Night Owls and Summer Skies by Rebecca Sullivan

 
Night Owls and Summer Skies by Rebecca Sullivan
My Rating: ★★

I received a copy from Wattpad Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Emma Lane is stuck spending her last summer dictated by her parent’s custody arrangements, her expectations of being stuck with her homophobic mother go from bad to worse. Not only does it turn out her mom remarried and never said anything, but she’s dropping Emma off at summer camp while she goes on her honeymoon. Angry and hurt, the last thing Emma wants to do is return to the same summer camp that lives on in her nightmares. The only thing left for her to do is unleash hell on her cabinmates so she can get kicked out.

I had a hard time getting into this book because I found Emma to be an extremely unlikable character. I understand that she’s upset that she’s been dropped off at summer camp, but teenage me would’ve avoided her like the plague in and out of summer camp based on her entire personality. That said, I do think that Emma’s an interesting character. While she’s abrasive and only focused on herself, she doesn’t put up with anyone’s crap, and that includes the camp bully, Lauren. Honestly, I think this is the only thing I liked about Emma.

That said, I did love some of the other characters, especially Gwen, Vivian, Walter. They’re such sweet and funny characters that they really are the saving grace of the story. Whatever happens, one of them turns up and made me ready to continue reading. Although, I do think it would’ve been quite interesting if these characters didn’t appear often and we got to see a full showdown occur between Emma and Lauren.

Speaking of the camp bully, Lauren is truly an awful character. I think that she was a pretty realistic bully, but I don’t buy her reason for bullying. It just didn’t make any sense, especially when the main reason she bullied Gwen was because she wanted to become a camp counselor. While the reasons bullies are the way they are rarely make much sense, even this was a bit out there for me to find plausible.

The story itself was okay. I’ve been going back and forth about how I feel about it because on one hand, there’s some good things here. We see Emma dealing with one supportive parent. There’s a lot of talk about mental illness and how that effects people on the daily. We’ve got a bully who eventually finally reaps what she sows rather than getting a slap on the wrist in the end. I also love that Emma basically gets adopted by the family running the camp, providing her more of the support she needs.

However, the issues I have with the story keep pulling me down. Emma gets the same slap on the wrist as Lauren for terrorizing her campmates while trying to get kicked out. Lauren’s reasons for bullying doesn’t make any sense to me. I find it hard to believe next to no one in charge noticed that one of their own, Gwen, was being isolated and bullied by a camper. I love the relationship between Emma and her father, but I find it hard to believe that her dad wouldn’t investigate why he hadn’t heard from her nearly all summer. I know she’s mad when he drops her off at her mom’s place, but he'd try to call or text and know something was up when he got nothing in reply.

All in all, I don’t think it’s bad. If I take a step back and ignore its issues, it’s a cute story about a girl finding herself while being adopted by her found family.

Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes (Pandava Quartet #3) by Roshani Chokshi

 
Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi
My Rating: ★★★★★

Aru and her soul-sisters are on a mission to rescue the clairvoyant trapped on a Ferris wheel before the Sleeper can hear their prophecy. The good news is that they have clairvoyant and her twin sister. The bad news is that they failed the second part of the mission spectacularly. Not only did the Sleeper hear the prophecy, but so did several innocent bystanders. With the rumor mill cranking at record speed, Aru and her soul-sisters are banned from missions and sent off to a crisis manager to give them a full PR makeover. Unfortunately for everyone, they have other plans, as Aru is convinced that the prophecy is sending them to find the Kalpavriksha before the Sleeper can get to it.

I’m so excited to have just finished another book from this wonderful series. Aru and her soul-sisters are extremely relatable characters that I love dearly. Mini remains my favorite character, but I love several of the characters that we see regularly plus the ones we meet in passing. Plus, each book always has a good balance between serious and hilarious on top of being fast-paced and full of moral lessons.

