Author: megs14malloy

Review: Almost There (Twisted Tales #13) by Farrah Rochon

~ megs14malloy

Almost There (Twisted Tale, A)Almost There by Farrah Rochon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Almost There is the 13th-installment in Disney’s Twisted Tales YA-series. These can be read in any order, as they each follow different characters and their stories are completely unrelated.

The point of this series is to take our favorite Disney tales, twist one element and explore what would have happened if that twist had actually occurred. Think of it as a sort of alternate history for Disney stories.

It’s Tiana’s turn to take center stage in this magical volume set in 1920’s New Orleans. I’m sure many of you love The Princess and the Frog as much as I do and it was so nice to return to that setting and characters through this story.

The twist in this tale involves a deal that Tiana agrees to make with the notorious Dr. Facilier. Even though Tiana only makes the deal because she feels backed into a corner, it still provides her with all of her deepest desires: her own restaurant, T&J’s Supper Club, her friends safe, and her beloved father’s return.

Unfortunately, sometimes when things sound too good to be true, they are. As Tiana finds herself navigating her new reality, she also begins to notice strange occurrences popping up everywhere around her.

It ends up being a race against both time and evil forces, but luckily Tiana has her good friends Naveen and Lottie on her side. New Orleans is getting creepy and it’s pretty clear Facilier has something to do with it. Can Tiana and friends set things right before she loses everything she holds dear?

Almost There was great. I flew through it so quickly. It was such a treat to be back in this setting, 1920s NOLA, with this fantastic and nuanced set of characters.

I really appreciate what Rochon was able to do with this story. I felt transported. The atmosphere was very well done. A strong addition to the series!!

I did listen to the audiobook and as always, Disney does a great job with that format. The narration was fantastic, perfect for these characters.

I definitely recommend this story to fans of this series, or The Princess and the Frog movie. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you pick it up.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Disney Books and Disney Audio, for providing me copies to read and review.

I am a huge fan of this series and am looking forward to continuing on with it!

My current ratings for the Twisted Tales series:

1. What Once Was Mine (Tangled): 4.5-stars rounded up
2. Reflection (Mulan): 4-stars
3. Almost There (The Princess and the Frog): 4-stars
4. Go the Distance (Hercules): 3.5-stars rounded up
5. As Old As Time (Beauty & the Beast): 3.5-stars rounded up
6. Straight On Til Morning (Peter Pan): 3.5-stars rounded up
7. Mirror, Mirror (Snow White): 3.5-stars rounded up
8. Unbirthday (Alice): 3.5-stars
9. Conceal, Don’t Feel (Frozen): 3.5-stars
10. A Whole New World (Aladdin): 3-stars
11. Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid): 2-stars

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Review: Dead Flip by Sara Farizan

~ megs14malloy

Dead FlipDead Flip by Sara Farizan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

When they were kids, Cori, Maz and Sam were best friends; three peas in a pod. The trio were always together, bopping around, getting into childhood mischief.

As they grew older though, things began to change. One fateful Halloween night cracks appeared, the three had a bit of a spat and Sam took off on his own. That was the night Sam disappeared without a trace.

In 1992, five years have passed since Sam disappeared, but the aftershocks of that tragedy are still felt every day by Maz and Cori. They have never forgotten him.

After Sam vanished, Maz and Cori’s friendship dissolved. Maz and his family moved to a nearby town, so the two didn’t even go to the same school anymore. They went their separate ways; tried to move on.

Now it’s their Senior year and Maz is a track star at his school, with a penchant for partying. That’s all surface level though, what he’s really doing is hiding from his past.

Cori is the queen bee at her high school. A pretty, popular girl, a shoe-in for Homecoming Queen, who secretly pines for another girl, Janet, loves Horror movies more than anything and feels like she needs to hide who she truly is.

Cori is adept at plastering on a smile and pretending all is well, when really she is just passing time until things might be different.

The old friends lives are turned upside down when Sam suddenly reappears. While this would be an exciting and jaw-dropping turn of events, the most shocking thing is, he still appears to be 12-years old, the age he was when he disappeared.

The friends cannot explain it, but they believe it has something to do with a pinball machine they used to play at a local store. A haunted pinball machine?

