pluvioreads

    The Other Lola Sequel to Missing Clarissa YA Mystery/Thriller  5/5 stars Pub Date - March 12th 2024 Review - I enjoyed The Other Lola even more than Missing Clarissa. We are introduced to new characters, one of which being Mattie, who uses they/them pronouns. This had even more queer rep than the first, and I loved seeing Cam's relationship with her girlfriend also grow. The mystery in this one felt more unique too! Missing Clarissa had reminded me more of other YA mysteries, but both are great if you just enjoy the genre. I would love to see a third book with them set in New York!  Synopsis -  What happens when the people you love the most are the people you can trust the least? In the months after Cam and Blair broke their small hometown’s legendary missing-girl story and catapulted to accidental fame, they vowed never to do it again. No more mysteries, no more podcasts, and no more sticking their heads where they don’t belong. Until Mattie Brosillard, a f...

  Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard 4/5 stars  Scifi Synopsis - If you liked Dune, Atlantis Gene, Foundation, Ender's Game, and Starship Troopers, you'll love Battlefield Earth. 1977. NASA launches the space probe  Voyager 1 . One of its missions: answer the question—is there intelligent life beyond our planet?   Fast-forward a thousand years. Question answered … by the Psychlos, an alien race who’ve proven just how terrifying intelligent life can be. Tracing Voyager 1 back to its origins, the Psychlos have scorched the Earth, all but wiped out the human race and stripped the planet of natural resources. Now, in the year 3000, humankind faces total extinction. But in this post-apocalyptic world, as a new millennium arises, so too has the courageous Jonnie Goodboy Tyler. A natural-born leader, Jonnie manages to raise an army out of the remnants of humanity, knowing that against the seemingly invincible aliens, the uprising will require a daring strike on an epic sca...

  Check and Mate "Ali Hazelwood is a known master of deeply clever, ridiculously satisfying 'JUST KISS ALREADY!!' slow burns, and this book is all of that and so much more. Readers are going to ship Mallory and Nolan hard enough to break their sails. If you’re not ready to swoon and gasp and cackle in front of strangers, read this book in public at your own risk." —Emma Lord, New York Times bestselling author of When You Get the Chance Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious “Kingkiller” Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess. Nolan’s loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross paw...

  Book Info: Sir Callie and the Dragon’s Roost by Esme Symes-Smith Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy Publishing Date: November 7, 2023   Synopsis: The battle is won, but the war is far from over. In this thrilling sequel, a twelve-year-old nonbinary hopeful knight fights for the heart of their kingdom in a magical medieval world filled with dragons, shape-shifters, and witches. Thanks to Callie and their friends, Helston seems to be changing for the better: Boys are allowed to explore their magic, and girls are permitted to train as warriors. Callie is an official Helston page, Willow in on track to become king, and Elowen and Edwyn are finally safe and free of their father. Everything is…perfect. Except it isn’t. Not in Helston, where every step forward is accompanied by a storm of opposition. Even Queen Ewella and Sir Nick are struggling against the wave of fear and anti-magical sentiment growing daily, while the encroaching threat from across the bridge looms. Callie isn’t foolis...

  Book Info: Eight Dates and Nights by Betsy Aldredge Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Publishing Date: October 3, 2023   Synopsis: Two teens with two very different ideas of how to spend Hanukkah learn to work together to save the last Jewish remnant in small town Texas in this cozy holiday romance! New Yorker Hannah Levin is allergic to exactly two things, horses and tinsel. Unfortunately, she’s surrounded by both this Hanukkah when, thanks to a freak snow storm, she’s stranded in the small town of Rosenberg, Texas, visiting her grandmother, who she hasn’t seen in years due to family drama. Super lonely, missing latkes and reliable wi-fi, she follows the scent of fried potatoes and wanders into an old deli where she meets the only other Jewish teen in town, Noah, who happens to be equal parts adorable and full of annoying, over the top Hanukkah spirit that he’s determined to share with Hannah, one ugly, itchy Hanukkah sweater at a time. She makes him a deal, she’ll help him s...

 Emmett by L. C. Rosen YA romance rep - queer & jewish  pub day - Nov 7th 272 pages little brown books for young readers Synopsis -  A modern-day gay  Emma , with the spikey social critique of Austen plus the lush over-the-top romance of  Bridgerton. Emmett Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence and had lived nearly eighteen years in the world with very little to distress or vex him.   Emmett knows he’s blessed. And because of that, he tries to give from charity work to letting the often irritating Georgia sit at his table at lunch, he knows it’s important to be nice. And recently, he’s found a new way of giving matchmaking. He set up his best friend Taylor with her new boyfriend and it’s gone perfectly. So when his occasional friend-with-benefits Harrison starts saying he wants a boyfriend (something Emmett definitely does NOT w...

 Together We Rot A teen girl looking for the truth about her missing mother forms a reluctant alliance with her former best friend...in exchange for hiding him from his cult-leading family. Wil Greene’s mom has been missing for over a year, and the police are ready to call the case closed—they claim she skipped town and you can’t find a woman who wants to disappear. But she knows her mom wouldn’t just leave…and she knows the family of her former best friend, Elwood Clarke, has something to do with it. Elwood has been counting down the days until his 18th birthday—in dread. It marks leaving school and joining his pastor father in dedicating his life to their congregation, the Garden of Adam. But when he comes home one night after a final goodbye with his friends, already self-flagellating for the sins of drinking and disobeying his father, he discovers his path is not as virtuous as he thought.  He’s not his father’s successor, but his sacrifice. For the woods he’s grown up wit...