The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow

If you’re like me, you may be wanting desperately to read something to sweep you off your feet. Look no further! This book had my jaw dropping to the floor.

Synopsis: In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut. In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place. Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own. Lush and richly imagined, a tale of impossible journeys, unforgettable love, and the enduring power of stories awaits in Alix E. Harrow’s spellbinding debut–step inside and discover its magic.

I have yet to see a bad review about this book. It’s fantastical! If this sounds like something you want to get your hands on, I have a discount code for you to get your copy for $5 by using this link here and entering the word “YALIT”. Offer ends at the end of the month! You don’t want to miss out on this read!

Frankly in Love by David Yoon

It’s no surprise that I love Young Adult Books. I JUMPED for JOY when Book of the Month started a young adult box! I have ALWAYS loved that you can get a brand new book (sometimes even before they are released in stores) for WAY less than what they cost in stores new. Plus, they come hardcover 🙂

I’m ESPECIALLY OVER THE MOON EXCITED that my most highly anticipated read this year is one of their September books. I have read both David’s wife Nicola Yoon’s books as soon as they came out (see my past reviews on them!), so it was no surprise that I was THRILLED that he has written his first book.

Synopsis: High school senior Frank Li is a Limbo–his term for Korean-American kids who find themselves caught between their parents’ traditional expectations and their own Southern California upbringing. His parents have one rule when it comes to romance–“Date Korean”–which proves complicated when Frank falls for Brit Means, who is smart, beautiful–and white. Fellow Limbo Joy Song is in a similar predicament, and so they make a pact: they’ll pretend to date each other in order to gain their freedom. Frank thinks it’s the perfect plan, but in the end, Frank and Joy’s fake-dating maneuver leaves him wondering if he ever really understood love–or himself–at all.

It’s AMAZING and looks like there will even be a sequel! You can get your copy TODAY for only $5 using the code “YALIT” through this link here. They ship super fast too so you won’t have to miss out on reading this soon. Let me know what you think of it!

How To Walk Away by Katherine Center

Today was a very rainy day, and a day off from work, so I was so thrilled to spend the day to read this new book just published yesterday!

Margaret is afraid of planes; always has been. Her boyfriend knew this, but he’s about to get his pilot license and he wants to send her on an extravagant trip to propose to her. He finally convinces her, and up they go, ring in the cockpit, and her approval just moments away. She says yes, and as they head back to ground, they hit a storm and crash. Chip walks away with not barely a scratch, and Margaret is stuck in the hospital, unable to walk. Their relationship is tested, family relationships are tested, and Margaret is faced with choices to make if she wants to turn her situation around for the better.

This has been compared to Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, and I can totally see why. There are a ton of similarities, but this book is special on its own. I loved it! Yeah, it’s totally predictable, but Katherine is a WONDERFUL author and depicts her hospital stay so beautifully, right down to the hardcore relational moments that rock Maggie’s world to bits. I dare say, I didn’t expect the family drama with her fiancé drama, but it was quite welcomed. I would read this again and again. Simply beautiful.

4.5/5 Stars

 

The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy

Happy Mother’s Day to all my fellow mothers out there (animal mommas included because they can’t live without you either)! This is my first true mother’s day with my baby girl and I cuddled her extra tight while I relaxed with this read. Okay, relax may be an understatement with this novel.

The Perfect Mother starts off introducing the May Mothers, a group of women who have met online due to the fact that they are having a baby in the same month. They all meet up in person at the park towards the end of their pregnancies and after. On July 4th night, they all decide to get babysitters and go out for drinks. While they are at the bar, one of the mother’s (Winnie) baby (Midas) goes missing. They are devastated and obsessed with trying to find out who kidnapped him. Was it the babysitter? Was it Winnie’s baby daddy whom they never hear about? A random stranger causing ruckus near her house? Someone closer to them then they think?