They need to keep Sam hidden until they get this figured out. Luckily, Cori’s parents are out of town, so that at least provides a safe haven. But as the trio begins to spend time together again, it’s clear not all is well with Sam. He didn’t return quite the same.

As increasingly disturbing events begin to plague Maz and Cori, the race is on to solve this mystery, before anyone else gets hurt.

I absolutely adored every moment I spent with this story. It’s told through alternating timelines. The first is 1987, when the trio are kids. You get to know them, the dynamics of their friendship group, as well as the events leading up to and the aftermath of, Sam’s disappearance.

A young boy going missing, in such a small town, was a huge deal. It was felt by the whole community and Farizan did a great job of examining that.

The other is in 1992, leading up to and following Sam’s return. Through this format you get a lovely coming-of-age feel to this quirky YA Horror tale.

I really enjoyed the format and all of the characters. I found Farizan’s writing to be extremely engaging. I was loving every moment. Granted, I am right around the same age as these characters, so getting the alteranting 1987 and 1992 timelines was so nostalgic for me.

I have seen this compared a lot to Stranger Things and I do sort of get that, but it’s also very much it’s own thing.

I was definitely picking up that vibe, but you know what else I was picking up? You know the movie Big, the whole pinball element of this reminded me of the fortune-teller machine, Zoltar, except in this, Sam returns smaller than his friends, not bigger.

I loved the mystery behind what happened to Sam. It was so interesting. Watching Cori and Maz come together to try to help Sam, while also trying to solve the mystery was a ton of fun.

I always love some amateur sleuthing and I was captivated by the whole process. This was just pure fun, all the way, exactly what I needed for the chaotic end of summer. I was absolutely surprised by this one. It swept me away.

My slight critique would be that I felt like some of the events at the conclusion were too quick, up-in-the-air and not necessarily explained to my liking. Regardless, that’s simply personal taste. It was close to perfection for me.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Algonquin Young Readers, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I cannot wait to pick up more from this author!

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Review: Stinetinglers by R.L. Stine

~ megs14malloy

Stinetinglers: All New Stories by the Master of Scary Tales (Stinetinglers, #1)Stinetinglers: All New Stories by the Master of Scary Tales by R.L. Stine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Stinetinglers: All New Stories by the Master of Scary Tales is exactly that. An all new collection of spooky tales from the master of Horror for Young Readers, R.L. Stine.

I’m sure you know him and if you are like me, you may love him. You may have loads of nostalgia for those classic Goosebumps stories.

I was so stoked when I heard the news that he had a new collection releasing, just in time for Autumn, featuring 10-new spooky tales.

I listened to the audiobook for this and had an absolute blast with it. It’s fairly short, coming in at just over 5-hours, and it kept me completely engaged from start-to-finish.

The narration was so expressive and captivating. I thought numerous times how much fun this one would be to listen to on a family road trip.

I also really enjoyed how, as an introduction to each story, R.L. Stine wrote a bit about his inspiration and motivations for writing each story. This aspect reminded me of The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King.

Personally, I feel like having that extra insight from the author on a short-story collection makes it even more memorable and in a way, personal.

Overall, I had a blast with this collection. I flew through it and honestly enjoyed every story. It’s a great example of Stine’s style and fulfilled all my nostalgia needs.

Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Stinetinglers is fun for the whole family this Spooky Season!

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Review: All of Our Demise (All of Us Villains #2) by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman

~ megs14malloy

All of Our Demise (All of Us Villains, #2)All of Our Demise by Amanda Foody
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All of Our Demise is the finale to the All of Us Villains duology.

This Dark YA Fantasy, featuring a magical competition to the death, is penned by the dream duo of Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman.

If you haven’t read the first book, please proceed with caution. There may be some things mentioned in this review that some would consider spoilers.

I will not be hiding them.

After the conclusion of Book 1, the limits of the tournament are beginning to erode. The status quo shaken.

The public is now more involved with the process than ever before, with Reporters flocking to the historic battlegrounds, turning the pain and misery of the Champions into entertaining fodder for everyone else.

It’s basically the Capital during the Hunger Games. The magical contestants are bona fide celebs.

