Review: The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven

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The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven

Published: 7th July 2022 | Publisher: Electric Monkey | Source: Bought
Laura Steven’s Website

A dark and funny YA thriller with a supernatural twist. From the winner of the Comedy Women in Print Prize.

Ten years ago, four students lost their lives in the infamous North Tower murders at the elite Carvell College of Arts, forcing Carvell to close its doors.

Now Carvell is reopening, and fearless student Lottie is determined to find out what really happened. But when her roommate, Alice, stumbles upon a sinister soul-splitting ritual hidden in Carvell’s haunted library, the North Tower claims another victim.

Can Lottie uncover the truth before the North Tower strikes again? Can Alice reverse the ritual before her monstrous alter ego consumes her? And can they stop flirting for literally fifteen seconds in order to do this?

Exploring possession and ambition, lust and bloodlust, femininity and violence, The Society of Soulless Girls is perfect for fans of Ace of Spaces, The Secret History and The Inheritance Games. From The StoryGraph.

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The StoryGraph | Goodreads

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features blood, references to using "smudge" sticks (instead of smoke cleansing), ableism, drug use, sexism, reinforcement of gender roles/stereotypes, animal cruelty, animal death, sexual harassment, reference to rape and paedophilia, intimate partner violence, and suicide.

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Review: Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Published: 9th July 2019 | Publisher: Delecorte Press | Cover Designer: Regina Flath | Cover Art: Aykut Aydoğdu| Source: Won in a giveaway.
Rory Power's Website

It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.

But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true. From Goodreads.

Book Depository | Wordery | Goodreads

Rep: Lesbian protagonist/narrator, lesbian main character, secondary black character.

Trigger Warnings: This book features blood, vomit, death, mutations, graphic and gorey violence, descriptions of wounds, self-defense killing, experiments on people, self-harm, suicide ideation, suicide, gassing. Also, see Power's own list of trigger and content warnings.

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Once Upon a Retelling: Sometimes We Tell the Truth by Kim Zarins

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Welcome to Once Upon a Retelling! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

Today, I'm stoked to have Kim Zarins stopping by to discuss Sometimes We Tell the Truth, her retelling of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Can you tell us a little about Sometimes We Tell the Truth? What kind of a retelling of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is it?

Sometimes We Tell the Truth is a contemporary YA Chaucer retelling, in which American high school seniors take an all-day bus ride from Canterbury, Connecticut, to Washington DC. To make them pass the time well-behaved, their civics teacher tasks them with telling stories, and the winner will get an A in the class. This means, as in Chaucer’s original, I have about two dozen characters tell a story on the road. In Chaucer’s unfinished text, the pilgrims never arrive at Canterbury, and we never learn who won the competition of telling the best tale. So I had the fun of inventing my own ending and all the in-between bits that helped me get to that ending.

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Review: Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Heartless by Marissa Meyer (proof) - Long before she was the terror of Wonderland—the infamous Queen of Hearts—she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

In her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. From Goodreads.

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Review: As I Descended by Robin Talley

As I Descended by Robin Talley (Review Copy) - Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school’s ultimate power couple—even if no one knows it but them.

Only one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey.

Golden child Delilah is a legend at the exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize. She runs the school, and if she chose, she could blow up Maria and Lily’s whole world with a pointed look, or a carefully placed word.

But what Delilah doesn’t know is that Lily and Maria are willing to do anything—absolutely anything—to make their dreams come true. And the first step is unseating Delilah for the Kingsley Prize. The full scholarship, awarded to Maria, will lock in her attendance at Stanford―and four more years in a shared dorm room with Lily.

Maria and Lily will stop at nothing to ensure their victory—including harnessing the dark power long rumored to be present on the former plantation that houses their school.

But when feuds turn to fatalities, and madness begins to blur the distinction between what’s real and what is imagined, the girls must decide where they draw the line.

From acclaimed author Robin Talley comes a Shakespeare-inspired story of revenge and redemption, where fair is foul, and foul is fair. From Goodreads.

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Review: The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore

The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore - For twenty years, the Palomas and the Corbeaus have been rivals and enemies, locked in an escalating feud for over a generation. Both families make their living as traveling performers in competing shows—the Palomas swimming in mermaid exhibitions, the Corbeaus, former tightrope walkers, performing in the tallest trees they can find.

Lace Paloma may be new to her family’s show, but she knows as well as anyone that the Corbeaus are pure magia negra, black magic from the devil himself. Simply touching one could mean death, and she's been taught from birth to keep away. But when disaster strikes the small town where both families are performing, it’s a Corbeau boy, Cluck, who saves Lace’s life. And his touch immerses her in the world of the Corbeaus, where falling for him could turn his own family against him, and one misstep can be just as dangerous on the ground as it is in the trees. From Goodreads.

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Review: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger (#Ad)

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

I was sent this review copy for free by Hodder Children's Books for the purpose of providing an honest review.

The girls of Hamilton High School are going on strike.

Sick of the rivalry between their boyfriends' American football and soccer teams, Lissa and her friends are determined that the boys won't see any action from them until they put an end to their immature pranks.

But Lissa hasn't counted on a new sort of rivalry: an impossible girls-against-boys showdown that hinges on who will cave to their libidos first... From Goodreads

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Review: Marly's Ghost by David Levithan

Marly's Ghost by David Levithan (review copy) - A remix of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with a Valentine’s twist

When Ben’s girlfriend, Marly, dies, he feels his life is over and the prospect of Valentine’s day without her fills him with bitterness. But then Marly arrives – or at least, her ghost does – along with three other spirits. Now Ben must take a journey through Valentines past, present and future – and what he learns will change him forever. From Goodreads

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Review: Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine (#Ad)

Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine

I was sent this review copy for free by Allison & Busby for the purposes of providing an honest review.

In the Houses of Montague and Capulet, there is only one goal: power. The boys are born to fight and die for honor and—if they survive—marry for influence and money, not love. The girls are assets, to be spent wisely. Their wishes are of no import. Their fates are written on the day they are born.

Benvolio Montague, cousin to Romeo, knows all this. He expects to die for his cousin, for his house, but a spark of rebellion still lives inside him. At night, he is the Prince of Shadows, the greatest thief in Verona—and he risks all as he steals from House Capulet. In doing so, he sets eyes on convent-bound Rosaline, and a terrible curse begins that will claim the lives of many in Verona…

…And will rewrite all their fates, forever. From Goodreads

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Review: Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Wicked by Gregory Maguire - In Baum's land of Oz, animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. Green-skinned Elphaba, future Wicked Witch of the West, is smart, prickly and misunderstood; she challenges our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil. From Goodreads

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