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 Garden of the Cursed 6/20 5 stars Katy Rose Pool is the author of another young adult series I loved called There Will Come A Darkness, so I was super excited for a new book by her and it did not disappoint! This was described as a mystery/fantasy but what the synopsis doesn't tell you is there's also a really amazing romance with fake dating trope! I absolutely loved it and how this combined three of my favorite genres in a young adult book. It was a super fun read and my first five star rating in awhile. I'm super excited that this will be a duology, I can't wait for the next one. This book follows a girl named Marlow who is investigating her mother's case. She gets the help of her childhood friend turned enemy Adruis who has a curse of his own to break. The magic in this book was fascinating. I also really liked the world building in this book and there's some LGBT+ representation.

Kismat Connection   In this charming YA debut, a girl who’s determined to prove her star chart wrong ropes her longtime best friend into an experimental relationship—not knowing that he has been in love with her for years. Is it possible to change your fate? Madhuri Iyer is doomed. Doomed for her upcoming senior year to be a total failure, according to her astrology-obsessed mother, and doomed to a happily ever after with her first boyfriend, according to her family curse. Determined to prove the existence of her free will, Madhuri devises an experimental relationship with the one boy she knows she’ll never fall for: her childhood best friend, Arjun Mehta. But Arjun’s feelings for her are a variable she didn’t account for. As Madhuri starts to fall for her experimental boyfriend, she’ll have to decide if charting her own destiny is worth breaking Arjun’s heart—and her own. The Woman Inside A wealthy couple ends up murdered in the nicest part of town in this compulsively readab...

  Book Info: Some Shall Break (None Shall Break #2) by Ellie Marney Genre: Young Adult Mystery/Thriller Publishing Date: June 6, 2023   Synopsis: This sequel to the  New York Times  bestselling  None Shall Sleep  is an equally electrifying, chilling thriller that brings us back into the lives of junior FBI consultants Travis Bell and Emma Lewis with a new case that may unravel everything they’ve been working for. After a harrowingly close contact with juvenile sociopath Simon Gutmunsson, junior FBI consultants Emma Lewis and Travis Bell went their separate ways: Emma rejected her Quantico offer and Travis stayed to train within a new unit of the FBI Behavioral Science division. But the unit’s latest case is feeling eerily familiar and Kristin Gutmunsson—Simon Gutmunsson’s eccentric twin—reaches out to Travis to send a warning: Emma is in peril. When Travis and Kristin turn up evidence that points back to Daniel Huxton, the serial killer that Emma had escape...

 H er Good Side is a young adult romance book described as swoony and heart melting. Was it a cute enough romance? Yes, but I didn't swoon and my heart didn't melt. This was far from my favorite romance. I'd recommend it if you want to read more YA romcoms or just read everything romance, but this didn't wow me. The romance is between Bethany, a girl who likes basketball and Jacob who likes film stuff. One thing I did really like about this book was the representation! I just wish the romance hadn't fallen short. I think the reason the romance was so lacking for me is because of how it started. Normally I love the fake dating trope, but I wasn't rooting for it here and there was some weird history with the guy dating her friend. I did like the side characters, there's also some queer representation. This book also showed healthy relationships between kids and parents which is rare.   Threads That Bind    was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Thi...

  Title: Venom & Vow Author: Anna-Marie McLemore, Elliott McLemore Publisher: Feiwel and Friends Release Date: May 16, 2023 Genre(s): YA Fantasy Buy Link: https://amzn.to/44e6jFB SYNOPSIS:  Keep your enemy closer. Cade McKenna is a transgender prince who’s doubling for his brother. Valencia Palafox is a young dama attending the future queen of Eliana. Gael Palma is the infamous boy assassin Cade has vowed to protect. Patrick McKenna is the reluctant heir to a kingdom, and the prince Gael has vowed to destroy. Cade doesn’t know that Gael and Valencia are the same person. Valencia doesn’t know that every time she thinks she’s fighting Patrick, she’s fighting Cade. And when Cade and Valencia blame each other for a devastating enchantment that takes both their families, neither of them realizes that they have far more dangerous enemies. Annotated first chapter - this was a little hard to do because the first chapter is super short! also its harder to annotate online Author I...

  Title: Court of the Undying Seasons Author: A.M. Strickland Publisher: Feiwel & Friends Release Date: May 16, 2023 Genre(s): YA Fantasy Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3HqZarN SYNOPSIS:  In becoming a vampire, I’m less than a girl. And more. Or maybe I’m becoming what I always have been, deep inside. A blade. When nineteen-year-old Fin volunteers to take her secret love's place in their village's Finding, she is terrified. Those who are chosen at the Finding are whisked away to Castle Courtsheart, a vampire school where human students either succeed and become vampires, fail and spend the rest of their lives as human thralls...or they don't survive long enough to become either. Fin is determined to forge a different learn how to kill the undead and get revenge for her mother, who was taken by the vampires years ago. But Courtsheart is as captivating as it is deadly, and Fin is quickly swept up in her new world and its inhabitants - particularly Gavron, her handsome and ho...

  Book Info: The Shadow Crown (The Halfling Saga #2) by Melissa Blair Genre: Young Adult Fantasy Publishing Date: May 9, 2023   Synopsis: The highly anticipated second installment of the fantasy saga that took BookTok by storm sees Keera navigate political scheming, backstabbing, and her own grief as she moves against the cruel king that holds her kingdom hostage. To the kingdom, Keera is the king’s Blade, his most feared and trusted spy and assassin. But in the shadows, she works with Prince Killian and his Shadow—the dark, brooding Fae, Riven, who sets her blood on fire. Together, they plot to topple the crown that sits upon the king’s head. A secret can only survive as long as its conspirators, and when nothing is as it seems, all are in danger. Keera swore she would never open her heart again after a loss she barely survived. But she will soon find she has more to lose than she ever imagined . . . REVIEW - 4/5 stars I thoroughly enjoyed this book like the first one! I'm ju...