Additionally, a dead boy has returned, now influencing the tournament and out of nowhere a new champion has entered the ranks, looking to dismantle the tradition entirely.

The champions end up divided into two groups: those who wish to proceed as normal and those who wish to break the curse, thus ending the tournament forever.

This book was freaking intense. I reread the first book, All of Us Villains, just prior to starting this and I am so glad I did.

This is quite a detailed world and it is very fast-paced. Therefore, I have a tendency to race along, excited to get to the conclusion of the action. Occasionally this causes me to forget fine details.

The first book is really where we are learning the bulk of background on our main characters and their families. I was super glad to have that refresher before getting into this one.

Luckily, I loved that one so much and really had fun revisiting the story. This installment builds beautifully off of everything that occurred there. It was a seamless transition from one book to the next; very well done.

I loved how in this one, our main characters shift themselves into essentially two opposing teams. There are those who want to end the tournament and those, mainly those whose families have gained the most from the tradition, who want things to remain as they are.

This seems relatable to the real world, doesn’t it?

We do follow the same characters here as we did in the first book. I was glad for that. I was a little concerned we were going to move on to new perspectives, as sometimes happens. I’m glad the authors stuck with the characters we already know and love.

I did see so much character growth for each of these mains. As they interacted with one another more, it helped to reveal a deeper side to their personal wants and motivations. There were some great arcs; particularly for me, Allistair and Gavin.

I think this is such a fun duology, dripping with dark atmosphere, engaging characters and non-stop action.

My head was left spinning. There was so much covered in this book alone. Overall, a great continuation, with a more than satisfying conclusion!!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Teen and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review.

I seriously hope this isn’t the last collab we see from Foody and Herman. All of Our Demise releases tomorrow, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.

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Review: The Counselors by Jessica Goodman

~ megs14malloy

The CounselorsThe Counselors by Jessica Goodman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With numerous YA Thrillers being released every month, three things about The Counselors made it stand out for me:

Jessica Goodman’s name, this cover giving me nostalgic-campy vibes and the line in the synopsis that states, a twisty new thriller about three best friends, one elite summer camp, and the dark secrets that lead to a body in the lake.

I had a bit of a wait before the audiobook became available through my library, but it was well worth it. Particularly since it is narrated by the fabulous, Phoebe Strole.

This narrative follows Goldie and her two best friends, Ava and Imogen. The girls developed a friendship years ago at the prestigious Camp Alpine Lake. They were campers when they first met, but now as young adults, all three stayed on at the camp as counselors.

Goldie is the only one of the three who is local to the area though, so she has been anxiously awaiting summer and with it, Ava and Imo’s return. Truth be told, Goldie wouldn’t even have been able to attend the camp initially if her parents didn’t work there.

Generally, the campers are from very well-off families. Because of this, there has been a bit of tension over the years happening between those involved in the camp and the local community.

Goldie is the odd exception that has experience with the situation from both sides.

She has mixed feelings about it. Also, even though Ava and Imogen are her best friends, she does keep a lot from them. Goldie was involved in an incident that led to her senior year of high school being a virtual hell on earth.

She kept that from them. Now that Ava and Imogen are returning to town, Goldie wonders if she will need to tell them. The thing that happened was big local news. She doesn’t want them to hear about it on one of their many ventures into town.

Stress, upon stress, upon stress.

When a local boy, who played a very big part in Goldie’s worst year ever, ends up dead in the lake at the camp, Goldie’s summer takes a sudden dark turn.

What was he even doing there? Locals aren’t allowed on the grounds of the camp. Had he been looking for her?

As Goldie digs into this unexplained death, she uncovers truths she could have never imagined. Her whole world is suddenly and viciously turned asunder.

The Counselors is a great YA Summer Thriller, with all the nostalgic campy vibes that I was looking for, as well as a solid friendship trio. I really enjoyed my time getting to know Goldie, Ava and Imo.

The camp and its relationship to the surrounding area was also quite engaging. I live in a resort-type community as well, so I definitely could relate to a lot of the dynamics that Goodman was exploring. I thought that provided an interesting context to the overarching story.

The mystery was well-developed and paced. It kept me glued to the story. When I wasn’t reading it, I wished that I was. The ending got wild, but it was so fun.

