The Blizzard’s Secrets has an interesting premise and setting, with the potential to have a unique and enjoyable world if more time was spent buildingThe Blizzard’s Secrets has an interesting premise and setting, with the potential to have a unique and enjoyable world if more time was spent building and expanding on it. The main flaw I found with this book was the length; there was so much character and plot development and worldbuilding that definitely needed more space to be adequately explored and done justice. In my opinion, the story would have been much better if it had been spread over 300 pages as opposed to 130. I didn’t feel like I had enough time to come to know the characters and properly follow them on their journeys, so the plot twist didn’t impact me as much as it could have. I would be interested in reading the next release from this author as I felt this had so much potential, and it was pretty well-written; I just hope the pacing of the story is improved. Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
YA, horror/thriller, magical realism, time travel, grief and self-discovery When Hylee disappears and materialises in a dark, distorted version of her YA, horror/thriller, magical realism, time travel, grief and self-discovery When Hylee disappears and materialises in a dark, distorted version of her old family home on the night her brother went missing, she realises this moment could be the key to unveiling what really happened all those years ago. Before she can investigate further, she is pulled from the dark place back to our world. Her parents, unable to look at her the same after her disappearance, send Hylee to stay with her grandmommy, and neither her family nor her once-best friend will speak to her about her disappearance. Meeting Eilam at a party, a handsome boy who seems inexplicably familiar appears to signal a return to some sense of normality until she disappears in front of him. But unlike everyone else in Hylee’s life, Eilam listens to her, and together, they investigate the truth about time, space, and reality itself. As they dive deeper into time travel, Hylee realises that darkness isn’t confined to the dark place; it is pervasive, all-encompassing, and slowly draining her dry.
It’s hard to explain just how beautifully unsettling this book is. The Dark Place covers the devastating loss of a sibling, processing grief, the experience of Black culture as defined by its loss of ancestral history, and how complex childhood trauma affects every aspect of a person’s being. Britney’s writing is poetic and magical. The way she uses words and literary devices to describe the dark place creates this sense of unnatural life, where it is so twisted that its very existence is an affront to the nature of life itself. There are a ridiculous amount of quotes from the book I could cite here as an example of this and one of my favourites is, “The darkness wrapped itself around me like a tourniquet, pressing into me until I felt my heartbeat throbbing against my neck.” This doesn’t just create the perfect unsettled feeling I want when I’m reading this type of horror but also paints an amazingly accurate and complex depiction of a child’s experience of trauma.
As a psychology student, I loved how Britney portrayed Hylee’s experience of trauma. The issues that we see Hylee struggling with (particularly with relationships and her sense of self) are typical of survivors of this type of trauma. The specific points that Hylee remembers from what happened and how she describes them, anthropomorphising her surroundings and being unable to remember much of what happened, felt so real to me. That sense of reality immersed me in the story, making me connect to and understand Hylee, her thoughts, feelings, and choices. Her journey of self-discovery and process of healing from her trauma through having to experience the ‘dark place’ shows us how it’s not possible for any of us to truly progress in our own self-discovery or healing journey without accepting our own dark places and experiencing them knowing we have loved ones waiting on either side for us to make it through.
I have seen some reviews expressing that it didn’t make sense that none of Hylee’s family members supported her or would talk to her about both her brother going missing and her disappearing, but once again, I think Britney did an excellent job of showing that dealing with grief and the way that affects familial relationships can look vastly different depending on a whole host of factors. Given what each family member had been through, the systematic culture of silence around Black issues in America, the family’s socioeconomic status, generational differences, and the inherent intergenerational trauma of growing up Black in America, it made sense to me that each family member reacted as they did. In this, Britney has shown just how much our individual and communal experiences shape how we view tragedies/trauma and how we respond to them, amongst other complex points, whilst still remaining firmly in the YA fiction genre, and that’s no easy feat. I will clarify here, though, that social issues and their effects on people’s behaviour are something I am studying, so I am aware that this was perhaps not as clear to other readers (especially those of the target demographic) and so should have been made more explicit. Bryanna Bond’s review of The Dark Place on Goodreads discusses this in terms of Black families and their response to trauma, and I would recommend reading that.
Finally, in terms of the exploration of time travel in The Dark Place, I enjoyed the depiction of the Butterfly Effect, how seemingly little things can shape and alter the future in significant ways, and also how big things like trauma and tragedies affect every aspect of people and the world down to seemingly little things. I haven’t seen this specific approach to time travel before (inherited ability and the ‘dark place’ concept) and appreciated the unique spin Britney has on it. Although I understand that this is a YA book and we learn about the system of time travel through what Eilam has learned from his grandfather, I would’ve loved to understand more about the nature of time travelling in this universe and how that ability could be inherited genetically. Partly due to this lack of explanation of the time travel system, I felt Eilam and Hylee’s relationship and connection felt a little rushed, which did take me out of the immersion a bit towards the end.
