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News

February always comes along so quickly!

I can’t believe it’s the end of the second month of the year.

Since I decided to take a step back from feeling the self-imposed need to post multiple times a week on this blog, I feel simultaneously like I have done nothing, but I have also done ALL THE THINGS.

So it’s been going well, don’t worry.

I’ve even read a bunch of books!

I feel like I am gaining better control of my life and hobbies.

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Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme created by Tynga’s Reviews and hosted by Reading Reality.
It’s all about sharing the books we’ve picked up for the week, whether they are bought, borrowed, gifted, galleys, physical or virtual.
Share your shelves and remember to visit Reading Reality to find more great books!

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Purchased

This is Not The Jess Show by Anna Carey

A timely YA thriller about a teenage girl whose reality may not be what it seems, blending 90s nostalgia with a speculative hook that dissects our modern reality TV and influencer-obsessed culture.

Like many teens, sometimes it feels as though everything in Jess Flynn’s life has been engineered for maximum drama–from her performance at the school talent show, to the reappearance of her childhood best friend and perennial crush Jeremy, to her friends trying to set her up with one of the hottest guys in school. It’s almost as if everything might finally be going her way…until one day a tiny black phone with an apple logo on its screen falls out of her best friend’s backpack and lands at Jess’s feet.

The problem is, it’s 1998, and the first iPhone isn’t due out for another nine years.

Jess’s friends refuse to acknowledge the strange device. Her sister Sara, on hospice care with a terminal blood disease, for once can’t tell Jess what she should do. It’s almost as if everyone is hiding something from her. Even her beloved dog Fuller seems different…like, literally different, because he definitely didn’t have that same pattern of spots on his stomach last week…

Nothing in Jess Flynn’s world is as it seems, and as the cracks begin to show, Jess will discover her entire life is nothing more than someone else’s entertainment. Except in this reality, the outside world is no place anyone would want to escape to.

I wanted to read this book ever since I saw it as an ARC. At the time I had stopped requesting ARCs, but I found it recently at a book shop for a decent price.

Fun fact: The Truman Show actually used to be my favourite film, so I’m pretty hyped to read this.

Slay On Tour (Slay #2) by Kim Curran

SLAY are BACK…and this time they’re headed to Tokyo to track down another hell-raising demon. When they’re invited on tour with a super-cool band of holographic girls, SLAY find themselves whisked off around Japan – until strange things start happening on their tour train. Suddenly it seems it’s not just SLAY’s fans following their every move…

I’ll confess: I own but haven’t read the first book in this duology. Unfortunately I’ve reached the point in my book buying life where I have missed out on some sequels that are no longer in print, so I wanted to get this before it fell to that fate as well.

We Are The Fire by Sam Taylor

In the cold, treacherous land of Vesimaa, children are stolen from their families by a cruel emperor, forced to undergo a horrific transformative procedure, and serve in the army as magical fire-wielding soldiers. Pran and Oksana―both taken from their homeland at a young age―only have each other to hold onto in this heartless place.

Pran dreams of one day rebelling against their oppressors and destroying the empire; Oksana only dreams of returning home and creating a peaceful life for them both.

When they discover the emperor has a new, more terrible mission than ever for their kind, Pran and Oksana vow to escape his tyranny once and for all. But their methods and ideals differ drastically, driving a wedge between them. Worse still, they both soon find that the only way to defeat the monsters that subjugated them may be to become monsters themselves.

I think the biggest reason I decided to buy this was because it has a couple of elements in common with The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska, which I LOVED. I am drawn to the wintery setting, the pyromancy, and the idea that two characters desperate to free themselves might have to do terrible things.

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Monthly Wrap Up

Book Stuff

• Number of books read: 4
• Finished a series: Girls With Sharp Sticks series by Suzanne Young
• Started a series: The Orphan Queen by Jodie Meadows, The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker
• New to me authors: Kylie Lee Baker and Madeleine Roux.
• Favourite book: The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

Book Reviews:

• [2 Feb] The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker ★★★★
• [9 Feb] The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows ★★★★★
• [16 Feb] Girls with Rebel Souls by Suzanne Young ★★★★
• [23 Feb] The Book of Living Secrets by Madeleine Roux ★★½

Game Reviews

• [25 Feb] Game Review: Lost Ember

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