Book Review: The Atlas Six (The Atlas #1) by Olivie Blake

July 26, 2022July 26, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: NA Dark Academia
Length: 375 pages
Author: Olivie Blake
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: March 1st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation – and here are the chosen few…

– Libby Rhodes and Nicolás Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.
– Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.
– Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.
– Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.
– Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society’s archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.

THIS WAS ODD.

I’m not really sure what to do with this read. On one hand I enjoyed it. On the other, I’m not quite sure about what I did enjoy.

This is a slowww read. And (mostly) not in a bad way. I don’t mind when fantasies take their time as long as things keep progressing. But at some point this switched over to where I felt like I wanted to skim (which I did).

The characters are divinely unique and I loved that. I hated and loved them for a myriad of reasons. Heavily character driven books are my jam. Though I did wonder why everyone was sleeping with everyone? It just didn’t seem necessary or really adding anything.

Plot wise, I needed more. It wasn’t working for me. There wasn’t enough development of WHY all of these people were together. Not until the last quarter did I start to connect some dots.

I stand undecided on reading book two. I think I’ll probably wait to see some friends reviews first. Or I might try the audio to move through it quicker.

Overall audience notes:

NA Urban Fantasy + Dark Academia
Language: some strong
Romance: multiple vague + closed door + innuendo
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: cheating, near death experiences, extortion, suicide ideation, suicide, alcohol consumption

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ARC Book Review: Master of Iron (Bladesmith #2) by Tricia Levenseller

July 26, 2022July 23, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Tricia Levenseller
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: July 26th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In Master of Iron, the conclusion to Tricia Levenseller’s exciting Bladesmith YA fantasy duology, a magically gifted blacksmith with social anxiety must race against the clock to save her beloved sister and stop a devastating war.

Eighteen-year-old Ziva may have defeated a deadly warlord, but the price was almost too much. Ziva is forced into a breakneck race to a nearby city with the handsome mercenary, Kellyn, and the young scholar, Petrik, to find a powerful magical healer who can save her sister’s life.

When the events that follow lead to Ziva and Kellyn’s capture by an ambitious prince, Ziva is forced into the very situation she’s been dreading: magicking dangerous weapons meant for world domination.

The forge has always been Ziva’s safe space, a place to avoid society and the anxiety it causes her, but now it is her prison, and she’s not sure just how much of herself she’ll have to sacrifice to save Kellyn and take center stage in the very war she’s been trying to stop.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy audiobook.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED.

Tricia Levenseller books are some of my absolute favorite YA reads. She is an auto-buy author for me and once again, has hit it out of the park. I was a bit neutral after the first book in this duo, but this ending, AMAZING.

I loooooved Ziva. The social anxiety rep here feels so spot on and I could relate 1,000 different ways to how she was feeling talking to others, making friends, and being assertive when the time came. Ziva showed great character growth and the ability to listen and learn how to communicate with those she loved.

The ROMANCE. SO DANG SWEET. I adored Kellyn. I liked that they got a lot more time together and that there were legitimate relationship struggles they worked through. It was authentic and I liked how both parties learned to COMMUNICATE and lean on one another as a bond of trust deeply formed. Oh my gosh they were just the best y’all. And some well placed pet name use had me swoooooning.

There’s also a beautiful sister relationship here. Temra and Ziva have one of the tightest connections I have read about. And I liked they way they were always there for each other and also could say, I can do this myself, too. There was a great give and take and acknowledging ones’ place in the world.

Within all of this greatest was a solid plot of action and battles. I love that I felt like nothing overshadowed one plot aspect over the other. There was balance between the romance, the big plot, friendships and subtle quiet moments. I devoured this book and anxiously await Levenseller’s next great read.

Overall audience notes:

YA Fantasy Romance
Language: a little
Romance: mentions of closed-door
Violence: medium
Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, war themes, kidnapping, physical and magical altercations, torture

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Book Review: Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

July 25, 2022August 24, 2021 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA Thriller
Length: 432 pages
Author: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: June 1st, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Gossip Girl meets Get Out in Ace of Spades, a YA contemporary thriller by debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé about two students, Devon & Chiamaka, and their struggles against an anonymous bully.

When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too.

Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures.

As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly?

With heart-pounding suspense and relevant social commentary comes a high-octane thriller from debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.

THE BLACK, QUEER THRILLER YOU NEED.

I am shook and completely freaked out by this book. I’ve never seen Gossip Girl or Get Out, but close friends have said it’s a great combination of both. I loved the academic setting, the twisted story, and how intense the ending was.

The two main characters, Chiamaka and Devon were amazing. I loved both of their POV’s. Both perspectives gave different sides to ultimately the same story. I was endeared by both of them and as the a creeping sense of dread swarmed my mind as the pages went on I couldn’t put this down.

Full of the nuanced, obvious and threatening realities of racism and supremacy. It was incredibly well written and I am in awe of what this author will write next. The relevant exploration of haunting themes will leave you speechless.

I loved the epilogue and the ending in general. I was invested in both story lines and love how Chiamaka’s and Devon’s story never overshadowed one another. Even with a bit of a slow start for me, it ramped up in the second half. For not a huge thriller fan, this is one where I’ll be shouting READ IT to anyone who’ll listen.

Overall audience notes:

YA Thriller
Language: strong
Romance: kisses to closed door
Trigger/Content Warnings: racism, homophobia, public outing, loss of a parent, murder, car accident, stalking

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Book Review: Kiss My Cupcake by Helena Hunting

July 24, 2022July 24, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Helena Hunting
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: August 11th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Blaire Calloway has planned every Instagram-worthy moment of her cupcake and cocktails shop launch down to the tiniest detail. What she didn’t plan on? Ronan Knight and his old-school sports bar next door opening on the very same day. He may be super swoony, but Blaire hasn’t spent years obsessing over buttercream and bourbon to have him ruin her chance at success.

From axe throwing (his place) to frosting contests (hers), Blaire and Ronan are constantly trying to one-up each other in a battle to win new customers. But with every clash, there’s also an undeniable chemistry. When an even bigger threat to their business comes to town, they’re forced to call a temporary time-out on their own war and work together. And the more time Blaire spends getting to know the real Ronan, the more she wonders if it’s possible to have her cupcake and eat it too.

As two neighborhood shop owners battle for business, they prove opposites attract in this outrageously funny romantic comedy from the USA Today bestselling author of Meet Cute.

INTRIGUED.

An audio contemporary romance that gave me the happily ever after I was hoping for! This was such a sweet read and it felt like a newer plot than those I’ve read previously. Though it did have my favorite trope, enemies to lovers!!

I adored Ronan. He was strong and the right kind of snarky. He also knew how to apologize and lift those up around him. He was kind and I thought the chemistry between him and Blaire was pretty magical. Blaire is full of absolute fire and I loved that for her. A bit “not like the other girls” nonsense, but otherwise a great character. I liked the opposites attract themes here too between a bar and a bakery.

Blaire’s family was a bit all of the place . It felt really forced to have THAT much drama surrounding them in the handful of scenes they were actually on page. That plus the very heavy innuendo were my only pitfalls. The steamy scenes are definitely steamy, but easily skippable, so those of either preference can easily enjoy this read. There’s no overly dramatic miscommunication issue. I thought the ending and the epilogue were absolutely precious and the kind of sweetness I love seeing in a contemporary.

This was my first book by Helena Hunting and it’s intrigued me enough to take a look at some of her backlist titles!

Overall audience notes: