Category: Young Adult

books, Indie Spotlight, Young Adult

Indie Book Spotlight – Fantasy

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Indie Book Spotlight – Fantasy
Indie Book Spotlight – Fantasy

I don’t know about you guys, but I really need to start picking up more indie books. There are plenty I’m interested in, and I do have a few I need to read. I want to make more of an effort to go out of my way to read some so, I thought I’d start by doing a series of indie book spotlights. To start with, a lot of these books may be books that I was asked to review. But in a few months, I’d like to do the second parts with more books that I’ve actually bought.

We’re starting on with fantasy, as let’s face it, that’s mostly what I read.

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Adult, books, tbr, Young Adult

Mini TBR – July 2021

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Mini TBR – July 2021
Mini TBR – July 2021

Where has the time gone?! Seriously. I can’t believe we’re in July already. It’s my brother’s birthday this month, so I’ll have an opportunity to get out into the bookshops. I also seem to have gotten out of my reading slump. But to be safe, I’m going to keep this TBR short and sweet. Well, kind of.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: The Forevers by Chris Whitaker

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: The Forevers by Chris Whitaker
Book Review: The Forevers by Chris Whitaker

Trigger Warnings: Suicide, Self-Harm, Abortion, Disordered Eating, Domestic Abuse, Child Abuse, Homophobia, Paedophilia, Child Sexual Abuse, Fatphobia, Slut Shaming and references to Rape

Yeah, those are a lot of trigger warnings, but before we get into this review, we had to start with them. This is a hard book to read. Not only is it about the world ending, but these characters all have hard lives on top of that. This book is short, so though it’s difficult, it is quick to get through. I was lucky enough to be sent a physical copy of this book thanks to the folks of Hot Key Books, and I’m very glad I read it. I think it’s going to be one that will stick with me for a long while.

What would you do if you could get away with anything? Mae and her friends know they only have 30 days left to live. After coming across the body of her childhood friend, her ghost seems to haunt them all, and Mae wants to find out what happened. But people are more willing to do the deadly things they’d never dreamed of doing before, and chaos will take over the school and town.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron
Book Review: This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

I absolutely adored Cinderella is Dead last year, so I’ve been excited about This Poison Heart since I first heard about it. Even though it wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be, this was definitely one of my most anticipated books. I was actually debating buying the Fairyloot special edition, but I didn’t have the money. So I guess I’ll be grabbing a normal paperback edition at some point.

Where I usually try to keep my reviews spoiler-free – this one will have some spoilers. There’s something I want to talk about, so be warned. I was lucky enough to receive this as an e-ARC through Netgalley.

This Poison Heart is being promoted as a sapphic retelling of The Secret Garden. To me, it didn’t really scream The Secret Garden apart from the whole walled garden and family secrets. Briseis has power over plants, a power that she’s tried to keep hidden. One day her family gets a call saying that she has inherited a home from her birth mother’s family. As they move into the house, she discovers; hidden alters, a lineage of witches and a garden filled with poisons. Briseis doesn’t know what to do, but her ancestors won’t leave her alone until she accepts her fate.

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Adult, ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Witchshadow by Susan Dennard

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: Witchshadow by Susan Dennard
Book Review: Witchshadow by Susan Dennard

Oh man, you guys do not know how HYPED I was when I received my copy of this in the post. Thanks so much to Jamie-Lee Nardone at Black Crow PR for my copy. I feel so lucky. I’ve been reading the Witchlands books for a few years, and I’d been eagerly awaiting this one. The last book – Bloodwitch – was one I actually managed to get an e-arc of on Netgalley. You can actually find a short review of it here. I read that back at the end of 2018, and after that ending, I’ve been desperately awaiting the next instalment. And it’s coming out this month now?!!! You all cannot wait, trust me.

Witchshadow is the fourth, and I believe penultimate, book in the Witchlands series. This is supposed to be Iseult’s book, and as such, it mostly follows her story. After having been reunited with Safi, they quickly have to part as Iseult tries to find a way to save them and learn about her magic. She plans to return, but the journey is hard, and as figures of legend reawaken across the Witchlands… Safi, Iseult and the world may be in more danger than they realised.

