Category: YA

2 star, YA

ARC Review: A Disaster in Three Acts by Kelsey Rodkey

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Fans of Elise Bryant and Rachel Lynn Solomon will swoon for Last Chance Books author Kelsey Rodkey’s next romance, packed with snark, banter, and inconvenient crushes.

Saine Sinclair knows a little something about what makes a story worth telling.

Your childhood best friend refuses to kiss you during a pre-adolescent game of spin the bottle? Terrible, zero stars, would not replay that scene again. The same ex-friend becomes your new best friend’s ex? Strangely compelling, unexpected twist, worth a hate-watch. That same guy–why is he always around?–turns out to be your last shot at getting into the documentary filmmaking program of your dreams?

Saine hates to admit it, but she’d watch that movie.

There’s something about Holden that makes her feel like she’s the one in front of the camera–like he can see every uncomfortable truth she’s buried below the surface. Saine knows how her story’s supposed to go. So why does every moment with Holden seem intent on changing the ending?

**A Disaster in Three Acts comes out July 5, 2022**

Thank you Edelweiss and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Aptly named, the storyline followed its title as it really was a disaster in three acts at times. I wonder if Kelsey Rodkey is an author that works for me because this is her second book and the second time I struggled to love it. I’ll try to list out the reasons why A Disaster in Three Acts didn’t work for me personally.

The protagonist is always key when it comes to a book. Maybe it isn’t as much for others, but I strongly believe even a great story can be awful if you really don’t like the narrator/protagonist you’re stuck with. Saine, pronounced “sane” as in the second syllable of “in-sane” – which the book clarifies and not just what I’m telling you, is a mess. Honestly. I love character arcs where they face growth through the mistakes they make but she’s just not someone to be sympathetic for.

She’s so selfish. I hated seeing how she put her documentary “story” and how she wanted to craft the excitement for her tale by twisting or manipulating events that may not be quite be the truth. She was right in the sense that this strays from documentary to realistic TV realm. And we all know how “truthful” reality TV is, don’t we?

Her documentary subject is Holden, her childhood best friend and former crush. I love that romance trope. Trust me, I really wanted to enjoy it. But when she practically self sabotages growing feelings and places her documentary film over the very real guy she’s filming, I’m no longer Team Saine. Holden deserves better and it sucked to see how much she went behind his back and even her new best friend who formerly dated Holden.

The pacing wasn’t great either. The main premise for the book and the documentary she’s filming was about a competition Holden had entered to win a grand prize. I thought the competition would definitely last longer and be a larger focal point but that was sadly not the case. It ended maybe not even halfway through the book so we’re left with the ability to go off script in Saine’s creative process. Hence the lovely plot ensuing surrounding her less than honorable filming tactics.

If I didn’t enjoy Saine as a character or the potential romance with Holden, there’s really not much more room to love anything else. Her group of friends are somewhat featured as Corinne, her new best friend, definitely adds to this weird love trope. Is it a girl’s code to never date your best friend’s ex? Does it count if you were technically friends with them first and had a HUGE crush once upon a time? Either way, that was a little entertaining but hardly sustainable for a full length book. They had their friendship problems and I’m glad the book took time to discuss it without only pitting one girl against the other.

The only thing that was really interesting and unique about the story was the mini plot dive into grief and how it’s handled (or not handled). Saine’s grandmother passed away prior to the start of the book but her impact on Saine’s creativity, love of documentaries and art are very much present. I liked that it was subtly explored as I’m sure people grieve differently and communicating such grief, especially between the remaining family members, is so important.

But, I’m sure that’s not what everyone came to this book for, so please take what you will from this review. It may just be me, but honestly, I’m not sure Saine’s a very likable protagonist in general. Flawed, yes. The intriguing morally gray? No. So perhaps you’ll like it, but perhaps you also may not.

Overall Recommendation:

A Disaster in Three Acts at least lived up to its name because Saine as a protagonist was truly disastrous. The plot wasn’t compelling with the documentary she was filming and her whole relationship with Holden was more selfish than romantic. There’s not a whole lot left to love but perhaps a more sympathetic reader will find more joy in its pages. At least for me, this was a no.