This is pretty close to a perfect summer read. I’m looking forward to picking up more from this author soon!

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Review: The Last Town (Wayward Pines #3) by Blake Crouch

~ megs14malloy

The Last Town (Wayward Pines, #3)The Last Town by Blake Crouch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Last Town is the concluding book in Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines series.

I read the first two books last Fall, but for some reason, as often happens, I then failed to pick this one up. Sometimes when things are so good, you just don’t want them to end.

Luckily for me, this is a very memorable story, so I had no problem picking this one up even though almost a year had passed. I hadn’t forgotten a thing.

The truth of Wayward Pines, even the idea of it, is so horrifying that it is seared into my brain from now until forevermore.

After the reveals of the second book, which had huge repercussions for the entire town, things get much worse. Much, much worse.

Ethan Burke has ticked off Pilcher and that results in Pilcher cranking up for a temper tantrum of epic proportions. He’s about to unleash a community-wide shitstorm, pretty much the equivalent of a 10-year old flipping over a game of Monopoly because they’re losing.

This installment was non-stop action from the very start. It’s dropping you off directly where the action left off. There’s no time to pause.

It’s bleak. Not going to lie. For the majority of the book, I felt pretty helpless with regards to my favorite characters. How the heck are they going to get out of this?

It seemed the end was near. I mean I could feel it, watching the percentage run down on my kindle. It was coming. What was it going to be?

Overall, I am satisfied with this ending. I wouldn’t have guessed the ending and I can’t argue with it. This was a tough one. The world was what it was. There were no easy answers.

I think Crouch did an exceptional job over the course of these three books building out this world and providing characters that the Reader could care about. I loved many of these characters and it was sometimes tough to read about the things they went through.

I would definitely recommend this series. Even though it is a bit of an older series, it’s absolutely worth picking up!!

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Review: The Island by Adrian McKinty

~ megs14malloy

The IslandThe Island by Adrian McKinty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

The Island follows a newly-formed family as they go on their first big vacation together.

When Tom Baxter, a doctor, announces that he needs to travel to Australia for a work event, his new wife Heather suggests the whole family go as a way to bond and spend some quality time together.

Tom, a widower, married the much younger Heather after meeting her at a yoga studio. Needless to say, his two children, 12-year old Owen and 14-year old Olivia, are less than enthused about this new arrangement.

For the most part, the kids are downright hostile towards Heather. Regardless, Heather loves Tom and she’s willing to dig in to make this work; putting up with the children’s petty behavior all the while.

Unsurprisingly, their vacation isn’t a magic pill that suddenly transforms them into a happy family. It’s actually pretty miserable for all involved.

The kids want to see wildlife and are loudly bummed that they aren’t getting that opportunity. Thus, when a man they meet offers them a chance to explore a mostly uninhabited island full of the wildlife they’ve been looking for, Heather convinces Tom it’s a great idea.

I mean, seriously, what could go wrong?

A lot. We all know this. A lot can go wrong.

Through an exceedingly-excruciating list of bad choices and uncomfortable familial tension, the family has a bit of an accident. Ultimately ending with them having to make a terrible choice.

Either way you cut it, they’re screwed. These events leave Heather and Tom separated and Heather simply fighting to get her and the kids off the island alive.

Hold onto your butts, because this story gets violent, grimy, dehydrating and over-the-top. It’s quite fun.

The plot is interesting enough to keep you engaged the whole way through. There’s no time wasted. It’s definitely channeling Australian Horror movie vibes. In fact, I thought of Wolf Creek a lot and it was even mentioned in the story!

I did enjoy the main character, Heather. She was a fighter and clearly, underestimated by many. She never gave up and I can get behind that.

Initially, the characters, their dynamics and interactions turned me off completely. I found it more annoying than anything else, but I never really need to like characters in order to enjoy a story.

This one is action-packed and frankly, that’s what I was here for, the action.

The further I got into this story, the more I was able to see the positive characteristics of Heather. Even the kids started to come around for me.

Going through what they end up going through, it’s hard not to feel at least some sympathy for them. I think McKinty did provide a solid enough foundation for the characters that you are at least able to understand their choices and motivations.

