2022 releases

Review: Gallant by V.E. Schwab

~ megs14malloy

GallantGallant by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Olivia Prior has never been a quiet girl. She has always made a point of making noise, everywhere she goes, in part to remind people that just because she cannot speak, does not mean that she is silent, and in part because she simply likes the weight of sound, likes the way it takes up space.

Gallant has been sitting on my bookshelves since 2022. Recently, for Disability Pride month, I was scouring my shelves to see what sorts of representations could be found.

I discovered via some research that this MC, Olivia, is mute, which I didn’t know previously. I’m so happy that I learned that and it that it finally provided me with the kick in the butt I needed to pick it up.

I know a lot of Readers weren’t crazy about this one, but it was exactly what I was hoping for. Darkly magical and the perfect escape for my recently overwhelmed brain.

In this story we are following, Olivia, who at the start of the story is living in a orphan group home. She was abandoned there by her mother, with a journal as the only clue to her mother’s identity.

One day she receives a letter from her Uncle, saying he has been desperately searching for her and wants her to return to their family estate, Gallant.

She’s quickly ushered there and introduced to a cousin, Matthew, she never knew she had, as well as the two caretakers of the property, Hannah and Edgar. It’s also there that she learns of the truly tragic nature of their family.

It’s not an easy time trying to settle in. Matthew is hostile, and she’s seeing ghouls around every corner. It’s clear Gallant is hiding many secrets, among them the truth of what happened to her mother, so Olivia is bound and determined to figure it all out.

When she discovers the door in the crumbling garden wall, she feels like she’s that much closer to learning the truth of her parents, originally laid out in her Mom’s journal.

I really enjoyed myself reading this one. I became completely immersed in Olivia’s journey. I loved her as a character. She’s smart and determined. Even in the face of the unknown and at times, great danger, she stood strong, gallantly, as a matter of fact.

I also loved the journal entries included, as well as the illustrations, which were just gorgeous and did bring that dark magic feeling to the page.

It’s actually a pretty tragic little story, but I like that Schwab didn’t shy away from making it so. Life doesn’t always deal you sunshine and rainbows, but that doesn’t mean there’s no hope for future growth and life.

I’d love to see this adapted to film. I feel like the gothic atmosphere and darker imagery could be translated really well into that medium. I’d definitely watch it. Paired with the right soundtrack? Yes, please.

Overall, I am so happy that I finally picked up this story. I found it to be beautiful and engaging, with a sympathetic protagonist I wanted to see succeed.

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Review: How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine

~ megs14malloy

How to Survive Your MurderHow to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡

Alice is the sole witness in her sister’s murder trial. It’s been a year since her older sister, Claire, was killed in a corn maze on Halloween night.

Since Claire’s death, Alice’s life has fallen apart. Their parents divorced in the aftermath, and Alice has given up on her plans for the future. She wishes more than anything that that night never happened; that Claire was still with them.

On the first day of the trial, while taking a moment for herself in the courthouse bathroom, Alice is knocked unconscious by a Sidney Prescott look-alike.

When she wakes up, it’s Halloween night exactly one year earlier, the day of Claire’s murder. Alice has until midnight to find her sister and save her, possibly changing the course of events forever.

How to Survive Your Murder was a super-engaging YA Horror-Thriller that kept me on my toes the entire time. It was way more Speculative than I anticipated, bringing to mind comparisons to Neverworld Wake and Summer’s Edge. Both of which, I loved.

I didn’t know that this story is centered around murderous events on Halloween night, so it’s the perfect time of year to read it. That was definitely a bonus.

I also really enjoyed Alice as a main character. She’s a huge fan of Slasher movies and True Crime. I felt like we had a lot in common, so it was easy for me to understand the events through her perspective.

Overall, I found this whole story fun and creative. I walked away thinking, be careful what you wish for. I feel like this author did a great job of bringing a true love for the Slasher genre to the page.

This is the fourth novel I have read by this author and I enjoy their style of Horror. Most recently I read, Two Sides to Every Murder, which I felt very similarly about as this one. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. This is absolutely their sweet spot.

Give me all the Slasher Goodness!!

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Review: Gleanings (Arc of the Scythe #3.5) by Neal Shusterman

~ megs14malloy

Gleanings (Arc of a Scythe, #3.5)Gleanings by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gleanings, tagged as Arc of the Scythe #3.5, is a collection of 13-short stories set within Shusterman’s incredible world of the Scythe. A world without death, or disease. A world I fell in love with as I binged the entire trilogy recently.

