With great books comes awful books. We must take the good and the bad to figure out what we love to read in this world. 2019 had some amazing books released but we also had some horrendous, eye-rolling, nauseating books that put me to sleep thrown in-between. These are my top ten disappointing reads of 2019.
Which books did you dislike?
*Click on the book cover to read the synopsis on Goodreads*
This week I’m going to finish up Dracula, read a book by an author that I love, and hopefully get to an arc that was sent to me by the publisher.
What are you reading?
The Wicked Deep- Shea Ernshaw
Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow…
Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town.
Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.
Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into.
Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.
But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.
Most Likely- Sarah Watson
From the creator of the hit TV series The Bold Type comes an empowering and heartfelt novel about a future female president’s senior year of high school.
Ava, CJ, Jordan, and Martha (listed in alphabetical order out of fairness) have been friends since kindergarten. Now they’re in their senior year, facing their biggest fears about growing up and growing apart. But there’s more than just college on the horizon. One of these girls is destined to become the president of the United States. The mystery, of course, is which girl gets the gig.
Is it Ava, the picture-perfect artist who’s secretly struggling to figure out where she belongs? Or could it be CJ, the one who’s got everything figured out…except how to fix her terrible SAT scores? Maybe it’s Jordan, the group’s resident journalist, who knows she’s ready for more than their small Ohio suburb can offer. And don’t overlook Martha, who will have to overcome all the obstacles that stand in the way of her dreams.
This is the story of four best friends who have one another’s backs through every new love, breakup, stumble, and success–proving that great friendships can help young women achieve anything…even a seat in the Oval Office.
Two best friends grow up—and grow apart—in this innovative contemporary YA novel
Told in dual timelines—half of the chapters moving forward in time and half moving backward—We Used to Be Friends explores the most traumatic breakup of all: that of childhood besties. At the start of their senior year in high school, James (a girl with a boy’s name) and Kat are inseparable, but by graduation, they’re no longer friends. James prepares to head off to college as she reflects on the dissolution of her friendship with Kat while, in alternating chapters, Kat thinks about being newly in love with her first girlfriend and having a future that feels wide open. Over the course of senior year, Kat wants nothing more than James to continue to be her steady rock, as James worries that everything she believes about love and her future is a lie when her high-school sweetheart parents announce they’re getting a divorce. Funny, honest, and full of heart, We Used to Be Friends tells of the pains of growing up and growing apart.
“By the time you realize that you’re thirsty, it’s too late. You’re already dehydrated. Therefore, it stands to reason that if you feel the end coming, you’re already there.”
It’s that time of year again where I give you my absolute favorite books of 2019. Hopefully, there are some new books on here that you’ll love just as much as I did.
What were your favorites of 2019?
*Click on the book cover to read the synopsis on Goodreads*
It’s Monday again and my first full week back after the holidays.
I’m going to be trying new this year with my reading and try to read at least one classic a month. This month I’ll be reading something that will make me stay out of the sunshine…
This week I’m going to read an arc that I won off of Goodreads and a classic horror novel.
What are you reading?
A hypnotic collection of speculative fiction about compassion, love, and human resilience in the technological hyper-age, from Alexander Weinstein, author of Children of the New World.
Universal Love welcomes readers to a near-future world where our everyday technologies have fundamentally altered the possibilities and limits of how we love one another. In these gripping stories, a young boy tries to understand what keeps his father tethered to the drowned city they call home. A daughter gets to know her dead mother’s hologram better than she ever knew her living mother. And, at a time when unpleasant memories can be erased, a man undergoes electronic surgery to have his depression, and his past, forever removed.
In an age when technology offers the easiest cures for loneliness, the characters within these stories must wrestle with what it means to stay human in an increasingly cybernetic future, and how love can endure even the most alluring upgrades.
In the vein of Weinstein’s critically-acclaimed first collection, Universal Love is a visionary book, written with one foot in the real world and one stepping bravely into the future.
When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries in his client’s castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in England: an unmanned ship is wrecked; strange puncture marks appear on a young woman’s neck, and a lunatic asylum inmate raves about the imminent arrival of his ‘Master’. In the ensuing battle of wits between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries, Bram Stoker created a masterpiece of the horror genre, probing into questions of identity, sanity and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.
Title: Oasis
Author: Katya de Becerra
Publisher: Imprint Macmillan
Release Date: January 7th 2020
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Synopsis:
The oasis saved them. But who will save them from the oasis?
Alif had exciting summer plans: working on her father’s archaeological dig site in the desert with four close friends . . . and a very cute research assistant. Then the sandstorm hit.
