illstoptheworldandreadwithyou's reviews
736 reviews

When Wilson Moss wins a contest that allows her to bring back one person from the dead for 30 days, she thinks this is the chance to fix her friendship with Annie LeBlanc and maybe—just maybe—find a loophole to keep Annie among the living. 

Growing up, Wil and Annie were the best of friends; then Wil, Annie, and their friend Ryan had a falling out. Within a year, Annie had passed away.

In so many ways, Wil is used to being the one keeping everything together. Her friendship with Annie and Ryan fell apart around the same time as her family, and Wil has been flying solo trying to take care of her mom and half-sister ever since.

With Annie back, Wil starts to open up and have fun again. She begins to embrace life and dream more. She’s not so alone anymore.

At a glance:
- YA (summer after high school graduation)
- Magical realism
- Small town
- Queer

Highlights for me:
- Wil being named after Wilson Phillips
- Wil’s relationship with her former stepfather 
- Ryan’s brother, Mark (honestly, what a great guy)
- Wil’s love of ’90s music
- Wil’s comics (I would read them.)
- When Annie opens up to Wil

Things that were tougher for me:
- Wil’s mom’s behavior (She doesn’t act like the adult in the household, and some of her interactions with Wil made my heart ache.)
- Ryan’s response to Annie and her behavior towards Wil (I feel like these are believable teenage behaviors, but that doesn’t make them easy to read.)

I had early copies of both the ebook and the audiobook. I enjoyed Georgina Sadler’s narration. She made Wil feel very relatable. I didn’t love her voice for Ryan but felt like it was fitting for the character.

I received an advance copy of the ebook from Wednesday Books and an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. All review opinions are my own.

At a glance:
- Single mom of three in the midst of a divorce
- Best friend’s little brother 
- Teenage crush
- Just for the summer
- “Ethan shows up, every time, in the best possible way.”

Oh my heart! I could see myself easily falling in love with Ethan. He is just so genuinely himself with Ali, her kids, and the kids that he works with. He’s open and giving and goofy at just the right moments, and Ali and Ethan seem to be exactly what each other needs. 

The motherhood moments in this book are so relatable. Honestly, I feel seen.

This feels like a love story that could truly happen.

*happy sigh*

*all the warm fuzzies*

I read an advance copy of the book from Putnam. All review opinions are my own.

 This one is a bit different, and I’m not entirely sure how to categorize it. 

 

Told from the perspective of the neurodivergent heroine, the reader gets to experience the day-to-day life of Lenny Marks as her carefully constructed routines become disrupted by memories from the past. A letter from the parole board forms a crack in the armor Lenny began constructing the day her mother and stepfather disappeared, and things are set in motion that end up impacting how Lenny interacts with the world. 

 

It’s full of quirky moments with some heavier themes. 

 

I especially liked Ned and how he responds to Lenny, Kirra’s persistence in building a friendship with her, Lenny’s connection with her neighbor, Maureen, and the bond Lenny forms with Malcolm, the dog. 

 

I liked how the book opens the reader up to the perspective of a person who sees the world differently, includes discussions of mental health, and depicts some ways the human mind copes with trauma. 

 

I listened to an advance copy of the audiobook (so please excuse me if some of the character names are incorrect in this review). I liked how Annie Maynard’s narration captures Lenny’s world view and enjoyed her voices for the supporting characters as well. Please note that this book takes place in Australia, so the audiobook is told with Australian accents. 

 

I received an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. All review opinions are my own. 

He’s a notorious rake. She’s a bookish wallflower.

But there’s more to them than what the ton sees.

I love the push-pull tension between Sirius and Isabel, how—although she seems invisible to everyone else—he always sees her, how inquisitive and intelligent she is, and how hard he falls.

And their chemistry is 🔥🔥🔥.

I like that this series is different from your typical historical romance set in London, with it being centered around the Luna sisters from Mexico and their ties to the Mexican government during the Second Franco-Mexican War, and I can’t wait to read Gabby and Whitfield’s story next.

I received an advance copy of the book from Berkley and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

Shakespeare meets YA meets role-playing games (RPGs) in the latest book from Alexene Farol Follmuth.

Jack Orsino is at the top of his game. He’s killing it at football; he’s dating a cheerleader; he has a scholarship to his top choice for college; and everyone adores him—everyone except Viola Reyes, that is. Jack is on top-of-the-world.

And then he suffers a knee injury. And his girlfriend wants to take a break. 

What is he supposed to do now that his life isn’t football, football, football with some time with Olivia mixed in.

It seems like Viola Reyes picks up the slack for everyone. Things need to get done; someone needs to do them; and Viola has systems and methods in place for everything. She comes off as prickly, but really, she’s “‘just a marshmallow with spikes.’” 

When Jack, president of the Associate Student Body, strikes a deal with Viola to actually work on the events hosted by the student government in exchange for her helping him with Olivia, she agrees. He should be doing those things anyway, and Viola is partnering with Olivia for a class project. Jack and Viola begin to spend time together.

And when Jack starts playing an online RPG, called "Twelfth Knight," he doesn’t know that the other player he partners with on the quests, C354R10, is really Viola. He assumes he’s playing with another guy, and Viola leads him to believe his game partner is her twin, Sebastian. The two open up to each other even more from behind their screens.