This was a fantastic collection. I listened to the audio and loved the multiple narrators, including Shusterman himself. It provided great new insights and gave me some extra time with a few of my favorite characters that I wasn’t ready to say good-bye too yet.

I appreciated how the collection was arranged and liked how it was sort of book-ended by stories following one of my favorite characters of the series.

My favorite story though, which personally I think is worth picking up the entire collection for, is hands-down The Martian Minute, which gives the Reader tons more insight into the Mars disaster. It’s a bit of an origin story for the most wicked villain of the series.

I loved how varied the perspectives were and how many of them connected to the original series. As bonus content goes, this leans into the must read category.

I did read this immediately upon finishing The Toll; as in, I started it the next day, so the entire series was fresh in my mind. I was emotional about it ending and didn’t want it to be over. This provided just the right amount of material for me to feel like I can walk away with a full heart now.

Shusterman is a genius. That’s clear throughout this series and I am really hopeful that we’ll eventually get more in this world. I’m not sure if that is in the cards or not, but you better believe I would be first in line at the bookstore if it ever comes to fruition.

Overall, I had a fabulous experience with this. I’m sure glad I made time for it and am happy to display it with the rest of the series on my shelf!

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Review: Forging Silver into Stars (Forging Silver into Stars #1) by Brigid Kemmerer

~ megs14malloy

Forging Silver into Stars (Forging Silver into Stars, #1)Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Forging Silver into Stars is the 1st-book in the series of the same name. This is a companion/follow-up to Kemmerer’s popular Cursebreakers series. This YA Fantasy series started as a loose reimagining of Beauty & the Beast, but it has certainly come a long way since then.

I really enjoyed my time throughout the Cursebreakers books and was extremely happy to be reunited with Grey, Rhen, Harper and Lia Mara, here. Additionally, seeing sweet baby Tycho all growns up was such a treat!

This story is set approximately 5-years after the final events of the Cursebreakers series. In this one we follow three different perspectives: Tycho, who you may remember from the Cursebreakers books, where he had a small role, as well as Callyn and Jax, two new characters.

Callyn and Jax are best friends, living in the small village of Briarlock. Callyn runs her family bakery and takes care of her little sister, Norah. Jax is a blacksmith, who runs his father’s shop, while his Dad is busy gambling, drinking and otherwise spending all their money.

As he is passing through Briarlock for a spell, Tycho ends up meeting both Callyn and Jax. The plot centers mainly around a underground movement growing against the new King of Syhl Shallow because of his rumored magic.

The members of this rebellion claim to be loyal to the Queen, but they view the new King’s magic as a threat to their entire kingdom. They’re determined to stamp out that threat.

Tycho, as we know, has connections to both Syhl Shallow and Emberfall. Callyn and Jax, whose village is a part of Syhl Shallow, soon find themselves on opposite sides of the issue. Can their friendship survive all the new drama, and potential new loves, surrounding them?

This was so good. Kemmerer is such a great writer with fantastic world-building and characters. She never fails to pull me in and keep me invested.

Her characters are so likable. Even the ones you aren’t supposed to like, you sort of love to hate them. I loved how the main characters from Cursebreakers were included in the periphery of this one, and as we got further along, they began to appear more and more.

From the conclusion of this, I am left thinking that we are going to be seeing a lot more of them all in the next book, which I couldn’t be more excited about.

There is some romance in this for both Callyn and Jax. I liked the way that built up, the uncertainty of their feelings and all that, but there was a section where there were a few chapters in a row that were quite romance-heavy in lieu of the rest of the plot.

That sort of lost my interest a little, as I would have preferred that more interspersed amongst the rest of the book. Nevertheless, it was a fairly short section when considering the bigger picture, so didn’t really affect my overall enjoyment that much.

The action definitely picked up towards the end and we are in a great position to jump into the next book. There’s a lot of unfinished business and so much more to explore as our characters head in new directions.

I’m so excited for the next book to release. I love that this world didn’t have to end with A Vow So Bold and Deadly. I’ll read anything Kemmerer wants to write involving Emberfall and Syhl Shallow.

I would recommend reading Cursebreakers first, but it’s not absolutely necessary. This is written in such a way that you wouldn’t feel lost without that background, but it definitely adds to the experience if you have read that trilogy.

Content Warning: Animal Content — (view spoiler)
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Review: Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne

~ megs14malloy

Pretty Dead QueensPretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I freaking loved this. A 5-star YA Mystery that’s highly underrated, IMO. Pretty Dead Queens is perfect for fans of Kara Thomas or Karen M. McManus!!

In this story, which is set in a small coastal town called Seaview, in California, we follow 17-year old, Cecelia Ellis, who goes to live with her estranged Grandmother following her Mom’s untimely death.

