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Review: Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning

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The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning

Lies We Conjure
Sarah Henning
Tor Teen
Published September 17, 2024

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About Lies We Conjure

Knives Out meets The Inheritance Games with magic in this standalone supernatural thriller by Sarah Henning: thirteen witches, a locked-room murder, and two non-magical sisters trapped in a deadly game of Clue

Ruby and her sister, Wren, are normal, middle-class Colorado high school students working a summer job at the local Renaissance Fest to supplement their meager college savings.

So when an eccentric old lady asks them to impersonate her long-absent grandchildren at a fancy dinner party at the jaw-dropping rate of two grand―each―for a single night… Wren insists it’s a no-brainer. Make some cash, have some fun, do a good deed.

But less than an hour into the evening at the mysterious Hegemony Manor, Ruby is sure she must have lost her mind to have agreed to this.

My Review

I’ve really enjoyed everything by Sarah Henning that I’ve read, and Lies We Conjure is no exception. I think it’s the darkest of her books so far, and I’d say ‘Knives Out plus magic’ is a pretty fair description of this one in a nutshell.

I loved the sisters, Wren and Ruby. Wren is impulsive and chipper while Ruby is the more methodical, quieter one. The story alternates between the perspectives of Ruby and Auden, one of the Hegemony cousins and grandson of the magical matriarch. I liked the tension of Ruby and Wren being imposters locked into the estate once the murder takes place.

I kind of expected there to be some hidden magical connection between their family and the other magical families, but that didn’t play out in the way I anticipated, which was fine. They do have a nostalgic connection to the estate.

The story has some great moments between characters and some scenes I didn’t predict at all. I loved the way things were pieced together and how the mystery resolved in the end.

I think reader who enjoy a murder mystery dripping with threatening magic will not be able to put this one down. If you like books by Mary Watson or Deep is the Fen by Lili Wilkinson, definitely check out Lies We Conjure.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Wren and Ruby are white. One of the magical families is BIPOC. One character is nonbinary.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few F-bombs and profanity used fairly infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic and are called witches. There are four main types of magic: elemental, blood, star, and death. Death magic is pretty grisly. Blood magic allows someone to control others.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Apparent murder. Descriptions of fatal injuries.

Drug Content
A few characters drink alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

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Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart #1)
Stephanie Garber
Flatiron Books
Published September 28, 2021

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About Once Upon a Broken Heart

How far would you go for happily ever after?

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings… until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy…

My Review

It’s been a while since I read the Caraval series, but I enjoyed them, so Once Upon a Broken Heart has been on my reading list since it came out. I hadn’t planned on waiting until the whole series was published before reading them, but I’m honestly not sorry I did. It took a few weeks to get the audiobook version of this one from my library, but they do have the whole series, so I’m now back in line for the second one.

I liked this book. It has some of the same things I liked about Caraval, but it has a more open world rather than the more closed-circle experience of that trilogy. It’s got unpredictable, sometimes brutal magic and a brooding, unattainable love interest. It’s got the sweet, starry-eyed girl at the center who has more power than she realizes but whose ability to believe in something may prove to be her greatest strength.

One of the things I liked best was the relationship between Evangeline and her step-sister, Marisol. I wish that a little more of the story had centered around them, actually. They have a tenuous relationship that, for a long time, Evangeline struggles to truly understand. She wants a relationship with her, but worries she can’t trust her, and her guilt over turning Marisol and her entire wedding party to stone definitely interferes.

Oh. So there’s a moment late in the book that I won’t spoil, but I literally sat there saying, “Don’t do it. Nope. Don’t!. You’re about to get Tess of the D’Urberville’d*. Don’t do it!”

Anyway. So I knew I was pretty invested in the story when I was literally shouting at the recording. Haha!

There were a couple of moments that I kind of just had to go with. For instance, at one point, a super-hungry vampire bites someone, but instead of feeding, they inject the person with venom. It seemed very bizarre that they didn’t try to feed since there had been this whole buildup about how hungry this vampire was. But nope. The bite just injected venom for some reason. Maybe that will be explained more later?

