Espresso Yourself AND Brew Diligence

Espresso Yourself & Brew Diligence

Maya's Blogs books 1 & 2

by Lara McKenzie

 

Super fun snarky blog of a human working in a supernatural coffee shop.

Rating: 5/5 

 

The Unteachables

The Unteachables

by Gordon Korman

 

Go Luck Yourself

Go Luck Yourself

by Sara Raasch

 

A satisfactory and fun sequel to Nightmare Before Kissmas.

 

Tell Me Three Things

Tell Me Three Things

by Julie Buxbaum

Winter Lost

Winter Lost

by Patricia Briggs

Counting by 7s

Counting by 7s 

by Holly Goldberg Sloan

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon

by Sarah Hawley

Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born

Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born:

How Buffy Staked Our Hearts

by Evan Ross Katz

Uberfan Katz has written an amazing background book about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Just over half of the book goes into depth on each season of Buffy, followed by the rest of the book breaking down the relationships both on and off of the set, accusations about Whedon, and (most importantly) the show's impact on individuals and culture as a whole.

There are a number of real issues in television culture that are covered from LGBTQ+ issues to the lack of POC. Those issues are discussed in both the positive as in Tara and Willow's relationship to the negative as with the "bury your gays" trope.  There is an entire section devoted to the depiction of POC in the show and the lack of representation there. 

But most of the book is about the positive impacts of this show on the people who watched it when it first came out, the people who are watching it now, television as a whole, and what it all means to people. 

Rating: 4/5

A Hard Day for a Hangover

A Hard Day for a Hangover

by Darynda Jones

Just a week after her daughter survived a murderer, Sun is back on the job and trying to solve a series of crimes in her small town. These crimes run from a single break-in to an attempted murder. 

As Sunshine works to get the town back to the calm it was before she ever took the job as sheriff, her daughter is once again trying to help out by doing research and asking questions that put her in the sights of someone dangerous. 

In the middle of all of this is the changing relationship between Sun and her eternal crush, Levi, who she finally remembered saved her from her own kidnapping and attempted murder fifteen years before. 

With everything both coming together and falling apart, Sun and her somewhat crazy colleagues and family members must solve the mysteries and protect the teens who both help and hinder their investigations.

Final thoughts: Another solid entry from Jones, which is supposed to be the last for this trilogy but ends with a comment/question that left me hanging. I am truly hoping there is a short story from Levi's PoV that finishes this whole thing out. Speaking of Levi, I have a difficult time with some of the character shifts for him in this book. For the other two books (and much of this one) he has been pretty broody and uncommunicative. We've known that Sun has crushed on him for years, but it's been fairly one-sided. Jones has shown that Levi cares, but he just doesn't speak much. In this book, there are a couple of scenes where Levi is downright chatty in comparison but then goes back to practically silent again. It just feels like we need his PoV on something just to see how he feels since he's not expressive as a character.

Rating: 4/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Of Cages and Crowns

Of Cages and Crowns

by Brianna Joy Crump

 

Monroe Benson was born with the gift of fire. As a Goddess Touched girl, Monroe is bond for the capital of her country once the prince comes of age. It is her fate to fight to the death to become the next queen of Erydia.

As one of ten girls, she is destined to either be queen or be dead.

While Monroe has no desire to be queen, she has no choice but to go to the capital and fight to live. As one with the mark of the Goddess, she must go and fight for the hand of the prince.

But it's not just the other nine girls that Monroe has to fear. The current queen and mother of the prince has really enjoyed the power of being in charge. Her husband is so afraid of her and her power that he has let her take complete control of the kingdom. Queen Viera's power is poison and she uses it on anyone and everyone. While she may be allowing this tradition to start, there is no guarantee that she'll allow it end on anything but her terms.

There is palace intrigue, battles for power, and a rebellion stirring and Monroe is caught in the middle of it all.

Final thoughts: I actually was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It wasn't perfect but the characters are well done and it's almost all show and not tell, which is a rarity nowadays. There was some confusion with the physics of the world-building since it often felt like it was going back and forth between pre-tech and tech. It sometimes feel like everything is just candles and wagons, while there are also cars, trains, and they have electricity. Decent story and just kind of a fun read.