Cecelia’s Grandmother isn’t an ordinary Grandmother though. She happens to be a world-renowned Mystery author. She’s wealthy, feisty, lives in a gorgeous Victorian mansion, and pretty much has the entire town of Seaview wrapped around her little finger.

As the granddaughter to such a powerful figure, it’s no surprise that once she starts school, Cecelia gets enveloped by the popular crowd.

Her transition to her new environment is going way better than she ever could have expected. She has friends, a comfortable new home and even a couple of love interests. Even though she misses her Mom with every breath, it’s hard to complain about her current circumstances.

The town of Seaview is preparing for Homecoming, which is also a time when they think back on a tragedy that shocked the town decades before, when the Homecoming Queen was slain on the night of her coronation.

50-years earlier, Caroline Quinn’s body was found in the school pool, drowned on what should have been the most fun night of her life. A local man was convicted of the crime and is still serving time in prison.

Cecelia’s grandmother based her first novel on this crime and to this day, it remains one of her most popular stories.

On the Friday of Homecoming weekend, Cecelia finds herself in desperate need of a bathroom. She’s been watching the football game and at halftime all the bathrooms closer to the field are full. She can’t wait.

Cecelia knows there are locker rooms by the pool, so maybe she can find a free stall there. Unfortunately, what she finds instead is a dead body floating in the pool, practically a mirror-image of Caroline, all those years ago.

It seems the town has a copycat killer on their hands. Cecelia becomes obsessed with finding out the truth behind the crime. The dead girl was her friend, she needs to find justice for her, but what if one of her other friends is to blame?

I had so, so, so much fun with this story. The set-up and cast of small town characters were straight out of a classic mystery book. I loved the seaside setting and a new girl trope is something I always enjoy.

I liked how easily Cecelia slipped into her new life. It made sense in the context of who her Grandmother was that everyone would want to be close to Cecelia, and count her as one of their friends. She was an auto-It Girl.

I think Donne did an excellent job of tying in the history of the town, in particular, the case of the murder of Caroline all those years before, with the current mystery. I absolutely love stories that are set in small towns full of secrets, which describes this book to a tee.

I also appreciated how quickly this one kicks off. The setting itself provides a bit of an ominous tone, and you know something is going to happen, but it was fun getting there.

Cecelia also took to her role of amateur sleuth so well. She really wanted answers and was willing to put herself at risk in order to get those answers. I like that. It was dogging her and she wasn’t going to back down.

I feel like in a way, the mystery took her mind off the loss of her Mom, so I’m sure in that respect, it was helpful to her.

The side characters were all great too. I found myself really getting swept up in the town drama. It was interesting to watch Cecelia, as the outsider, navigate it all.

I feel like this is so underrated at this point and I feel like I am going to be championing it from here on out.

If you love YA Mysteries, you should absolutely check this one out. It’s so much fun. It’s got a classic, campy feel that I will always show up for.

Thank you to the publisher, Crown Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m so sorry it took me such a long time to get to it.

Silver lining: it was well worth the wait!!!

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Review: The Dragon’s Promise (Six Crimson Cranes #2) by Elizabeth Lim

~ megs14malloy

The Dragon’s Promise (Six Crimson Cranes, #2)The Dragon’s Promise by Elizabeth Lim
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

💚💛💙💚💛💙💚💛💙💚💛💙💚💛💙💚

The Dragon’s Promise is the follow-up to Elizabeth Lim’s fabulous YA-Fantasy novel, Six Crimson Cranes.

I have had this on my shelves since its release, but couldn’t read it, because I hadn’t gotten around to reading the 1st-book yet. Also, a long-time veteran of my shelves.

Earlier this month, I finally decided to pick up Six Crimson Cranes and I absolutely adored it. I fell in love with the world, as well as the characters. I had to have more.

After the heart-breaking conclusion to SCC, I needed to know immediately what was going to be next for our protagonist, Shiori. There were a lot of possibilities.

This story begins with Shiori now in possession of the powerful dragon’s pearl. Her goal is to return it to its original owner, but that is not to be an easy task.

At its heart this is a quest, which works well for me as that’s one of my favorite Fantasy tropes. It also features most of the characters that I grew to love in the first installment.

We travel to places such as the dragon realm and to Shiori’s step-mother’s homeland. The brothers are back supporting Shiori and offering her guidance when she needs it.

Her love interest, Takkan, also played a role here and I ended up loving him even more after this. They have the cutest relationship. The way it developed over the course of the two books just feels so natural. They’re easy to root for.

