Tag: young adult

Posted in Monthly Reads

Slip-A Graphic Novel Review

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

Introduction of Slip

I was recently invited on a blog tour for this book by one of the Publicity Mangers at Algonquin Young Readers. SLIP is a new graphic novel by Marika McCoola and Aatmaja Pandya. SLIP deals with the have crafted a nuanced story about the many ways art can change us forever.

SLIP brings to life both the excitement and heartbreak of being a teenager and the fleeting and beautiful feeling that one summer can hold dozens of exhilarating possibilities. The perfect read for fans of heartfelt stories about personal identity and first love like Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero O’Connell and Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Kevin Ganucheau, SLIP captures both the magic and anguish of growing older and the catharsis that creating art can bring.

Summary

Jade is excited to go to an exclusive summer art intensive, but right before she is about to leave, her best friend Phoebe attempts suicide. How will Jade be able to focus on her artwork during this dream opportunity? But at the Art Farm, Jade discovers artistic possibilities she has been longing to experience her whole life. And as she gets to know her classmates, she begins to fall for whimsical, upbeat, comfortable-in-her-own-skin Mary. Jade knows she needs to keep her focus on her art, but her worry about Phoebe and her budding crush on Mary leave her overwhelmed by conflicting emotions. She channels her stress and insecurities into making ceramic monsters, but when she puts her creatures in the kiln, something unreal happens – they come to life. And they’re taking a stand: if Jade won’t confront her problems, her problems are going to confront her.  Including the one she is desperately trying to avoid: If Jade grows, prospers, and even falls in love this summer, is she abandoning her best friend? Can she discover who she really is without losing Phoebe in the process?

Review of Slip

Jade has problems finding her theme in her art because she won’t face her emotions. I think her main problem though is her codependency with Phoebe. It holds her back nearly the whole piece from embracing her pieces or embracing her relationship with Mary. I think this is a good piece about finding yourself beyond people you may love but who may not be good for you. I love the final pages when Jade makes the piece of Phoebe I think that’s her most interesting piece in the book. This is a great read for Pride Month as Mary really supports Jade through all her issues.

I would give it a CW as there is artistic showing of female genitalia

Check it out on Amazon

About the Author and Illustrator

About Marika McCoola:
Marika McCoola is a writer, illustrator, educator, and the New York Times bestselling author of Baba Yaga’s Assistant. She has spent over a decade working to connect books with readers. She studied illustration, art history, creative writing, and ceramics at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and received her BFA in illustration in 2009.  She lives in Somerville, MA. 

About Aatmaja Pandya
Aatmaja Pandya is a cartoonist and illustrator born and raised in New York. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2014 and has been illustrating professionally ever since. Slip is her first graphic novel. She lives in New York City.

Posted in Announcements, Readathons

Marvel A Thon TBR

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So I’m sticking to one readathon in June, just one because I’m tired from COVID. Speaking of COVID I’m now over being contaigous but it turns out I had it for a month, COVID for a MONTH. No wonder may was so lackluster. Because of this I went with with Marvel A Thon. It has prompts I can meet yet a element of challenge This readathon is hosted by Lisadoeslife and has four teams based off of Marvel characters.

The Teams

Team Black panther video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsm-F…

Team Scarlet witch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAHkU…

Team Shang Chi Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PLiQ…

Team Loki video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vksE…

Along with team Black Widow hosted by Lisadoeslife, here is her introduction in the main video.

So what about the prompts and which team did I join do you ask? First off I joined Team Scarlet Witch. Wandavision made me cry real tears, and the Multiverse of Madness gave me feels for weeks. To be fair though it was close for Team Loki, because the Loki series also hit me in the feels and Tom Hiddleston is really a sweetheart. His fate in the main MCU timeline also made me cry some real tears and I can’t wait for the second season of Loki.

The Prompts

Five Star Prediction

I’ve been wanting to read this one for awhile about a girl who work at Renaissance fair with her family and wants to be a knight but the role is traditionally reserved for boys. She’s trying to change the norm. I’ve just been excited for this one for awhile and am glad I’m finally getting a chance to read it.

Amazon: The Life and Medieval Times of Kit Sweetly

X-Men-Found/Dysfunctional Family

I have heard from so many source about how sweet this book is and I can resist a good fantasy or a good book about baking so I had to fit this book into the challenge.

Amazon: Legends and Lattes

Captain Marvel-Female Protagonist

I have an arc that I’m reading for this one. The there are two main characters in this one both with disabilities.

