sci-fi books – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Sci-Fi
Length: 367 pages
Author: Hayley Reese Chow
Publisher: Whimsical Publishing
Release Date: April 4th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Earth was tame. Belethea is not.

Seventeen-year-old Ezren Hart interns in her mother’s terraforming lab, studying Belethea’s deadly storms with the dream of giving her backwater planet open teal skies. But when budget cuts threaten to shut down her mother’s lab, Ezren enters Belethea’s Race Royale, the system’s deadliest and most lucrative race. To win, she’ll have to run, drive, and fight her way across Belethea’s barren landscape while navigating its savage and volatile storms. With her planet’s future, and her family’s, on the line, she can’t afford to lose. But first, she’ll have to convince her handsome royale partner that their planet is worth saving.

Foster Sterling is a jaded ex-prodigy royaler still reeling from his partner’s death in a training accident. When Ezren Hart comes charging into his life, her passion reminds him of what he once loved about racing and his dream of returning pride to their planet. Still, no matter how fast they go, they can’t outrun the mysterious string of deadly accidents following them like a curse. As Foster falls harder for Ezren, he races to piece the clues together. But with time running out and their survival on the line, he’ll have to decide if their dreams are worth their lives.

Perfect for fans of underdog heroes, slow-burn romance, and high-stakes sci-fi, INTO THE CHURN races across a new planet of savage storms and dazzling tech. Fall in love with Ezren and Foster as they battle side-by-side to save their scrappy world on a ruthless interplanetary stage where appearances are everything, speed means survival, and the only thing deadlier than the storms are the other racers.

Thank you to Whimsical Publishing for the eARC.

CAPTIVATING.

I just wholeheartedly enjoyed this book. It was a fantastic young adult read and as a standalone I thought it encompassed everything needed to close off story lines and feel satisfied by the book as a whole.

The romance was SO DANG SWEET. A super low angst, unlikely partners to friends to lovers. I loved all of the tender forehead and temple kisses. The encouragement Foster and Ezren gave each other to keep going and the way they took care of each other. They were a partnership you wanted to cheer for and cheer for them I did!

And it was absolutely filled will ALL the action. Brutal storms and intense physical matches that sped the pace and my heartrate. I kind of love race themed books because you never know quite who’s going to actually win and how that plays into the story itself. I liked the mystery aspects within the sub-plots that brought this entire book together. Everything was well balanced and I continually wanted to pick this up and see what happened next.

Easily recommend. Fits perfectly into the YA category as well (i.e. appropriate for the actual age group). Wonderful characters, high action, adorable romance and an all around great read.

Overall audience notes:

YA Sci-Fi
Language: a little, light
Romance: kisses
Violence: med-high
Trigger/Content Warnings: near death experiences, loss of life, physical altercations, blood depiction, major weather systems

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Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: December 2022

December 31, 2022 GoodeyReads

It’s the end of 2022! And there were plenty of amazing reads this month. I loved my rereads and the many new books I came across too.

Favorites

Least Favorites

Morning Star (Reread)
Lightfall
ACOTAR Series (Reread)
A Holly Jilly Christmas
Sisters of Sword and Song
Before I Let Go
Fractured Sky
The Co-Op
Bloodsinger
Dear Emmie Blue
A Heart Worth Stealing

You Wouldn’t Dare
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride
A Wilderness of Stars
Beauty Reborn
The Syren’s Mutiny
Just My Type

Cotswolds Holiday (Christmas Escapes #1) by Kasey Stockton
[Reread] Morning Star (Red Rising Saga #3) by Pierce Brown
[ARC] You Wouldn’t Dare by Samantha Markum
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms (Whimbrel House #1) by Charlie N. Holmberg
Lightfall (The Starchaser Saga #4) by Renee Dugan
[Reread] A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR #1) by Sarah J. Maas
[ARC/Novella] A Holly Jilly Christmas (Sheet Cake Love Stories) by Emma St. Clair
The Key to My Heart by Lia Louis
Sisters of Sword and Song by Rebecca Ross
Fates Illuminated (Call of the Norns #1) by Aimee Vance
Before I Let Go (Skyland #1) by Kennedy Ryan
[Novella] Visions of You (Lost & Found #0.5) by Catherine Cowles
[Novella] Snowbound (Tattered & Torn #2.5) by Catherine Cowles
A Vision in Smoke (Until the Stars Are Dead #2) by Allyson S. Barkley
Fractured Sky (Tattered & Torn #5) by Catherine Cowles
[ARC] Never Vacation With Your Ex by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
[Reread] A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR #2) by Sarah J. Maas
To Bleed A Crystal Bloom (Crystal Bloom #1) by Sarah A. Parker
[ARC] The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
Let it Snow by Michelle Stimpson
[Novella] A Very Merry Christmoose (Deadlights Cove #2.5) by B. Perkins and Aimee Vance
Esperance (Esperance Trilogy #1) by Heather Frost
[Reread] A Court of Wings and Ruin (ACOTAR #3) by Sarah J. Maas
A Wilderness of Stars by Shea Ernshaw
The Co-Op by Tarah Dewitt
Children of Ragnarok (The Runestone Saga #1) by Cinda Williams Chima
Two Wrongs Make a Right (The Wilmot Sisters #1) by Chloe Liese
Lord of Gold and Glory (Fae Isles #2) by Lisette Marshall
The Holly Dates by Brittainy Cherry
[Reread/Novella] A Court of Frost and Starlight (ACOTAR #3.5) by Sarah J. Maas
[Novella] Christmas Presents by Tarah Dewitt
50 Ways to Win Back Your Lover (Bower Boys #1) by Kelly Siskind
Let Love In (Canyon Cove Love Stories #3) by Marie Soleil
Bloodsinger (The Starchaser Saga #5) by Renee Dugan
[ARC] Beauty Reborn by Elizabeth Lowham
[ARC] Off the Map (Beck Sisters #3) by Trish Doller
[Reread] A Court of Silver Flames (ACOTAR #4) by Sarah J. Maas
[ARC] Just My Type by Falon Ballard
[ARC] The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim
The Syren’s Mutiny by Jessica S. Taylor
Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis
[Novella] Falling in Somerset (Lost Story Bookshop) by Jenny B. Jones
[ARC] A Heart Worth Stealing by Joanna Barker

