His Mortal Demise by Vanessa Le (The Last Bloodcarver book 2)

 

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

“Kochin is a heartsooth -- a rare being with the ability to heal any wound. Any wound, that is, except death.

Intent on defying nature and bringing Nhika back to life, Kochin keeps her body in a life-preserving casket and waits for a miracle. Stricken with grief and descending into madness, Kochin realizes the answer to his desperate quest can only lie in one place: Yarong, the lush yet battle-ridden island the first heartsooths called home.

Months later, Nhika wakes in a familiar manor-house, with Kochin nowhere to be found. As she traces his footsteps across Theumas, she discovers the haunting path he walked to bring her back, and a world changed by war.

When Kochin discovers the true and grisly way to resurrect a person from the grave, he must decide exactly how much he is willing to sacrifice, in order to reunite with the woman he loves…” - taken from Goodreads.

Told between Kochin six months ago and Nhika in the present time, this story was slow to wrap up until the end.

Visit Vanessa Le’s website.

My Life With the Walter Boys by Ali Novak

 

“Jackie Howard does not like surprises. Chaos is the enemy. The best way to get her successful, busy parents to notice her is to be perfect. The perfect look, the perfect grades—the perfect daughter. And then…

Surprise #1: Jackie’s family dies in a freak car accident.

Surprise #2: Jackie has to move cross-country to live with the Walters—her new guardians.

Surprise #3: The Walters have twelve sons. (Well, eleven, but Parker acts like a boy anyway.)

Jackie is now surrounded by the enemy. Loud, dirty, annoying boys—who have no concept of personal space. Okay, several of the oldest guys are flat-out gorgeous. But still annoying. She’s not stuck-up or boring—no matter what they say. But proving it is another matter. How can she fit in and move on when she needs to keep her parents’ memory alive by living up to the promise of perfect?” - taken from Goodreads.

Jackie Howard's life has been turned upside down with the car accident that killed her family. Three months later, her guardian thinks a change in scenery would be best and her mother's college roommate offers to take her in. Moving from New York City to Colorado is enough of a culture shock, but the Walter family has 12 boys. Can Jackie fit into the ranch life and what happens when more than one brother shows an interest in her?

Visit Ali Novak’s website.

Meet Me in the Middle by Alex Light

 

“Eden had her best friend Katie—she didn’t need anyone else. But then there was Truman.

Katie’s older brother, the artist. The recluse. The boy with the innocent smile and the dangerous eyes.

Eden had never really known Truman—not until the night of Katie’s accident. That was the night they’d finally let each other into their orbits—only to have the sky come crashing down on them.

With Katie in the hospital and Truman fleeing from his grief without a word, Eden is left alone to grapple with her own pain. But when Truman returns to the city, can Eden let him back into her life knowing that their first kiss is what tore their world apart?” - taken from Goodreads.

This was a gut wrenching read of love and loss. Told between the POV of Eden, Katie’s best friend and Truman, Katie’s older brother, the story switches between the events leading up to Katie’s accident and the traumatic aftermath. Guilty over what transpired before the accident, neither Eden nor Truman can't get past that eventful night and what they feel is their part. What happened between Eden and Truman the night of Katie's accident and why was she in the car? Will either of them be able to get past their guilt to find happiness?

Visit Alex Light’s website.

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston (Once Upon a Con book 3)

 

SPOILER ALERT! This is a companion story that takes place after The Princess and the Fangirl. While it’s not necessary to read the previous book first, I wouldn’t want to spoil any of the details for you. 

“In the third book in Ashley Poston's Once Upon a Con series, Beauty and the Beast is retold in the beloved Starfield universe.

Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.

On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he's forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read.

When Rosie and Vance’s paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Reigns, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he’s a jerk, and she can’t stand him. The feeling is mutual.

But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.” - taken from Goodreads.com

I drove right into this latest installment of the khans series and didn't want to come back up. Loosely based on the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, Rosie and Vance are charged with organizing a library rare Starfield novels. They are standoffish in the beginning but after several mishaps between the two of them, they soon realize that the other was the special someone from a night at the ExcelsiCon, the magic begins to happen.  Fans of the previous two books will get a few brief glimpses of past characters. 

Visit Ashley Poston’s website.

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer (Letters to the Lost book 1)

“Juliet Young always writes letters to her mother, a world-traveling photojournalist. Even after her mother's death, she leaves letters at her grave. It's the only way Juliet can cope.

Declan Murphy isn't the sort of guy you want to cross. In the midst of his court-ordered community service at the local cemetery, he's trying to escape the demons of his past.

When Declan reads a haunting letter left beside a grave, he can't resist writing back. Soon, he's opening up to a perfect stranger, and their connection is immediate. But neither Declan nor Juliet knows that they're not actually strangers. When life at school interferes with their secret life of letters, sparks will fly as Juliet and Declan discover truths that might tear them apart.” - taken from Goodreads.com

This story did pull at my heartstrings and I couldn’t stop turning the pages to see when Juliet and Declan would discover who the other was. Tormented by their grief, these two form an unlikely relationship, anomalously at first. As feelings between the pair grow between their letters and interactions, I was ready for these two to move past their grief. I adored Declan’s friend Rev and I cannot wait to read his story in More Than We Can Tell. I definitely need to read more from this author. 