With their camp wiped away, Alif and the others find themselves lost on the sands, seemingly doomed . . . until they find the oasis. It has everything they need: food, water, shade—and mysterious ruins that hide a deadly secret. As reality begins to shift around them, they question what’s real and what’s a mirage.
The answers turn Alif and her friends against one another, and they begin to wonder if they’ve truly been saved. And while it was easy to walk into the oasis, it may be impossible to leave . . .
Katya de Becerra’s new supernatural thriller hides a mystery in plain sight, and will keep you guessing right up to its terrifying conclusion.
Katya de Becerra was born in Russia, studied in California, lived in Peru, and then stayed in Australia long enough to become a local. She was going to be an Egyptologist when she grew up, but instead she earned a PhD in Anthropology and now works as a university lecturer and a researcher. Katya is a short version of her real name, which is very long and gets mispronounced a lot. What The Woods Keep was her first novel (out now), which is followed by another standalone Oasis in 2020. She has also authored and co-authored academic articles, book chapters, guest posts and opinion pieces.
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Oasis is a story that will capture your attention and intrigue you; you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat as you try to figure out the mysterious happenings that plaque this group of friends. Oasis provides nonstop tension with a touch of the supernatural. Katya’s first book, What the Woods Keep, was a favorite of mine last year, so you can imagine my excitement at the release of her second book. Which, I will say, did not disappoint. The idea of mixing science fiction with archaeology is a wonderful and unique idea. And with those two combined, Katya brought to the table a thrilling read.
When Alif and her friends join her dad on his architectural dig site, none of them expect there to be a sandstorm. None of them expect to end up so far away from the campsite that they lose their sense of direction. And none expect to find a beautiful, yet mysterious oasis in the middle of the desert. This intriguing oasis gives the group of friends a safe haven, with food and water and shade from the sun. But only a few of the friends question the surprising popup of this oasis, Alif included.
Alif and Tommy, the guy Alif likes, start to notice strange happenings while they stay at the oasis: delicious fruit and salivating water and beautiful sceneries are great, but something’s not right. But then strange things start to happen: they’re water supply gets poisoned and their rescue seems to never be able to find them, even when they’re in clear site. And there’s this mysterious, yet creepy cave that holds an unknown object that intrigues this group of friends. That’s when they all start to realize that something isn’t quite right with this oasis, that something dark and possibly sinister is taking place. And then tragedy hits this group of friends, which ends up binding them all together. But what that tragedy brings is their rescue and with it, a sense of change in their world and their minds. So, that then poses the question: What really happened at the oasis and was that sandstorm a fluke or a coincidence? And what, exactly, happened at the oasis?
When it comes to Katya’s writing, her writing is descriptive and provides that eerie creepy feeling she had in her first book. As the reader, I was questioning everything and trying to make sense of everything. I enjoyed how Katya de Becerra only released hints of the supernatural plot at certain times and not all at once. Her writing and story structure kept me intrigued and waiting for more.
As with the characters, I was hoping for more character development from the group of friends, as I didn’t feel a true connection with any of them. However, the experience of reading this story and seeing the effects it has on each person physically and mentally did prove for an enjoyable read. There were descriptive scenes with tension and betrayal, where friends were pitied against one another. And I enjoyed how Katya depicted how each experience effected each friend differently.
Overall, Oasis was an interesting and intriguing read with descriptive scenes that illustrated what supernatural traumas can do to the mind. I was pulled into the lush scenery and the mysterious oasis. This was an unique read and a great second book from Katya de Becerra, one that I would recommend to readers that are looking for their next archaeological supernatural read.
Prize: Win finished copy of OASIS by Katya de Becerra (US Only)
Starts: January 1st 2020
Ends: January 15th 2020
Thank you, Fantastic Flying Book Club, for having us on this wonderful blog tour!
One girl must make a name for herself–or die trying –in this royal fantasy where an unknown peasant becomes the ultimate ruler. But how long can she keep the crown if everyone wants her dead? Perfect for fans of Furyborn, Red Queen, and Everless.
Everyone expected the king’s daughter would inherit the throne. No one expected me.
It shouldn’t even be possible. I’m Nameless, a class of citizens so disrespected, we don’t even get names. Heck, dozens of us have been going missing for months and no one seems to care.
But there’s no denying the tattoo emblazoned on my arm. I am queen. In a palace where the corridors are more dangerous the streets, though, how could I possibly rule? And what will become of the Nameless if I don’t?
“I wake up the same way I fell asleep: knife in hand, boots for a pillow, and Nameless.”