This time around, the story really pulls on the heartstrings as we watch Aru really struggle with sadness and anger about the life she could’ve had if her dad never became the Sleeper. Then we have the newest Pandava sisters, Sheela and Nikita, who struggle with loneliness, the loss of their parents, and feeling constantly let down by the people around them. I really feel for them all and I think that readers who relate to them, without the fantasy aspects of course, are really going to feel seen while reading this installment of the series.

I absolutely love how every new character is brought to life. It always makes me wish I could somehow be transported into the book. I do think that Aru and company always read as a few years older than they’re supposed to be, but it’s the only complaint I ever have while reading these books. I will say that Sheela and Nikita actually do read as the ages they’re supposed to be. Plus, Aru’s ultimate reaction to the final revelation regarding her father reads as a 14-year-old’s perspective, so that’s a step in the right direction.

I’m so glad that I finally got to read this so close to the release of the next book because the ending has me reeling. I’m not sure how I’d be able to hold on if I read this last year because that ending has left me with many thoughts and questions. If you have not checked out this series, I highly encourage you to do so. It’s absolutely wonderful!

**GUEST REVIEW** Psyren by Toshiaki Iwashiro

Hello everyone! I'm excited to announce that I am hosting a series of guest reviews once a week over the next few weeks. I have met each of these wonderful people through the online magazine, Books & Quills. In addition to hosting guest reviews, I also have the pleasure of being a guest blogger on each of their blogs. Feel free to check out Books & Quills as well as each of the upcoming guest reviewer's blogs. My first guest reviewer is Julana. I hope that you enjoy their book review!

Cross Stitch Collages - 250 Tiny Patterns and 20 Cool Projects by Alyssa Westhoek

 
Cross Stitch Collages by Alyssa Westhoek
My Rating: ★★★★★

I’ve been cross stitching for just about two years now and Alyssa is one of my favorite pattern creators so far. I was extremely excited when she announced that she was coming out with her first pattern book on top of excited to see the patterns she’d be including. At the moment, Alyssa’s book is only available through her etsy shop, stitchonomy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/Stitchonomy), so you won’t be able to find it through other retailers at this point in time.

The book is in both English and Dutch. Rather than producing two separate books in each language, you will find each page is half English and half Dutch. There is also a variety of chapters, which includes cross stitching instructions, tips, and basic info for beginners who may buy or receive the book as gift. There are also ideas on different ways that the patterns may be used outside of stitching fabric, including keychains, clothes, and earrings. The instructions on each of these sections are clear on top of having beautiful pictures.

At the end of the book, you will find the patterns that are peppered throughout the previous chapters on top of a few templates. Like all of Alyssa’s patterns that can be found in her shop, they are easy to read and stitch. I love how much effort she put into her first book showing how imaginative she is on top of showing stitchers, especially new stitchers, how creative they can get with tiny patterns. I’m excited to see what she may have in store for us with any future pattern books!

Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
My Rating: ★★★

Sia Martinez’s life was turned upside down when ICE took her mom. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, her mom went missing while trying to get back to the states and hasn’t been seen since. Trying to continue her life, Sia is thrown off by the rift growing between her and her best friend, Rose. It doesn’t get better when Rose warns her not to get too close to the new boy in town, Noah, but Sia finds herself becoming more and more drawn to him. At least, she was until his own secrets come spilling out and leave her furious. Ready to give up boys and make up with her best friend, the unbelievable happens: a UFO crash lands and Sia’s mom, injured but alive, walks out.

I picked up this book because I thought it had an interesting concept taking a very real situation and throwing a bit of science fiction in. I will say that opening the book, it may seem a bit daunting when you see that it has 224 chapters but fear not! These chapters are primarily 1-3 pages long. That said, I do think that several of the chapters did not need to be separated from one another and the separation disrupted the flow in those instances.