Visit Brigid Kemmerer’s website.

What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

“Sometimes a new perspective is all that is needed to make sense of the world.

KIT: I don’t know why I decide not to sit with Annie and Violet at lunch. It feels like no one here gets what I’m going through. How could they? I don’t even understand.

DAVID: In the 622 days I’ve attended Mapleview High, Kit Lowell is the first person to sit at my lunch table. I mean, I’ve never once sat with someone until now. “So your dad is dead,” I say to Kit, because this is a fact I’ve recently learned about her.

When an unlikely friendship is sparked between relatively popular Kit Lowell and socially isolated David Drucker, everyone is surprised, most of all Kit and David. Kit appreciates David’s blunt honesty—in fact, she finds it bizarrely refreshing. David welcomes Kit’s attention and her inquisitive nature. When she asks for his help figuring out the how and why of her dad’s tragic car accident, David is all in. But neither of them can predict what they’ll find. Can their friendship survive the truth?” - taken from Goodreads.com

I absolutely loved this book. Told in an alternating points-of-view between Kit and David, the narrators in the audio version really brought the anguish, anger, and excitement to life. The author's research into Asperger Syndrome made David's actions and personality come to life. Kit is dealing with the accidental death of her father and its impact on the lives of her and her mother was heartbreakingly portrayed. With a slow building, emotional climax, readers will be rooting for Kit and David. A worthwhile read for most everyone.

Visit Julie Buxbaum’s website.

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

“Amy Curry is not looking forward to her summer. Her mother decided to move across the country and now it's Amy's responsibility to get their car from California to Connecticut. The only problem is, since her father died in a car accident, she isn't ready to get behind the wheel. Enter Roger. An old family friend, he also has to make the cross-country trip - and has plenty of baggage of his own. The road home may be unfamiliar - especially with their friendship venturing into uncharted territory - but together, Amy and Roger will figure out how to map their way.” - taken from Goodreads.com

I don’t know why it has taken me so long to read/listen to a Morgan Matson book. I had heard great things about Amy & Roger's Epic Detour but they didn’t do the book justice. Amy Currie is still reeling from her father’s death a few short months earlier. Her twin brother Charlie is in North Carolina at a drug rehab and her mother has taken a job in Connecticut. Amy was left behind in California to finish out her school year. With money tight, her mother decides that a family friend’s son can drive their car and Amy across the country. Amy is not too thrilled with the prospect of four days with a total stranger but she has no choice. When Roger Sullivan comes to her house to start their trip, it isn’t too long before the two decide to deviate from Mrs. Currie’s plans and head off on their own.

As they travel across the country, Amy and Roger begin to fight and heal from their own inner demons. An epic road trip ensues as readers discover what exactly happened when Amy’s father died.

Visit Morgan Matson’s website.

Phantom Limbs by Paula Garner

“How do you move on from an irreplaceable loss? In a poignant debut, a sixteen-year-old boy must learn to swim against an undercurrent of grief—or be swept away by it.

Otis and Meg were inseparable until her family abruptly moved away after the terrible accident that left Otis’s little brother dead and both of their families changed forever. Since then, it’s been three years of radio silence, during which time Otis has become the unlikely protégé of eighteen-year-old Dara—part drill sergeant, part friend—who’s hell-bent on transforming Otis into the Olympic swimmer she can no longer be. But when Otis learns that Meg is coming back to town, he must face some difficult truths about the girl he’s never forgotten and the brother he’s never stopped grieving. As it becomes achingly clear that he and Meg are not the same people they were, Otis must decide what to hold on to and what to leave behind. Quietly affecting, this compulsively readable debut novel captures all the confusion, heartbreak, and fragile hope of three teens struggling to accept profound absences in their lives.” taken from Goodreads.com

This book is full of mystery and heartbreak. Otis is struggling with a lot. His best friend and former love has suddenly come back into his life after three years of silence and has dredged up lots of conflicting emotions. His little brother, Mason, died at Meg’s house. The two families who were very close and are suddenly ripped apart when Meg’s family moves to California. Otis is also dealing with Dara, a girl who has become his unofficial swim coach now that her dreams of a swimming career are shattered because part of one of her arms was amputated. Readers will be captivated not only by the glorious prose that is Ms. Garner’s novel but their desire to unravel and journey alongside Otis as he learns not only the circumstances and the impact his brother’s death had on the two families but more about Dara and what makes her tick.

How did Mason die? What were the circumstance surrounding his death? Why did Meg’s family leave town afterward? How did Dara lose part of her arm? Why is she determined to make Otis a better swimmer? Can Otis overcome the grief he feels over his brother’s death? What happens when Meg comes back into Otis’ life? How will Otis’ story end?

