Category: Review

ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: At Midnight edited by Dahlia Adler

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Book Review: At Midnight edited by Dahlia Adler
Book Review: At Midnight edited by Dahlia Adler

If you know me, you know that I’ve adored fairytales since childhood. I love reading them, which means that retellings are up my alley. When I saw that Titan Books were publishing an anthology of fairytale retellings with a bunch of authors I love? Yeah, I was sold.

I’ll admit that I’ve not read the entire thing cover to cover. But I am OBSESSED with this anthology. I want to eke out the reading experience as long as possible, so I decided to review this book after reading a few retellings.

But one of my favourite things about this collection is that it contains the original tales too! Most of the stories in this are pretty well known, but a few aren’t as well known. The fairytales being included means that if you want to immediately compare or just reread a favourite after, you can! This is a reasonably chunky anthology, and the original stories are included, so that’s why.

Now I’ll go into more detail on some of the stories.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: If I Can Give You That by Michael Gray Bulla

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Book Review: If I Can Give You That by Michael Gray Bulla

I wasn’t big on contemporary YA when I was younger, as I associated it with those sad books. You know the kind I mean. And those books generally don’t appeal to me. But though If I Can Give You That gives off similar vibes, something about it had me curious. This wasn’t an easy read topic-wise, but it was fast to get through, and I’m glad I’ve read it.

Seventeen-year-old Gael attends a local LGBTQA+ support group for teens at the urging of his best friend, but as a trans teen in a conservative school, he didn’t plan to say much. That’s until he meets Declan and winds up absorbed by his friendship. As their relationship deepens, Gael starts to discover himself. Still, back at home, things are getting worse with his mother’s declining mental health and his dad trying to get back in touch. Gael must decide whether lowering his guard is safe or will make things worse.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Burying Eva Flores by Jennifer Alsever

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Book Review: Burying Eva Flores by Jennifer Alsever

I love a full-cast audiobook, so when I saw a YA thriller with a full cast set a listen now on NetGalley, you bet I instantly went and downloaded it. I knew it was going to be a thriller with some supernatural elements, but let me tell you, I couldn’t have guessed how wild this book was going to get.

This book is essentially a Courtney Summers book that took a detour through Death Note. If that doesn’t intrigue you, I don’t know what will.
Eva Flores is missing, presumed dead, and everyone thinks Sophia did it. In this book, told through a blend of story, texts and interviews, we discover why Sophia hated Eva, what was going on in their lives and the magical notebook that allowed Sophia to mess with Eva’s life in revenge.

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ARC, books, middlegrade, Review

Book Review: Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind by Misa Sugiura

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind by Misa Sugiura
Book Review: Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind by Misa Sugiura

Over the last few years, there’s been an onslaught of new books like Percy Jackson but focusing on the mythology of various cultures written by authors from those very same cultures. It’s a trend I absolutely love, and the latest was Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind by Misa Sugiura. This Japanese-inspired story is filled with action, friendship and plenty of emotion.

Momo Arashima has just turned 12, and she’s at the bottom of the popularity list at school. She’s always seen things she shouldn’t and is made fun of because of it. But one day, she’s attacked and discovers that her Mum is a Shinto goddess and is dying. To save her life, Momo will have to close the path to Yomi and stop danger from taking over the world. Fortunately, she’s not alone and has a talking fox called Niko, and her former best friend, Danny, to help.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: HappyHead by Josh Silver

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Book Review: HappyHead by Josh Silver

Late last year, I was invited to attend the Rock the Boat showcase, and as part of that, I was sent a package of books. These were mostly releases of books already out by authors at the event. Still, it also included an ARC of Happyhead. It wasn’t a book I’d heard of before, but it sounded good. And I was right.

In this book, we follow Sebastian, a boy who is offered the opportunity to become happier by attending a radical retreat for teenagers. He’s not sure if he wants this, but he’s not given much choice. At least he can make his parents proud. But at the retreat, he meets the enigmatic Finn, and the other boy has him questioning what’s truly going on at this retreat. But the deeper into the programme, they discover that there might be no escape.

