3.75 ⭐️

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a review. I greatly appreciate it :)

This is the sixth (or seventh?? no clue but I am a Kimberly Lemming RIDER) book I've read from Kimberly and even though this book was a little slower than her previous books, it was still a light, comedic, romantic fantasy that doesn't primarily focus on just one genre, which I personally love.

Blair and Osid's story, banter, and characters were enjoyable and entertaining to read, and the spice always HITS. there was about 4-5 spicy scenes that aren't incredibly graphic (but are still written well) so if you like a decent amount of smut but not overdoing it, I don't think it's too much BUT it's all up to preference.

I liked Osid and Blair's personalities (even though some of the dialogue for Blair was a little too current imo. "Crash out" in a book did of take me off guard but screw it we ball). I liked Blair in the sense of her being a strong, take no shit FMC who was ready for whatever, and I did like the dynamic of he fell first but he lowkey fell harder LOL.

For more context with Dory, Sol, and Tor, I'd read the other book in the Cosmos Chaos series "I Got Abducted By Aliens and Now I'm Trapped In A Rom-Com."

2.75 ⭐️

Thank you to CLASH Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book was okay. The concept of killer wasps (or was it bees? Or yellow jackets? Girl idk that was all over the place) was intriguing, but I felt like the way the buildup of the conflict and the ending were very lukewarm and underwhelming. The idea of killer wasps, a teenager going to find a way to stop it, and the entity/demon being amongst the area was really interesting, the execution just wasn't the most gripping or interesting to me tbh. Scarlett wasn't the most likeable character tbh, I feel like the "rebellious, do what I want, you can't tell me what to do" trope is kind of iffy with the way they end up on paper, and I felt like it was hard to root for her since the only likable character was Liv and Bruno lol. You can tell the author really doesn't like/has a negative bias against TikTok because it is mentioned frequently and in a more "teenagers and their damn Tiktok right" kind of way and it was so.....ehhh. I also felt like compared to the beginning and middle, the ending was super underwhelming and unrealistic like did Scarlett, a teenager, really think she was going to do something about a DEMON...AN ENTITY?!?! THAT SHE BARELY KNOWS ABOUT?!?! And then the fact that the law enforcement who are literally living in the area didn't realize until Scarlett pointed it out what could actually happening was so '???' Like y'all live here and should know about this, why did a teenager do more investigating about the area and strange occurrences, THAN LAW ENFORCEMENT. I think I did like the aspect of the conflict with her parents and feeling like she had to parent her mom so her not really being comfortable with her dad kind of established that dynamic, I just wish the point and the conflict of the book wasn't as dragged out and the conclusion was more satisfying and redeeming.

If you like a slow burn horror/thriller with a teenage MC, you may like this book!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a review. I greatly appreciate it!

I'll be honest, as messy as this book got especially towards the end, it wasn't the most interesting. I felt like the was a build-up with the girls Bridget, Lauren, Cassidy, and Sally, but since I read thrillers and mystery novels A LOT I could see the clues and point out who was responsible for what a mile away. This definitely was more of a YA drama, it didn't really quite feel like a thriller to me. I did pick up on certain things throughout the book that could've incriminated certain characters, so I wasn't totally shocked by the end. I implicitly never trust anyone in mystery/thriller novels, sorry not sorry LMAO. It's always who you least expect, and almost exactly who you'd expect lol. I felt like the ending was a little rushed. Like a lot of the middle was really dragged out and since running for prom queen was the whole point of the book, I was really disappointed that the prom scene was only one short chapter. I also felt like the ending wasn't redeeming whatsoever. So nobody wins? Nobody gets caught and nobody gets justice for everything we spent the whole book uncovering?? Damn okay I guess..... I liked the bisexual rep with Ida and the lesbian rep with Amaya, I just wish that in the end the investigators did their job and not leave it to high schoolers to solve crimes because wdym not a SINGLE ADULT BESIDES THE PTA DID ANYTHING?! WELL SHIT!