Rating: 4/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This May End Badly

This May End Badly

by Samantha Markum

When Weston and Winfield announce that they will merge and become co-ed, Doe is overwhelmed with feelings of anger and denial. Weston has been her home for the past three years and merging with the boys of Winfield could destroy everything that she loved about the school.

Her nemesis at Winfield is Three. When his cousin, Wells, offers her the chance to mess with Three, while also getting him an heirloom that Three has, Doe takes the chance. 

Even as she fake dates Wells, Doe works on pulling off the most legendary pranks against Winfield. This prank war has gone on for generations and Doe has pulled off many against Three and Winfield in her time at Weston and Doe hopes that maybe the prank war can stop the merger.

But the prank war and the merger aren't the most important things that Doe needs to focus on. There is a darkness lurking within Doe and within Doe's precious school.

Final thoughts: This was a pretty well done story. It was solid and Doe has a strong point of view. My only real complaints were that everyone and everything had a person's name (even the parents were referred to by their first names, making it often difficult to keep all of the characters straight) and one of the pranks was extremely dangerous but there were no real consequences. Otherwise, the story is solid and I believed Doe's growth over the course of the book. 

Rating: 4/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I Speak Boy

I Speak Boy 

by Jessica Brody

After Emmy messes up a "meet cute" setup that she was making for her best friend and a boy at school, she ends up dunked in the dirty water of the "Enchanted Lagoon" at their school's first-ever carnival. Desperate to keep her phone from becoming permanently drowned, she drops it into a bag of expired rice. 

While waiting for her phone to recover, Emmy thinks over the disastrous night and wishes that she could understand the alien language of boys. 

Wish granted.

Once the phone is up an running, Emmy's translator app on her phone suddenly is no longer just "iSpeak" but "iSpeak Boy". Now everything that males of the species say, write, and draw can be translated in this handy little app, making Emmy the "Love Coordinator" of her middle school. She's helping girls figure out the boys they like and she's getting popular as she does it.

But not everyone likes what Emmy is doing and not everyone who likes what she is doing can be trusted.

Final thoughts: Modern day middle school retelling of Jane Austen's Emma. This is written for upper elementary and middle school students so that should be considered, but it really is cute and fun. 

Rating: 4/5

A Good Day for Chardonnay

 A Good Day for Chardonnay

by Darynda Jones

It's about four months after the events of A Bad Day for Sunshine and Sunny finally seems to be able to have a real life outside of her sheriff-ing duties. She's even going on dates. Granted, they are blind dates that are set up by her parents with men who really aren't her type, but it's a start. Right?

Things get a little crazy when her best friend calls her in a panic over a wild raccoon at his cabin. 

They get a little more crazy that same night when there's a stabbing at the bar of the man that Sunny has been crushing on since she was around four years old (and he was about 6).

Things get even crazier when a cold case from Sunny's past ends up back on her radar.

And, on top of all that, the mayor is holding things over Sunny's head if she doesn't solve the mystery of the legendary group who is thought to run the town.

If only there was some time to just sit back and get a drink!

Final thoughts: I love all Darynda Jones books and this one is no exception. She's got a special writing voice that just makes me jealous. I wish I could come up with these comebacks in a few months, let alone the seconds the characters have to say them. I got a little confused by the Dangerous Daughters subplot as it was mentioned in the beginning and resolved near the end, with nothing in the middle. I feel like either I missed something or something was just missed. Additionally, one HUGE peeve was the use of c*&t in the book. It's just once (at least in this ARC) but it seriously pulled me, more accurately, YANKED me right out of the book. That is such a harsh word and its use was in a place that was the exact opposite of the connotation I usually feel for that word. I hope it gets changed before the final book is released.

Rating: 4/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

 

Every Single Lie

Every Single Lie

by Rachel Vincent

Living in a tiny town means that there are no secrets, but there are always rumors.

When Beckett finds a tiny, dead preemie in the girls' locker room at her high school, a big secret is revealed and rumors run rampant.

Now the town is suddenly wondering who the mother is, what happened, and if Beckett herself is in the middle of it all.

When a new Twitter account starts sharing details that no one else should know, it gets followers from around the world and peaks the interest of local and national news.

Now Beckett is in the center of a firestorm and feels like no one can be trusted.

