• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Project by Courtney Summers | ARC Review

    1st February 2021
    Cover of The Project (Courtney Summers)

    The Project by Courtney Summers

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: cult, gaslighting, manipulation, child abuse, abuse (cigarette burn, scalding, etc.), panic attacks, death of family members, suicide (jumper), vandalization, pregnancy, car accident, substance-induced psychosis, threatening, possible PTSD, infidelity

    The Project is a story about a cult, The Unity Project led by Lev Warren, and the unbreakable ties between sisters Lo (b. 1998) and Bea (b. ca. 1992) Denham.

    Lo has always dreamed of being a writer but is currently, in 2017, stuck working as an assistant for Paul Tindale at SVO, a magazine company. When the opportunity arises for her to dig into The Unity Project, a religious organization Lo believes to have taken Bea from her, she risks her own safety for a series of exclusive interviews with Lev. With Lo being facially scarred from a life-threatening car accident that killed both her parents in 2011, she is recognizable everywhere at The Project’s compounds as Bea’s little sister. But Lo is tired of everyone else knowing Bea when she hasn’t heard from her sister in a long time, and she is desperate to find out what is really going on at The Unity Project.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi | ARC Review

    20th September 2020
    Cover of The Silvered Serpents

    The Silvered Serpents (The Gilded Wolves #2) by Roshani Chokshi

    CW: dismemberment, torture, blood Forging, off-screen killings, emotional abuse, alcohol, (possible) panic attacks, antisemitism, racism, suicide of a very minor character, bombing, manipulation

    I love the tagline, “They are each other’s fiercest love, greatest danger, and only hope.” Upon finishing, I realized just how true it is.

    “We debase ourselves for the ones we love.”

    Laila
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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

    15th September 2020
    Cover of The Gilded Wolves (Roshani Chokshi)

    The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves #1) by Roshani Chokshi

    The overall atmosphere Chokshi had created was gloomy, haunting, and breathtaking. She stated that the idea for this trilogy stemmed from hearing about the “human zoo” displaying Filipinos in 1904 World’s Fair. Then she came across another “human zoo” featuring “Negro Village” in 1889 Exposition Universelle. The Gilded Wolves series was never meant to be a cheery story. Set in the 19th century, Chokshi wanted to show the “beauty and horror” of La Belle Époque, The Beautiful Era. In her words, “When we revise the horror and sanitize the grotesque, we risk erasing the paths that led us here.” And I love how she managed to achieve telling an honest story with a magical twist in this first installment.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    What Unbreakable Looks Like by Kate McLaughlin | ARC Review

    25th June 2020
    Cover of What Unbreakable Looks Like (Kate McLaughlin)

    What Unbreakable Looks Like by Kate McLaughlin

    Lex was trafficked, and in that life, she was Poppy. When Lex’s aunt Krys came to take her home after the police’s rescue, she had the chance to live as Lex again. But soon, her new boyfriend and his friends sexually assaulted her. Would Lex decide to own her past and fight back as an activist?

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Lobizona by Romina Garber | ARC Review

    29th April 2020
    Cover of Lobizona (Romina Garber)

    Lobizona (Wolves of No World #1) by Romina Garber

    Manuela Azul has special eyes. Eyes that her mother made her hide behind sunglasses. Raised in Miami to a single Argentine mother, Manu dreamed of the day when she would be a U.S. citizen and the end of her almost 17 years of hiding. But when her “grandmother” was injured and mother taken away by ICE, Manu was left to fend for herself for the first time in her life. A life she understood almost nothing about.

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