Before I dive properly into this review, I’m just going to warn for spoilers. I’ll try not to give any for this book, but if you haven’t read the previous books in this series, including the novella, this may not be the review for you.

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Adult, books, tbr, Young Adult

Mini TBR – June 2021

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books3 Comments on Mini TBR – June 2021
Mini TBR – June 2021

After a terrible reading month, personally last month, I plan to make this month a lot better. It is also Pride month – celebrate! – but you won’t find any queer books on this list. Why? Because I’m a servant to my TBR jar, and only one of the books on my current TBR pile is queer. I’ll probably try to listen to at least one queer audiobook, but I don’t know what one yet.

I’m generally reading queer books all year round, so I’m not that bothered.

This TBR post may be a little different. I’m only going to focus on the details of the books from my unread TBR that I want to read. I’ll be listing a few other books. But as I’m trying to focus on getting through my owned books, I’m trying it this way this month.

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Adult, books, Young Adult

Faerie Book Recommendations

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books8 Comments on Faerie Book Recommendations
Faerie Book Recommendations

Who here loves reading and hearing about the fae? I do! Though, I’m sure this seems weird to many of you, as I don’t seem to read many books with the fae in. And there is a reason for that. If you saw my post on what I want to see in fae books from a while ago, you’ll have an idea why. I’m incredibly picky, but I really do love reading about the fae. So I wanted to give you all some recommendations of fae books that I have read and loved.

I won’t lie. In many aspects, these may not be what you’re looking for in a fae book. The adult series recommended on here may be up your street if you’re big on faerie romance. As it does have a lot of what seems to be popular. But there are specific reasons why I also personally enjoy it. The other two are just YA books featuring the fae, but they’re really good reads. I promise.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

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Book Review: Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

This is a book that a year ago, even with the cover being as adorable as it is, I probably wouldn’t have picked up. Let alone asked for it from Harper360 – so thanks for the book guys! But the idea of a trans teen running a Tumblr all about trans meet-cutes? I needed that. I needed something cute and adorable. And like his readers, I kinda needed to see some trans love. And you get that with this book. You’ve got two love interests – a cis boy and a non-binary co-worker. And sometimes, you need to see someone like yourself experiencing love.

Noah runs Meet Cute Diary, but all the meet-cutes he posts are false. When a troll comes online and starts calling him out on it, Noah decides to fake-date Drew in the hope of distracting his readers. And showing a meet-cute can be real. It doesn’t go as expected, and when he meets Devin, he starts to fall for em too.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: The Yearbook by Holly Bourne

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Book Review: The Yearbook by Holly Bourne

Holly Bourne is one of those authors that I know of, but I’ve never read anything from before. Nor had I ever planned to. Her books didn’t look like my sort of thing. Until The Yearbook. The premise of a girl getting back at her bullies using the lies they wanted her to put in the yearbook? Genius. I’ll be honest, this book was nowhere near what I was expecting. But it was still an easy and enjoyable read. Just…a much more emotional one.

Paige is a quiet girl in school. The way anyone would ever know her is through the school paper. She planned to keep out of it all until Grace and her friends bring the yearbook to the newspaper. Now as well as spreading lies in the paper? Paige has to bring up all these false or cruel memories in the yearbook too, and she hates it. The only person who could understand her is Elijah, and it’s him she turns to as she figures out what to do.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: A Spark in Space by Janina Franck

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books4 Comments on Book Review: A Spark in Space by Janina Franck
Book Review: A Spark in Space by Janina Franck

I don’t get emails with authors asking me to review their books very often. And when I do, I tend to be super picky. But when Janina Franck contacted me about her YA sci-fi with space witches and an ace/aro protagonist. I was intrigued. I’m so glad I said yes to A Spark In Space, as otherwise, I’d have never heard of it. Instead, I get to shout about it to you guys and the world. And you’re gonna want to read this book!

Space witches are a powerful type of person who can control energy and technology. There are supposedly no human space witches… Until Tabea. After she saves a boy from a destroyed ship, Tabea has to work to hide her powers more than ever. But something happens, and she winds up in the custody of the penyales, an alien species known for hating humans. But for not being able to lie. They ask for her help and promise to help her find her friends. But can anything that’s happened recently be trusted?

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