Miles Morales-Graphic Novel

Slip

After dealing with a close friends suicide attempt right before Jade is about to go to her art camp for the summer distracts her shouldn’t she be worried about her friend instead of focus on her camp. But she soon becomes comfortable and falls for another camper Mary. However her art isn’t letting her run from her feelings. Soon her creations are going to make her face down what she’s feeling if she won’t on her on.

Amazon: Slip

Poll Pick

All for One

For this book we had to let others on the Discord server pick which book they would like for us to read out of a group of our choices. This book is a gender bent retelling of The Three Musketeers with a someone dealing with a disability added in. Tania de Batz has always wanted to be a musketeer but that isn’t possible for a girl much less a disabled girl in France but things change rapidly soon after a something happens to her father and she finds herself at what she first thinks is a finishing school but turns out to be a school for lady spies.

Amazon: All For One.

Thanos

A Book That Intimidates You

Once and Future Witches

First this book is adult which I don’t read and it’s over 500 pages which hits another bonus prompt on the tracker. So it’s long and out of my favorite genres I think that’s intimidating enough.

Amazon: Once and Future Witches

Team Books

Witch Book

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches

Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is the last person in Salem to believe in witchcraft—or think that her life could be transformed by mysterious forces. After losing her best friend and first love, Chloe, Eleanor has spent the past year in a haze, vowing to stay away from anything resembling romance.

But when a handwritten guide to tarot arrives in the mail at the witchy souvenir store where Eleanor works, it seems to bring with it the message that magic is about to enter her life.

This will also fit the second prompt which will be revealed in a second. .

Sad Book

Since Scarlet Witch’s story isn’t exactly a happy one we need to choose a sad book. This book finds a girl herself facing her own and literal demons as she tries to erase her family’s shame in this great new horror novel by Claire Legrand.

Amazon: Extasia

So I plan to read these as well as many witchy and red books that I can find. I know I’m a bit behind everyone else but I’m hoping to catch up and get out of this reading slump.

Posted in Desert A Thon, Medieval a Thon

Sorcery of Thorns Review

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So I’ve been absent. I’ve been dealing with some trauma plus a case of seasonal affective disorder, aka a summer slump. Finally, my hand is recovering from hitting it while skating. I’ll try to be better, I’m doing several read-alongs and while I won’t get all the books done, I’ve gotten a lot of the long ones out of the way on my TBR. The latest one I finished was Sorcery of Thorns.

Summary

Sorcery of Thorns is focused on the Great Libraries and specifically Elisabeth, she’s lived her whole life in the great library at Summershall. She’s grown up with the knowledge that all sorcerers are evil. This knowledge is about to be flipped on its head when everything she’s known is suddenly wrong. She’s facing down monsters and the ones she thought knew everything are now dead. But she’s not only facing down monsters, but she’s also winning?!

Clearly, something is amiss and the Great Libraries send Magister Nathaniel Thorn to check on it. He is of course a sorcerer. But soon he and his demon servant seem to be the only people Elisabeth is able to trust. As the three of them learn of a larger conspiracy will they have the power to bring this evil that is older than they imagined down or can nothing including sorcery and smarts stop this ancient evil?

Review of Sorcery of Thorns

This was a great book it was wonderful to go on an adventure with Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas, not to mention the great libraries there were some triggering scenes for potential assault towards women at several points but the girl always got the upper hand it was just threatened, and the perpetrators were in most cases killed or maimed.

Elisabeth is a great protagonist she’s got spunk and keeps Nathaniel and Silas both on their toes throughout the book.

My one issue is that ending man this book needs a sequel. Oh and Silas, fave character ever.

Amazon: Sorcery of Thorns

Posted in Desert A Thon, Readathons

Desert a Thon

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So I’m going to address the rest of my TBR’s this week. Starting with the most complex, Desert a Thon. In Desert a thon you have to roll for your reads. Here is my TBR I’m on Team Camel by the way, which is run by the wonderful Femke who is over at the Youtube Channel Bookish Buddies. Go and give her a visit along with Esmay her teammate on the channel who is also running one of the other teams on the readathon.

So here we have my Dessert a Thon TBR. I rolled with A D20, since I know some of these a chonks and I may struggle to read them in a month.

The process goes as such you go around the board rolling a die to get around this board.

If you land on your color you get two points if you choose to read the prompt of that color, you get one point if you choose any other prompt there are also wildcard spaces which you are allowed one.

There are twenty choice cards going by what you rolled from a d6 to a d20. I managed to match my color no times which was just lovely I did match the color with reading all the books of the color that I landed on.