For the most part, though, I was absolutely carried away with this wild magical story. I’m looking forward to book two in the series.

*If you haven’t read Tess of the D’Urbervilles, there’s a part in the book in which someone confesses a dark secret to her. It’s a person she has been keeping her own awful secret from (something she feels terrible about, but which isn’t even her fault). So they confess, and Tess is like, oh, whew, you’ll understand my secret then. So she confesses, and nope. It’s not okay. Not at all. I really hated that book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Main characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Evangeline spends the night curled up in a boy’s lap as part of a medical recovery.

Spiritual Content
A group of immortal Fates have limited special abilities. If a human finds the chapel of a Fate, they can pray to them and make a bargain. The Fate may choose to help them but will ask for something in return.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Evangeline hears about a wolf attack that leaves a boy horribly scarred. A boy dies, apparently from some kind of poison. Someone poisons a girl. A large number of vampires bite people. Someone ties up another person and threatens to torture or kill them.

Drug Content
Evangeline drinks wine at a social event.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Beneath These Cursed Stars by Lexi Ryan

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Beneath These Cursed Stars
Lexi Ryan
HarperTeen
Published July 30, 2024

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About Beneath These Cursed Stars

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lexi Ryan comes a romantic fantasy in which a human princess armed with death’s kiss and a fae shifter on the run become unlikely allies when a mission to assassinate an evil king collides with a fatal prophecy.

Princess Jasalyn has a secret. Armed with an enchanted ring that gives her death’s kiss, Jas has been sneaking away from the palace at night to assassinate her enemies.

Shape-shifter Felicity needs a miracle. Fated to kill her magical father, she’s been using her unique ability to evade a fatal prophecy.

When rumors of evil king Mordeus’s resurrection spread through the shadow court, Jasalyn decides to end him once and for all. Felicity agrees to take the form of the princess, allowing Jas to covertly hunt Mordeus—and starting Felicity on the path that could finally take her home.

While Jasalyn teams up with the charming and handsome Kendrick, Felicity sets out to get closer to the Wild Fae king, Misha. Kendrick helps Jasalyn feel something other than anger for the first time in three years, and Misha makes Felicity wish for a world where she’s free to be her true self. Soon, the girls’ missions are at risk right alongside their hearts.

The future of the human and fae realms hangs in the balance as fates intertwine. Between perilous tasks, grim secrets, and forbidden romances, Jasalyn and Felicity find that perhaps their stars are the most cursed of all.

My Review

One of the things I’m learning about myself as a reader is that I don’t especially enjoy books where the main characters are driven by lust for each other. If they’re in life-threatening situations or experiencing/re-experiencing trauma, going into lust mode in those moments feels false to me. Someone is trying to murder the protagonist, and she’s like, wow, I wish he would kiss me right now. That kind of reaction feels false to me. I’m not saying it couldn’t ever happen, but I find it disruptive and a barrier to connecting with the characters.

Beneath These Cursed Stars follows the perspectives of two main characters: Jasalyn and Felicity. Rebels kidnap Jasalyn and Felicity, gifted with shapeshifting magic, steps into her place. In each situation, the girls meet someone irresistible, and their focus becomes divided between trying to achieve their objectives and hoping to get some action with the guys they’re falling for.

If you like stories with a faster-paced, high level of longing, this book definitely delivers. The story also explores Jasalyn’s past trauma and its lingering effects on her, such as touch aversion and anxiety.

Several moments took me by surprise in this book, which I liked a lot. I definitely had a few moments where I stopped to appreciate how a reveal changed what I already knew or thought I knew about the story.

I think readers who enjoy fantasy stories with a heavy emphasis on romance elements will want to check out Beneath These Cursed Stars.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
The racial details of some characters are ambiguous. The main characters appear white. Two minor characters (men) are in a romantic relationship. Jasalyn is a trauma survivor.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
F-bombs and other profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. In one scene, two characters undress and climb into a natural hot spring together. A couple of scenes show some sexual touching on top of clothes. In one scene, two characters go to bed together and have a sexual exchange.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic or have objects that allow them special abilities. The story contains human and fae characters as well as orcs and goblins. An oracle predicted the fate of several key characters.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to torture. Brief glimpses of torture. Battle scenes. Jasalyn uses her ability to murder with a kiss to end the lives of those who participated in taking/keeping her captive.

