Goodnight, Boy By Nikki Sheehan

Publisher Synopsis

A tale of two very different worlds, both shattered by the loss of loved ones. Tragic, comic and full of hope, thanks to a dog called Boy.

The kennel has been JC’s home ever since his new adoptive father locked him inside. For hours on end, JC sits and tells his dog Boy how he came to this country: his family; the orphanage and the Haitian earthquake that swept everything away.

When his adoptive mother Melanie rescues him, life starts to feel normal again. Until JC does something bad, something that upset his new father so much that he and Boy are banished to the kennel. But as his new father gets sicker, JC realizes they have to find a way out. And so begins a stunning story of a boy, a dog and their journey to freedom.

Teal Review

*** Thank you to the publisher, ONEWorld Publications, for sending me an ARC copy for review***

This book was so good and so unique! I wasn’t really sure what I was going into when I read the back of this book, because the description wasn’t very helpful to be honest, but I was so surprised at the end! This book was heartbreaking with a splash of joy and innocents. It is told through the eyes of a child and it was a really nice insight to the process of a juvenile mind. However, on top of that it is written through the voice of a refugee. That was a real eye opener for me, especially with what’s going on with American politics right now. It made me realize how important all human life is and that people deserve to be safe, healthy and and not treat life garbage. This book really was amazing and I will definitely be investigating more in some of Nikki’s other books. Five out of five stars for me. It is worth the read!

Happy Reading!

xoxoSarah

Kings’ Cage By Victoria Aveyard

Publisher Synopsis

In this breathless third installment to Victoria Aveyard’s bestselling Red Queen series, allegiances are tested on every side. And when the Lightning Girl’s spark is gone, who will light the way for the rebellion?
Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother’s web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.

As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows.

Teal Review

**SPOILERS ALERT**

So. This book. It took me SO LONG to finish this book. It wasn’t…like the others. It was boring. I couldn’t get into Kings Cage. There wasn’t enough action, it was mostly about Maven and Mare’s feeling during the time period that he was keeping her prisoner. Not to mention the end! Cal chooses the crown over Mare?!?! What!!! Are you trying to rip our hearts our Victoria? I may not have enjoyed the book but I looked the first two and was still invested in the characters and story!!! Why can’t Mare and Cal just be happy?!

They definitely left room for a fourth one. However, after King’s Cage i’m not really sure I would be interested in reading a fourth one. Over all it felt like Aveyard is trying to stretch this series out, even though the story line and characters are starting to fall. I think this book was a three out of five stars overall. Red Queen was a great book but after that the books slowly started getting worse and worse. King’s Cage was just not worth the read!

Happy Reading!

xoxoSarah

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Publisher Synopsis

Four high school seniors put their hopes, hearts, and humanity on the line as an asteroid hurtles toward Earth in Tommy Wallach’s New York Times bestselling “stunning debut” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). They always say that high school is the best time of your life. Peter, the star basketball player at his school, is worried “they” might actually be right. Meanwhile Eliza can’t wait to escape Seattle—and her reputation—and perfect-on-paper Anita wonders if admission to Princeton is worth the price of abandoning her real dreams. Andy, for his part, doesn’t understand all the fuss about college and career—the future can wait.
Or can it? Because it turns out the future is hurtling through space with the potential to wipe out life on Earth.

Teal Review

I was expecting a lot more from this book. I was pretty much the opposite of what I thought it was going to be! Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing…the issue is…it was a Contemporary. And I am not the the biggest fan of Contemporary…at all. HOWEVER, it wasn’t horrible. The characters were nicely developed, a little annoying, but realistic to high schoolers today. The story was pretty slow at first and it took me awhile to really get started on it.

I thought that this book was going to be an apocalyptic book, because it seemed to be about a meteor that was hurtling towards Earth. My natural presumption was that it was going to be how things went down up to, during and after the meteor, but it was just about how this high school kids were handling everything. To say the least I was pretty disappointing. While I do enjoy Tommy Wallach’s writing, it was easy to read and understand the characters and world he built, it still wasn’t what I was hoping and would give it a three out of five stars.

I would suggest this book to people that like Contemporary, but if you don’t enjoy that genre then DON’T READ THIS BOOK, it is not an adventure, pre/post apocalyptic story line! I will definitely look more into Wallach’s writing, just hope it’s not all Contemporary!

Happy Reading

xoxoSarah

North of Happy by Adi Alsaid

Publisher Synopsis

Carlos Portillo has always led a privileged and sheltered life. A dual citizen of Mexico and the US, he lives in Mexico City with his wealthy family where he attends an elite international school. His friends and peers-fellow rich kids-have plans to attend college somewhere in the US or Europe and someday take over their parents’ businesses. Always a rule follower and a parent pleaser, Carlos is more than happy to tread the well-worn path in front of him. He has always loved food and cooking, but his parents see it as just a hobby.

When his older brother, Felix–who has dropped out of college to live a life of travel–is tragically killed, Carlos begins hearing his brother’s voice, giving him advice and pushing him to rebel against his father’s plan for him. Worrying about his mental health, but knowing the voice is right, Carlos runs away to the US and manages to secure a job with his favorite celebrity chef. As he works to improve his skills in the kitchen and pursue his dream, he begins to fall for his boss’s daughter–a fact that could end his career before it begins. Finally living for himself, Carlos must decide what’s most important to him and where his true path really lies.