4 star, YA

ARC Review: This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: The Last Finestra #1

Three weddings. Three funerals. Alessa’s gift from the gods is supposed to magnify a partner’s magic, not kill every suitor she touches.

Now, with only weeks left until a hungry swarm of demons devours everything on her island home, Alessa is running out of time to find a partner and stop the invasion. When a powerful priest convinces the faithful that killing Alessa is the island’s only hope, her own soldiers try to assassinate her.

Desperate to survive, Alessa hires Dante, a cynical outcast marked as a killer, to become her personal bodyguard. But as rebellion explodes outside the gates, Dante’s dark secrets may be the biggest betrayal. He holds the key to her survival and her heart, but is he the one person who can help her master her gift or destroy her once and for all?

**This Vicious Grace comes out June 28, 2022**

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

It’s no wonder This Vicious Grace is one of the most highly anticipated books of the year. A remarkable fantasy that follows a lonely heroine who seems to kill everyone with her touch, this tale is one meant to be savoured.

If you’ve read the synopsis, the plot itself isn’t all that dramatic or complex. The end of the world is coming (again, kind of) and a new heroine called the Finestra – apparently it means literally “window”? – has risen to once again fight off a horde of demons in the shape of giant beetles. Oh, and this is because the gods are feuding and one believes mankind is worth saving but only if they prove themselves in such battles.

Seems familiar enough right? It’s The Chosen One archetype who saves the world. Or at least, has the weight of the world on her shoulders. What makes this more exciting then?

Personally, I admire Thiede’s writing as this is her debut. Lush and filled with quotes I wanted to highlight, it truly drew me into the world and the story. What made it more outstanding, though, is the characterization of our protagonist, Alessa.

For the most part, this book is stuck with Alessa. She’s isolated with very few interactions as, well, her touch clearly kills people. Right off the bat, we’re introduced to her at a funeral of her third dead partner (in the battle sense but still) and helplessness is an understatement here. The progression she makes from this frustrated and guilt-ridden girl who carried the weight of the people on her island to someone who believed in herself and her ability to fight for them was truly the highlight. It’s why I love YA because there’s nothing quite like it elsewhere in literature that does this characterization as well.

But of course, what’s equally great – if not even better – about this book is the wonderful love interest. Ah, Dante. Can we just take a moment and admire how wonderfully crafted he was? I think I need a fan.

Everyone wants the brooding bad boy with a soft, gooey heart deep, deep inside as the love interest. Well, I’m happy to say he fits that bill perfectly. Dante reluctantly gets dragged into protecting Alessa as he has no agendas about her role as saviour for their island. He had his own troubles to deal with to care. While he fits the stereotype we all want to read about in a love interest, I liked that he still had surprises in him. Like his penchant for proverbs, including the really obscure ones. Go figure. He has the brawn and the brains.

Often I find in books that the authors want us to believe in the love that forms in their characters simply by telling us they feel these things. But there’s not enough substance to really believe it as the reader who hasn’t spent much time around these characters and is limited to what we see on the page.

This is so far from that and I’m so happy to say I felt the love grow between Alessa and Dante. This tale may focus on self-growth and learning to love yourself even when all the other voices tell you how you’ve messed up, but it’s also a ridiculously beautiful love story between two people who are quite different on the surface but perhaps are the two loneliest people who really needed one another. Isn’t that already so exciting to see on its own to drive you to pick this book up?

I wanted to give this book full rating for most of my read through. Without giving anything away, I will say the climax was a little disappointing to me. It built up so much throughout as Alessa prepared to face the battle she knows is coming, but I guess the resolution felt a little too predictable and neatly wrapped. I kept wondering how there would be a book two but it does leave us with threads for what’s to come.

Perhaps I’m just being picky. This book really was a fun dive into the world of Saverio and I can’t wait to see where we go next from here.

