Review: The Falling In Love Montage by Ciara Smyth

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The Falling In Love Montage by Ciara Smyth

Published: 4th June 2020 | Publisher: Andersen Press | Source: Bought
Ciara Smyth’s Website

Two girls embark on a summer of montage-worthy dates (with a few strings attached) in this hilarious and heartfelt lesbian rom-com that’s perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Jenny Han.

Seventeen-year-old cynic Saoirse Clarke isn’t looking for a relationship. But when she meets mischievous Ruby, that rule goes right out the window. Sort of.

Because Ruby has a loophole in mind: a summer of all the best cliché movie montage dates, with a definite ending come fall—no broken hearts, no messy breakup. It would be the perfect plan, if they weren’t forgetting one thing about the Falling in Love Montage: when it’s over, the characters have fallen in love...for real.

Ciara Smyth’s debut is a delightful, multilayered YA rom-com that will make you laugh, cry, and absolutely fall in love. From The StoryGraph.

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The StoryGraph | Goodreads

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features early-onset dementia, and flashbacks to difficult, upsetting moments.

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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: The Movement by Ayisha Malik (#Ad)

I was received this eProof for free from Headline via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

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The Movement by Ayisha Malik

Published: 21st July 2022 | Publisher: Headline | Source: NetGalley
Ayisha Malik’s on Twitter

With words come power. But do you speak out or shut up?

Every time Sara Javed switches on her laptop, checks her phone or goes outside, people are shouting. Everyone seems to be angry about something and she just wishes that they would all shut up. Until she realises that perhaps she should take her own advice.

At first people don't understand her silence and are politely confused at best. But the last thing Sara could anticipate is becoming the figurehead of a global movement that splits society in two.

The Silent Movement sparks outrage in its opposers. Global structures start to shift. And the lives of those closest to Sara - as well as strangers inspired by her act - begin to unravel.

It's time for the world to reconsider what it means to have a voice.

A sharply observed novel, charged with compassion and dark wit, that will spark important conversations about how we live, relate and communicate now. From The Goodreads.

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The StoryGraph | Goodreads

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features birth, death, bereavement, mention of racial abuse, and rape.

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Review: Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp

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Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp

Published: 15th September 2020 | Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire | Source: Won in a giveaway
Marieke Nijkamp’s Website

FIVE friends go to a cabin.
FOUR of them are hiding secrets.
THREE years of history bind them.
TWO are doomed from the start.
ONE person wants to end this.
NO ONE IS SAFE.

For five friends, this was supposed to be one last getaway before going their separate ways―a chance to say goodbye to each other, and to the game they’ve been playing for the past three years. But they’re all dealing with their own demons, and they’re all hiding secrets.

Finn doesn’t trust anyone since he was attacked a few months ago. Popular girl Liva saw it happen and did nothing to stop it. Maddy was in an accident that destroyed her sports career. Carter is drowning under the weight of his family’s expectations. Ever wants to keep the game going for as long as they can, at all costs.

When the lines between game and reality start to blend with deadly consequences, it’s a race against time before it’s game over―forever.

Are you ready to play? From The StoryGraph.

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The StoryGraph | Goodreads

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features blood, a reference to ableism, animal cruelty, broken bones, suicide ideation, poverty, references to a car accident, references to an off-page physical transphobic attack, addiction to prescribed medication, and finger dismemberment.

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My Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Fantasy & Horror Releases of July - December 2022

Ad: Titles with an asterisk (*) were provided to me for free by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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My Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Fantasy & Horror of July - December 2022

It is July! We're over half way through the year already! How?! But it means it's time to share my most anticipated LGBTQ+ fantasy and horror, and fantasy and horror by LGBTQ+ authors coming out in the second half of the year. I know, I know, we're already 20 days into July, and this is quite late, but it's been a busy few weeks. 

A quick note: this list isn't exhaustive. I'm sharling those I'm excited for, not everything that's coming out. There also might be some titles I'm not yet aware of. Also, I'm in the UK; while most of these books are US books and so will include the US release, the others are for when they're published/become available in the UK. On to the books!

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Review: Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert (#Ad)

I was sent this proof for free by Penguin via Nina Douglas PR for the purposes of providing an honest review.

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Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert

Published: 30th June 2022 | Publisher: Penguin | Source: Publisher
Melissa Albert on Twitter

SECRETS. LIES. SUPER-BAD CHOICES. WITCHCRAFT. This is Our Crooked Hearts - a gripping mystery crossed with a pitch-dark fantasy from Melissa Albert, global bestselling author of The Hazel Wood.

In our family, we keep our magic close, but our secrets closer...

Ivy's summer starts with a series of disturbing events - unnatural offerings appear on her doorstep and she's haunted by fragmented memories from her childhood. Soon she grapples with a dark secret that she's always known - but never faced - that there is more to her mother Dana than meets the eye...

Dana's story starts the summer she turns sixteen, when with the help of her best friend and an ambitious older girl, she embarks on a major fling with the supernatural. As the trio's aspirations darken, things soon take a more sinister turn.

Years after it began, Ivy and Dana's shared story will come down to a reckoning among a mother, a daughter and the dark forces they never should've messed with. From The StoryGraph.

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The StoryGraph | Goodreads

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features vomit, blood, animal cruelty and animal death, reference to drug use, reference to cancer, reference to homophobia, cultural appropriation (challenged), drink driving, and reference to a paedophile.

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Review: She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick

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She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick

Published: 14th April 2022 | Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books | Source: Bought
Rachael Lippincott’s Website & Alyson Derrick’s Instagram

Alex Blackwood is a little bit headstrong, with a dash of chaos and a whole lot of flirt. She knows how to get the girl. Keeping her on the other hand... not so much. Molly Parker has everything in her life totally in control, except for her complete awkwardness with just about anyone besides her mom. She knows she’s in love with the impossibly cool Cora Myers. She just...hasn’t actually talked to her yet.

Alex and Molly don’t belong on the same planet, let alone the same college campus. But when Alex, fresh off a bad (but hopefully not permanent) breakup, discovers Molly’s hidden crush as their paths cross the night before classes start, they realize they might have a common interest after all. Because maybe if Alex volunteers to help Molly learn how to get her dream girl to fall for her, she can prove to her ex that she’s not a selfish flirt. That she’s ready for an actual commitment. And while Alex is the last person Molly would ever think she could trust, she can’t deny Alex knows what she’s doing with girls, unlike her.

As the two embark on their five-step plans to get their girls to fall for them, though, they both begin to wonder if maybe they’re the ones falling... for each other. From The StoryGraph.

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The StoryGraph | Goodreads

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features poverty, alcoholism, reference to racism, rejection of heritage, reference to drink driving, and reference to a car crash.

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