Drug Content
Some characters drink alcohol infrequently.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Asking for a Friend by Kara H. L. Chen

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Asking for a Friend
Kara H. L. Chen
Quill Tree Books
Published July 23, 2024

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About Asking for a Friend

This charming YA rom-com follows a strong-willed, ambitious teen as she teams up with her childhood frenemy to start a dating-advice column, perfect for fans of Emma Lord and Gloria Chao.

Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things:

1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love.

2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition.

When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her nonconformist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior. Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview. With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore.

My Review

There’s nothing like reading a great rom-com when you need an escape from the world. Reading this book cheered me up quite a bit. It does wrestle with some big issues as Juliana grapples with the pressure to win the AABC competition, which is her father’s legacy. Her mom expects her to partner with the boy she thinks is the smartest and hardest working, but when he drops Juliana as a partner, she has to improvise a new plan.

It took me a long time to realize that Juliana and Garrett had a history. I think it was vaguely alluded to when she decides to work with him, but I assumed they went to school together or knew each other from community events. I didn’t realize there was more to it until much later in the book.

The conflict between Juliana’s older sister and her mom is really sad, especially since they’ve already lost her dad. The book does a great job contextualizing Juliana and her mom’s choices. I never felt like I didn’t understand why they did what they did, even if I wished they did something different.

The slow-burn romance kept me reading and, when I wasn’t reading, thinking about the story. Garrett is a great character, and I love the way he encourages Juliana without trying to control her.

All in all, this is a fun, light romance. Readers who enjoyed Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other) by Livia Blackburne or The Charmed List by Julie Abe will like this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Juliana and many other characters are Taiwanese Americans.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
About a half-dozen instances of profanity in the book.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Juliana’s older sister got pregnant unexpectedly while in college and dropped out.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Juliana’s mom disowned her sister after finding out about her pregnancy. Juliana’s dad passed away from cancer a few years before the story begins.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Joined at the Joints Marissa Eller

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Joined at the Joints
Marissa Eller
Holiday House
Published July 2, 2024

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About Joined at the Joints

When baking-obsessed Ivy meets a super-hot boy who shares her rare diagnosis, sparks fly outside of the kitchen for the first time in her life!

Chronically ill seventeen-year-old Ivy has stayed in watching the Food Network all summer—pies are better than people, and they don’t trigger her social anxiety. So when her (also) chronically ill mom and sister cook up a plan to get Ivy out of the house and into a support group, Ivy doesn’t expect to say more than a few words.

And she certainly doesn’t expect Grant. Grant is CUTE: class-clown cute, perfectly-messy-hair cute, will-always-text-you-back cute. There’s an instant connection between them. He has the same diagnosis as her–juvenille rheumatoid arthritis–and he actually understands Ivy’s world.

But just because he understands Ivy’s pain doesn’t mean he can take it away. And she wishes he could—because it’s getting worse. Ivy has always tried her best to appear pain-free, but between treatment plans, symptom management, and struggling with medical self-advocacy, being sick feels more and more difficult. Will Ivy’s delicious new romance pan out? Can she keep up the façade, for him and for the world… or should she be brave and let it go?

Marissa Eller serves up a sweet, satisfying romcom that tackles the realities of chronic illness—and coming-of-age milestones from friend breakups to first kisses—with wry humor, tons of heart, and a huge helping of honesty. Nuanced, poignant, and deeply enjoyable, readers will fall for Eller’s voice in this compelling debut that offers all the right ingredients.

My Review

This is such a sweet book. I loved that because both characters understand rheumatoid arthritis, there’s not a lot of one character educating the other. Both Ivy and Grant have some similarities and differences in their experiences, and they share enough common ground to offer support to one another when it’s needed.