Overall Recommendation:

This Vicious Grace showcases the way to go for an astounding fantasy that doesn’t require a super complex world or plot yet still packs a mean punch to the heart. If you love the bodyguard romance, go no further because Dante is set to steal your heart from all the rest with his stoic and brooding exterior that hides a heart of gold. The Chosen One archetype is strong in this one but it carries enough differences to give the oomph factor that is uniquely its own. Emily Thiede’s debut was unputdownable and you should grab it when it comes out.

4 star, YA

ARC Review: Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

THE SUBURBS, RIGHT NOW . . .

Seventeen-year-old Ivy’s summer break kicks off with an accident, a punishment, and a mystery: a stranger whose appearance in the middle of the road, in the middle of the night, heralds a string of increasingly unsettling events. As the days pass, Ivy grapples with eerie offerings, corroded memories, and a secret she’s always known—that there’s more to her mother than meets the eye.

THE CITY, BACK THEN . . .

Dana has always been perceptive. And the summer she turns sixteen, with the help of her best friend and an ambitious older girl, her gifts bloom into a heady fling with the supernatural, set in a city of magical possibilities and secret mystics. As the trio’s aspirations darken, they find themselves speeding toward a violent breaking point.

Years after it began, Ivy and Dana’s shared story will come down to a reckoning among a daughter, a mother, and the dark forces they never should’ve messed with.

**Our Crooked Hearts comes out June 28, 2022**

Thank you Flatiron Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Chilling, gripping and full of familial drama, Our Crooked Hearts blew through all my expectations and I couldn’t put it down.

At the heart of this story is the bond between Ivy and her mother. Which isn’t a very good one as Ivy knows Dana is keeping something big from her (and the rest of the family). Although the synopsis suggests it’s evenly split between Ivy and the flashbacks to Dana’s childhood, it doesn’t really start off that way.

We get a lot of chapters about Ivy’s current life in the suburbs. All is well…that is, until she encounters a strange woman in the middle of the road late at night who may have more than a passing curiosity about Ivy. The story dives into this really quick, which I thoroughly appreciate, and sets the tone for the following strange events to come.

Once Dana’s flashbacks start coming, it provides great context to us, the omniscient reader, about what she’s hiding from the family – and perhaps how this stranger in the present day is related to what once happened. I’m normally not the biggest fan of two alternative POVs in different timelines as one is normally stronger than the other and I would much prefer to stick with the one I like. However, I found myself not begrudgingly reading Dana’s POV but also coming to like those chapters too. They filled in gaps we’re still piecing together, but the anticipation for figuring out how everything related was oddly satisfying.

I had the privilege of hearing Melissa speak about the writing process for this book and I fully understand how the story needed to be told from both Ivy and Dana’s POVs. It might’ve started off as Ivy’s story, but humanizing Dana instead of making her the enemy in Ivy’s eyes shows the complexity of humans, not just the black and white we sometimes get depending on whose perspective you’re told.

This book is also full of magic. It’s not very specific to any witchcraft practiced in modern society but a little bit of everything. Melissa did her research and it showed. The end result was an eerie tale that highlighted the price one pays when they meddle with forces they do not understand.

The pacing was excellent and the time really flies by as you switch from Ivy to Dana and back again. The underlying mystery, the strange events occurring present day and the secrets unfolding were the perfect balance to drive momentum to the climax. The one thing I will add is that I had hoped for more resolution in Ivy and Dana’s relationship. While we get a lot of information about them separately in their individual POVs, there’s not a lot of interaction between them and I feel that could’ve been explored a little more.

If you’ve read any book by Melissa Albert before, you already should know she’s a masterful storyteller, but if you’re new, then you’re in for a treat. Our Crooked Hearts presents a perfect story in the dark with plenty of magic, mayhem and mystery. You should definitely grab this one when it comes out!

Overall Recommendation:

Our Crooked Hearts is a fast-paced tale with a supernatural mystery that may tie to a family’s past. Excellently told in two alternative timelines featuring mother and daughter, I found myself loving both POVs as they blend the perfect story together, each adding pivotal information as we race to solve the present day’s strange occurrences before something terrible happens. Melissa Albert’s latest novel is another showcase of her amazing storytelling. Trust me, it will grip you in its hold until the end.