Book 1-The Ice House

This book has to Involve a storm. For this book I chose the The Ice House, I found this one while I was on my trip. It’s about a global freeze. The focus is two friends trying to spend time with each other, definite pandemic feels.

Book 2-All for One

The prompt for this was a retelling. I could have gone with any of the common retellings but the one that I’m currently interested in is more unusual so I went with went with the new gender flipped chronic illness Three Musketeers retelling All For One.

Book 3- Cold The Night, Fast the Wolves

This was my wildcard pick so I chose one I needed read but haven’t had time. I got for a retelling that was doing Polar Fantasy. But I end up liking the idea from the book a lot, so it ended up on my TBR, so that’s why it’s my wildcard pick. Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves.

Book 4-Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls

This book had to be a fantasy and I wanted to get into magical realism and and my desert pick for the readathon. So I chose Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls plus it has been on has my TBR forever and I plan to get it finally read.

Book 5-Sorcery of Thorns

Sorcery of Thorns is a book of my friend The Blind Scribe has recommended to me time and again so I’ll put this in here as a friends recommendation.

Book 6-Had to have royals

For this book we needed to have royals in the plot, so I picked Night Render as I know it has a has a Princess, am pretty sure it has a prince and I know has lots of evil plots.

Book 7- I had to read a book with nature on the cover.

The first book I thought of was Sofi and the Bone Song. That shows a beautiful winter scene on the cover.

So these are my picks for Desert a Thon, a few a showing up in my other readathons because they are chonks and I’m cross listing, because my reading count is already looking like it’s going to crush me. But I need to get back on track for my yearly read goal so lots of books this month it is!

Posted in Medieval a Thon, Readathons

Bard Calling-Medieval A Thon

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So you saw my picks for Seamstress yesterday, now I’m doing my second calling or my companion’s calling whichever works better for the readathon. This time I’m going for Bard which I think I would personally be in a Medieval setting just because the love of books.

Level 1: A book with a great first line

Queen of Tiles

Amazon: Queen of the Tiles

The first line of this book just has you imagine the floor of the Scrabble tournament when our murdered heroine. This story about words fits perfectly for the Bard storyline.

CATALYST
13 points
noun: a substance that speeds up a reaction without itself changing

When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend’s death, it’s with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It might be even though Najwa’s trying to change, she’s not ready to give up Trina just yet.

But the same can’t be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All’s fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina’s formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina’s death wasn’t as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.

As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it’s up to Najwa to find out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not just to save Trina’s memory, but to save herself.

Level 2-Book with a travel element

The Genesis Wars

This is a story about the afterlife that almost killed me. I’ve been waiting for this book since the last one left me hanging oh 8 or 9 months ago. I’ve been waiting months for this title of royalty, betrayal and one girl on a journey to bring it all down. I think this fit for the Bard storyline because Nami is one girl fighting to tell her story.

It’s been ten months since Nami narrowly escaped the Four Courts and Ophelia’s wrath. Ten months since she was betrayed by someone she once considered a friend. Someone she poured her heart out to. And now her family here in the afterlife are gone, captured, and Nami is utterly alone.

On the run, only steps ahead of the AI forces pursuing her, and desperate to free her friends, Nami must take the allies she can find, even if she doesn’t fully trust them. And as she tests the limits of her own power, she must also reckon with the responsibility that entails.

Stakes are high as Nami navigates old enemies, unexpected allies, and an ever-changing landscape filled with dangers and twists at every turn. Along the way, she’ll learn powerful truths about who she can trust and the sacrifices that must be made in order to fight for a better, freer world for all

Amazon: The Genesis Wars

Level 3-Book Title That’s the Character’s Name

Ellen Outside The Lines

Thirteen-year-old Ellen Katz feels most comfortable when her life is well planned out and people fit neatly into her predefined categories. She attends temple with Abba and Mom every Friday and Saturday.

Ellen only gets crushes on girls, never boys, and she knows she can always rely on her best-and-only friend, Laurel, to help navigate social situations at their private Georgia middle school. Laurel has always made

Ellen feel like being autistic is no big deal. But lately, Laurel has started making more friends, and cancelling more weekend plans with Ellen than she keeps.

A school trip to Barcelona seems like the perfect place for Ellen to get their friendship back on track. Except it doesn’t.

Toss in a new nonbinary classmate whose identity has Ellen questioning her very binary way of seeing the world, homesickness, a scavenger hunt-style team project that takes the students through Barcelona to learn about Spanish culture and this trip is anything but what Ellen planned.