Ivy is a great character. I love stories about baking or cooking, so the scenes in which she prepares food were great. When a character’s love language is food, I find it easy to connect with them. I also liked her relationship with her sister, Caroline. They look out for one another but give each other space and autonomy, too. They have a great balance. The descriptions of their younger brother, Ethan, made me laugh, too. He felt like such an energetic character, even when he was just in the periphery of a scene.

The relationship between Grant and Ivy is great, too. They like each other from the start, but it didn’t feel too insta-love-y to me. Maybe because Ivy is so shy and takes so long to admit that she likes him and that he seems to like her, too. I liked the progression of the relationship and how they leaned on one another.

In terms of a summer romance, Joined at the Joints hits all the right notes. It’s sweet, thoughtful, and full of fun. Definitely a good one for a weekend read.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Ivy and Grant have juvenile idiopathic arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis). Ivy also has social anxiety. Ivy’s sister, Caroline, has celiac disease. Her mom has lupus. Caroline and Ivy join a support group for teens with chronic illnesses.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
F-bombs used infrequently. Strong profanity used somewhat infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A baseball strikes a character, leaving an ugly bruise. Ivy experiences growing pain in her joints that becomes increasingly debilitating. Some references to ableist comments.

Drug Content
Just the drugs prescribed by Ivy’s doctor.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: A Magic Fierce and Bright by Hemant Nayat

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A Magic Fierce and Bright
Hemant Nayat
Simon & Schuster
Published July 9, 2024

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About A Magic Fierce and Bright

A young technomancer teams up with a handsome thief to save her sister in this propulsive, magic-filled young adult fantasy that is perfect for fans of Gearbreakers and Iron Widow.

Adya wants nothing more than to be left alone. Content to be loyal to no one but herself in the isolated jungles of South India, she dreams only of finding her lost sister, Priya, and making enough money to take care of their family. It’s too bad that her rare ability to wake electric machines—using the magic that wiped them out five centuries ago—also makes her a coveted political pawn. Everyone seems to believe that her technomancy can help them win the endless war for control over the magic’s supernatural source.

These senseless power struggles mean little to Adya. But when her enemies dangle news of her sister before her, she’s all too quick to leap at the chance to bring Priya home—even if it means teaming up with a rakish, disreputable thief in order to do it. With the threat of invasion looming ever larger on the horizon, Adya must reconcile the kind of person she is with the kind of person she wants to be and untangle the web of intrigue, conspiracy, and deceit that threatens to take all of India down with it.

My Review

Once in a while I read a debut novel and come away from it knowing I’ll happily read whatever the author writes next. A Magic Fierce and Bright is one of those debuts.

The story has so many incredible elements. First, I love the unusual magic of the technomancers. In this book, machines have souls, and Adya can sense them. They communicate with her, too. Honestly, there’s one motorcycle that’s quite possibly my favorite character in the whole book. It’s got a great personality and hilarious insults.

I’m also a huge fan of sister stories, so Adya’s quest to find her missing sister absolutely resonated with me. Her relationship with her overly optimistic younger brother is so sweet, and her antagonistic relationship with Dsouza, the boy she refers to as Bad Day made me laugh. (And maybe swoon, a little bit.)

I devoured chapter after chapter of this book, getting lost in its dense jungle and magic-soaked cities. It’s a fantastic adventure with a sliver of romance. I have no idea if it’s a standalone or the beginning of a series, but I will eagerly watch for the next book by this author.

Fans of Flower and Thorn by Rati Mehrotra or The Star-touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi will not want to miss this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Most characters are Indian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
A brief kiss between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Adya prays to focus her magic. She encounters the spirits of different machines and can repair them using magic. Other kinds of magic exist in India, too. Adya’s mother believed combining them could be incredibly powerful, but Adya believes it’s what got her killed.

The story contains other fantasy characters and creatures like giants, elves, werewolves, and vampires.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to torture. A group of mercenaries burn a home to the ground with a woman trapped inside. A powerful gangster executes people who displease him in a cage into which he lowers a spiked platform.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.