March Mini Review Roundup!

 

With March over and April here it is time to wrap up my reads for the month of March. Due to multiple different factors I don't do full reviews over every book I read, but I still like to give some thoughts on them and insights on why I rated them the way I did. This month I read four books that I didn't have to opportunity to full review. Check out my thoughts and opinions below! 

💥💥💥

Title: The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea
Author: Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Genre: Fantasy 
Source: Candlewick via NetGalley
Publisher: Candlwick
Publication Date: May 5th 2020

Summary: 

A desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial daughter find a connection on the high seas in a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic. Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don’t trust, don’t stick out, and don’t feel. But on this voyage, as the pirates prepare to sell their unsuspecting passengers into slavery, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is en route to a dreaded arranged marriage with her own casket in tow. Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian. Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood, which causes men to have visions and lose memories) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, and the all-encompassing Sea itself.

First off, take a look at that cover and how stunning it is? I’ll admit, the cover is what made me hit the request button before I learned what this book was even about. Then I read the summary and I was even more excited.

The Mermaid, The Witch and The Sea is going to take you on a magically journey of you guessed it, mermaids, witches and the sea. Tokuda-Hall did an amazing job of a building a world that completely immerses the reader from the first page. Her characters were complex and all had motives of there own in why they did what they did. The Mermaid, The Witch and The Sea is full of adventure and contains some twists that you might now see coming.

The ending of this book made me tear up and I think that Tokuda-Hall wrapped this story up in a satisfying way that will leave readers content. Their only complaint would be that they might want more!

Title: The Scapegracers (The Scapegracers #1)
Author: Hannah Abigail Clarke
Genre: Fantasy, LGBT, Witches
Source: Erewhon Press via NetGalley
Publisher: Erewhon Press
Publication Date: May 12th 2020

Summary: 

An outcast teenage lesbian witch finds her coven hidden amongst the popular girls in her school, and performs some seriously badass magic in the process. Skulking near the bottom of West High’s social pyramid, Sideways Pike lurks under the bleachers doing magic tricks for Coke bottles. As a witch, lesbian, and lifelong outsider, she’s had a hard time making friends. But when the three most popular girls pay her $40 to cast a spell at their Halloween party, Sideways gets swept into a new clique. The unholy trinity are dangerous angels, sugar-coated rattlesnakes, and now–unbelievably–Sideways’ best friends. Together, the four bond to form a ferocious and powerful coven. They plan parties, cast curses on dudebros, try to find Sideways a girlfriend, and elude the fundamentalist witch hunters hellbent on stealing their magic. But for Sideways, the hardest part is the whole ‘having friends’ thing. Who knew that balancing human interaction with supernatural peril could be so complicated?

The Scapegracers was another book that attracted me because of it’s cover. It’s simple but yet complex at the same time and I loved that about it. The story it self though left me disappointed. I loved the idea behind the witches and revenge but other then that I found the story to be weirdly paced and the relationship dynamic of the characters to be weird as well. Honestly, the characters behaved as if they were twelve rather than sixteen/seventeen year olds that they are suppose to be.

The Scapegracers is the first book in a series, so there is room for the author to have these characters grow and for the writing story to develop. Which I hope it does. But I don’t plan on continuing with this series

Title: Burn Our Bodies Down 
Author: Rory Power
Genre: Horror
Source: Delacorte Press via NetGalley 
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: July 7th 2020

Summary: 

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Wilder Girls comes a new twisty thriller about a girl whose past has always been a mystery--until she decides to return to her mother's hometown . . . where history has a tendency to repeat itself. Ever since Margot was born, it's been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot's questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along. But that's not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it's not what she bargained for. Margot's mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what's still there? The only thing Margot knows for sure is there's poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she's there, she might never escape.

I loved Wilder Girls by Rory Power so when I saw that she was realizing another horror novel I was super excited. Burn Our Bodies Down wasn’t a horrible book, it had me in its grips and I had to know what happened. But I’m a little disappointed in its execution.

Rory gave the creepy edge and prose that made these horrible things came alive in your mind. The climax of the story had me reading as fast as I could to know more and then putting the book down to gather my thoughts. I feel as if more explanation and detail could have been added in certain areas. There was room to expand on a lot of things.

I don’t hate this book, but I don’t love it either. I’m I excited for future books by Rory? Of course I am and I can see why so many people are going to love Burn Our Bodies Down, but this one wasn’t for me.

Title: The First 7 (The Last 8 #2)
Author: Laura Pohl
Genre: Science Fiction, LGBT, Aliens
Source: Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: March 1st 2020

Summary: 

Welcome home. Someone’s been waiting. Clover Martinez and The Last Teenagers on Earth are busy exploring the galaxy after leaving earth behind…even if they can’t help but be a little homesick. So when their ship receives a distress signal from their former planet, they hope against hope that it means other survivors. But as soon as they arrive, they realize something’s deeply wrong: strange crystal formations have popped up everywhere and there’s some sort of barrier keeping them from leaving. Seeking the origin of the formations and the reason for the barrier, the group discovers a colony of survivors hidden in the mountains. But the survivors aren’t who they seem…

I really don’t have much to say about this one. I enjoyed it and I think it was a great wrap up for this duo. I love seeing the growth and progression of the characters as well a satisfying conclusion to Clover’s story. I rated it three stars because I just didn’t love it like I did the first book, I felt like certain areas dragged and then others went to fast. I just wasn’t thrilled with it.

Have you guys read any of this books yet or are they on your TBR? Let us know in the comments below!