Plus One by Kelsey Rodkey

 

“They say that those who can’t do, teach.

Lahey Johnson is notorious for helping her friends and classmates find love. Sure, she’s never had a boyfriend herself. But she could. If she wanted to. Right? She just hasn’t had a reason to focus on her own love life—but now, with her detested cousin Summer’s sweet sixteen coming up, she’s got the ultimate reason: revenge.

Lahey will do anything to prove that she can get a date to Summer’s party—anything, including juggle six prospective suitors in seven days. She’s matched people before—all she needs to do is figure out who these guys are looking for and become that girl. Easy.

The only issue? Her older sister’s irritating friend Adler has decided to take a front-row seat to the spectacle that is Lahey’s life. He can bother her all he wants—nothing will distract Lahey from her goal of one-upping Summer.

But as the party creeps closer, the panic sets in.

Can a matchmaker ever really meet her own match?” - taken from Goodreads.

I really enjoyed this book even though I wanted to shake Lahey at times for her selfishness. For someone who was so good at being a matchmaker for others, she failed miserably when it came to herself. Thankfully, she came to her senses before it was too late.

Visit Kelsey Rodkey’s website.

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by Amelie Wen Zhao (Song of the Last Kingdom book 2)

 

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first book in the series, Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

“The Demon Gods have risen. Skies’ End has fallen to the colonizers. And Lan and Zen have chosen sides.

But they will not fight together.

Though Lan inherited the power of the Silver Dragon, she understands the path she must take. She believes the Demon Gods to be the cause of war, conflict, and turmoil, and that the future of the Last Kingdom depends on their being eliminated forever. Worse, she knows that if the Elantians manage to bind one of the legendary beings, their army will be unstoppable and any hopes of Hin rebellion will be crushed. To save her kingdom and her people, Lan will need to find the only mythical weapon capable of destroying the Demon Gods: the Godslayer.

Zen knows the only way to defeat the Elantians and free the Last Kingdom is to use the power of the Demon Gods. When he bound the Black Tortoise, he paid the ultimate price: to inherit its strength, he will forfeit his body, his mind, and his soul. Yet one Demon God is not enough against the might of the Elantian Empire. In the ruins of the northern Mansorian lands slumbers a magical army of demonic practitioners capable of facing off against the Elantians—but Zen must find the Seal to awaken them to fight by his side.

At the center of both Lan’s and Zen’s journeys is the fabled desert city of Shaklahira, a former stronghold of the Imperial Court that vanished without a trace when the Elantians invaded. Its location is a mystery, and both are sure that it holds the answers they need, but the past it hides might be more dangerous than anything they’ve faced yet.

The battle for the Last Kingdom rages on. But to win the war, Lan will have to face the ultimate choice—will she kill the boy she loves to free her people?” - taken from Goodreads.

I don’t want to give too much away about the ending of this story but fans will be satisfied with the ending.

Visit Amelie Wen Zhao’s website.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

 

“Lights. Camera. Lies.

18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and Bel wishes everyone would just move on.

But the case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again.

Rachel has an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn’t sure it’s real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And – could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead . . .” - taken from Goodreads.

Bel has never known her mother, only what she knows about the day she disappeared and left her behind. Now, sixteen years later, a documentary filmmaker is in town telling the story of the disappearance of Rachel Price. Bel cannot wait for the nightmare to be over and get back to her normal life. Having left filming one day, she comes across a woman who looks like her mother. Running home to safety from her worst nightmare, Bel realizes that she cannot hide from the truth, her mother has come back from the dead. 

The reunion isn’t what Bel expected and everyone’s reactions seem to be of relief. The more time Bel spends with her mother, she begins to realize that Rachel’s story doesn’t seem to add up. Why has Rachel Price suddenly reappeared after sixteen years? And is Bel justified to question her mother’s return?

This book kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end! Definitely my favorite book of 2024.

Song Like Sliver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao (Song of the Last Kingdom book 1)

 

“Once, Lan had a different name. Now, she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people's magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak'gong, a city transformed by the conquerors, and spends her days scavenging for remnants of the past. For anything that might help her understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother, in her last act before she died.

No one can see the mysterious mark--an untranslatable Hin character--except Lan. Until the night a boy appears at the teahouse and saves her life.

Zen is a practitioner--one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom, whose abilities were rumored to be drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Magic to be hidden from the Elantians at all costs.

When Zen comes across Lan's unusual qi, he recognizes what she is: a practitioner with a powerful ability hidden in the mark on her arm. He's never seen anything like it--but he knows: if there are answers, they lie deep in the pine forests and misty mountains of the Last Kingdom, with an order of practitioning masters planning to overthrow the Elantian regime.

Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep within. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world.” - taken from Goodreads.

This book was a bit of a beast to get through. There is lots of worldbuilding and back story to get through before the plot really gets going. With a slow burn romance between Lan and Zen and plenty of mystery surrounding each of their backgrounds, readers will be flipping the pages at the end to see all of the secrets that are revealed. Because of a cliffhanger ending, readers will be ready to start book two, Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White.

Visit Amelie Wen Zhao’s website.

The Mortal Instruments: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 7 by Cassandra Clare and Cassandra Jean

 

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

“The graphic novel adaptation of Cassandra Clare's bestselling The Mortal Instruments returns with the seventh installment! The Mortal War may be over, but peace doesn’t last long as tensions begin to rise between Downworlders and Shadowhunters…” - taken from Goodreads.com

This is the seventh volume in this graphic novel series retelling that begins the storyline of City of Fallen Angels. The final page does offer a teaser for an eighth volume that readers can hope will conclude the story. Release date is not yet known.

Visit Cassandra Clare’s website.

Visit Cassandra Jean’s website.

With a Little Luck by Marissa Meyer (Fortuna Beach book 2)

 

SPOILER ALERT! Readers of the first book in the Fortuna Beach series have already met the Barnett family. Jude is the brother of Pru from Instant Karma and her best friend Ari is the other main character. Failure to read the first book will not hamper your enjoyment of this one.

“Jude is determined to fly under the radar. He just wants to draw his comics, host regular D&D night with his friends, work at his parents’ vinyl record store, and escape high school as unscathed as possible. That is, until the night he comes across a mysterious twenty-sided dice and finds himself inexplicably gifted with a bout of supernatural good luck.

Suddenly, everything Jude has ever wanted is within reach. His first art submission is accepted to his favorite fanzine. He helps his friend’s song become a finalist in a songwriting competition. And he’s the 100th caller to a local radio contest, winning him a pair of coveted concert tickets, which he uses to ask out the popular girl he’s been crushing on since elementary school. For a few blissful weeks, he feels invincible.

But when he loses the magic dice at a local music festival, his luck takes a turn for the worse. He struggles to reclaim his good fortune while fighting off long-buried feelings for his best friend―who is definitely not the girl he’s supposed to be in love with. Can Jude risk stepping into the spotlight long enough to win the true girl of his dreams? Or is he doomed to be unlucky in love forever?” - taken from Goodreads.

Jude is hopelessly in love with a girl, Maya, who is completely out of his league and everyone at school knows it. One night while working at his parents’ record store, Jude finds an expensive D&D die and suddenly his luck changes for the good. With everything going his way, Jude asks Maya to go with him to a popular concert that he won tickets to and she agrees. Jude’s good luck goes horribly wrong when he loses his lucky die. Down on his luck, he soon realizes that maybe his longtime crush isn’t the girl of his dreams. But when Jude finally opens his eyes and listens to his heart, will he be able to change his luck?

Visit Marissa Meyer’s website.

I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang

 

“Sadie Wen is perfect on paper: school captain, valedictorian, and a "pleasure to have in class." It’s not easy, but she has a trick to keep her model-student smile plastered on her face at all times: she channels all her frustrations into her email drafts. She'd never send them of course -- she'd rather die than hurt anyone's feelings -- but it's a relief to let loose on her power-hungry English teacher or a freeloading classmate taking credit for Sadie's work.

All her most vehemently worded emails are directed at her infuriating cocaptain, Julius Gong, whose arrogance and competitive streak have irked Sadie since they were kids. "You're attention starved and self-obsessed and unbearably vain . . . I really hope your comb breaks and you run out of whatever expensive hair products you've been using to make your hair appear deceptively soft..."

Sadie doesn't have to hold back in her emails, because nobody will ever read them... that is, until they're accidentally sent out.

Overnight, Sadie’s carefully crafted, conflict-free life is turned upside down. It's her worst nightmare -- now everyone at school knows what she really thinks of them, and they're not afraid to tell her what they really think of her either. But amidst the chaos, there's one person growing to appreciate the "real" Sadie -- Julius, the only boy she's sworn to hate…” - taken from Goodreads.

Sadie Wen is an overachiever, determined to better her life. She is a good girl who is determined not to rock the boat. Sadie has taken out her frustrations with her classmates by responding to what she truly feels in unsent emails that reside unsent in her draft folder. Unfortunately for her, her drafts are mistakenly sent, the majority of them addressed to Julius Gong. Julius is her school rival in everything. When most of the school turns against her, Julius stays by her side. Can enemies become friends and even go beyond?

Visit Ann Liang’s website.