So, This is Christmas by Tracy Andreen

 

“When Finley Brown returned to her hometown of Christmas, Oklahoma, from boarding school, she expected to find it just as she left it. Christmas hasn't changed much in her sixteen years. But instead she returns to find that her best friend is dating her ex-boyfriend, her parents have separated, and her archnemesis got a job working at her grandmother's inn. And she certainly didn't expect to find the boy she may or may not have tricked into believing that Christmas was an idyllic holiday paradise on her grandmother's doorstep. It's up to Finley to make sure he gets the Christmas he was promised. This is Finley's Christmas. It's about home and family and friends and finding her place, and along the way she also finds the best Christmas present of all: love.” - taken from Goodreads.com

This book turned out to be the perfect brain break that I needed just before Christmas break. Finley doesn't fit in at her exclusive boarding school and is contemplating coming back home to Christmas, Oklahoma. Securing a flight home, she is shocked to arrive home and find that her parents are separated. Even worse, one of her classmates Arthur has brought his aunt with him to celebrate Christmas and Christmas. They decided to visit based on the town's website that Finley secretly embellished to impress her new classmates.

The hilarity and soul searching that Finley encounters on her trip home is a cross between a Hallmark movie and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. A definite hit.

Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (The Aurora Cycle book 3)

 

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first two books in the series, Aurora Rising and Aurora Burning, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

Please visit the Book Series Recaps if you need a refresher of the first book.

“Is this the end?

What happens when you ask a bunch of losers, discipline cases, and misfits to save the galaxy from an ancient evil? The ancient evil wins, of course.

Wait. . . . Not. So. Fast.

When we last saw Squad 312, they working together seamlessly (aka, freaking out) as an intergalactic battle raged and an ancient superweapon threatened to obliterate Earth. Everything went horribly wrong, naturally.

But as it turns out, not all endings are endings, and the te4am has one last chance to rewrite theirs. Maybe two. It's complicated.

Cue Zila, Fin, and Scarlett (and MAGELLAN!): making friends, making enemies, and making history? Sure, no problem

Cue Tyler, Kal, and Auri: uniting with two of the galaxy’s most hated villains? Um, okay. That, too.

Actually saving the galaxy, though?

Now that will take a miracle.” - taken from Goodreads.com

For me, too much time had passed between the publication of the second and third books in this trilogy. The beginning of this book seemed to take a while for the storylines to converge onto one path. Our characters are literally scattered throughout time and space but once I saw where the story was going, I was hooked. Definitely a satisfying conclusion to his trilogy. 

Visit Amie Kaufman’s website.

Visit Jay Kristoff’s website.

You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus

“Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day.

Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out--he's been working two jobs since his family's business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up.... again.

So when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They'll ditch and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they've barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say...

Until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school--and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it's about to get worse.

It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common. They all have a connection to the dead kid. And they're all hiding something.

Now they're all wondering--could it be that their chance reconnection wasn't by chance after all?” - taken from Goodreads.com

Karen McManus’ latest mystery takes place over the course of one action-filled day. Cal, Ivy, and Mateo were inseparable in middle school after sneaking out during a field trip. Their friendship has been non-existent since the beginning of high school. On the morning after Ivy losses the student council president election after holding office for the previous three years, she is devastated. Seeing Cal and Mateo in the parking lot before school, Ivy and the boys decide to skip school and recreate that day of adventure from the middle school field trip.

Things go downhill fast as the three discover a dead body and uncover a drug ring in their hometown. With each one keeping secrets from one another, it's not long before they are in a race for their lives to uncover who is the mastermind before one of them is next. I wasn’t sure where the author was going with the ending until the rug is pulled out from your feet.

Visit Karen M. McManus’ website.

Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong (These Violent Delights book 2)

 

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first book in the series, These Violent Delights, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

Check out Riveted if you need a recap of the first book. 

“The year is 1927, and Shanghai teeters on the edge of revolution.

After sacrificing her relationship with Roma to protect him from the blood feud, Juliette has been a girl on the warpath. One wrong move, and her cousin will step in to usurp her place as the Scarlet Gang’s heir. The only way to save the boy she loves from the wrath of the Scarlets is to have him want her dead for murdering his best friend in cold blood. If Juliette were actually guilty of the crime Roma believes she committed, his rejection might sting less.

Roma is still reeling from Marshall’s death, and his cousin Benedikt will barely speak to him. Roma knows it’s his fault for letting the ruthless Juliette back into his life, and he’s determined to set things right—even if that means killing the girl he hates and loves with equal measure.

Then a new monstrous danger emerges in the city, and though secrets keep them apart, Juliette must secure Roma’s cooperation if they are to end this threat once and for all. Shanghai is already at a boiling point: The Nationalists are marching in, whispers of civil war brew louder every day, and gangster rule faces complete annihilation. Roma and Juliette must put aside their differences to combat monsters and politics, but they aren’t prepared for the biggest threat of all: protecting their hearts from each other.” - taken from Goodreads.com

Juliette and Roma ended things badly between the two of them at the end of the first book. Juliette bears a heavy secret and the monster of Shanghai has returned to wreak havoc. The two are thrown together by feuding fathers to work together to uncover this new threat. Soon, the two grow closer as they try to save their city from the coming war.

This book focuses more on the historical aspect of the time period with tensions bubbling over between the Nationalists and the Communists. Even though I still hold out hope for a different ending, I am excited to see what this author writes next.

Visit Chloe Gong’s website.

Slay by Brittany Morris

“By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the "downfall of the Black man."

But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for "anti-white discrimination."

Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically Black in a world intimidated by Blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?”

I picked up the audio version of this book on a whim completely unprepared for what the story entailed. Kiera Johnson is one of the few Black students at her high school, along with her sister Stephanie and her boyfriend Malcolm. Outside of school, Kiera has created an online gaming universe where Blacks from around the world can play without facing discrimination that is sometimes found in other role-playing games. No one knows about Keira's role in the creation of SLAY.

When a teenager is murdered in his own home over SLAY, the world begins to take notice of the game. Faced with the fact that her identity may be revealed and possible repercussions for the murder, Kiera has no one to turn to, especially when a new player to SLAY is determined to destroy the game.

This book hit me with all the feels and the identity of Dred Scott blew me away. An excellent read!

Visit Brittany Morris’ website.