I loved several of the characters, specifically Sia and her parents, Rose and her mom, Rose’s girlfriend, Noah, and even River. The friendship between Sia and Rose is very realistic and while it was sad to see them go through some bumps in their relationship, it made a lot of sense and took me back to my own teenage years. It was also fun to see the two of them make up, even under the craziest of circumstances.

Before the story starts, there is a short list of trigger warnings so that readers can choose to bow out. The list includes sexual assault, PTSD, domestic violence, racist violence, and of course death of a parent. The opening of the book was very sad and realistic with Sia mourning the loss of her mother on top of the circumstances in which she went missing. The book also deals with a lot of racism, and the difference between the racism that Sia and her family experiences and the racism that Rose and her family experiences. In addition, Sia also deals with PTSD from a sexual assault that she goes into detail about later in the book.

One of the things I liked about the sci-fi aspect of this book is how slowly it starts. First, Sia is in disbelief. Then it is kind of a crazy and weird coincidence. By the time there is a UFO crash and Sia’s mom comes walking out, we already went through a very slow introduction to science fiction to ease readers into it. However, from this point on, it’s a huge whirlwind and the story is flying at ultra-speed. Because of this, there is a lot of exposition that weighs down the progression of the second half of the book.

While I loved the story, I am not exactly happy with the ending. I wish there were more time spent on wrapping it up. I felt a little like I was watching a television series and accidentally skipped the three episodes prior to the series finale. Between this and the amount of exposition that was thrown in to keep up with the fast-paced science fiction aspect rolling at record speed and the chapters that needed to be combined into a single chapter, I knocked two stars off my rating.

The Other Daughter by Lauren Willig

The Other Daughter by Lauren Willig
My Rating: ★★★★

Rachel Woodley is content being a governess in France until her mother suddenly dies. Shattered, she returns to England where she is forced to clear out her childhood home in record speed when Rachel discovers a photo of her father hiding under her mother’s pillow. Why is there a picture of her late father under her mother’s pillow, and how was it taken recently? Shocked to the core, Rachel learns that not only is her father very much alive, but also a well-respected earl with another family. Furious, she’s determined to meet her father and take revenge on him and his other family.

In this juicy book, we follow Rachel Woodley as she goes from governess to pretending to be a rich party girl named Vera so she can get closer to the sister she never knew and take her revenge. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. It was interesting to watch Rachel go from a governess and relying on her meager savings until she finds a new job to pretending to be a rich party girl staying in a lavish home. It was interesting to watch her slowly truly become Vera only to realize that this new persona isn’t who she really is, and the life she could’ve had is not as great as she thought it’d be. Plus, revenge is not always sweet, especially when you don’t know the whole story.

While the setting was grand and fun, I think that it also has a great cast of characters. I personally found it interesting that every character we meet is not who they appear to be on the surface. Characters who are seemingly the life of the party are suffering from debilitating depression, sweet and thoughtful characters are just sharks lurking in the water, and people Rachel thought she knew well turn out to be the exact opposite of what she thought. I particularly liked Rachel’s sister, Olivia. She seems meek, cold, and distant but really isn’t.

I will say that some of the dialogue was a bit cringey and try hard, particularly the dialogue between characters at parties. It got better as the story progressed, but it strongly came off as a bunch of people trying very hard to be cool and it just was not working. It kept taking me out of the story when it first started, but once I got used to it, it did not faze me often.

I also found it odd that Rachel barely mourned her mother. For someone who was very close with her, Rachel mourned her for a day and occasionally got sad here and there. At first, I thought she was pouring her grief into her revenge plan, but then she got a little sad about her mom exactly one time when the revenge was coming to an end. I just find it extremely unrealistic that she had the fastest mourning period ever for someone she deeply cared about. In fact, she seemed to still be mourning her father even when finding out he was alive while her poor mom was left in the wind.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and could not put it down. I had so much fun reading about Rachel’s adventures and getting absorbed in all the secrets. The only reason I knocked a star off is because of the awkward party dialogue and Rachel’s practically nonexistent grief about her mother’s passing.