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Dumplin’ Book Review
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy From Goodreads: Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back. Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to…
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All of This is True Book Review
All of This is True by Lygia Day Penaflor From Goodreads: Miri Tan loved the book Undertow like it was a living being. So when she and her friends went to a book signing to meet the author, Fatima Ro, they concocted a plan to get close to her, even if her friends won’t admit it now. As for Jonah, well—Miri knows none of that was Fatima’s fault. Soleil Johnston wanted to be a writer herself one day. When she and her friends started hanging out with her favorite author, Fatima Ro, she couldn’t believe their luck—especially when Jonah Nicholls started hanging out with them, too. Now, looking back, Soleil can’t…
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The Wicked Deep Book Review
The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw From Goodreads: Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow… Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town. Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under. Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he…
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The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue Book Review
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee From Goodreads: Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men. But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to…
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The Oddling Prince Book Review
The Oddling Prince by Nancy Springer From Goodreads: In the ancient moors of Scotland, the king of Calidon lies on his deathbed, cursed by a ring that cannot be removed from his finger. When a mysterious fey stranger appears to save the king, he also carries a secret that could tear the royal family apart. The kingdom’s only hope will lie with two young men raised worlds apart. Aric is the beloved heir to the throne of Calidon; Albaric is clearly of noble origin yet strangely out of place. The Oddling Prince is a tale of brothers whose love and loyalty to each other is such that it defies impending warfare, sundering…
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The Smoke Thieves Book Review
The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green From Goodreads: A princess, a traitor, a hunter and a thief. Four teenagers with the fate of the world in their hands. Four nations destined for conflict. In Brigant, Princess Catherine prepares for a loveless political marriage arranged by her brutal and ambitious father. In Calidor, downtrodden servant March seeks revenge on the prince who betrayed his people. In Pitoria, feckless Edyon steals cheap baubles for cheaper thrills as he drifts from town to town. And in the barren northern territories, thirteen-year-old Tash is running for her life as she plays bait for the gruff demon hunter Gravell. As alliances shift and shatter, and old…
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Valley Girls Book Review
Valley Girls by Sarah Nicole Lemon Seventeen-year-old Rilla is a party queen, driven from her home in West Virginia to her park ranger sister’s place in Yosemite National Park. Determined to forge a new identity she can be proud of, Rilla charms her way into a tight-knit group of climbers. Talking to them, Rilla can’t help but be seduced by the unique opportunities she’s been granted. Not wishing to squander them, she sets her sights on climbing El Capitan, one of the most challenging routes in Yosemite, and her summer becomes one harrowing and ecstatic experience after another: first climb, first fall two thousand feet in the air, first love.…
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Furyborn Book Review
Furyborn by Claire Legrand The world will fall. Two Queens will rise. One of blood. One of light. When Rielle Dardenne foils an attempted assassination on her best friend, the crown prince Audric, she inadvertently exposes the secret her family has been keeping for most of her life: she is able to perform all seven types of elemental magic. The only people capable of such a feat are two prophesied Queens, but nobody can prove which one Rielle might be. With the government of Celdaria afraid that Rielle might raze their kingdom to the ground with her out of control powers, they offer her a way to prove she’s the saviour Sun…
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Outwalkers Book Review
Outwalkers by Fiona Shaw This is England in the near future. It is no longer a free country. With a chip implanted at birth, the Government can track anyone, anywhere. And children without two parents are sent to Academy orphanages, where they’re treated miserably and eventually groomed to work on fracking fields for the rest of their lives. Unless they can escape. Jake at least wants to give going on the run a try. Following the death of his parents in a car crash, he flees his Academy, pausing only to rescue his faithful dog, Jet. Once on the run, he makes trails to Scotland, a country free of the oppressive…
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Blood and Sand Book Review
Blood and Sand by C.V. Wyk Forged in battle… From the dust of the arena… A legend will rise. Rome is building an Empire. Led by the notorious and vicious Flavius family, the country has already invaded Britannia, as well as Thrace, the greatest warrior kingdom the world has ever seen since Sparta. Attia was once destined to rule Thrace as a queen, but the Romans have destroyed her homeland, leaving devastation and death in their wake. Attia herself is enslaved and forgotten, the last remaining Thracian. When she is given to the gladiator Xanthus, Champion of Rome as a prize to show his master’s favour, Attia tells herself she’d rather…
