This is the fourth book in the delightful Magical Bookshop series by Amanda Flower. Violet Waverly is in a bike race for a fundraiser set up by her grandmother, the mayor. (Daisy) and a man is murdered right in the middle of the race! The man was douchey snooper Joel Redding, who Violet is convinced knows the magical secret of the bookshop. Violet's friend Jo has also been acting strangely and as more clues pop up it seems there are a lot who wanted Joel dead. And the bookstore won't stop pushing Leaves of Grass on her for some reason! Cascade Falls is always a fun place to book visit and the mystery is well-plotted.

Fair warning, this book starts off incredibly slowly but is definitely well worth the read. The main character is Lena, the oldest daughter and next in line for leadership. Her sister, Fressa wants to marry her love Amal but can't because custom dictates that Lena must be first married. I feel I'd be doing this book a great disservice if I didn't mention that grief may well be a main character. It permeates Lena's every action and insinuates itself in her life, driving her to do things that if she weren't traumatized and grieving, cause me to label her  "too stupid too live" Why the grief? Well, Fressa dies. (Oh, I'm not spoiling anything! It's on the book blurb!) There's not a mark on her body and Lena knows something's up. So, she makes a deal with the goddess of death to switch out her sister's soulf for another of equal weight. What do we say to the goddess of death? Apparently, "Sure I'll kill people!" Well,

I'll be honest. I don't generally care for Christian fiction because a lot of what I read seemed really preachy and judgmental to me (although to be fair back in the day I was over the moon about Lurlene McDaniel) so a friend gave a rec for Melanie Dickerson and three days or something later, this book popped up on Netgalley. I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. So Kat and Steffan both obviously have PTSD and Stef is a recovering alcoholic. They are far from perfect in terms of mental health and they join together to figure out what the deal is with the Beast, a malevolent entity that has lured the children away from Hamlin. They have to put up with Kat's dastardly (is there a word stronger than dastardly? Diabolical, maybe?) stepfather Hennek and his gross henchman. I really liked the way this one ended and am very interested in checking out the other books in this series.

Catfishing on CatNet was amazing and I most definitely will recommend it to fans of YA fiction. So, what I'd like to talk about is the joy in community found on the internet. Yes, it can certainly be a hive of scum and villainy but I have often found my family online. Care to talk about your online family? -Sarah

This is a phenomenal addition to Arthurian legend. I've always thought that Guinevere was done dirty by legend. This Guinevere is not actually born as Guinevere and that's such an interesting thought in the "What's in a name?" line of thinking. Our Guinevere is sent by Merlin to marry King Arthur to protect him since magic has been banished in Camelot. The writing is wonderful and there are some twists that are absolute delights. I'll not spoil it but it was an absolute delight to read! I am here for this and you should be too!

It struck me after reading this that this book could be a continuation of a Romeo and Juliet story.  What happened in the decade after if nobody had learned their lesson? The situation Valerie finds herself in is a difficult one until she literally has the choice taken away from her at gunpoint. So she adapts. This is a very sad story, the premise being founded on a child's murder but it's also a celebration of life. Valerie finds happiness and a sense if community with the Stags as they attempt to fight gentrification. And I've got to say, having lived in Seattle, Shannon Price is on point about this.

Spoiler alert I'm going to be very honest. I don't think I can give a good review without being spoilery. So, if you're not into that read the book and then read this. I thought this book was going to be mostly the submersible race. It was not. The book starts with Leyla, a girl who has spent her life underwater after water covered the earth after cataclysmic earthquakes. Leyla has never left London and is trying to get her father out of prison. She ends up basically road tripping it with a  Friend of her grandfather's friend. In all honesty, I could see this being the entirety of the book and I'm so glad it's not. There's a lot in this about bigotry, fear, and Othering. This one does end on a cliffhanger.

This book was a trippy fun ride to Oz and back. It takes the story from the movie and the books in really interesting way. As in Kansas is grey, but it also mentions the Winkies. I haven't read the books in years so I completely had forgotten who Gayelette was. I had to do a Wiki search and then was like, "Ohhh" There are a couple more moments like this. The book has its share of comedy. For instance, the scarecrow is a brain eating zombie who became a zombie to escape becoming a vampire. The Tin Man was a romantic until killing his love rendered him heartless. Also Dorothy has a crush on him. The stakes are high but the story is told with humor and warmth and not the grimdarknedgy that I felt bogged down the "Dorothy Must Die" series.

I really wanted to like this book. I like the idea of mixing religion, magic, and politics. Sadly, there were so many things that just did not work for me.. For instance, it's never explained why the Tranavians turned from the gods. Nadya is set up to be a powerful character and just ...becomes reduced to a love interest. The chemistry between Malachiasz does not exist! It was so boring to read about them. This book was really boring to read also on account of the fact that it constantly repeats itself. Look, it wasn't all bad. I think there's a lot of potential and I have the sequel thanks to Netgalley, so I hope that one drastically improves.