Making new friends and letting go of old ones is never easy, but Ellen might just find a comfortable new place for herself if she can learn to embrace the fact that life doesn’t always stick to a planned itinerary.

Level 4-Book Over 400 Pages

Sorcery of Thorns

This book felt perfect for the Bard calling because it has to do with books and libraries I feel like that is something a bard would encounter during the course of their career.

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire, and Elisabeth is implicated in the crime. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

Amazon: Sorcery of Thorns

Level 5-A Book by Multiple Authors

Zodiac Starforce: Cries of the Fire Prince

Had to have a comic in here. I love the collaboration of multiple authors in comics so I had to have a comic on my list.

After defeating a former Zodiac Member and her mean-girl minions, the girls thought they’d catch a break! But once a mean magical girl, always a mean magical girl and Libra’s former best friend wants that power back! Determined to bring the goddess Cimmeria into our dimension, her coven opens a portal to the dark dimension Nephos, only they don’t get what they bargained for. A new big-bad has come out to play and demons begin to overrun the town! Zodiac Starforce discovers they aren’t the only Zodiac team in the game and together they form a tenuous alliance to find out who’s behind the demon infestation.

Zodiac Starforce: Cries of the Fire Prince

Posted in Medieval a Thon, Readathons

Medieval a Thon

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So I’m going to go back though and show how I did on the April Readathons over the next few days. But right now I wanted to put my May TBR Readathons up. I’m going to be participating in a few readathons. The first one is Medieval A Thon. In this readathon you start at a low level in society and then raise your status by reading books. You can get to the top by reading 10.

Each calling though only requires four books so I think I might be doing two callings or a calling with a companion. Medieval a Thon requires you to pick a calling then read books for that callings prompts.

For my first Calling I’m going to be a Seamstress

Level 1: Squire-A book you’re unsure about

I’m not sure where or not I’ll like this since it mostly focuses on one girl’s training in the military but I’ve looked at the pictures from the comic and they are beautiful and it also deals with race relations in fantasy so I’m giving it a chance.

Amazon: Squire

Level 2: First Book in Series

Victories Greater Than Death

I’ve been wanting to read this for awhile but I haven’t had time due to different readathons. But this fits the prompt plus then I can read the second book which looks super cool as well. Also I believe this cover fits this whole general feel of Seamstress which is working on beauty.

Amazon: Victories Greater than Death

Level 3 Embossed or Foil Cover

The Midnight Girls

I can’t tell from just the kindle copy if it’s embossed but it is very shiny and so I hope it fit the challenge, I’ll continue to look around and if I find one shinier I might switch it in, but until then this has gold print and lots of golden light so I think it fits the shininess of the challenge.

Amazon: The Midnight Girls

Level 4-Last Book You Bought/Borrowed.

Witchlings

At this point no one should be surprised the last book I borrowed was a book about pre-teen witches. I love the cover on this one keeping with the pretty covers for all of these books. The concept is also really cool and and I really can’t wait to read some more witchy fiction.

Amazon: Witchlings

Level 5-The Prettiest Book on Your Shelf

Sofi and the Bone Song

Though Tooley’s cover’s are simple they are always lovely to me. Her last book remains on of my favorites and I can’t wait to dive into this one. Because I’m sure the text is as beautiful as the cover.

Amazon: Sofi and the Bone Song

I’m excited about Medieval a thon, come back tomorrow to see my second calling and the books that go with it.

Posted in Recommendations

Shielded

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

I bought Shielded for the cover because I was doing a challenge with that needed a blue cover but I’m glad I picked it up. It was a great action-adventure, military fantasy.

Shielded

Summary

The kingdom of Hálendi is in trouble. It’s losing the war at its borders, and rumors of a new, deadlier threat on the horizon have surfaced. Princess Jennesara knows her skills on the battlefield would make her an asset and wants to help, but her father has other plans.

As the second-born heir to the throne, Jenna lacks the firstborn’s–her brother’s–magical abilities, so the king promises her hand in marriage to the prince of neighboring Turia in exchange for resources Hálendi needs. Jenna must leave behind everything she has ever known if she is to give her people a chance at peace.

Only, on the journey to reach her betrothed and new home, the royal caravan is ambushed, and Jenna realizes the rumors were wrong–the new threat is worse than anyone imagined. Now Jenna must decide if revealing a dangerous secret is worth the cost before it’s too late–for her and for her entire kingdom.

