Tag: thriller

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, 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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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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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: The Black Queen by Jumata Emill

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Book Review: The Black Queen by Jumata Emill

You know when you start a book, and you’re not sure if it’s for you, but you can’t put it down within a few chapters? That was me with The Black Queen. This was a book that I was lucky enough to be sent an early finished copy of by Scholastic. The summary sounded fascinating, but the murder doesn’t happen for a few chapters. Once Nova is found dead, you’re stuck in the web that Emill has created, but you won’t want to be free until the final page.

Lovett High is a school where segregation is key, and the white students rule all. They’ve never had a black homecoming queen until Nova Albright. But Tinsley McArthur wants her to step down. When Nova refuses, Tinsley is caught threatening to kill her the night she’s murdered. All fingers point to the killer being Tinsley, including that of Nova’s best friend, Duchess. The only way for Duchess to find out what really happened to Nova is to work with Tinsley to find proof. As they do, they reveal secrets about their town that they never expected.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: This Book Kills by Ravena Guron

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: This Book Kills by Ravena Guron
Book Review: This Book Kills by Ravena Guron

Earlier this year I did a Will I Like This Book post on This Book Kills. It was a book that I was curious about, though I wasn’t hugely excited. But when I saw it available to review on NetGalley… Well, I just had to, didn’t I? I knew I wanted to read it for certain, and I wanted to see whether I was right about my opinions.

Jess Choudhary is a scholarship student at a well-esteemed boarding school and is under strict rules to behave herself. Jess always has, but one day when Hugh Henry Van Boren winds up dead, she receives a text message thanking her for the inspiration for how he was murdered. Jess knows she didn’t do it, but she also knows that if she wants to live, she needs to solve this mystery herself.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: A Game Of Life Or Death by Triona Campbell

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Book Review: A Game Of Life Or Death by Triona Campbell

I think everyone knows that I love video games by now. I love playing them, and books that feature video games as a plot point are definitely a highlight for me. I’ve definitely had my eye on A Game of Life or Death for that very reason. I’m loving that we’re getting more video game-inspired sci-fi thrillers. Hell yes!

I was lucky enough to be sent an early copy of this book from Scholastic. It was a surprise for sure, and I certainly appreciated it.

A Game of Life Or Death follows 16-year-old Asha Kennedy as she discovers her older sister’s dead body in their flat, and her entire life falls apart. Asha is certain that something suspicious is going on, and with the help of her hacker friends, she begins to look into the hit video games studio Zu Tech where her sister worked. She infiltrates the company through the e-sports tournament for their new game SHACKLE, and through her investigation, she discovers that the game hides a monstrous secret.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Lord of the Fly Fest by Goldy Moldavsky

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Book Review: Lord of the Fly Fest by Goldy Moldavsky

Goldy Moldavsky is an author whose books are usually pretty wild, and Lord of the Fly Fest was no exception. Once I started reading this book, I couldn’t stop. It was like a trainwreck but in a strangely enjoyable way. This book is out now, so you can buy or borrow a copy from wherever you like. But I personally got my audiobook through the publishers and NetGalley. So thanks for that.

Rafi is a podcaster desperate to make it the big time. She plans to do that by finding out what happened to the missing girlfriend of the famous musician, River Stone. To get that opportunity, she spent all her money on a ticket for Fly Fest, the exclusive music festival on a Caribbean island. But when they get there, the festival is nonexistent, and the guests are stranded. Rafi is okay with this if she can get that interview. But as things take a dangerous turn, she realises they need to get off the island if they wish to survive.

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books, Will I Like This Book?, Young Adult

Will I Like This Book? – Let’s Play Murder by Kesia Lupo

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Will I Like This Book? – Let’s Play Murder by Kesia Lupo

We’re onto the second to last sampler I got from YALC and another book that sounds right up my alley. I love video games though I’ve not got the money for VR and a thriller involving those sorts of things? Yeah, I’m definitely about that.

This book is being published by Bloomsbury and is due on the 13th of April 2023. It’s one I’ll definitely be preordering and reading pretty soon after I get it.

These samplers don’t have a summary on the back, so as I type this up, this is the first time I’ve read this book. But this book follows Veronica as she wakes up trapped with four strangers in a VR world. They’ve all been brought into The Game, a black market competition where they could win millions if they’re the first to solve a murder mystery. But when strange things start happening, and the players themselves start to die in both the game and the real world, Veronica has to decide whether to solve the mystery or whether she wants to win the game.

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Adult, books, Will I Like This Book?

Will I Like This Book? – Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books3 Comments on Will I Like This Book? – Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs
Will I Like This Book? – Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs

The majority of the books I’ve spoken about in this post have been ones that I’ve been really excited about. But this one? This I’m not so sure about… It doesn’t sound bad, but it wasn’t great either. I’m not sure what I think about it, so let’s go into a little more detail.

This is an adult fantasy thriller that follows two sisters; Joanna and Esther. For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of rare and dangerous books. Books that contain magic. But now Joanna lives alone, guarding the books and trying to create her own whilst her older half-sister Esther hasn’t lived in one place for more than a year since she left home. Until now. But when someone on the antarctic base Esther lives and works on starts using magic, she realises she’ll never escape her family’s legacy. Now the sisters will have to work together to unravel the secrets of these books until it’s too late.

If this book sounds like your sort of thing, then it’ll be published by Del Rey in July 2023.

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books, Will I Like This Book?, Young Adult

Will I Like This Book? – This Book Kills by Ravena Guron

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books3 Comments on Will I Like This Book? – This Book Kills by Ravena Guron
Will I Like This Book? – This Book Kills by Ravena Guron

I wrote about going to YALC last week, and one of the opportunities this afforded me was to gather up so many book samplers. I don’t pick up samplers in book shops too often, so it was nice to get the opportunity to preview a few more books.

One of the samplers I picked up was for Usborne. It wasn’t a big sampler, and there were previews for a few different books. The one that interested me the most is the one I’m going to talk about today.

This Book Kills is a YA thriller coming out in January 2023. It’s UKYA, something that I know I do not read enough of. In this book, we follow Jess, a scholarship student who winds up the focus of an investigation when a popular boy from her school winds up dead. Killed in the exact way a character in her short story was. When she receives a mysterious text thanking her for the inspiration, Jess knows she’ll have to solve this mystery soon. If not, she could wind up dead too.

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