Tag: arc review

Check and Mate by Ali Hazelwood Review

Thank you to Penguin Teen for the copy of Check and Mate by Ali Hazelwood ARC!

Check and mate by ali hazelwood cover pink background, black and white square checkboard on bottom, chess pieces flying, blonde white girl wearing blue shirt and white skirt and brown hair tan boy wearing blue shirt and red pants shaking hands,

This is one of my most anticipated reads of this year. Ali Hazelwood cannot miss.

I loved the Love Hypothesis. And I loved this!

This is Hazelwood’s debut YA novel which was a little nerve-wracking for me. I couldn’t see how Hazelwood could go from removing galaxy-tights-during-adult-times to anything without “adult” topics.

She does it though.

The book keeps her witty charm and does have some more “raunchy” scenes while also staying true to a YA plot.

The romance is sweet and empowering. It has that male character that Hazelwood is known for with rivals-to-lovers.

The plot revolves around chess, which I believe in the acknowledgments Hazelwood addresses that she took some creative liberties, (I am not sure about the game itself or rules or tournament lingo), so for the more chess-inclined, just relax and enjoy the book.

While it is a romance book, it addresses sexism in the chess world in true Hazelwood fashion. I always appreciate her books showing the sexism in the fields she covers. Also, I love her science-field-based books, but goodness I wanted her to write more chess books. This book was so cute, divine, adorable, and a million other synonyms.

One disclaimer, the book is riddled with “cringey” stuff like talking about TikTok and slang, and I am warning you now because when it comes out I don’t want to see anyone complaining about it. It’s normal to write like that so please just let people breathe.

As always I am giving her book a five out of five stars. I thoroughly enjoyed it. No, I DEVOURED this book.

This book will be out in November, so pick up your copy.

You can pre-order Check and Mate by Ali Hazelwood by clicking on this link for Amazon. I may receive a commission from this link which would help support this blog.

Thanks for reading!!

Star Rating: 5

Rating: 5 out of 5.

My Most Anticipated Book: The Ballad of Never After

I want to thank Flatiron Books for giving me a copy of this book’s ARC for free.

This book releases September 13th and if you haven’t pre-ordered this yet, DO IT!

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission. Thank you!

Book Review:

You are not ready for this.

Honestly, this book consumed me from the moment I picked it up. This is Garber’s best writing, best romance, best plot, best everything.

Garber knew what we wanted and what we needed, and she served it to us on a rose gold platter.

The Ballad of Never After ARC Book Image

Book Plot:

WOW

I was blown out of the water reading this book.

The plot seemed a bit predictable at first, but wow it took me for some loops.

We learn so much more about the lore of the story. We get more characters. Hearing more stories about the Great North made this universe that much more believable and real.

Book Characters:

The two main characters, Evangeline and Jacks, are my favorite characters. This book makes their characters 30000% times better and made me fall in love with each of them more.

First, Evangeline goes through so many trials, and she seems to become stronger with each page. Similarly, Jacks becomes more four-dimensional. I love his arc throughout the story. Readers get to see a softer and more caring side to him.

The Ballad of Never After ARc Photo

Book Romance:

Okay, okay, I know I said no spoilers, but this might be a bit of a spoiler. There is some romantic tension in this book, and it is AMAZING!

That is all I should say about that.

Quality of Writing:

In previous novels, I have always felt Garber’s writing to be a bit weak. She really impressed me with this book though.

Descriptions of the setting are more solid and descriptive. Similarly, the dialogue feels so much more genuine. Writing-wise, Garber is not going to be the next great novelist, but it makes up for that in plot!

I cannot wait to get my hands on the hardcover I ordered.

What I Liked:

  • JACKS
  • Plot
  • Complete jaw-dropping ending
  • Evangeline’s arc

What I Didn’t:

  • The writing was still a bit too easy

Read This If You Love:

  • Caraval
  • Once Upon a Time
  • Magical realms
  • Learning about curses
  • Fairytales

Star: 5

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Follow this link to look at the Goodreads information.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

A New Book About Time Travel

Welp, I just don’t know how I feel.

I want to thank the Head of Zeus and Net Galley for letting me receive a copy of this ARC for an honest review.

Book Review:

The book started slow, so slow that I couldn’t even read it. And then by the end, it as going so fast I could barely comprehend.

The twists and turns made my head hurt, and even after getting all the answers, I still don’t get it.

Time travel is such a hard topic to wrap a head around. I feel like there are some assumptions made in this book that just make it hard to get it.

The dad, Sam, whole role was frankly unnecessary. His time travel POVs were not necessary to the story as a whole. They only provided a glimpse of what was going on with him. Then halfway throughout the book, his POVs dropped off.

Adeline had a great storyline, and I loved the twists and turns of her characters. But I still don’t understand why. Why did she do what she did half the time? Her constitution swayed so much between who and what she trusted.

If you read this book, you have to hold out til the last half to get sucked in.

What I Liked:

  • Twists
  • Secrets
  • Time travel

What I Didn’t:

  • The machine didn’t make a whole lot of sense
  • Bored

Read This If You Love:

  • Science fiction
  • Time travel
  • Dinosaurs

Star: 2

Rating: 2 out of 5.

The Book:

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Lost In Time Book cover

Title: Lost In Time

Author: A.G. Riddle

September 1st 2022 by Head of Zeus

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 416

Synopsis:

“When his daughter is falsely accused of murder, a scientist must travel 200 million years into the past to save her. But there are secrets waiting there. And more than her life is at stake.

From the worldwide bestselling author of Departure and Winter World comes a standalone novel with a twist you’ll never see coming.

Control the Past.
Save the Future.

One morning, Dr. Sam Anderson wakes up to discover that the woman he loves has been murdered.

For Sam, the horror is only beginning.

He and his daughter are accused of the crime.

The evidence is ironclad. They will be convicted.
And so, Sam does what he must: he confesses to the crime.

But in the future, murderers aren’t sent to prison.

They’re sent to the past.

Two hundred million years into the past—to the age of the dinosaurs—to live out their lives alone, in exile from the human race.

Sam accepts his fate.

But his daughter doesn’t.

Adeline Anderson has already lost her mother to a deadly and unfair disease. She can’t bear to lose her father.

She sets out on a quest to prove him innocent. And get him back. People around her insist that both are impossible tasks.” -Goodreads