Overall, I loved this book and would recommend it to others looking for an unsettling YA horror/magical realism type read. It definitely isn’t quite the same, but the feelings this inspired in me reminded me of watching the Fear Street trilogy, and they are some of my all-time favourite films. Britney’s writing creates such a vivid and tense picture, and the depiction of complex childhood trauma and how that affected Hylee made me feel so deeply understood. I will definitely be reading Britney’s first work and eagerly anticipating whatever she creates next! Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
YA, mystery/thriller, long-lost twin sisters, dual pov Asha has lived in a remote island community founded on trust for as long as she can remember. WhYA, mystery/thriller, long-lost twin sisters, dual pov Asha has lived in a remote island community founded on trust for as long as she can remember. When she discovers she has a secret sister called Willow, her life as she knows it comes crashing down. Willow has always believed her twin Asha died when they were infants, but a late-night message from a girl claiming to be Asha leaves her questioning everything.
Secret Sister is a new instalment in the Girl, Missing series that works perfectly as a standalone, but I do want to acknowledge that I haven’t read the previous books, so I can’t comment on this book regarding the others. One thing that has always bugged me when reading YA is that young characters often don’t quite feel true to their age. Sometimes that is throw-away lines about the latest social media trend or slang that you can tell were written by someone with little perspective and knowledge on that age group; other times, it’s a child demonstrating rationality or understanding of the context that they realistically would not have. Not only does this break my emersion in the story and make me like the book less, but I also just find it really cringey and sometimes will have to DNF it. What I loved about this book was that I never once felt like I wasn’t completely in the mind of 14-year-old Willow and Asha. Secret Sister addresses some tricky topics, and because of that, I probably would’ve given it a pass if I found a couple of moments where the age felt a little off, but I was incredibly impressed with just how well these topics were addressed while still remaining true to their age. Sophie never shies away from exploring the ethics of what Rose did through Willow and Asha’s point of view and their differing emotions and opinions on the situation, but it stays true to both their individual experiences and their age. The book also starts in the midst of things which I haven’t enjoyed in previous books, but this works well with the pacing and adds to the intrigue, in my opinion. I would recommend this to younger readers looking for an intriguing and easily digestible mystery or thriller. I would also recommend it for older fans of YA mysteries/thrillers told through a well-written young teen point of view. Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ...more
Evie attends Parisian high school during the day and spends the rest of her time mainly working at her family's bakery and honing her sewing skills inEvie attends Parisian high school during the day and spends the rest of her time mainly working at her family's bakery and honing her sewing skills in hopes of one-day designing dresses for a living. Beau is the second son of the upper-class Bellegarde family, the most popular guy in their high school, and is seemingly loved by all except Evie. Beau, however, is illegitimate, so his conniving older half-brother Julien is supposed to inherit their dad's entire fortune. Unfortunately for Evie, who wants nothing to do with Beau, Julien bets Beau control of their entire inheritance that he can't turn wallflower Evie into the winner of the renowned title 'the Bellegarde Bloom'. Evie can't help but be intrigued when Beau attempts to befriend Evie and bring her into his upper-class world; she just doesn't understand why.
Many forms of media throughout history have used the rhetoric of a female character who 'isn't like the other girls', whose core character traits are defined by how she's distinct from this caricature of what 'girls' are like. This might be that she likes to run and climb trees while the other girls like makeup and dresses, or that she isn't interested in men/marriage like the other girls, but ultimately her character revolves around putting down other 'girls' to bring herself up. This concept and the effect it has had on generations of people's perception of what girlhood and womanhood are/should be is complex and has bodies of research and literature behind it, but I felt like this book touched upon an aspect of this in a positive way. Evie could very easily be written as a 'not like the other girls' character, but there are subtle ways the plot deviates from this throughout the book, and an important scene even features a gentle acknowledgement that many women throughout history have had to partake in the social climbing and fill the roles set out for them (that they are so often mocked for) to survive. This, in combination with the relative normalisation of queerness in the form of lesbian side characters and the overall cute cosy feel of the book, was my favourite aspect.
I felt the book's plot was almost a complete copy of She's All That, and whilst I enjoy retellings and cliches in many ways, I didn't feel like the characters and romance were well-developed enough to make this work for me.
Another issue I know many have brought up is the categorisation and marketing of this book as historical fiction when it wasn't really anywhere close. Perhaps due to the author's experience, the book was incredibly American for what was supposed to be a French Regency historical fiction, with anachronistic language like 'bet', university' when referring to a high school, and 'crush' used throughout the book. I understand that it may not be appropriate for a YA novel to be entirely historically accurate and use all the language of the time, but I felt this was past suspending my disbelief. I ended up reading this book as more of a fairytale version of France, and I feel like that would've been a better route than attempting a mix of historical and contemporary and ending up with the historical aspects seeming out of place.