 

Final thoughts: Almost too real in today's world. Beckett's life has been pretty harsh during the last year, but it's all realistically built and not unbelievable at all. The boyfriend angle was resolved a little oddly, but the rest was solid.

 

Rating: 4/5

Smoke Bitten

Smoke Bitten

by Patricia Briggs

Mercy has survived miniature zombie goats, vampire attacks, the fae, angry werewolves, a rapist, and her own bad luck. Now she needs to survive an unknown fae who has escaped Underhill, a rogue group of werewolves, the tension in her own marriage, and killer bunnies. (Monty Python would be so proud.)

For some reason, Adam, her husband and werewolf mate, has shut down their mating bond, while also spending late nights at work and sleeping in the guest room, effectively cutting Mercy out of his life. Mercy is trying to be patient and wait him out, but some people need a little offense instead of waiting in defense.

Tilly, the physical manifestation of Underhill, has dropped a door to her land in the Hauptman backyard in order to be closer to their semi-adopted son and former Underhill resident. Upon entering this world, she lets out an unknown fae who can take over the minds of its victims and make them do evil things to the people around them. 

There is a group of werewolves who have decided that now is the perfect time to try and take over their pack.

There's Wulfe, who has become radically changed after the events of the last book and who is now even more scary and unstable than ever before.

And there are killer bunnies...

With all the juggling that Mercy must do now, she should probably join a circus. 

Final thoughts: I love new Mercy books and this is no exception. She is such a strong character who knows her own mind and heart. She also seems to be the focus of a lot of bad juju, compliments of her father, Coyote. I hope that she gets a few days off of the crazy someday, although that will probably mean that I won't have anything to read and that would be sad. As with all of her books, Briggs has a complicated and convoluted story that makes sense at the end and makes better sense after a reread or two. I LOVE the return of some characters that we haven't seen for a while. I can't wait for the next book.

Rating: 4.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Shout

Shout

by Laurie Halse Anderson

The author of Speak still has so much more to say.
But she won't whisper these words
These words she will Shout!

She will let out all that has been fighting her inside
and outside
Everywhere
and nowhere
It is time to let that voice out
It is time to tell her truth
It is time for her words to be read
and heard
and felt
and taken in
and made a part of
and lived
and loved
and absorbed

By every person who has felt anything
Ever


Final thoughts: This is the first time I have ever wanted to write on the pages of a book. I wanted to note and comment and mark every passage. If I had a highlighter, I would have made this whole book yellow and pink and blue. I actually dog-eared a couple of pages for the first time since high school (oh so many years ago). This is a must-read. And page 243 is now my life-mantra.

Rating: 5/5

A Bad Day for Sunshine

A Bad Day for Sunshine

by Darynda Jones

Sunshine Vicram has returned to her hometown with her freshman daughter, Auri, in tow. Despite having tried to run as far away as possible (about 30 minutes), she's back and she has somehow become sheriff of Del Sol without even knowing she was running. (How do you win an election you didn't put your name in for?)

On the plus side, she's living in her parents' backyard in an "apartment" they'd had built just for her and her daughter (as if they KNEW she would win that election she didn't enter) and she's got her forever BFF as her deputy.

She also starts her first day with a flasher, a rooster-napper, a car through the window of the sheriff's office building, a kidnapping, and a run-in with the guy she has crushed on since she they were kids.

She'll take on the kidnapping as the easiest of the things to deal with.

At the same time, Auri is at her first day of high school in a new town and she's starting on a bad foot since just a few days prior, her mom's BFF deputy raided the completely secret but known by everyone high school party and confiscated the beer (for himself). Now Auri is suspecting of being a narc and the student body pretty universally hates her. Except for Cruz. He is difficult to read, but doesn't seem to be anti-Auri.

Now both mom and daughter must pool their resources to figure out why someone would take another freshman who looks a lot like Auri and how to stop that freshman's prophetic dreams of dying before her 15th birthday from coming true.