While I still loved the writing, the characters and the world, I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the first book.

I know this doesn’t get said a lot, but I actually wish this had been longer. By that, what I really mean, is that I wish it had been broken into two books.

This feels, in a way, like two distinct stories. We have the first part, where Shiori gets to travel to the dragon realm. In the second part, she returns to the mortal realm and travels around there and does what she needs to do.

Personally, I loved the dragon realm and wish we could have spent more time there. There was a lot of political happenings and interesting new characters that I wanted to know more about.

Then in the same vein, the mortal realm section was just as interesting, but I also wanted to know more. It just felt rushed and like the two halves were smooshed together, when Lim’s fantastic writing could easily have carried this into two separate books.

With this being said, I still really enjoyed this story. It’s actually a compliment to say I wanted more.

I loved how quickly this kicked off. Having read the two books pretty much back-to-back made this a seamless experience for me. I love the lore behind the dragon pearl and learning more about that along with Shiori was so fun.

I can’t wait to the get to the prequel, Her Radiant Curse, which tells the story of Shiori’s step-mother, Raikama.

She is actually one of the most intriguing characters in this series for me, so I am so happy that prequel exists. She needs her time to shine!

I would recommend this series to anyone who loves YA Fantasy, particularly stories that incorporate fairy tale elements, or quests. Elizabeth Lim’s writing never disappoints. It’s always engaging and fast-paced.

Thank you to the publisher, Knopf Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m sorry it took me so long to get to it. This is a fabulous series!!

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Review: All the Dark Places (Detective Rita Myers #1) by Terri Parlato

~ megs14malloy

All the Dark PlacesAll the Dark Places by Terri Parlato
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars rounded up**

All the Dark Places is the start of Terri Parlato’s Detective Rita Myers Mystery series. There are 2-books released thus far, with the 2nd-book having just come out this past December.

I actually read them out of order, starting with What Waits in the Woods. I really enjoyed it and knew immediately that I needed to read this 1st-book ASAP.

I loved Rita and needed more of her in my life!

This is a dual perspective story following Detective Rita Myers, our MC, and Molly Bradley, the woman most closely linked to the mystery tackled in this book.

This story is set during the first week of January, which incidentally is when I read it. This tickled me for some reason. This has no bearing on my review, I just thought it was a funny coincidence.

So, it’s the first week of January and Molly has planned a dinner party for her husband, Jay’s, 40th-birthday. They have their tight-knit group of friends, which consists of three other local couples, over to the house.

It’s a great time. There’s plenty of drinks, laughs, food and even a beautiful cake. At the end of the night, the wine has definitely gone to Molly’s head. She heads upstairs to bed while Jay sees the other couples out.

The next morning when Molly wakes, Jay isn’t in the bedroom. He isn’t in the house at all and no coffee has been made. Fearing something is wrong, Molly rushes out to his office, housed in an outbuilding on their property. It’s there that she finds his dead body.

Detective Rita Myers is assigned to Jay Bradley’s case. An experienced detective, Rita is convinced that Jay’s murder isn’t some random act of violence. She believes someone in their circle is responsible for his death.

The investigation leaves no stone unturned as Rita digs into Molly and Jay’s life. It turns out, their group, like most, is hiding a lot deep dark secrets, including Molly herself.

It’s really hard for me to not 5-star a book that keeps me invested for an entire day. I flew through this and loved it. It wasn’t totally perfect, but pretty damn close.

I am well and truly invested in Detective Rita Myers now. I can’t wait for more books in this series, but I have a feeling, since the second one just released, that I’m in for quite a wait before book three.

I listened to the audiobook for both and loved them so much. It’s dual narrators, to fit the dual perspective and the narrators truly captured the spirit of these characters.

I definitely recommend this series to any Reader who enjoys Police Procedural Mysteries, or Crime Thrillers. Parlato’s mysteries are engaging and hard to put down once you start.

Detective Myers is such a compelling MC as well. She’s someone you can really get behind. She’s strong, smart, determined and always looking to do what’s right.

When I say I read this straight through, I’m not joking. I was on a journey with these characters. I didn’t even have time to make status updates. That’s how invested I was. I’m actually hoping for a paycheck from Rita’s department for my efforts.

If you’re looking for a strong new Mystery series to start, look no further. This is where it’s at. While you’re reading it, I’ll just be over here patiently waiting for more!!

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Review: Playground by Aron Beauregard

~ megs14malloy

PlaygroundPlayground by Aron Beauregard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Grossly entertaining!!!

Is this book for everybody? Absolutely fucking not. This is for a very niche market.

