Web of Lies

by Aly Beck

Release Date: November 10th, 2021

Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:

My enemy is invisible.

Nameless. Faceless. Controlled. Puppets on strings. Sheep in the masses.

And I’ve turned into their number one plaything.

When I transferred to East Point Prep, I had one mission in mind: find the people responsible for murdering Magnolia. Someone within these entitled walls killed my only friend and threw her overboard like she was human trash.

Now, they’ll pay.

My best friend told me everything through weekly emails, leaving coded clues in her simple messages. I know every incident, and I have the names of her bullies—her murderers.

Seger, Chase, Zeppelin, Carter, and Ainsley.

Somehow everything gets twisted and turned around. Every piece of evidence turns to ash. Magnolia lied to me, and I have to unravel her words one piece at a time to understand the truth hidden within her code.

My pawns become my kings. The ones I once called my suspects turn into allies. They help me search for the invisible culprit slithering through the shadows.

The hunter becomes the hunted.

I am going to start saying the things I disliked about this series: the fact I need to wait 3 months for book 2. Now, onto the good stuff.

I am always a bit sceptical when starting murder/mystery romance books, because normally the plot is super obvious and you can see what's about to happen. Not a criticism at all, because sometimes, we just need that. Easy, murder/mystery romance novels. However, when I started this book, I was hoping it would have more "substance" to it. And oh boy, let me tell you Aly Beck did indeed understand the assignment. Let's just say I am still trying to understand why Magnolia was murdered and why hiding the identity of one of the characters.... I have a lot of whys to ask the author.

But I am getting ahead of myself. As a quick summary, the story follows Kaycee in her quest of finding her best friend's, Magnolia, killer. To do that, she gets transferred to East Point Prep where her two older siblings graduated from and the new school Magnolia was attending when she was murdered. From a series of emails that we get given throughout Book 1, we can read Magnolia's POV and her life, and also, as the story progresses, we start to see hidden clues on her emails to Kaycee. Based on those emails, Kaycee has her first batch of suspects: Twins Seger and Zeppelin West, siblings Chase and Ainsley Benoit and Carter Cunningham aka Cruel Carter. We also get introduced to "Tristan", Kaycee's best friend who met online playing videogames.

The first few days in the school seem to be okay and seems like Kaycee is making friends with the group of suspects. However, after a party, her door gets painted grey with a red cross which means she's been "marked". From there onwards, the whole school is against her including her newfound group of friends and the bullying starts.

I liked the fact that the author gives us the chance to find the clues left by Magnolia. I loved that the deeper and deeper you go into the story, the more complicated and complex it gets and once you think you have understood what's going on, another thing is being thrown at you.

I like how Kaycee is a strong girl despite her disability and it doesn't let her define her. Actually I think I love her because of it. I like her personality and her character and i love whenever she wanders into her mind and her "allies" find it cute.

I did not appreciate that last chapter where everyone's loyalties get questioned aka "big cliff-hanger moment" and then the book stops. ALY WE NEED TO CHAT ABOUT PLAYING WITH OUR BOOKISH HEARTS.

Aside from that, I 100% recommend this book. It's perfect for those people looking for a mild spicy RH book, with some mystery and murder in it. My only advise is that the book does have some dark themes, and I think the author hinted that the whole murder plot may be linked to darker themes, so please check the trigger warnings before starting the book.

I also wanted to voice some stuff that may be considered spoilers, so if you don't want to read them now you is your time to leave.

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS






SERIOUSLY, STOP SCROLLING NOW.







OKAY, HERE WE GO.







For those of you okay having some spoilerish comments/feedback, I want to say how much i liked having Tristan as the unknown ally from the very start. I knew, like FELT IT IN MY BONES!, that he was going to turn out to be one of the boys, and I have my clear suspect. So if you read the book and want to share your suspect DM at whatmakespatri on IG.

Another thing I liked was that from the very first kick in the private areas (lol), I knew Carter was going to be EVERYTHING but Cruel. I am not sure why i keep getting swayed into the dark side by bad boys. I have to confess that on the last chapter I did a tiny dance and couldn't stop smiling after seeing the change in Carter. That's all I needed to be okay until book 2.

Also, I have a theory about the numbers on the victims names AND I am so confused with Piper's character. She is a bit mental, but I wonder how she fits in all of this. Moreover, I want to know Ainsley's secret and who Magnolia's lover was. I am having a girl guess and I think it's either one of the adults in the story OR Ainsley. There I said it.

If my rants don't make sense to you right now cause you are like me and love to read spoilers before you read the book, go read the book, come back and DM me on IG ;)

This is an honest review. For transparency, an ARC was provided to me by Affinity Author Services, but the rating and review of the book has not been swayed in any shape of form by this. Thank you Aly Beck & AAS for providing me with the ARC.

Carnival Hill (The Harlequin Crew #3)

I should be familiar by now with the emotional wreck Caroline and Susanne always leave me in after finishing one of their books, but for some reason I was not expecting to reach a whole new level. I literally threw my kindle across the room when I reached the last chapter with "F*cking Shawn".

Don't get me wrong the book was good. The level of angst that Caroline and Susanne provide to readers is over the roof, to the point that at some point you want to go yourself to the Harlequin House, make Rick, Fox, Chase, JJ and Rogue sit down and act as a mediator while they talk about their "true feelings".

That said, even though there's a hole in my heart I feel this is my favourite book in the series. I feel like the previous books have been a build up and a chance for the characters to grow on us for this exact moment. There's drama (lot of that), there's romance, there's funny moments (excuse me while I have Tatum's guys order the Harlequin Crew to steal a giant squid lol) and there's a bunch of revelations. But more than that, the villain gets upgraded to super villain boss.

