Review: Whiteout

 

Just before Christmas - a blizzard hits Atlanta. It throws the city into a tailspin - shutting own traffic and trapping people everywhere.

For Stevie, it's the worst timing possible. She's about to make a huge apology to her girlfriend after messing up big time.

Stevie's recruiting all her friends to help. If she pulls it off, it will be a miracle. 

But the snow is wrecking havoc on her plans. Will everything come together in the end? Will it be enough?

My Thoughts: This is from the same author team as BLACKOUT - which to say this book had a lot it had to live up to. And it did! You could feel the cold and the desperation to be anywhere else but trapped in the snow. I loved how again all the stories wove together to make one giant story - but how they all had their stories end too. A happy story that's just perfect to reading inside in front of the fire - and with a cup of cocoa.

Cover Thoughts: Adorable

Source: My Library

Library Recommendation: A must have for your teen romance collection!

Mini Review: Blackout

 

Six authors - six stories that connect about one night in New York City when the lights go out. 

It's a story about romance - second chances, moving on, and meeting new people. It's a story about friendship. It's a story about survival. 

And at the end, there's an epic block party. 

My Thoughts: I loved how the stories all came together at the end at the block party. I loved the romance and friendships. This was a fast and fun read.

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for school and public libraries

Blog Tour: The Rumor Game

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the THE RUMOR GAME by Dhonielle Clayton & Sona Charaipotra Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. 

About The Book:

Title: THE RUMOR GAME

Authors: Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra

Pub. Date: March 1, 2022

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 480

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, BandN, iBooks(audiobook), Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

All it takes is one spark to start a blaze.

At Foxham Prep, a posh private school for the children of DC’s elite, a single rumor has the power to ruin a life.

Nobody knows that better than Bryn. She used to have it all—the perfect boyfriend, a bright future in politics, and even popularity, thanks to her best friend, cheer captain Cora. Then one mistake sparked a scandal that burned it all to the ground.

Now it’s the start of a new school year and the spotlight has shifted: It’s geeky Georgie, newly hot after a summer makeover, whose name is on everyone’s lips. When a rumor ignites, Georgie rockets up the school’s social hierarchy, pitting her and Cora against each other. It grants her Foxham stardom . . . but it also makes her a target.

As the rumors grow and morph, blazing like wildfire through the school’s social media, all three girls’ lives begin to unravel. But one person close to the drama has the power to stop the gossip in its tracks. The question is—do they even want to?

From Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra, authors of the Tiny Pretty Things duology (now a Netflix series), comes the edge-of-your-seat social thriller everyone will be talking about.

Author Quote:

"A juicy, elegant, absolutely flawless thriller with a twist. It's the diverse Gossip Girl we've been waiting for!"―Tiffany D. Jackson, New York Times best-selling author of Grown and White Smoke

 My Review: This book was hard to read and harder to put down. There were so many twists and turns that I needed to read more to find out what happened. At the same time, it was hard to read because the characters were so terrible - catty, petty, manipulative, and so so toxic. The boys were horrific, but the girls were terrible too. It made me never want to be popular or ever go back to high school. It was an intriguing look into an elite school with social media. So much is packed into this book: slut-shaming, fatphobia, sexual assault, rape, and bullying (so much bullying). And who are your friends? In this book, it's so hard to tell. I agree about the above quote - it is a diverse Gossip Girl - but I would also add a comparison to One of Us is Lying. 

* A MUST HAVE book for Public Libraries * Awesome Cover * Book sent for review

About Dhonielle Clayton:

Dhonielle Clayton is the New York Times best-selling author of the Belles series, The Mirror: Shattered Midnight, and the coauthor of Blackout and the Tiny Pretty Things duology, now a Netflix original series. She hails from the Washington, DC, suburbs on the Maryland side. She taught secondary school for several years, and is a former elementary and middle school librarian. She is COO of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books, and president of Cake Creative, an IP story kitchen dedicated to diverse representation. She’s an avid traveler, and always on the hunt for magic and mischief. Up next: The Marvellers, her middle grade fantasy debut. You can find her on social media @brownbookworm.

 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub

 

About Sona Charaipotra:

Sona Charaipotra is the author of Symptoms of a Heartbreak and How Maya Got Fierce, and coauthor of the Tiny Pretty Things duology, now a Netflix original series. She earned her master’s in screenwriting from NYU and an MFA in creative writing from the New School. A working journalist, Sona has held editorial roles at People, TeenPeople, ABCNews.com, MSN, and most recently, the Barnes & Noble Teen Blog (RIP), and contributed to publications from the New York Times to TeenVogue. She is a former We Need Diverse Books board member, and co-founder of CAKE Literary, a boutique book packager focused on high-concept diverse titles. Find her on the web talking about books, Bollywood movies, and chai.

