Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.

4/5 stars

Daisy Darker was never supposed to live long. Born with a broken heart that has almost killed her four times. The youngest of three sisters Rose and Lily clearly resent her. She's so much younger than them and her condition meant homeschooling of a sort for her and boarding school for them. Their parents are divorced, their mother finds them an inconvenience and their father loves his orchestra more. All are struggling financially.

That's where Grandma Beatrice comes in. A wealthy author with a sizable inheritance and a hunch that she's going to die soon. Beatrice calls the family to a get together at her seaside house. The tide comes in, the house is cut off and things start to get weird.

I read this in a single day, partly because I was waiting for someone but partly because it was mysterious and engaging and the suspense kept me reading.

My only big criticism is that some of the chapters were overly short and were split for no good reason.

Stef Out x

Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett

Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.

5/5 stars

Simone is a normal teenager... Mostly. Her thoughts of boys and the development of future relationships are coloured by the fact that she is HIV positive and has been since birth. She's chill about it, mostly, and she looks after her health but it's not something she likes to be open about. The last time she tried, to a girl she had a crush on, it went badly and she felt that she had to leave her last school.

Now, things are looking up at her new school, she has two new best friends and a role as student director for the school's musical, Rent. Simone is passionate about musicals and Rent holds extra meaning personally since it's about the AIDS epidemic that killed friends of her two dads.

Through the musical Simone starts to bond with, and then fall for, Miles. But someone isn't happy about the blooming relationship and Simone starts to receive notes threatening to out her.

I did guess the culprit but I never would have guessed their reasoning and it added a much needed extra layer of depth. I loved Simone's friends and how casual their representation is! Lydia is bi and Asian, Claudia is asexual and a lesbian. Simone herself is Black (so is Miles) and bi questioning, not surprisingly prior experience has somewhat tainted that.

Overall I loved this, loved the characterisation especially Simone, the relationship she had with her dads was beautiful, they were so supportive!

Stef Out x

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.

5/5 stars

Amora is the princess of the island kingdom of Visidia. She is also a practitioner of Soul Magic and training to be a High Animancer - Master of Souls. One final public demonstration will prove that she's fit to rule but then it all goes wrong and she's thrown in jail. Fearing execution she flees with mysterious pirate, Bastian. He'll help her if she will help him reclaim his stolen magic.

As they journey across the sea, along with an unexpected hitchhiker, Amora learns that her father, the King, kept her in the dark about the problems that the kingdom is having and now she feels that it's up to her to put things right.

I thought the world-building was simple yet effective, and the magic system was intriguing, but it was the overall storytelling that really got to me. The way we gradually got to know the characters and their motivations. I do feel like the romance side of things went a little too obvious when there was another choice that may have been more interesting... Overall I enjoyed it and I immediately borrowed the sequel from the library (4/5 stars: great overall but ending felt rushed and incomplete).

Stef Out x