Review

I really enjoyed this book for several reasons one was a smart female protagonist, sure she has a couple of encounters where she survives on luck, but she’s been trained as a fighter and uses that training to help herself and others when needed. Jenna is also eager to Turian ways once she arrives, something that helps her throughout the novel. I will admit I can appreciate how much time she spends in the library trying to solve the problem.

Her betrothed is also no slouch he’s not some wooden cut out character, and he trains, unknowingly with Jenna and tries to help her solve the problem of the mages that Jenna is spending so much time in the library with. What’s more he trusts Jenna with protecting his sisters, which turns out to be very important, and ends up figuring out just who Jenna is before she reveals it.

Their romance isn’t overly mushy which I respect in a novel, they both consider duty before their love for each other and eventually they come to a sweet conclusion. I can’t wait to read the sequel.

Amazon: Shielded

Posted in Pokethon, Wrapup

24 Hour Readathon: How’d It Go?

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So I was able to stay up for more of the 24 hours than I thought I would be able to, and even though I mostly finished comics and graphic novels I started two books and it kind of got me out of a reading slump.

What did I read:

Shellder: A comic

Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld

This was a cute read that I needed towards the end of the day when I was getting tired it was very beautiful, I need to look more into the Gemworld fandom because this was very pretty and the art was done by someone from somewhere I have live.

Amazon: Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld

Kingler-Buy a Book

The Ice Princesses Fair Illusion

This was an easy prompt and since I need Polar Fantasy for Eskana I thought it would be a good pick. Plus anything with Ice Princesses is going to catch my attention since I’m a Frozen fan to the max.

Amazon: The Ice Princesses’ Fair Illusion

Psyduck-Read a Confusing Book

This book is confusing but eventually it leads to a very sweet ending the journeys the main characters take just aren’t straight forward. But it is a very beautiful book and I’d read it again just for the illustrations.

Amazon: Coming Back

Wartorle-Water on the Cover

Swim Team

This book about a black girl thrown into swim class deals with the history of swimming and race as well as female friendships.

Amazon: Swim Team

The books I started but didn’t finish

Shielded

I got maybe a third of the way through though now I’m interested and I think it’s a polar fantasy so I can kill a couple of birds with one stone. I’m going to try and read more today.

Amazon: Shielded

Almost Flying

This was going to be my LGBT book but I just got too tired even though I probably could have finished it.

In this 24 Hour Readathon I caught a lot of Pokemon, more than I expected, I also caught a Goldeen for treat yourself for playing video games, and a Magikarp for hydrating and I got a Lapras for taking my pain meds and resting throughout the readathon. So I think overall I did very well on this readathon.

Posted in Pokethon, Readathons

Cerulean Gym: 24 Hour Readathon

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

I’m taking part in Jadeyraereads Pateron exclusive 24 Hour readathon based on catching Pokemon via reading books, I was just recently told about this on Discord by two lovely people who aren’t on Twitter. This weekend we are taking on the Cerulean Gym so we are catching water Pokemon. I’m not going to try to do all the prompts because I know I won’t finish but I’m going to do as many as possible.

Squirtle-A Blue Cover

When I found out we were doing this readathon I went out and had to find something cool with a blue cover. I’ve never read this book but it’s a fantasy and it looks really good. Plus fighting princesses are always awesome.

Amazon: Shielded

Wartortle-Water on the Cover

Swim Team

A splashy, contemporary middle grade graphic novel from bestselling comics creator Johnnie Christmas!

Bree can’t wait for her first day at her new middle school, Enith Brigitha, home to the Mighty Manatees—until she’s stuck with the only elective that fits her schedule, the dreaded Swim 101. The thought of swimming makes Bree more than a little queasy, yet she’s forced to dive headfirst into one of her greatest fears. Lucky for her, Etta, an elderly occupant of her apartment building and former swim team captain, is willing to help.

With Etta’s training and a lot of hard work, Bree suddenly finds her swim-crazed community counting on her to turn the school’s failing team around. But that’s easier said than done, especially when their rival, the prestigious Holyoke Prep, has everything they need to leave the Mighty Manatees in their wake.

Can Bree defy the odds and guide her team to a state championship, or have the Manatees swum their last lap—for good?

Amazon: Swim Team

Poliwag-A middle grade

The Keeper

Because I needed something scary on this list and this is also a middle grade I’m adding the Keeper on here. I think I can finish this in 24 hours along with Shielded.