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Book Review

Book Review: Morning Star (Red Rising Saga #3) by Pierce Brown

December 11, 2022December 2, 2022 GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Sci-Fi
Length: 524 pages
Author: Pierce Brown
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: February 9th, 2016
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Red Rising thrilled readers and announced the presence of a talented new author. Golden Son changed the game and took the story of Darrow to the next level. Now comes the exhilarating conclusion to the Red Rising Trilogy: Morning Star.

Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back. Risking everything to transform himself and breach Gold society, Darrow has battled to survive the cutthroat rivalries that breed Society’s mightiest warriors, climbed the ranks, and waited patiently to unleash the revolution that will tear the hierarchy apart from within.

Finally, the time has come.

But devotion to honor and hunger for vengeance run deep on both sides. Darrow and his comrades-in-arms face powerful enemies without scruple or mercy. Among them are some Darrow once considered friends. To win, Darrow will need to inspire those shackled in darkness to break their chains, unmake the world their cruel masters have built, and claim a destiny too long denied—and too glorious to surrender.

WHAT AN ENDING.

I never wrote a review for this when I first read it (after release), so I’m back with a quick jot down of my thoughts.

OH HOW I LOVE THIS SERIES EVEN AS IT TEARS MY HEART OUT.

There’s a plethora of amazing scenes here that I can’t even begin to name them all. And what I wouldn’t do to have Sevro’s POV in this book. THE THINGS I WOULD DO FOR THIS Y’ALL. He’s my favorite. And his love interest is perfect. Sevro still remains my favorite side character of all time.

I loved Darrow’s progression and character changes. He goes through hell and back 1,000 times and still gets up and does it again. All for the people he loves and the world he wants to see in a better place.

The audiobook is fantastic and I highly recommend that avenue.

I’d have a lot longer review but I really don’t want to spoil a thing about this because it’s better to experience it without prior knowledge.

JUST READ IT OKAY?

Overall audience notes:

Sci-Fi
Language: strong
Romance: closed door
Violence: very high
Trigger/Content Warnings: extremely high levels of blood and gore depiction, executions, suicide, loss of loved ones, mass murder, gun violence

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Book Review

Book Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

November 4, 2022December 19, 2021 GoodeyReads

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Sci-Fi
Length: 476 pages
Author: Andy Weir
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: May 4th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission–and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that’s been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it’s up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian–while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

ONE OF MY 2021 FAVORITES.

I can’t believe I had to have multiple people tell me to read this book before I did because OH MY GOSH I LOVED IT SO MUCH.

SO DANG MUCH.

READ IT.

And if you can get your hands on the audio book, HIGHLY recommend that avenue. The audio was one of the best I’ve ever listened to.

I’m trying to stay purposely pretty vague because it’s more fun going in blind on this one.

This book starts off wild and doesn’t let up. I loved moving back and forth between the present and the moments that Ryland started to remember what was happening. It’s intensely scientific and at times I felt smarter and dumber all in the same sentence, and I loved that.

Not to mention how much I loved the progression of the story and THAT ENDING. Apparently some didn’t love it? I couldn’t see it ending any other way for multiple reasons and thought it gave Ryland the right kind of conclusion. I felt even a little teary about it because it just clicked that well.

This book is laugh out loud funny. I couldn’t help myself with the laughter, it is spot on. I loved how this balanced out the heavy topics and things happening around Ryland. It was the perfect juxtaposition and wow I can’t give this book enough stars.

If I keep going I might spoil things, so trust me, if you got this far, READ THIS BOOK.

Overall audience notes:

Science Fiction
Language: some
Violence: small depictions of blood
Trigger/Content Warnings: discussion of suicide methods, apocalyptic scenarios, near death experiences