I’ve ended up thinking about this book a lot more than I anticipated after I finished it. I thought it would go in my earholes and quickly out of my brain, but it hasn’t. This one has really stayed with me.

Apparently, The Island packed even more of a punch than I realized. This would make a fantastic movie, which is exactly what I thought after finishing McKinty’s The Chain.

He has easily digestible ideas that I think would translate well to the big screen. Here’s hoping.

I’m looking forward to reading more from this author in the future. I have no idea what it will be, but I have no doubt that it will be an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride!

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Review: Please Join Us by Catherine McKenzie

~ megs14malloy

Please Join UsPlease Join Us by Catherine McKenzie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

At 39-years old, Nicole Mueller’s life is floundering. This is not where she pictured herself being at this point.

Once her law career seemed destined for greatness, but now she’s been put on notice by her firm’s senior partners. Making matters worse, Nicole and her husband, Dan, are soon to be displaced from the apartment that they love.

As Nicole’s emotional level is reaching hopeless, she’s thrown a bone by way of an invitation to join an exclusive women’s networking group, Panthera Leo.

From what Nicole can tell, although membership is anonymous, every member is a successful business woman of one kind or another; think of the list of potential clients. This may be exactly what she needs to jump start her career.

After discussing it with Dan and despite his misgivings, Nicole accepts the invitation and signs up for the group’s retreat in Colorado.

Once there she meets a very small, hand-selected group of women who will make up her Pride. As Nicole begins to learn the philosophy of the group, they stress one thing in particular, they’re a girl’s club in a boy’s club world.

As Nicole settles in and is cut off from the rest of the world, she begins to bond with these new women. It’s hard to believe they were strangers such a short time ago.

Each day of the retreat the women are put through exercises and challenges that push them to interact and rely on one another. Their relationships develop quickly and deeply. It’s a unique experience.

After Nicole gets home, she’s surprised by how quickly she begins to reap the benefits of her new relationships. Things seem to be turning around, but then things turn a little too far.

Initially, Nicole enjoyed the new clients pushed her way from the other Pride members. Also, a new, gorgeous, modern apartment dropped in her lap, but when she gets called to one of the member’s apartments late at night and she’s pressed to help her cover up a very serious crime, her opinion shifts drastically.

From there we follow Nicole as she tries to decipher the truth behind Panthera Leo, including why she received an invitation in the first place.

Through her search for the truth, Nicole deep dives into the club and its members. She shocked by all she uncovers. It borders on diabolical. We’re talking A Few Good Men levels of corruption and intensity.

While this did start out a little slow for me, I will say that McKenzie succeeded in building the intensity throughout the story. I do feel like everything she included, even the slower bits in the beginning, were necessary to build out this story.

Towards the very, very end, I felt it got a little chaotic. I had to reread a couple sections a few times in order to follow it. There were just a lot of characters and as you’re watching them come together, it got to be a bit much right at the conclusion.

Overall, I did enjoy this. It was fun. I feel like I tend to pick up anything that is pitched to have a cult-like vibe, but I’m always disappointed.

This story did the most for me out of any recent books to claim that sort of atmosphere. I definitely felt the cultish influence and it had me freaked right out.

Our main character, Nicole, is an attorney and the way she goes about looking into Panthera Leo definitely lends a Legal Thriller feel to this story. I loved that aspect. That was probably my favorite part of the book.

I’m not sure if I am explaining that correctly, but I just loved following her as she began to unravel the truth behind this mysterious organization.

Thank you to the publisher, Atria Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

This is the first I have read from Catherine McKenzie, but it definitely won’t be the last. Please Join Us is available now!!

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Review: Bright We Burn (The Conqueror’s Saga #3) by Kiersten White

~ megs14malloy

Bright We Burn (The Conqueror's Saga #3)Bright We Burn by Kiersten White
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bright We Burn is the third and final book in Kiersten White’s sweeping YA-series, The Conqueror’s Saga.

I bought this entire trilogy back in 2018 and she has stood quietly, yet beautifully, on my shelves, unread, for all these years. I picked up the first book on a whim, And I Darken, last month when I started my TBR-Haul Project.

