this was stellar.  My worry was for nothing, and I am going to be suffering until the second book is so much as announced.  I'm still not over the losses in this first installment, I still remember the epic scene of Bryce against Micah, of Hunt's plummet over that helicopter, of Lehabah's sacrifice.  I am so curious to see how the obscure Aidas ties in with this story and what more he has to offer, and I can't even imagine how the Asteri will likely play a part in the future of this world.

Bring it on, Crescent City.  I'm waiting.

Synopsis: Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary.

Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt. (Amazon)

Publication Date: February 18, 2020
Genre: Thriller / Mystery / Horror
Rating: 4 stars

Told through dual perspectives—the lead in 2017, and her long-lost, seemingly disappeared aunt in 1982--The Sun Down Motel is an atmospheric and intriguing read from the start.

Carly, our 2017 main character, is on the trail of her aunt, Vivian, who vanished from the run-down The Sun Down motel in 1982 and was never heard from again despite searches.  Searches that Carly soon realizes were rather cursory, especially as her aunt was on the trail of what Carly later realizes was a serial killer back in the day.  As Carly searches for Vivian, and Vivian hunts the tracks of the murderer, the story closes in on its inevitable ending.

I've always enjoyed the touch of paranormal factors that Simone St. James adds to her books since I read my first novel by her years ago, The Haunting of Maddy Clare.  Just like with The Haunting..., the ghosts and apparitions in The Sun Down Motel not only help pull the story along, but help the characters piece together the loose ends of the plot.  And without needing to lean on this, the author makes the connections easy to follow, smooth to flow together.  It was as unsettling as it was meant to be, without it being creepy enough that it would distract from everything else that was occurring.

The slow reveal and end result of the mystery was a very nice change of pace when we switch to Vivian's time in the story.  I was pleasantly surprised to see her take the killer's fate in her hands, despite how it seems that things are going to end near the beginning of her search.  She's a smart, spunky character without being loud about it—personality traits that are nicely mirrored in Carly later on in years, while Carly has her own quirks to make her her own individual.  I'm only sorry that the two had so little time together once they were able to finally meet on even ground.

I wouldn't say that the ending was explosive, since it does happen in stages, rather than in one harried single moment.  It does lose momentum, ever so slightly, but it was still quite satisfying.  Especially as one takes into account how “alive” the motel itself turns out to be at the end, and the role that it plays.

It's an overall good novel, so easy to get hooked into.  St. James' writing runs as seamlessly as it always has, and makes it that much more tempting to devour the book in one sitting if you have the chance. 

Publication Date: April 7, 2020
Genre: Romance / Contemporary
Rating: 5 stars

Once upon a blue moon, I read romance books like they were potato chips and I was suffering from a deficiency.  Over time, other genres trickled into my preferences list, and reading romance books stopped being so much about quantity and more about quality.  

I either became jaded, or I lost the rose-tinted glasses.  In either case, nowadays it's a little more difficult to catch my attention with a book of this genre.  But once I read the synopsis for You Deserve Each Other, I was suckered right in.

I haven't laughed with a novel so much in a long time.

Nicholas and Naomi's relationship is an absolute mess in their outward perfection.  They are the ideal example of why so many—myself included—believe it's a really bad idea to never fight as a couple just to keep the peace.  They do such a good job of highlighting this point, that once the masks come off and the gloves come on, it's a free for all.  These two people start making each others' lives miserable, and it's the best thing that happens to them—because that's when they begin to show each other who they really are.

Naomi has a sarcastic sense of humor and wit that makes it not just enjoyable, but delightful to sit back and read through the pranks that she runs on Nicholas to try to get rid of him.  And he doesn't fall far behind.  He appears to be at first this stuck up, strung-out guy, who in reality loves to give as much as he gets and has a deliciously wicked side.  The two demolish whatever semblance of peace they've built together while they peel off the layers of lies they've kept up throughout their engagement.

It was a treat to see two people show how poorly they've grown to fit through lies, and then come close to one another again as they find the care that they really hold for their relationship once the walls have come down.  There are so many moments of humor, tempered with a sweetness, sensuality and intimacy while Nicholas and Naomi bond again and realize how truly right for each other they have become again.

You Deserve Each Other is a little jewel in the romance department, ready to deliver all the charming ups and downs of these two imperfectly perfect characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books  for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

Synopsis: The Sin Eater walks among us, unseen, unheard
Sins of our flesh become sins of Hers
Following Her to the grave, unseen, unheard
The Sin Eater Walks Among Us.

For the crime of stealing bread, fourteen-year-old May receives a life sentence: she must become a Sin Eater—a shunned woman, brutally marked, whose fate is to hear the final confessions of the dying, eat ritual foods symbolizing their sins as a funeral rite, and thereby shoulder their transgressions to grant their souls access to heaven.

Orphaned and friendless, apprenticed to an older Sin Eater who cannot speak to her, May must make her way in a dangerous and cruel world she barely understands. When a deer heart appears on the coffin of a royal governess who did not confess to the dreadful sin it represents, the older Sin Eater refuses to eat it. She is taken to prison, tortured, and killed. To avenge her death, May must find out who placed the deer heart on the coffin and why. (Amazon)

Publication Date: April 7, 2020
Genre: Fantasy / Mystery / Historical Fiction
Rating: 4.5 stars

Fascinated by sin eaters since I came across them in literature years back, this book was not a disappointment.  Do not expect a “fantasy” book that boasts of stark and obvious magic, wild creatures and epic worlds.  Rather, go into it expecting to get lost in the life of a young girl, forced to become a woman, living a solitary and dark path that shuns her from everyone around her for the crime of—ultimately, we find out—being born.

Set in an alternate version akin to the England of Elizabeth I, the “virgin queen,” we follow our lead, May, after she is sentenced into a sin eater with the responsibilities that follow: hearing the confessions of the dying, eating the sins of the dead, ridding them of these sins so that they may enter the afterlife cleansed, until she herself dies while anyone that she encounters shies away from her in fear and revulsion.  And as she learns her new trade and goes from deathbed to deathbed, she happens to arrive at one in the reigning home of the queen.  Here, she learns of a mystery that deals in murder and lies ans has been eliminating some near the queen herself.

The story has a slow pace that little by little reveals this mystery as well as how every character is connected.  It's compulsive to follow, and May has such a unique and endearing voice despite how dreadful her life is.  Regardless of how many times she falls—sometimes, quite literally—she has the spirit to rise above again and seek out the truth behind every lie that is placed before her, even at the risk of her own possible death.

Megan Campisi's writing is lovely.  She does such a good job of taking the reader into the old-world setting of this novel and make you feel as if you are there alongside the cast.  You feel every hopeless, dark, depressing instant that our characters are living through in a world that is, for the most part, quite dreary, where none are safe regardless of caste.  Not only is the atmosphere right on point, but the language is so well used and so original to the type of story that we are reading.  

To read Sin Eater is to take a step into the life of one and live out the experience.