Blog Tour Review with Giveaway: Deadly Little Scandals (Debutantes #2) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Book info:

Title:  Deadly Little Scandals
Author:  Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series:  Debutantes #2
Genre: YA contemporary thriller
Release Date:  November 5th, 2019

Publisher:  Freeform
Source: E-galley from Rock Star Book Tours which did not influence my opinion.
My rating:  5 stars

Synopsis: 

"Think of the White Gloves like the Junior League-by way of Skull and Bones?"

Reluctant debutante Sawyer Taft joined Southern high society for one reason and one reason alone: to identify and locate her biological father. But the answers Sawyer found during her debutante year only left her with more questions and one potentially life-ruining secret. When her cousin Lily ropes her into pledging a mysterious, elite, and all-female secret society called the White Gloves, Sawyer soon discovers that someone in the group's ranks may have the answers she's looking for. Things are looking up... until Sawyer and the White Gloves make a disturbing discover near the family's summer home--and uncover a twisted secret, decades in the making.

No one is quite who they seem to be in this twisty, soapy, gasp-inducing sequel to Jennifer Lynn Barnes' unputdownable Little White Lies. 

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, TBD

My Review:

I really was looking forward to this one after reading the first book, and was a bit disappointed to not get a physical ARC, but once again, losing my contact at Disney has kept me from a few newer books.  Of course, the covers wouldn't have matched so I guess it's better this way.  I did get it on Netgalley, so I got the chance to keep up with the story. And boy am I glad that I did!  This book had even more twists and turns than the first one!  In fact, there was even one part at the end when we've finally sorted out all the sordid past betrayals and secrets that I had to repeat one character's line out loud to help myself keep all the new family lines and branches straight.  I loved how once again the author started the story with our main character, Sawyer, and her friends in a situation that you knew they needed to get out of, but that she kept only giving you bits of them maybe getting free in between all the chapters telling the past and what happened.  Not to mention we even had a further back part of the story, with Aunt Olivia and others of the parents in the story.  While I assumed we were just learning to be more sympathetic to certain characters through that, and while I wasn't sure exactly why we got the viewpoint of one of them, it all came together in the end, in such a way that totally had me in shock.  Definitely another great mystery with the snarkiness of characters that I grew to enjoy in the first book.

  

Book 1:

Title:  Little White Lies
Author:  Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series:  Debutantes #1
Genre: YA contemporary thriller
Release Date:  November 6th, 2018

Publisher:  Freeform
Source: Physical ARC from publisher which did not influence my review.
My rating:  4 stars - read my review HERE.

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, TBD

Synopsis:

"I'm not saying this is Sawyer's fault," the prim and proper one said delicately. "But."

Eighteen-year-old auto mechanic Sawyer Taft did not expect her estranged grandmother to show up at her apartment door and offer her a six-figure contract to participate in debutante season. And she definitely never imagined she would accept. But when she realizes that immersing herself in her grandmother's "society" might mean discovering the answer to the biggest mystery of her life-her father's identity-she signs on the dotted line and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses, bigger egos, and a whole lot of bless your heart. The one thing she doesn't expect to find is friendship, but as she's drawn into a group of debutantes with scandalous, dangerous secrets of their own, Sawyer quickly discovers that her family isn't the only mainstay of high society with skeletons in their closet. There are people in her grandmother's glittering world who are not what they appear, and no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. As she navigates the twisted relationships between her new friends and their powerful parents, Sawyer's search for the truth about her own origins is just the beginning.

Set in the world of debutante balls, grand estates and rolling green hills, Little White Lies combines a charming setting, a classic fish-out-of-water story, and the sort of layered mystery only author Jennifer Lynn Barnes can pull off. 

About the Author:

Jennifer Lynn Barnes (who mostly goes by Jen) is the author of more than a dozen critically acclaimed young adult novels. She has advanced degrees in psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive science, including graduate degrees from Cambridge University, where she was a Fulbright Scholar, and Yale University, where she received her Ph.D. in 2012. Jen wrote her first published novel when she was nineteen-years-old and sold her first five books while still in college. In additional to writing YA novels, Jen has also written original pilot scripts for television networks like USA and MTV, and she is one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of fandom and the cognitive science of fiction and the imagination more broadly. Jen is an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma, where she holds a dual appointment in Psychology and Professional Writing.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads 

Giveaway:

• 3 winners will receive a finished copy of DEADLY LITTLE SCANDALS, US Only.