I’m always impressed by how this author captures the teenage experience—the frustrations and the hurts, the friendships, being on the precipice of finishing high school and heading off to college, young love, growth, and new horizons. I enjoyed the mashup of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night with the RPG that pulls the Arthurian legend into play, too.

It’s a coming-of-age love story, with an unlikely pairing of teens that help each other to grow. It shows that people don’t fit neatly into boxes or under specific labels. The jocks can also be gamers. The cheerleaders can be in AP classes. The driven, Type A student has other sides. 

Read it for the diverse cast, the queer representation, and the feminist perspective.

I had advance copies of both the ebook and the audiobook. The dual narration by Alexandra Palting and Kevin R. Free captures the youthfulness of the characters and drops you into high school with them.

4.5⭐️

I had an advance copy of the ebook from Tor Teen and an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio, both via NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

Katie Price is back home for Christmas. This may not seem like a big thing—adults visit their parents all the time for holidays—but Katie Price is famous. Hollywood famous. Has won multiple awards famous. No longer living in Green Bay, Wisconsin, famous. 

 

And Will Greene hasn’t seen her in years. 

 

They grew up in each other’s orbits—their mothers are best friends after all—but they didn’t get close until their senior year of high school. And after that senior year? Katie was off to Hollywood, and Wil hasn’t seen in her in person since. 

 

Wil has her own fame now—not nearly as big as Katie’s, of course—but she does have a million followers on her social media account, where she kisses a new person in every single video she posts. 

 

And Katie is ready to reconnect with Wil. 

 

Highlights for me: 

 
What didn’t work as well for me:
 

 
I had copies of both the ebook and the audiobook for this one. The audiobook narrator, Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, kept me engaged in the story. I liked her voices for both Katie and Wil, and it was easy to keep track of which character was speaking during conversations. 4-4.5⭐️ for narration
 
I received an advance copy of the book from St. Martin’s Press and an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. All review opinions are my own.
 

It’s been a year since four women forged an unlikely friendship amidst giving birth to their first children and solving a murder mystery in their small, English village. Now Alice and her friends have become swept up in another murder case. What begins as a picnic lunch between friends and their toddlers leads to an invitation to join a peaceful protest, which in turn leads to being witnesses in another murder investigation. 

 

Alice had thought maternity leave would be full of nursing and nappies, not more murders to solve. 

 

What a fun cozy mystery! Ailes captures both the humor in the everyday humdrum of raising a small child—from creative methods of unclogging blocked ducts to the absolute mess some children make (and the air of mystery surrounding those children that manage to keep their smocked and monogrammed clothing pristine)—as well as the emotions and feelings of disconnect from an earlier sense of self that can come with those early stages of motherhood. I giggled and grinned my way through this one and saw many familiar moments from my early days with kids—sans the murders of course. 

 

As with the first book of the series, I adored Kitty Kelly’s narration. Her delivery heightened the comedic moments for me, and she captures the different personalities in the book so well. 

 

I received an advance copy of the book from Minotaur Books and St. Martin’s Press and an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. All review opinions are my own. 

This mystery/thriller opens the night a teenage girl goes missing five years ago. Told through multiple POVs, across multiple locations, this one will keep you turning those pages. 

 

Are some of the twists and turns predictable? Sure, but it’s still such a fun summer read. 

 

If you’re a fan of audiobooks, I recommend listening to this one. It features multicast narration. Helen Laser, John Pirhalla, and Paul Dateh make you feel like you’re watching this play out on the big screen. 

 

I received an advance copy of the ebook from Minotaur Books and an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. All review opinions are my own. 

Two longtime partners travel across the country on their way to the birth of their child via surrogate. It’s supposed to be a babymoon for Wyatt and Biz, but nothing about their trip is as carefree as Biz had hoped it would be or as structured as the plans Wyatt had made for it. Through multiple detours and bumps along the way, can this couple—so excited and yet so anxious about becoming parents—weather their own doubts and issues and reconnect with each other? 

 

Highlights for me: 

What didn’t work as well for me:

 
I received an advance copy of the book from Berkley and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.
 

At a glance: 

- A renowned chef recovering from burnout—and who has recently been knocked down a peg—moves to a small coastal town in Oregon just for the summer 

- With his teenage niece, of whom he has recently gained custody, in tow 

- Moves in next to a sunshiny high school teacher / gardener / animal menagerie owner 

- Who is dealing with her own grief 

- Their time together kindles romance (of course) but helps both to rekindle their joy for life and confidence as well 

- Bonus points for mental health and migraine rep 

 

I especially enjoyed the last 30% of the book and want to move to a plot of land with a bunch of animals, a garden, and a hot chef next door. (Do you think my husband would mind?) 

 

Highlights for me: 

- A ton of puns 

- The goose choosing his mate 

- Sage’s eclectic robe collection (all of Mrs. Munty’s creations, tbh) 

- Sage's journal and the wisdom it holds 

- Her house, especially her sunroom (I would live in it if I could) 

- The food descriptions 

- “I might love the library” 😏 

 

The audiobook is narrated by Karissa Vacker and Zachary Webber. They’re two of my favorite narrators, and they do a fantastic job of portraying Sage and Fisher. 

 

I received an advance copy of the ebook from St. Martin’s Press and an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. All review opinions are my own.