The goal of this self-created project is simply to get me to read some of the backlist titles that I own. And I Darken was the first book of the project and I’m so glad it was.

I had such a successful reading experience with that book and consequently binged the rest of the series.

I found the world White created over the course of this series completely immersive. I was transported to the Ottoman Empire era and I found it to be such a refreshing, captivating, mysterious, yet brutal, setting.

The characters, particularly our main characters Lada, Radu and Mehmed, were each so fleshed out and distinct. Over the course of the series I became so attached to them and invested in their lives. I was like a helicopter mom circling them; especially Lada.

Lada was my favorite character. I loved her strength and determination. I felt like White wrote her really well. It was easy to understand her motivations and as hard as she was, you could tell that it was because she was essentially traumatized from her childhood.

She pushed everyone away, only keeping her country in her heart, that way no one could break it. I felt for her. Additionally, she’s a complete and total badass.

After returning to her home country, Lada uses a thousand stakes to send a message to her rivals. This one would never go down without a fight.

Radu grew so much in this one as well. It took a lot to get him to this place, but I think he finally is able to gain some sort of peace, or at least understanding, in his life that was satisfying to see.

He was a sweet baby bird that I want to protect throughout this beginning of this series. In this book, it didn’t feel as much like that. He really came into his own and although not a perfect situation, we love to see the growth.

Overall, White sent me on a tremendous journey with these characters. I seriously haven’t been this emotional at the close of a series in a long, long time. We’re talking actually tears, folks.

Kiersten White has destroyed me. I may never fully recover.

I’ve now read 9-books from this author and I’ll tell you, she’s a heavy hitter in my book.

I will continue to pick up anything she writes and I recommend you do too!

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Review: The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones

~ megs14malloy

The Drowned WoodsThe Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Drowned Woods was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022. This YA Fantasy novel is a companion to Emily Lloyd-Jones 2019-release, The Bone Houses.

Full transparency, I hadn’t even read The Bone Houses until this month. The reason I was so excited for The Drowned Woods was based on its synopsis alone. It sounded absolutely captivating to me.

Spoiler Alert: It so totally was!!

Once I picked this up, it was all I could think about. I absolutely adore this story with my whole heart and soul. Lloyd-Jones swept me away into another world.

This story follows 18-year old Mererid, ‘Mer’, who is the last living water diviner. Her powers being known, she was wrenched from her family in order to go live in the castle of Prince Garanhir and be bound into his service.

She’s made to do terrible things, such as finding the wells of Garanhir’s enemies so that he can poison them. This results in the deaths of many, many innocent people.

Mer is devastated to have been a part of this. Luckily, she is able to slip out of the Prince’s grasp and flee. After that, avoiding recapture is her only focus.

Mer’s able to fly under the radar working as a barmaid. That is until the day her old handler, Renfrew, the Prince’s ex-Spy Master, approaches her with an opportunity to bring the Prince down.

He proposes a heist of sorts to steal an important magical artifact that in a sense secures the Prince’s control over their kingdom. Mer is intrigued and swayed by her old mentor. They can actually do this, make Garanhir pay for what he put so many innocent people through.

Together they assemble a team including a fae-cursed young man, the lady of thieves and an adorably-loyal corgi named Trefor. They were all brought onto the mission because of the special skills they each portrayed.

This crew, I loved watching them all come together and as they set off on their quest, I knew this story was going to be a slam dunk for me.

I loved everything about it. The world creation was fantastic, the magic system was easy to understand, yet intriguing, and the character interactions and motivations were so well done.

Mer, Fane, the fae-cursed young man, and Trefor in particular were so well developed. I loved watching their relationship build into what it ultimately becomes.

Mer’s character arc was so beautiful, heart-wrenching and ultimately satisfying. I adored her and her free will, determination and strength in face of set-backs.

As you get to the end, the truth behind the connection to The Bones Houses is revealed. I cannot even tell you what that moment was like, reading that reveal.

My heart swelled; insta-tears. It made me want to reread TBH knowing what I know now, even though I just read it! What a moment. It was so good.

Thank you to the publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

I appreciate it so much and have no doubt this is going to be on my Favorites list for 2022!!

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