If you’ve never read Splatterpunk or Extreme Horror before, don’t start here. You’ll want to ease yourself in more gently than this. This could scar you for life.

I had fun with it. I loved the premise and the gore was non-stop and gag-inducingly detailed. However, I can understand why a lot of people wouldn’t enjoy this and that’s fine.

To each their own. That’s what makes the reading experience so great, it’s different for each of us and I love that journey for us all. For Readers who do love Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror, this is a hell of a lot of fun.

If the thought of a demented version of Squid Game played by children on torturous playground equipment is intriguing to you, than you should definitely check this one out.

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Review: The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict

~ megs14malloy

The Christmas Murder GameThe Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

The Christmas Murder Game was the perfect audiobook for me to listen to over my Christmas holiday.

It didn’t require surgical-levels of concentration and the plot was easy enough for my holiday-fried brain to follow.

In this story we meet Lily Armitage, who is returning to her family’s lavish estate, Endgame House, for the first time since the tragic death of her mother, twenty-one years ago.

The Armitage family has an annual tradition called the Christmas Game and this year, the stakes are higher than ever. The winner receives the deed to Endgame House itself.

Lily doesn’t really want the house, but she receives a personal invitation she can’t refuse. If she attends, she may be able to get further information about her mom’s death, which Lily has long not believed the official story on.

The Christmas Game takes twelve days, with riddles and clues to finding twelve separate keys, and Lily must compete against her estranged cousins for the ultimate prize.

When bodies start dropping and the family gets snowed in, it’s clear someone will do anything to win this year’s game, even if it means killing off the competition.

I liked this. It’s a solid story with a lot of reveals and red herrings along the way. I really enjoyed the setting, including the harsh weather that helped build tension.

With this being said, while it did feature a lot of elements I enjoy, such as a locked room feel, unlikable characters, inclement weather and deeply-held family secrets, I didn’t find the overall story that gripping.

Most of the characters were a bit one-dimensional, but I did definitely want to know what was going on. I had many theories, none of which panned out 100%.

This is the second story that I have read from Alexandra Benedict. I think I preferred Murder on the Christmas Express a bit more, but reading this over Christmas probably did have a slight impact on my enjoyment level.

I do always find it a bit more challenging to really focus around this time of year, particularly when traveling.

Either way, I will be continuing to pick up anything I can from Alexandra Benedict, and you should too!

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Review: Sabotage on the Solar Express (Adventures on Trains #5) by M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman

~ megs14malloy

Sabotage on the Solar Express (Adventures on Trains, #5)Sabotage on the Solar Express by M.G. Leonard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sabotage on the Solar Express is the 5th-book in my favorite Middle Grade series, Adventures on Trains.

If you haven’t seen me gush about this series before, let me just give you are brief overview of what it is about.

This series follows Hal, a talented young artist with a penchant for solving mysteries. Hal’s Uncle Nat is a travel writer, who specializes in trains, and he takes Hal along with him on some of his journeys.

Hence the name of the series.

In this installment, we travel to Australia, where billionaire tech mogul and train enthusiast, August Reza, is set to run the maiden voyage of the winning design of his Reza’s Rocket competition.

We first met August Reza, and his daughter, Marianne, in the second-book of the series, Kidnap on the California Comet. Having made friendships over the course of that journey, Nat and Hal are graciously invited onto this test run for the new train, dubbed the Solar Express.

A child from Australia, Boaz, designed the winning train with his hybrid locomotive, driven by hydrogen fuel cells and solar power. Reza believes this design has the potential to change the future of train travel.

But during the journey from Alice Springs to Darwin, the train is sabotaged and soon they are running out of control through the vast expanse of the Australian Outback.

Will Hal and friends be able to discover the saboteur and stop the runaway train before it runs off the tracks, no doubt with disastrous, and maybe deadly, results?

As usual, this story was such a delight to read. I loved being back with Hal and Nat. We kick off rather quickly with them already being in Australia, and before you know it, the Solar Express has started her journey.

There are a couple of different mysteries tossed our way before we even discover the sabotage. I liked how intriguing all the elements were together. Were they related, were they not? It was really well plotted.

This is definitely the biggest thrill ride of series thus far. At times this felt like a version of the movie Speed reimagined for kids. There were some real pulse-pounding moments. Through it all, Hal stayed true to his character with a cool head and analytical mind.

We had a nice set-up for the next book, which it sounds like takes place over Christmas holiday for Hal. I can’t wait to pick it up. It sounds like a perfect Winter read.

I definitely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a solid, heart-warming, engaging Children’s Mystery. This can honestly be enjoyed by Readers of all ages!

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