If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich

What do you do when your two favorite young adult authors come together to write a new book? You freak out and read it all in one sitting!

Thank you Wednesday Books for my gifted ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are two members of the boy-band Saturday, one of the biggest acts in America. Along with their bandmates, Angel Phan and Jon Braxton, the four are teen heart-breakers in front of the cameras and best friends backstage. But privately, cracks are starting to form: their once-easy rapport is straining under the pressures of fame, and Ruben confides in Zach that he’s feeling smothered by management’s pressure to stay in the closet. On a whirlwind tour through Europe, with both an unrelenting schedule and minimal supervision, Ruben and Zach come to rely on each other more and more, and their already close friendship evolves into a romance. But when they decide they’re ready to tell their fans and live freely, Zach and Ruben start to truly realize that they will never have the support of their management. How can they hold tight to each other when the whole world seems to want to come between them?

As expected, I absolutely loved this book. These authors are phenomenal and work together so beautifully. This book mimics the rumors about the band members from One Direction, so if you are aware of those, you will love this book too. Honestly, if you are a fan of boy bands in general, you will also love this book. I really appreciate how inclusive this book was which makes me recommend this for all readers even more. Enjoy the adventure these boys go through and watch them grow and learn in front of your eyes. It’s the best!

5/5 Stars

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

As I have mentioned previously on my blog before, “The Great Gatsby” has official entered public domain as of this year, meaning re-tellings are now up for the taking. I was so thrilled to be able to take an early look at this one before it’s public release today. It’s especially a great book to start with celebrating Pride Month with!

Thank you Tordotcom for my gifted ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: Immigrant. Socialite. Magician. Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society—she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She’s also queer, Asian, adopted, and treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her. But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how. Nghi Vo’s debut novel The Chosen and the Beautiful reinvents this classic of the American canon as a coming-of-age story full of magic, mystery, and glittering excess, and introduces a major new literary voice.

I’ve been sitting on this review for quite some time. I’ve had such a hard time writing it! I have many feelings about this book. First off, it’s absolutely beautifully written. The prose is breathtaking. On the other hand, I thought this was extremely close to the original story. While yes, it’s a retelling, it had elements that made it unique in it’s own way that I wanted WAY more of. The fantasy/magical touches to this book were minimal and I think a touch more would’ve put this book on a whole other level for me. If you aren’t a Great Gatsby fan, this may be a hard pass for you. If you want to read a story written like a dream, you’ll want to pick this up right away.

3/5 Stars

The Hound of Justice by Claire O’Dell

I love this community in the fact that it teaches me to read about books that I would not normally pick up on my own or even know about. This series fits that circumstance. I feel like I read less about books with POC not on purpose, but just because I am not well educated in which books that I need to put on my radar. That’s where I lean on my book community like you guys to show me the way. You know I love me a good mystery, so this sounded perfect to me.

Thank you TLC Book Tours for gifting me copies in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: Dr. Janet Watson and former covert agent Sara Holmes, introduced in the acclaimed A Study in Honor, continue their dangerous investigation into the new American Civil War with the help of fresh allies, advanced technology, and brilliant deduction in this superb reimagining of Sherlock Holmes. It’s been two months since Dr. Janet Watson accepted an offer from Georgetown University Hospital. The training for her new high-tech arm is taking longer than expected, however, leaving her in limbo. Meanwhile, her brilliant friend and compatriot, Sara Holmes, has been placed on leave–punishment for going rogue during their previous adventure. Neither is taking their situation very well. Then an extremist faction called the Brotherhood of Redemption launches an assassination attempt on the president. The attempt fails but causes mass destruction—fifty dead and hundreds more injured, and Holmes takes on the task of investigating the Brotherhood. Holmes is making progress when she abruptly disappears. Watson receives a mysterious message from Holmes’s cousin Micha and learns that her friend has quit the service and is operating in the shadows, investigating clues that link the Brotherhood to Adler Industries. She needs a surgeon, Micha tells Watson. She needs you. Reunited once more, Dr. Watson, Holmes, and Micha embark on a mission through the deep South to clear Holmes’s name, thwart the Brotherhood’s next move, and most important, bring their nemesis to justice for the atrocities she’s committed in the New Civil War

This one is a bit difficult for me to review. I say that because, as previously stated, I have not much experience in reading books with POC characters (maybe I have more experience than most, it’s hard to tell in such a large book-loving community). I especially don’t have much experience in reading books with POC characters written by a white woman. Leaving those two facts aside for you to interpret how you feel best if choosing this for your next read, I thought this was a cool book. TLC books gave me the prequel to this and I thoroughly enjoyed that read much more than this one. I think the concept of these books with being a flip on Sherlock Holmes is super neat. I don’t feel like this book lived up to it’s future-esque setting as supposedly portrayed in the book. Would I read this series again? Probably not. Was I glad I did? Yes! There is a lot of political push in this book which I tend to steer far away from when reading, so I figured I would mention that as well.

3/5 Stars

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I got my hands on another highly talked about book last evening. Fingers crossed!

Monique Grant is waiting for a big break in her journalism job. All of the sudden, Evelyn Hugo, a famous actress, has specifically asked for Monique to write a story about her. Turns out, Evelyn wants her to write her biography for her. She’s finally ready to tell her life story to the world. Monique is hesitant, but realizes how big this is for her and decides to take the job. The rest of the book is all about Evelyn’s story of each of her seven husbands. What comes as the biggest surprise is why Evelyn has chosen Monique (there’s a twist!) and who Evelyn has loved her entire life (another twist)!

Guys, I’m sorry to say, but I didn’t love it. I had such high hopes! Everyone has been raving about this day in and day out, but it just wasn’t for me. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed Reid’s writing and I didn’t want to stop reading it despite not loving the storyline. I was entertained throughout. I just couldn’t stand Evelyn. She was such an annoying person! I am also not into hollywood stories. I felt like I was watching and entertainment tonight story – my least favorite thing. The theme of the story was completely unexpected to me. I don’t have a problem with the theme, I just wasn’t in the mood to read a book like it at this time. I did enjoy Monique’s story and would’ve wanted to hear more from her. It’s not something I would read again. Bummer.

3/5 Stars

The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich

I get so excited when Book of the Month Club picks a young adult novel as one of the sections because you KNOW it’s going to be good.

The Love Interest is a Young Adult Sci-Fi LGBTQ novel set in the future about a boy named Caden who is a “Love Interest Agent”. He is sculpted to perfection and is sold out to the world to fall in love with a specific girl. The problem is, Dylan is also sculpted to perfection, but is the “bad boy” that all the girls want. He, too, is an agent sent out to fall in love with a specific girl. Cue the hunger games mantra where both of these boys have to fight for their death to be the chosen one. The problem is, are they falling for each other instead of the girl?

I honestly had no idea this was an LGBTQ novel when I first started reading it, which doesn’t bother me in the slightest. It just caught me off guard. Regardless, I loved this book. What a cool storyline! I’m also a sucker for young adult romance. The fight-to-the-death sequence had me gripped for the entire novel. I didn’t mind that it had a hunger games feel to it at all. I think we were missing more of Dylan’s side of the story throughout the novel though. There is so much inner turmoil going on with both Dylan and Caden, but Caden is the narrator of the story so it’s very one-sided. Let’s just say, there better be a sequel!

4/5 stars