Imagoala

Give Me Your Hand  by Megan Abbott Blurb: You  told each other everything. Then she told you too much. Kit has risen to the top of her profession and is on the brink of achieving everything she wanted. She hasn’t let anything stop her. But now someone else is standing in her way – Diane. Best friends at seventeen, their shared ambition made them inseparable. Until the day Diane told Kit her secret – the worst thing she’d ever done, the worst thing Kit could imagine – and it blew their friendship apart. Kit is still the only person who knows what Diane did. And now Diane knows something about Kit that could destroy everything she’s worked so hard for. Review: If  I sliced open Diane's beautiful, extraordinary brain, I feel certain of what I'd see:  swarm of worms, a cluster of sickly grapes, pushing against the chamber of her brain, inflaming it. In  case you have never heard me talk about Megan Abbott, here's the quick run-down: I ...

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier Blurb: Working  as a lady's companion, the heroine of Rebecca learns her place. Her future looks bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Max de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. She accepts, but whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to the ominous and brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding housekeeper, Mrs Danvers... Review: I  suppose sooner or later in the life of everyone comes a moment of trial. We all of us have our particular devil who rides us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end. This  was somewhat disappointing. No, frankly, it was very disappointing. I went into this book expecting a thrilling, but slowly creeping tale of subtle drama that would manage to fascinate me, grab my interest from the very start. Welll... it took me ...

Far From the Tree  by Robin Benway Blurb: Being  the middle child has its ups and downs. But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including— Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs. And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they...

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin Blurb: We  are not quite novels. We are not quite short stories. In the end, we are collected works. A.J. Fikry's lifeis not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died; his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history; and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Chief Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who's always felt kindly toward him; from Ismay, his sister-in-law, who is hell-bent on saving A.J. from his dreary self. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, he can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly. And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It's a small package, though large in weight—an unexpected arrival that gives A.J. the opportunity to make his life over, the ability...

Nineteen Eigthy-Four  by George Orwell Blurb: Winston  Smith works for the Ministry of truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the police helicopters that hover and circle overhead, Winston and Julia begin to question the Party; they are drawn towards conspiracy. Yet Big Brother will not tolerate dissent - even in the mind. For those with original thoughts they invented Room 101 . . . Review: " Tell  me," he said, "how soon will they shoot me?" "It might be a long time," said O'Brien. "You are a difficult case. But don't give up hope. Everyone is cured sooner or later. In the end we shall shoot you." I  have a whole collection of books that are on my tbr-shelf, and which I real...

The Raven King  (All for the Game #2) & The King's Men  (All for the Game #3) by Nora Sakavic Quick disclaimer before I get into this. You might be wondering why I'm combining these two books into one review but I've pretty much devoured the second and third book as if they were one and I think it might just be easier to simply combine both reviews into one. That being said, I'll mostly focus on The Raven King anyway/state my opinions only vaguely/indicate one I move on to the third book .  Blurb (for The Raven King ): The  Foxes are a fractured mess, but their latest disaster might be the miracle they've always needed to come together as a team. The one person standing in their way is Andrew, and the only one who can break through his personal barriers is Neil. Except Andrew doesn't give up anything for free and Neil is terrible at trusting anyone but himself. The two don't have much time to come to terms with their situation before ou...

Dear Martin   by Nic Stone Blurb: Justyce  McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League– but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King do find out. Review: The  cop shoves him to the ground beside the police cruiser as he asks if Justyce understand his rights. Justyce doesn't remember hearing any rights, but his ears had  been ringing from the two blow to the head, so maybe he missed them. He swallows more blood. It's  hard to read a book like this one and afterwards have to say that, yeah, it's okay, but really nothing special simply because the topic is very polarizing. Which is, as you might have figured already, exactly wha...

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing  by Hank Green Blurb: The  Carls just appeared. Coming home from work at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture.Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship – like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor – April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world – everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires – and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.  Now April has to deal with the pressure on her relationships, her identity, and her safety that this new position brings, all while being on the front lines of the quest to find out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us. Review: The power that each of us has over complete s...

Demons in Disguise  (Divinicus Nex Chronicles #3) by A & E Kirk Blurb: Survival . Time to make it their problem. With dead bodies piling up on this side of the Waiting World and the Mandatum closing in, Aurora is so over being prey. So the hunted becomes the hunter. Targeting the dangerous traitor who wants her dead catapults Aurora out of Gossamer Falls and way past her comfort zone. But the master of deception won’t go down easy, armed with a diabolical plan and a legion of evil to take down anyone who gets in their way…including the Hex Boys. Aurora and her six Hexy Knights dive into the belly of the Mandatum beast and wade through murky moral waters where trusting the wrong people is the only way to make things right. What could possibly go wrong? In Aurora’s case…everything. Review: He shook his head and laughed again. "I should've known. Well, at least you saved Coach without blowing the place up. That's an improvement on your usual dis...