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Review, video games

Game Review – Fire Emblem Engage

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Game Review – Fire Emblem Engage

I was going to wait until I finished this game to post a review, but I got a little eager and wanted to write it early. I’m starting this review by saying I haven’t played a lot of Fire Emblem. I own a few games, but I’ve only completed Three Houses and started one of the Warriors games and Tokyo Mirage Sessions. But it is a series I’ve been interested in for a long time, and I knew I had to play Engage.

Fire Emblem Engage is a game for the Switch. It’s a tactical JRPG that includes a relationship system and many options to play online. But it’s still a game you can easily play and enjoy single-player. There are 27 chapters, but most of these are pretty short.

The story for this one is that you are a Divine Dragon, a person who can turn into a dragon and draw magic from powerful rings. At the beginning of the game, you had slept for 1000 years, but when you awaken, you find that the Corrupted are back and the Fell Dragon has awoken. You travel across the world collecting rings and allies whilst trying to stop the Fell Dragon from coming into power.

As I write this, I’m almost halfway through the game as I’ve slowed down my play to read a little more, but I’m still having a good time.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Out of Character by Jenna Miller

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Book Review: Out of Character by Jenna Miller

I’ve had this book for a while, and I’ve been very excited to read it with it being about a queer teenager who rps. But I decided to wait until HarperCollins had come to an agreement with the union. But now they have, and this review is only a few days late, ha! I was lucky enough to get a physical proof of this from the Harper360 blogger email, so thanks to the team there.

In this book, we follow Cass, a 17-year-old fangirl of the Tide Wars books who’d proudly describe herself as a fat lesbian. But what people don’t know is that she likes spending her free time roleplaying with her friends online. It might be nerdy, but it’s her escape from the world, whether she’s stressed over her parents fighting or how difficult it can be to date the resident cool girl. Her roleplay is becoming an addiction, though and as well as that, she thinks she might be falling for her online bestie, Rowan. As her lies build up, she has to decide whether, to be honest about everything and lose her safe space or be honest and watch everything change.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Tell Me No Lies by Andrea Contos

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Book Review: Tell Me No Lies by Andrea Contos

When looking for a fast, entertaining read, a YA thriller can be everything you’re looking for. I love picking them up myself, so I was delighted to receive a copy of Tell Me No lies from Scholastic. This book came out in November, so if you’re interested, you’ll be able to pick up a copy of this book now.

Nora and Sophie Linden are sisters, but they aren’t friends. They’ve been struggling to get along for years, but the night Sophie saw her boyfriend Garrett leave with her sister before he disappeared, things worsened. Now Sophie has started receiving messages from someone claiming to be Garett promising revenge, and she’s determined to find out what her sister isn’t telling her. With both of their lives in jeopardy, Sophie and Nora must decide whether they can trust each other again.

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Adult, ARC, blog tour, books, Review

Blog Tour: Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Blog Tour: Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao
Blog Tour: Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao

I’m back on another blog tour, baby! I love getting these opportunities to help promote upcoming books, and this will be the first of hopefully many in 2023. This time I’m reviewing a beautiful Chinese-inspired fantasy book thanks to Random Things Tours. Song of Silver, Flame like Night was a book I was genuinely excited for.

In this book, we follow Lan, a young girl who spends her days searching for information about the strange mark her dead mother left on her and surviving her country’s colonizers. No one else can see that mark, though, until Zen. A practitioner of magic long since thought lost, Zen saves Lan’s life after she accidentally uses magic. Lan and Zen have secrets, but they’ll have to work together to free their land and protect the world.

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Adult, books, Review

Book Review: Looking Out For Love by Sophia Money-Coutts

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Book Review: Looking Out For Love by Sophia Money-Coutts
Book Review: Looking Out For Love by Sophia Money-Coutts

February is the perfect month for reading romance and chick-lit, even if you aren’t big on Valentine’s Day. Looking Out For Love is the newest book by Sophia Money-Coutts, and it’s definitely one that you’ll want to pick up this month. I was lucky enough to be sent a free copy from the publisher in return for a review. So thank you, HQ!

Stella has spent her life looking for love, but after recently being dumped, she found herself single without her Dad’s money. But she thinks her life will improve when she stumbles upon a new job and a handsome guy in a pub in a single day. Finally, she has a chance at all-encompassing love, but working with the Affair Hunter means she doesn’t know whether she can truly trust others.

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