 

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Tour Schedule:

Week One:

11/4/2019	The Heart of a Book Blogger	Review
11/5/2019	Avid Reader	Review
11/6/2019	Don't Judge, Read	Review
11/7/2019	Here's to Happy Endings	Review
11/8/2019	A Dream Within A Dream	Review

Week Two:

11/11/2019	Jena Brown Writes	Review
11/12/2019	Bookhounds YA	Excerpt
11/13/2019	Book-Keeping	Review
11/14/2019	Wonder Struck	Review
11/15/2019	The Reading Corner for All	Review

Week Three:

11/18/2019	Lisa Loves Literature	Review
11/19/2019	A Gingerly Review	Review
11/20/2019	Confessions of a YA Reader	Excerpt
11/21/2019	YA Book Nerd	Review
11/22/2019	THE BOOK NUT	Review

Week Four:

11/25/2019	Riddle’s Reviews	Review
11/26/2019	@fictitious.fox	Review
11/27/2019	Savings in Seconds	Review
11/28/2019	Book Briefs	Review
11/29/2019	Geronimo Reads	Review

Week Five:

12/2/2019

Two points of interest

Review

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ARC Review: #murderfunding (#murdertrending #2) by Gretchen McNeil

Book info:

Title:  #murderfunding
Author:  Gretchen McNeil
Series:  #murdertrending #2
Genre:  YA suspense/thriller
Release Date:  August 6th, 2019
Publisher:  Freeform
Source: ARC from publisher which did not influence my opinion
My rating:   5 stars

Synopsis:
WELCOME TO WHO WANTS TO BE A PANIAC?, the latest reality TV show on the hunt for the next big-hit serial killer. But don’t worry—no one is actually going to murder anyone, as real as the fake gore and pretend murder may appear . . . uh, right?

Seventeen-year-old Becca Martinello is about to find out. When her perfectly normal soccer mom dies in a car crash, a strange girl named Stef appears to let Becca know that her deceased mom was none other than one of Alcatraz 2.0’s most popular serial killers—Molly Mauler. Soon, Becca ends up on Who Wants to Be a Painiac? to learn the truth about her mom’s connection to Molly Mauler, but things turn sinister when people are murdered IRL. Will Becca uncover dark secrets and make it out of the deadly reality show alive? Or will she get cut?


My Review:
I mentioned earlier this week about this being my favorite author and loving this series, and I have to say that this did not disappoint!  If you haven't read book 1, you can read my review of it HERE.


We got all the same crazy with the painiacs and even with the Postman being gone, he still seems to have someone working things.  Obviously no one is going to be okay with them actually doing the whole murdering thing again, and the president of the United States is in trouble for being in conjunction with the original reality tv show.  But there is also talk of the president having been treasonous and working with the Russians as well.  

The game show that isn't supposed to be real murder, just tryouts to be like the paniacs.  However, the actual auditions are a little weird, and end up with those who are chosen being taken away to find out what is really going on with the show.  Becca's character has a lot to learn, but in the end, she is able to grow and figure out how things happened, and what she should probably try to do to make things right.  In the end, we are left with a thought of hers that maybe she hasn't quite learned all the lesson she should.  I feel like this is the final book, but who knows with her final thoughts.

What I loved about this story is how it really can be a snapshot of current events, but does it without being so in your face as other stories might be.  It takes a good look at how online communities work, how reality tv isn't really reality, and also some realistic seeming behavior in relationships.  I also loved that I didn't see the twist of who the Postman's son really would be, even with all the guessing and clues I had throughout.  This author knows how to keep you on your toes, yet thinking all the way through on what she's giving you in details. 

ARC Review: Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Book info:

Title:  Little White Lies
Author:  Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Genre:  YA Mystery
Release Date:  November 6th, 2018
Publisher:  Disney/Freeform
Source:  Physical ARC received from publisher for review, which did not influence my opinion.
My rating: 4 stars

Synopsis:
"I'm not saying this is Sawyer's fault," the prim and proper one said delicately. "But."

Eighteen-year-old auto mechanic Sawyer Taft did not expect her estranged grandmother to show up at her apartment door and offer her a six-figure contract to participate in debutante season. And she definitely never imagined she would accept. But when she realizes that immersing herself in her grandmother's "society" might mean discovering the answer to the biggest mystery of her life-her father's identity-she signs on the dotted line and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses, bigger egos, and a whole lot of bless your heart. The one thing she doesn't expect to find is friendship, but as she's drawn into a group of debutantes with scandalous, dangerous secrets of their own, Sawyer quickly discovers that her family isn't the only mainstay of high society with skeletons in their closet. There are people in her grandmother's glittering world who are not what they appear, and no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. As she navigates the twisted relationships between her new friends and their powerful parents, Sawyer's search for the truth about her own origins is just the beginning.

Set in the world of debutante balls, grand estates and rolling green hills, Little White Lies combines a charming setting, a classic fish-out-of-water story, and the sort of layered mystery only author Jennifer Lynn Barnes can pull off.

My Review:
This is my first book by this author, other than a short story she had in the anthology called Enthralled:   Paranormal Diversions.   I don't remember which story was hers, however.  Anyway, this story was presented to me as a mix of Gilmore Girls and Pretty Little Liars gone Southern.  I'm not a reader or watcher of either of those, but I understand the general gist of what they are about.  The synopsis was intriguing for sure.  And when I picked it up, I was sucked right into the story.  There were a lot of twists and turns in this, the final twist being a huge one out of nowhere!  I loved that!