I wanted to read this book because I knew I could relate to most of it (not the stealing baby part). I, too, have a mom group that I am in for the month my daughter was born. We also met online. I love them dearly and talk with them often and totally wish I could hang out with them in person, but we are from all over the globe so we just chat and send each other photos. I also loved the references about newborns because it’s so relevant to me where I am in my life and it was very well done. I was not a huge fan of the multiple narrating perspectives. You never truly know who is talking until you keep reading and really have to think about it. Sometimes you do truly have no idea who is talking. It was all over the place and hard for me to follow. I stayed confused quite often which was fun because it kept me from figuring out the ending, but really annoying at times because I just wanted to know what was going on! There are a lot of characters in this book, but the author does a great job at touching on each of their lives. This read is very “The Couple Next Door” -esque which is great, but it’s all I kept thinking about. There are certainly many differences, but there is a resemblance I couldn’t seem to get out of my head. I definitely was biting my nails hoping for a safe return for baby Midas, which also kept me reading for more.

3.5/5 Stars

Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall

It took me forever to decide what book I was going to read next (okay, maybe only two days..). I’ve heard so much about this one that it was almost decided for me.

Mike Hayes is in love with Verity Metcalf. He refers to her as V. They have had a very long relationship with each other with a pretty crazy sexual history between them. He has painted his life to revolve around V and make sure she is happy in every single way. The thing is, he had gotten a pretty awesome job offer in America that he couldn’t miss out on. V insisted he take it and they would work on their relationship long term. Both of them had done things they regret and now V is getting married, but not to Mike. What is Mike to do? He is in love and know V loves him just as much.

I started this as soon as I put my little one to bed last night and I finished it shortly after. I literally cannot stop thinking about this book. I never put it down as soon as I picked it up. I didn’t read too many reviews so I painted this picture in my head of what I expected the book to be about. I was so convinced I had everything figured out, so much so that I literally thought the book was lying to me. I thourhgt this was a book of obsession, but now I’m not so sure! Hall does an excellent job at painting the psychological portrait of Mike. I could see both sides of the story, all the way up until the end. But the ending! Oh my gosh, I STILL don’t know what to think of it. I can’t get it out of my head.

Iwant to know your thoughts! No spoilers in this review, but warning for the comments for those who post! But really….what does it all meannnnnn!

Originally I was going to give this a 4/5 stars for wanting to know a lot more about Verity, but you know what? This has just totally messed with my head so much that it deserves all the stars. 5/5 stars! I still suggest a book in Verity’s viewpoint. I would read the crap out of that!

 

The Oracle Year by Charles Soule

My husband and I are into watching tons of Marvel related shows. In fact, we just saw Avengers Infinity Wars and oh my gosh…that’s just a whole other story. Anyways, we are huge fans of Marvel and one of our favorite shows include Daredevil on Netflix. The reason I bring that up is because the author of this novel writes for Daredevil comics and even Star Wars comics (as you can probably tell from my blog name, I’m a sci-fi geek as well). When this novel came out last month, I just had to get it. Mostly because I figured this would be something both my husband and I could enjoy together. But also because it sounded amazing.

Will Dawson wakes up one morning to 108 visions about the future within a 3 year time span. His life as a muscian is about to change forever when he teams up with a buddy to start selling the predictions to become some of the wealthiest people on Earth. They set-up a website that soon takes the attention of every peson on the globe. The problem is, this power is eating Will alive and he is trying to figure out how he can bring good to the world with these predictions at hand. He’s starting to think there is a reason why he has been given these predictions.

The book was okay. I love the premise, and it kept me reading to find out exactly what happens, but it was slow. It didn’t flow very easily. I had a hard time keeping up with the different story lines going on at once between the multiple characters. I will say, I am not a fan of multiple points of view in novels, but I thought I could look past that in this book. Not so much. The Oracle has an epiphany in the middle of the book between what he thinks is happening and what he can do about it which was really intriguing to read about. I stopped reading to sleep on it once I read it to let it soak in before continuing to read it. There were multiple characters that I wanted to hear more about. In fact, I would actually go back through the book to re-read descriptions of what was happening with them because it was taking so long to hear from them again. They weren’t as developed as I thought they should be. I will be passing the book on to my husband to read and it may be a book I need to pick up and re-read again to let it really soak in. Honestly, it would have been better if it were a comic.

3.5/5 Stars