I love the more we go with this series, we get to see more of the characters and their layers. To understand that their relationship with Rogue is not perfect and sometimes not the healthiest but they would do anything for her.

Of course, the queens of cliff-hangers left us with a massive turn in the story right at the very end (we were so close to a somewhat happy ending guys...) and now here I am empty and emotionless waiting for the next book because I need the boys to realise the truth and go save the day. I don't think my bookish heart can deal if we spend HALF A BOOK in the next instalment of them moping around while they believe some bullshit story (I have strong feelings about this guys...).

Anyway, I don't know if my ramblings make any sense since I started this book last night and finished it at 2am, BUT long story short, read this series and then message me. We can cry and be angry together. It will be epic.

Side note, I never thought I would be saying this, but I ACTUALLY FEEL LIKE CRYING FOR CHASE.

Broken Trust (Pacific Prep #1)

Broken Trust is the perfect novel as a first book in the Pacific Prep series.

The story on itself starts unravelling slowly and I loved that whenever you thought you knew where the story was going the author would just unveil something and drop a bomb that you definitely see it coming. I love stories with layers and mind-blowing revelations and R.A. Smyth is definitely getting better and better at writing those.

The story starts with Hadley Parker, a foster kid, starting at Pacific Prep, a super rich and elitist school, on a scholarship. There she meets the Kings: Hawk, Westley, Cam & Mason and the school tradition: every few months the Kings pick a girl of their choosing to be their girl (and that means she does ANYTHING for them). But never the scholarship girls.

The relationship with Hadley and the Kings starts a bit rocky: Hawk seems to hate Hadley cause she refuses to bow to him, Mason seems like the silent and indifferent one, while West ends up helping her in computer science and being friendly with her and Cam never stops flirting with her.

I loved that the characters were so different and not everyone was head over heels with the MC. I even felt disappointed with Cam's behaviour since I was expecting him to be "Team Hadley's" until the very end, but even with that switch I ended up liking him for not being what any other story is.

The MC is also a strong character with surprises up her sleeve. I loved how baddass she went mid-book in the gym and against Hawk.

We can see from the prologue and the last chapter in the story where the story is sort of going. It has some topics that can be a trigger for some (e.g. abuse, self harm, etc.; read carefully the author's warning) and that we have seen in the Crescentwood series too.

If I have to complain about something it would be the fact that one of the characters, Derek, was introduced at the very end of the story and for me he just appeared out of nowhere. Now, you can say I am being picky (I know I am) BUT he feels like he is going to be a BIG character in the series and I feel a bit meh that he just "appeared". But as you can see, this has not been a problem with my rating of the story.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I am dying to read book 2 and August 23rd can't come soon enough. R.A. Smyth has become one of my autobuys authors and I can't wait to see what more books she has for us.

I received an e-ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Words Composed of Sea and Sky

by Erica George

Publisher: Running Press Kids

Release Date: May 25th 2021

Can you briefly describe WORDS COMPOSED OF SEA AND SKY and its characters?

Could you describe the 2nd book with emojis?

Who is your favourite character in the book and why?

How did the story occur to you? Did you find inspiration anywhere?

If you could choose one song to describe this book, which one would it be?

What drink and place do you think will go with your book to have a perfect book date?

Can you recommend your readers any other books in case they are left hungry for more once they finish WORDS COMPOSED OF SEA AND SKY?

What would you say is the most difficult part of writing a book?

What’s next for you?

The Immortal Game

by Talia Rothschild & A.C. Harvey

Can you briefly describe THE IMMORTAL GAME and its characters?

Who would you say is your favourite character from the story and why?

How did the story occur to you? Did you find inspiration anywhere?

If you could choose one song to describe your book, which one would it be?

What drink and place do you think will go with your book to have a perfect book date?

Can you recommend your readers any other books in case they are left hungry for more once they finish THE IMMORTAL GAME?

What would you say is the most difficult part of writing a book? And what’s the best thing of writing a book together?

What’s next for you?

Talia Rothschild

A. C. Harvey

Underworld Bride Trials 1: Playboy King

“Care to join us, little bunny?” he offered with an enticing smile. “I won’t bite.”

“You expect me to believe that? With that big bad wolf smirk?” I said. “You must think you’re cute when you hide your fangs.”

“I was trying to help.” He grinned wider. “I’m a friendly guy. And I know you’re very much aroused. I know your type.”

“You know shit. That’s what you know and what you’ll get,” I sneered, my voice husky. “And you have no shame.”

He threw his head back and let out a snarky laugh. “What a mouth you have. I wonder what else it can do.”

He had the nerve to dip his eyes toward my lips.

“I can give you a list if you ask nicely next time,” I said sweetly. “This mouth can do wonders, but it’s also full of tiny fangs. I hope they catch your fancy.”

“My kind of fancy girl,” he purred again, then curiosity sparked in his heated eyes. “Why aren’t you afraid of me like the others?”

Afraid of him? I was a great assassin from another world and another time. I came to take his head! Lucifer had specific requirements.

I couldn’t help but giggle.

“Who are you?” he asked after a quiet moment. He must have sensed the surge of menace from me, though he didn’t appear alarmed.

The cocky bastard.

“Your worst nightmare, Demon King,” I said, heat and ice and hate swirling in my eyes all at once.

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Meg Xuemei X is a USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling author of paranormal and fantasy romance. She finds it delightful to be around drop-dead gorgeous alpha males who are forever tormented by her feisty heroines, unseelie fae, dark vampires, menacing demigods, demon A-holes and fallen angels, fun shifters, and cunning witches.

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