Final thoughts: I LOVE Darynda Jones and all of her snark. There are some very Charley-ish moments here (and a reference, so we're in Charley-land!), but the vibe between mother and daughter brings on a different feel. Plus we get swoons for multiple ages now so RL moms can start sharing this with their older teen daughters. Some of the plot points are obvious and future stories can also be predicted, but Jones weaves a complicated web for all of her characters and this is really a joy to read. The only negative that I had was with the formatting of the Kindle ARC since the two ladies trade off points of view for the story and it sometimes isn't immediately obvious that we've switched with the formatting as it currently appears. 

Rating: 4.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.

Sparrow

Sparrow

by Mary Cecilia Jackson

Savannah Rose, better known as Sparrow, is a brilliant dancer. Her lifts and jumps are the envy of everyone in the company. She will definitely be the Swan Queen in the next major showcase.

But Sparrow keeps her private life out of her dance. She tries very hard to keep them separate. Her friends are from ballet. Her social life revolves around ballet. And she has no one else.

Until Tristan.

He's everything a girl could dream of. He's kind. He's generous. He's gorgeous. And he says he loves her...

... after every time he abuses her.

His love has conditions. His love depends on her behaving. If he gets angry, then she must have done something wrong.

Sparrow learned this with her mother years before. If they are angry, you were bad.

No matter how hard Sparrow's friends try to show her the truth and no matter how hard they try to protect her, they are no match for her own deep insecurities. 

And they are definitely no match for Tristan's fists when he gets angry. 

Final thoughts: Whoa. This one hit every button in me. I literally cried more than a few times during this. It is NOT an easy read. But it IS a necessary one for many. The author really nailed all of the points of view on this one. While there were a few little things to nitpick, the overall story is deep and meaningful. There is no HEA (Happily Ever After) in this. It does end, but it's not the same, predictable ending that people have come to expect. This ending is real. I strongly recommend this, but warn that there are triggers here.

Rating: 5/5

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Forge for the ARC.

Written in Red

Written in Red

by Anne Bishop

When Meg Corbyn arrives at the Howling Good Reads doorstep in the middle of a storm, Simon is more than wary about what else she might be bringing to him. However, hiring her as the new human liaison is better than the alternative and the job needs doing, so he agrees to allow her in as the only human in the community of Others.

What Simon could never have prepared for was Meg's past following her or Meg's own innocence in understanding the world being the thing that unites the Others around her. 

Now, the people who lost Meg want her back and the person who wanted Meg's new job wants her gone so Simon and the rest of the Others must figure out how everything ties together and how to protect their new human before the prophecies that Meg brings come true.

Final thought: A new series for me! This is my first Bishop novel and I'm wondering why I never read them before. This book has so much depth of character and story that I even got emotional a few times. No tell vs. show here! All of the characters come together so well and the world building was great. I can't wait to read the next one!

Rating: 5/5

Dear Rachel Maddow

Dear Rachel Maddow

by Adrienne Kisner

Who needs Dear Diary or Dear Abby when you have Rachel Maddow?

Brynn Harper's life is not a bowl of cherries. She's a lesbian living a closeted life with her ultra-conservative mother and abusive stepfather. She struggles with basic schoolwork because the letters and words dance before her eyes. Her older brother died two years before from an accidental overdose. And everyone, or almost everyone, believes she'll die the same way even though she's never taken a single drug.

Brynn's school life is no better as she's been relegated to the "Applied" section in the blue room of the basement, just trying to get through her days until she turns eighteen and can finally leave all the negative behind.

When Brynn is asked to write to a celebrity hero for a school assignment, she picks Rachel Maddow, mostly because Brynn's mother would go nuts if she found out. When Rachel responds, it starts a whirlwind of movement in Brynn's life starting with school politics and ending with the beautiful new girl who comes to peer-tutor in the blue room.

Life is never easy and fighting is always hard but Brynn may just have everything she needs to get through it all if she can just see it right in front of her eyes.

Final thoughts: Solid realistic YA fiction. Brynn's stepdad is pretty evil and it's difficult to see why her mom stays with him but that's true for many dysfunctional families, so that all fits. It's so difficult to read stories like these especially when you know how true they are in this world. I love Brynn's voice. She's so real and raw and sometimes so very oblivious. The ending isn't a happily ever after, but it's real and true. I wish the dyslexia had been diagnosed and discussed rather than just implied, but it was still good to see that kind of realistic depiction of a learning disability.

Rating: 4/5

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and MacMillan Children's Publishing Group