I think this book has good aspects, and some of the issues with the period setting could have been avoided if it had been advertised differently. The romance was cute, albeit underdeveloped, but I think it's okay for a YA novel. I wouldn't reread it personally, but I would perhaps recommend it to young readers if it were up their alley.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Enemies to lovers, high-fantasy, forced proximity, HEA, very light spice Captain Elouise Farrington is the youngest pirate on the Caviar Sea, seeking rEnemies to lovers, high-fantasy, forced proximity, HEA, very light spice Captain Elouise Farrington is the youngest pirate on the Caviar Sea, seeking revenge on her father's killer with her all-female crew. When the Isle of Cava's royal navy captain, Captain Rylander Bordeaux, proposes a pact to kill the Siren Queen and end the War of the Sea, Elouise has to make a choice. Put aside her desire for revenge or use the alliance to claim the life of the man who destroyed her family. Elouise is Rylander's only hope of facing his past and ending the war that threatens everything he holds dear, but can he trust the woman who wants him dead to uphold her end of the bargain?
WOTS throws you into the action from the first chapter, and the dual POV allows the reader to truly understand Lou (Elouise) and Rylander whilst still never falling into the trap of dumping background or other critical information all in one go. As a lover of mythology, especially Greek, I adored the details Dana incorporated into her world, and combining it with pirates and enemies-to-lovers (one of the best tropes imo) resulted in a really enjoyable read. I really like Lou (Elouise) as a character as she has flaws that feel completely realistic given her backstory; she did act childishly and carelessly and let her temper get the best of her often. That made it so much sweeter when she ended up trusting Rylander and truly allowing herself to care for others and love her found family.
For me, this book was a perfect balance of easy familiarity and complex originality; Greek mythology is something most readers are familiar with, but Dana used aspects and details that are perhaps novel to many; some sections are predictable, but the characters are well-developed, and you can't help rooting for them and loving them. I loved this book as much as I did because, from the moment I started it, I was drawn in, following the characters through their journey, feeling Lou's anger and Rylander's pain and finishing it feeling their happiness and love. If you're looking for something with twists and turns that you can never predict or with a completely novel world and lore, then maybe this isn't the book for you. But if you're looking for a book with a beautiful blend of Greek mythology, pirates, and an enemies-to-lovers romance between two loveable characters, a whole host of interesting and enjoyable side characters, and something that will have you smiling, then I would absolutely recommend this book.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Fake dating, billionaire CEO x employee (PA), light to medium spice, soft d/s dynamic that switches Ali has a crush on her boss Christopher, but until Fake dating, billionaire CEO x employee (PA), light to medium spice, soft d/s dynamic that switches Ali has a crush on her boss Christopher, but until now she has never made a move. What changed? Her paparazzo ex has given her an ultimatum; she has sixty days to either stop him or be forced to leak this year's most exclusive wedding, neither of which she can do without her boss's help. The story starts in media res which I wasn't expecting, so it threw me a little at first, but it made sense a few pages in. I thought the premise was interesting, the story was objectively well-written, and the characters were likeable and worked well together. Unfortunately, the book just didn't click for me, I think it's because I found it too fast-paced and plot-driven as I tend to prefer books with significant character development. Overall it was a good book that I enjoyed reading, and whilst it was not quite my cup of tea, I do think it's worth a read for people who enjoy the tropes, pacing, and focus of this book. Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
Friends-to-lovers romance set in the 1980s Len decides to stay with her childhood best friend in Nashville over the summer and has absolutely sworn offFriends-to-lovers romance set in the 1980s Len decides to stay with her childhood best friend in Nashville over the summer and has absolutely sworn off drama and boys. Sam is fresh out of a breakup with the woman he thought he was going to marry. The two meet in a record store and have a magical but brief hookup that ends up with both of them promising to simply be friends. It doesn't take them long to realise that the electric connection they share can't simply be disguised as friendship. I really loved this book! I'm an early 00s baby, but Skye's writing and complete commitment to the 80s setting managed to give me nostalgia for a time I've never known. Skye did an amazing job of creating such realistic genuine characters who developed and worked on themselves throughout the story. The romance between Sam and Len was a beautiful blend of playfully light-hearted and intimately emotional, and it definitely felt like a partnership which I feel isn't always the case in romance. In my opinion, this book is character-driven with strong character development and loveable characters, light spice, and it's relatively fast-paced. The word 'sp*zz' in different forms was used a handful of times throughout the book in character dialogue which is definitely accurate to the time, but just something to note if that's something a potential reader is sensitive about. I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review of the book. Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author....more