Teal Review

**THANK YOU HARLEQUIN TEEN FOR SENDING ME AN ARC COPY FOR REVIEW**

**SPOILERS ALERT**

This book was amazing! It sounded interesting to me when I received it but I have yet to find a contemporary that I really LOVED…but North of Happy did it for me! Adi Alsaid’s writing style, characters and story structure is so real and makes you feel what the characters are feeling. I love Carlos as a character, and while I can see where Emma is coming from with him missing her dads dinner I think that they were meant for each other and she was a little hard on him.

The only thing I didn’t like about North of Happy was the ending. It wasn’t satisfying at all! While I am glad that Carlos’ dad was OK, I still think he was meant to be in Seattle and should have gone back to try and work things out with Elise at the Provecho restaurant. However! It is super awesome that he will be attending a culinary school!!

I loved all the recipes at the beginning of each chapter, I will definitely be trying some of them! Over all I just really loved the story of North of Happy and will be looking into Adi Alsaid’s other books, he is an amazing writer! I would definitely recommend this book, READ IT! IT’S BEAUTIFUL!

Happy Reading!

xoxoSarah

Heart of the Storm by Michael Buckley

Publisher Synopsis

“There’s something out in that water. Be ready to take the people you love and leave when it comes onshore.”

For three months, Lyric Walker has been trapped in the hunting grounds, the Alpha city at the bottom of the ocean. But Lyric Walker, Brooklyn girl, is not going down without a fight. She makes an unlikely alliance with her jailer, a Rusalka named Husk. Husk reveals the truth about what actually resides in the Great Abyss. The Great Abyss is not some Alpha god but belongs to an unknown clan of monsters, ones who think in a hive mentality and believe anyone who cannot hear their voice is broken and must be destroyed. And Lyric has just woken them.
After a death-defying escape, Lyric makes her journey back to the mainland to prepare humanity for another monster invasion. Once reunited with her parents, Bex, and hot-nerd-with-potential Riley, Lyric has to break the terrible truth.

Teal Review

**SPOILER ALERT**

This book gave me a major case of the feels!!!! First going into this book I wasn’t as into it as I was for the first two books in this trilogy (Undertow & Raging Sea), however, by the end I was exploding with emotions! It took me a while to get through Heart of the Storm. It was written differently than the first two books…we are reading a chapter each through a flash back and present time…and I have NEVER been a fan of that. However, whenever I sat down with this book and just committed to reading it I couldn’t stop and got trapped in the Coney Island world! By the end of this book I was totally satisfied with the ending even when I thought I wouldn’t be.

Let me just say that the fight scenes in Buckley’s books are so well written, it’s like I am there. My heat starts racing and I feel all the emotions that his characters feel.

Sadness…

Anger…

Pain…

Panic…

Happiness…

Surprise…

Love…

I can smell the ocean and feel the breeze

That’s what I call a fantastic writer!

I sort of ruined it for myself in a way because I read a little bit ahead and just happened to pick the chapter where Lyric finds out she is pregnant with Fathom’s baby (yeah that totally threw me for a loop!!!) and then once I read that I needed to know how it all went down and skipped ahead to the part when she tells Fathom…and then I read a little bit of the epilogue; DON’T DO WHAT I DID! Because of this I jumped to all sorts of conclusions about what happened with Riley and why he was with Bex and then why Lyric and Fathom weren’t together…I mean they love each other and have a son! I started putting off reading this book because I am such a sap for love and it seemed like Lyric wasn’t going to get it with Riley or Fathom…it seriously broke my heart a little bit…like there was pain and everything. But I continued on and I was totally wrong and the ending was one of the most satisfying things I have read in a long time. I am used to the main characters getting the love interest at the end, or ending up with someone they love and someone that makes them happy. But for once the author made it about what was empowering for the protagonist, and in this case is was Lyric deciding to choose herself.

“‘I pick me,’ I say.

He’s confused again. This time, I take his hands in mine.

“I had a choice to make,” I say. He doesn’t need to know he’s been one corner of a love triangle. He doesn’t need to know that I was flipping Riley and him over in my head, trying to see them from every side, so I could decide which one to buy. He doesn’t need to know that Riley helped me understand something that right now makes sense. “And I picked me.”

I tell him that I love him and that I probably always will, and then  I tell him all the reasons why it’s not a good enough reason for us to be together. He doesn’t argue or try to manipulate me. He doesn’t go on and on about how if we want it, we can have it. He just sits and listens. For the first time since he came into my life, he is exactly what I needed him to be.”

I absolutely love this because I feel like it portrays a different side of not only the heroin but reveals that we all have a choice and that choice doesn’t always have to be what other people expect it to be.

The epilogue starts of three years later when Lyric, Riley, Bex and Lyric’s three old son, Max, return to Coney Island to meet up with Fathom and Husk so that Max can meet his dad. And while it kind of rubbed me the wrong way that Max and Fathom were just meeting for the first time in three years I got through it and totally fell in love with this scene. Fathom is a little more human and is great with Max. Buckley ends this book perfectly because it’s the cutest scene in the history of books, it ends with Fathom and Max doing the Wild Things dance and Fathom is the one to initiate it! My heart seriously melted. Not to mention that Buckley hints at Fathom and Lyric still feeling things for each other and possibly starting over in the future…that might just be my imagination but a girl can dream! Over all I really enjoyed this book more than I thought I would and it was such a satisfying ending! Thank you Michael Buckley for capturing my heart in the Undertow world!

Happy Reading!

xoxoSarah