Amazon: The Keeper

Cloyster-A Graphic Novel

Coming Back

This book is beautiful and I’ve been wanting to read it for awhile I got it on Netgalley but I managed to let it expire so I’m glad I at least get a chance to read it. I’m excited to read it for the 24 hour readathon as it looks like a comfort read.

Amazon: Coming Back

Shellder-A Comic

Sheets

Finally for the comic I’m choosing Sheets, I’ve wanted to read it for awhile but just haven’t around gotten a chance to do it.

I’m going to do Kingler and buy a book tomorrow probably a polar fantasy so I can use it for Realm a Thon.

Other the that I’m going to do all the self care prompts for the Cerulean Gym like Goldeen-Treat Yourself, Magikarp-Hydrate, and Lapras-Self Care. I’m going to try and take out as many prompts as I can without burning myself out. I’m also I’m probably going to chill on the Discord. But overall I think the Cerulean Gym will be a good opportunity to get reads in for me.

Posted in Announcements, Chopped Readathon, Orillium Readathon

Seek and Find Prompts TBR

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

For our Chopped Seek and Find we came up with a week of prompts to keep everyone interested for our little Easter adventure of fun where there will be prizes, surprises and who knows what else.

Flower – The first book that you think of or the first book that you see.

Gallant

Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for Girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home; it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile, or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.

Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.

Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?

Amazon: Gallant

Chocolate – Plot twist or a surprise

Extasia

Her name is unimportant.

All you must know is that today she will become one of the four saints of Haven. The elders will mark her and place the red hood on her head. With her sisters, she will stand against the evil power that lives beneath the black mountain—an evil which has already killed nine of her village’s men.

She will tell no one of the white-eyed beasts that follow her. Or the faceless gray women tall as houses. Or the girls she saw kissing in the elm grove.

Today she will be a saint of Haven. She will rid her family of her mother’s shame at last and save her people from destruction. She is not afraid. Are you?

Amazon: Extasia

Cake – Multiple POV

Flight or Fight

This is an ARC so I can’t say too much about it but I know it’s going to be very cute.

Bunny – a short read

Making Friends: Back to the Drawing Board 

Dany, Madison, and…wait-another Dany?!-must navigate some very complicated friendships while trying to capture a magical dog that is turning their town upside-down!Almost everything is going great for Dany. She and Madison are still best friends, she still has her magic sketchbook, and the new school year is looking up. But when Dany creates a duplicate of herself to secretly help with homework and raise her social status, the two of them accidentally unleash a magical dog that wreaks supernatural havoc on the town. Now, with the big school dance coming up, time is running short for Dany, Madison, and their friends to set things right before the night is completely ruined!

Amazon: Making Friends 2

Sun – Non-book prompt – such as watch bookish videos, take a bath etc have some self care

Play video games.

Moon – a mystery

All for One

Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand. Everyone thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick girl.” But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father—a former Musketeer and her greatest champion. Then Papa is brutally, mysteriously murdered. His dying wish? For Tania to attend finishing school. But L’Académie des Mariées, Tania realizes, is no finishing school. It’s a secret training ground for new Musketeers: women who are socialites on the surface, but strap daggers under their skirts, seduce men into giving up dangerous secrets, and protect France from downfall. And they don’t shy away from a sword fight.

With her newfound sisters at her side, Tania feels that she has a purpose, that she belongs. But then she meets Étienne, her target in uncovering a potential assassination plot. He’s kind, charming—and might have information about what really happened to her father. Torn between duty and dizzying emotion, Tania will have to decide where her loyalties lie…or risk losing everything she’s ever wanted.

Amazon: All for One

And finally carrot – a title that starts with a c

Cece Rios and the Dessert of Souls

Living in the remote town of Tierra del Sol is dangerous, especially in the criatura months, when powerful spirits roam the desert and threaten humankind. But Cecelia Rios has always believed there was more to the criaturas, much to her family’s disapproval. After all, only brujas—humans who capture and control criaturas—consort with the spirits, and brujeria is a terrible crime.

When her older sister, Juana, is kidnapped by El Sombrerón, a powerful dark criatura, Cece is determined to bring Juana back. To get into Devil’s Alley, though, she’ll have to become a bruja herself—while hiding her quest from her parents, her town, and the other brujas. Thankfully, the legendary criatura Coyote has a soft spot for humans and agrees to help her on her journey.

With him at her side, Cece sets out to reunite her family—and maybe even change what it means to be a bruja along the way.

I’m also reading this final one to help finish up my dwarven character for Orillium as I needed to read a book set in the desert.

So what are you all going to read, I can’t wait to see all your lists!