I waited a long time -- too long! -- to read The Truth Project.
Author Dante Medema (whether she knows this or not) was one of the very first people to start following the Tart’s Instagram account. Of course, I followed her right back, and not long after that, she announced her upcoming debut publication. I've been waiting to read The Truth Project since the day it was published back in 2020.
Correction: I've been waiting to read it since...
The Bone Houses has one of the best first lines I've ever read: "The evening air smelled pleasantly of a fresh grave." I mean, come on. HOW CAN YOU NOT GET SUCKED IN BY THAT? Talk about imagery. Take notes, fellow writers. This is just one example of author Emily Lloyd-Jones's beautiful writing in this young adult historical fiction/ fantasy / horror novel mash-up. Lloyd-Jones has mastered the art of being evocative enough to immerse you in the...
House of Salt and Sorrows is aptly named: there's a heck of a lot of Salt, and there's way more sorrow than necessary plaguing the Thaumas family. The more you read, the more you're like, Sheesh, hasn't this family been through enough??? Despite having more money than Pontus, the one thing they don't have is the ability to keep their women out of harm's way: in the past few years, Annaleigh Thaumas has lost her mother and four -- four! --...
If I'd known that drinking tea in American Royals is considered unpatriotic, I might have avoided reading this one. Out of protest for my favorite beverage, of course. Naaaaawwww, jk! This book is awesome. I'm so glad I didn't know about the tea thing beforehand. Author Katherine McGee's version of America apparently never quite recovered from the slights of the British against the colonists, and the American Palace refuses to serve tea to its...
Oh, man. This book is heavy. The Things She's Seen was a hard one to read, but it's oh-so worth it. I received an ARC of this YA title by Australian brother-sister writing duo Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, and I was thoroughly hooked from the first page. This story is a poignant blend of mystery, fantasy, and brutal reality that will leave you eagerly turning the pages for more. There's a lot of action and issues packed into this slim...
I can't believe it's the second week of October already! Halloween is rapidly approaching, which means it's definitely time to over-indulge in reading my favorite genre of books -- supernatural horror. This month's Quick Look Books is a two-parter. While I have plenty of scary books to recommend for adults, I also get asked about supernatural reads that would be appropriate for pre-teens and teenagers. I greatly empathize with the plight of...
Love can be creepy. And The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, among many other things, is a love story. A twisted, gruesome, incredibly disturbing love story. AND IT’S AMAZING. Where do I even begin? First, you should know that this is my first time reading anything by Kiersten White. I received an ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy) of her newest book from Delacorte Press, and while the premise of the novel sounded interesting, I had never...