Visit Paula Garner’s website.

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

“What if the person you need the most is someone you’ve never met?”

“Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help?

It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son.

In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?” - Goodreads.com

Jessie Morris’s life has been turned upside down since her mother’s death from ovarian cancer and her father’s surprise remarriage. Marrying a film executive that he met through an online bereavement group, she finds her life upturned when she and her father move to Los Angeles to live with his new wife and her son. Not fitting in at her new school, Jessie receives an email from Somebody/Nobody or S/N for short. The anonymous writer offers to help Jessie navigate the halls of Wood Valley. Jessie accepts the help and it’s not long before the two move from emails to instant messaging.

As Jessie tries to fit into her new life, things aren’t going well at home. Soon she begins to rely on S/N even as she finds herself attraction to Ethan, her English partner. Jessie begins to try and uncover the true identity of S/N even while it seems someone is interested in her. I had my suspicions about the true identity of S/N about ⅔ of the way through. And that ending! More than one boy shows up for the big reveal to keep the reader on their toes until the very end.

What happens when Jessie discovers the identity of S/N? Is it who she hopes it to be? Does she act on her feelings for Ethan? Can she repair her relationship with her father and her new family? Will Jessie ever feel like she fits into her new life in Los Angeles?

Visit Julie Buxbaum’s website.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Ever since her younger brother's death, Andi and her parents have been swallowed by grief. Her father, a Nobel winning DNA scientist, is as consumed with his work as ever and has moved on with a new girlfriend. Her mother, an artist, paints portriats of Turman all day and night, commenting that she can never get the color of his eyes right. Andi is a senior at a prestigious Brooklyn prep school. She is gifted both academically and as a guitartist, but is failing out of school over her guilt in Truman's death. When her father finds out from the school that Andi hasn't started her senior thesis, he encounters a house filled with grief. He checks her mother into a mental hospital for treatment and takes Andi with him to Paris where he is going to be working on a project and she can begin her thesis outline.

Andi and her father go to stay with his college roommate, G, who is a world famous expert on the French Rvolution. G is looking for the financial backing to start a museum on the Revolution and has brought in Andi's famous father to help him on a gentic experiment. G wishes to do DNA testing on what is believed to be the heart of Louis-Charles, the son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antionette. When Andi sees pictures of the heart encased in its glass urn and a portriat of the ten year old heir, she immediately thinks of Truman. The resembalance is uncanny. G allows her to play an expensive antique guitar that he illegally purchased from someone who found it in the catacombs beneath Paris. Andi is thrilled to be playing such a fine guitar. In looking at it's case, she realizes that the lock is broken and begins to work on opening it. In a last ditch effort to free the lock, the key Andi keeps around her neck falls from her shirt. The key belonged to Truman and Andi has worn it since his death. She tries it in the lock and it works. When the bottom opens, Andi thinks she has broken the case but soon realizes that it has a false bottom. In it she finds a miniature portriat of Louis-Charles and a diary written during the Revolution.

Soon Andi is drawn into the diary of a young girl named Alex who was the companion for Louis-Charles. The diary is her way to get his story to the public but was lost for the past 200 years. Between working on her thesis outline and reading the diary, Andi meets a handsome young taxi driver who is an aspiring musician. She soon finds herself falling in love with Virgil but is terrified by becoming close to someone after walling herself and her emotions off from the rest of the world.

Will Andi be able to pick up the pieces of her life and resolve her feelings of guilt over Truman's death? Can she repair her broken relationship with her father and manage to write her thesis? Is Andi capable of revealing herself not only to Virgil but herself? And what will happen to Alex in the diary and the mysterious Louis-Charle? Does the story end well for either girl?

Visit Jennifer Donnelly's website.

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

A long, hot summer

Sixteen-year-old Macy Queen is not having a good summer. Jason, her brainy and driven boyfriend, will be at camp all summer and she is filling in for him at the library's information desk. Jason's coworkers are degrading to her and out right cruel most times. And Macy and her Mom are stil struggling with their grief over her father's sudden and unexpected death eighteen months earlier. Things go from bad to worse when after telling Jason she loves him in an e-mail, he e-mails back with the suggestion that they take a break over the summer and see if their priorities are the same at the beginning of their senior year.

At an open house for her mother's latest housing development, Macy meets the Wish Catering crew. Monica or Monotone is quiet while Kristy Palmetto wants to go someplace where no one knows her and reinvent herself. Delia, who owns Wish, is pregnant, spastic, forgetful and believes "everything happens for a reason." And then there are Delia's nephews, brothers Bert and Wes. Bert has just gotten his driver's license and bought a surplused ambulance to drive around. Wes is the former reform school student and budding artist who holds the gang together

Macy soon joins the Wish crew and begins working with them. As the summer progresses, Macy learns that no one can be perfect and finds herself and her goals in life changing. But what happens when Macy's mother doesn't like the changes in her daughter or her new friends? And what part in Macy's new attitude does Wes play? Can Macy and her mother finally grieve her father's death?