Sawyer's snarkiness, especially her take as she was dropped into this debutante world, was one of my favorite parts of the story.  The characters were all great in this as well.  Not only were our four main debutante characters given incredible back stories, but all of them were even made so that you could feel sympathy for them, even if they came across as ruthless or villains at first.  

The book switched between the present, where the four girls, Sawyer, Lily, Sadie-Grace, and Campbell were all in a jail cell; and the past starting when Sawyer first was brought into the midst of all this intrigue and wealthy people.  The present portions are kind of told from the viewpoint of one of the police officers, Mackie.  Like him, I spent the book reading to find out just which of the felonious actions the girls made landed them in that cell.  When you find out just how it happened, it is a little bit surprising and comical.  

While this may be my first time with the author, I have had her books in my library for my students to check out.  Not only will I be adding this one with budget money, I will now be able to personally recommend her books based on my own enjoyment of them.  I look forward to reading more from Jennifer Lynn Barnes as well  If you like a good mystery, and enjoy lots of twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat as you read, this is the next book you need to pick up! 
 

ARC Review with Giveaway: The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

Book info:

Title:  The Belles
Author:  Dhonielle Clayton
Series:  The Belles #1
Genre:  YA Fantasy
Release Date:  February 6th, 2018
Publisher:  Disney-Hyperion/FreeForm
Source:  ARC from Bookish First
My rating:  5 stars

Synopsis:
Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful.

But it’s not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favorite—the Belle chosen by the Queen of Orléans to live in the royal palace, to tend to the royal family and their court, to be recognized as the most talented Belle in the land. But once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favorite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. Behind the gilded palace walls live dark secrets, and Camellia soon learns that the very essence of her existence is a lie—that her powers are far greater, and could be more dangerous, than she ever imagined. And when the queen asks Camellia to risk her own life and help the ailing princess by using Belle powers in unintended ways, Camellia now faces an impossible decision. 

With the future of Orléans and its people at stake, Camellia must decide—save herself and her sisters and the way of the Belles—or resuscitate the princess, risk her own life, and change the ways of her world forever.

My Review:
This was such a beautiful book. The world was dazzling and I took my time reading so that I could picture every word and detail in my head.  That's often not the way I do things.  A lot of time when I read, I tend to skim through the descriptions to just get to the story itself.  But the author has created such a unique and fantastical world that it was impossible not to hang on every word on the page.  Now, before you read much further into my review, I am not going to be able to promise no spoilers.  I'll do my best, but there are a few things I might give away as I think they might be important in my thoughts.

Basically we're dropped right into the heart of the story, the exciting ceremony where each Belle tries to be chosen as the favorite to stay with the royal family.  Unlike often happens in this type of a story (spoiler), our main character, Camellia, is not chosen as favorite to start.  Even with her extremely inventive and impressive debut, she is not chosen because the queen does not feel that she followed directions, and that is what the queen is wanting. 

Camellia starts out in the best salon and tea house however, where things aren't quite as she assumed.  There are noises of crying at night, and there seem to be other Belles.  Which is unheard of, at least as far as Camellia or the general public knows.   Right when she seems to be in the position to try to find out what is really going on and figure out these strange people, Camellia is whisked back to the palace and is suddenly the favorite.  No one will tell her why, or why her sister who had been the favorite was suddenly switched places.  There is one of their sisters, Edelweiss, who has run away.  

Soon the princess must be prepared to become the heir, but there are two princesses.  The older one is in a coma-like sleep, and it is unknown what is causing it, or how to cure her.  The younger princess is a bit of a terror, has evil ideas, is petty, and uses her power as princess to make horrible things happen to people who displease her.  Camellia finds out just how evil she is, but doesn't know how she can help keep her from becoming the royal heir.

Then, there is the boy Auguste, who introduces himself to Camellia on the first night.  And then he keeps showing up and flirting with her, asking her questions, wanting to get to know her, something she isn't allowed to do.  Boys and marriage and all of that are no-nos for a Belle.  And while there's something about him that of course is intriguing, he's also one of the four suitors for the princess.  As the royal Belle, Camellia gets a bodyguard named Remy.  Now Remy, you have to like him, especially when you see him with his sisters.  

I guess I didn't realize it was a series, so at the last 100 pages I was all ready for seeing how the story could wrap up, how things could be saved.  And for a while, I thought it was going there, but then, things collapsed, a betrayal, a twist, and Camellia and her sister had to go on the run.  Now, I will be eagerly awaiting book 2, on the edge of my seat, needing to know what will happen next.

Giveaway:
So, somehow I ended up with an extra finished copy of this book.  I'm keeping the beautiful ARC for myself.  One of the finished copies I got is being donated to my school where I am a librarian, and the other finished copy I'm putting into a giveaway for you, my wonderful readers and followers.  Unfortunately I'll have to make it US only due to shipping costs.  :-(  But if you are US, or have a US address I can send it to, please enter in the rafflecopter below!

  
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