 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Pinterest | Goodreads | BookBub

 

 Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE RUMOR GAME, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the Tour:

Week Two:

3/6/2022	The book review crew	Review/IG Post
3/7/2022	Kait Plus Books	Excerpt/IG Post
3/8/2022	@coffeesipsandreads	Review/IG Post
3/9/2022	Excuse Me, I’m Reading	Review
3/10/2022	Eye-Rolling Demigod's Book Blog	Review/IG Post
3/11/2022	YA Book Nerd	Review/IG Post
3/12/2022	onemoreexclamation	Review/IG Post

Top Ten Tuesday: Duologies

 This week's topic is all about duologies - 2 books with the same main character.

Duologies I've Read and Loved

* I still need to read We Free the Stars

Blog Tour: Everlasting Rose

Title: THE BELLES (The Belles #1)

Author: Dhonielle Clayton

Pub. Date: February 6, 2018

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Pages: 448

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B and N, iBooks, TBD

Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful.

But it’s not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favorite—the Belle chosen by the Queen of Orléans to live in the royal palace, to tend to the royal family and their court, to be recognized as the most talented Belle in the land. But once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favorite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. Behind the gilded palace walls live dark secrets, and Camellia soon learns that the very essence of her existence is a lie—that her powers are far greater, and could be more dangerous, than she ever imagined. And when the queen asks Camellia to risk her own life and help the ailing princess by using Belle powers in unintended ways, Camellia now faces an impossible decision. 

With the future of Orléans and its people at stake, Camellia must decide—save herself and her sisters and the way of the Belles—or resuscitate the princess, risk her own life, and change the ways of her world forever. 

Title: THE EVERLASTING ROSE (The Belles #2)

Author: Dhonielle Clayton

Pub. Date: March 5, 2019

Publisher: Freeform

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 352

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Audible, B&N, iBooks, TBD

In this sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller, Camille, her sister Edel, and her guard and new love Remy must race against time to find Princess Charlotte. Sophia's Imperial forces will stop at nothing to keep the rebels from returning Charlotte to the castle and her rightful place as queen. With the help of an underground resistance movement called The Iron Ladies-a society that rejects beauty treatments entirely-and the backing of alternative newspaper The Spider's Web, Camille uses her powers, her connections and her cunning to outwit her greatest nemesis, Sophia, and restore peace to Orleans. 

My Thoughts: A fantastic sequel that delves into revolution, secret societies, ending the slavery of the Belles, questioning what's beautiful, and sisterhood. I love Camille's bravery and her determination. I like how she comes into her own - how she started off in the Belles wanting to be the favorite and how that changed her. She grew up, became aware of the world around her, and took action. I admire her love for her sisters and how she believes the best in them. I loved the Iron Ladies. The danger and action made me turn the pages quickly as I had to see what happened next. 

I thought this was a trilogy, but it appears to be a duology. I really enjoyed this world and would be interested in more. 

About Dhonielle:

Dhonielle Clayton (“Dhon” like “Don” or “Dawn”) spent most of her childhood under her grandmother’s dining room table with a stack of books.

She hails from the Washington, D.C. suburbs on the Maryland side, but now lives in New York City. She was an extremely fussy and particular child with an undying love for Cheerios (honey nut only), pink lemonade, and frosted animal cookies. A self-proclaimed school nerd, she loved covering her books with brown paper and filled her locker with Lisa Frank stickers. She loved putting headings on her homework, odd-looking pens and freshly sharpened pencils, and numerous notebooks to fill with her research. On most Saturdays you could find her with her equally nerdy Dad at Crown Books and then the comic bookstore where she stocked up on her weekly reading material. Plus, she was so spoiled that her grandfather took her to the library after school almost daily.

She attended Our Lady of Good Counsel High School because her parents thought Catholic school would keep her out of trouble. She went to Wake Forest University, and studied pre-med until she received a fateful F in Chemistry. This setback prompted her to change her major to English, and earned a BA. She rediscovered her love of children’s fiction by re-reading Harriet the Spy, which pushed her to earn an MA in Children’s Literature from Hollins University and an MFA Writing for Children at the New School.

She taught secondary school for several years – at a pre-professional ballet academy and a private K-8 school. She spent most of her twenties in and out of America – living in London, Paris, a small Japanese town, Bermuda – and wandering the planet. She’s been on five out of seven continents, and has grand plans to reach all of them.

She is a former elementary and middle school librarian, and co-founder of CAKE Literary, a creative kitchen whipping up decadent – and decidedly diverse – literary confections for middle grade, young adult, and women’s fiction readers. She is also COO of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books.

What’s next? She will be enrolling in culinary school in New York City and plans to open up a restaurant in the city of her soul, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

Follow the tour this week:

3/25/2019- Eli to the nth- Review

3/26/2019- Smada's Book Smack- Review

3/27/2019- Confessions of a YA Reader- Review

3/28/2019- YA Book Nerd- Review

3/29/2019- Falling for YA- Excerpt

Believe Me: You want this book!

Giveaway Details: 3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE EVERLASTING ROSE

(US Only. Ends on April 2nd at Midnight EST)

 a Rafflecopter giveaway