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#TNReads: Real Quick Reviews for Lazy Readers featuring Rachel Vincent

in Book Reviews on 06/12/17 by Team Normal Leave a Comment

It’s that time again! Every couple of weeks, we send you, dear readers of That’s Normal, just a few lazy, quick book reviews that you can trust. We aren’t out here to send you off to your local indie book store armed with some 10 Best Books for the Beach list from a crappy magazine. No – we know your reading time is precious. We are giving you the good stuff. But quick, because you got reading to do.

 

Spectacle

Written by: Rachel Vincent

Release Date: 5/30/17

Reviewed by: Heidi*

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4 Torn Off Limbs

Recommended for: Anyone who loved Menagerie

At the end of Rachel Vincent’s Menagerie we were left with the hope that Delilah and the rest of the cryptids in Metzger’s Menagerie might have finally found a way to exist freely, if not secretly, in a world that no longer accepts them. In Spectacle (Menagerie‘s sequel) that hope is short lived.

Newly imprisoned at the Savage Spectacle, the characters we have come to love (including Gallagher *swoon*) face new horrors at every turn. Yet through it all Delilah and the Furiae that dwells within her continue to fight against injustice.

This was not an easy read. Spectacle includes a mix of gladiator battles to the death, dehumanizing prison conditions, sexual assault, manipulation and psychological warfare that haunt you. Yet it is told in a manner that makes you cheer for the heroes and celebrate every time the Furiae or Gallagher leave one of their enemies in pieces. No literally, in pieces.

There is a twist in this book that was so infuriating and yet compelling to me that I can hardly think about it without being mad that I have to wait for the next book. How can you do this to me, Rachel Vincent? Make sure you read it soon so we can suffer through the wait together. Buy it.

*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review

 

Worth Any Cost

Written by: Brenna Aubrey

Release Date: 2/28/17

Reviewed by: Emily L

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Rating: 4 Heart-eyed Emojis

Recommended for:Anyone who wants to find love at Comicon

You wouldn’t think auctioning off your virginity would lead to a wedding but that’s where Worth Any Cost takes us. It’s proof that anyone can find love, even nerds who play World of Warcraft and are devastatingly handsome yet somehow don’t know it.

This is part of Brenna Aubrey’s Gaming the System series which has lots of cosplay, online role playing games, Star Trek (or Star Wars?) references, and Renaissance Faires if that’s your thing. I learned that it might be my thing… Buy it.

 

One of Us is Lying

Written by: Karen M McManus

Release Date: 5/30/17

Reviewed by: Angela*

Genre: YA Mystery

Rating: 4 Juicy Rumors

Recommended for: Anyone who wishes they were Sherlock

Five students walk into detention; before it is over, Simon–who runs the schools gossip app–is dead. The remaining four all have secrets big enough to kill for. So who did it?

Breakfast Club comparisons have of course been tossed around by the publisher describing Karen M. McManus’s debut novel, but the similarities pretty much ends at four teens who rarely–if ever–spoke to each other before detention. They are repeatedly questioned by the police, who show them that Simon knew their secrets and planned to reveal them. Then in a twist, someone claiming responsibility for the murder and to have been in the room where it happened starts posting on the app, sharing Simon’s final post and more.

The four become social pariahs at school and predictably come together to support each other as they become a national media sensation, romance blooms–it is YA after all–and everyone takes a turn as the lead suspect in the months that follow. The story (told from the time stamped point of view of each of the “Bayview Four”) unfolds in pieces, giving you just enough teasers to keep even people who rarely read mysteries but like gossip (like me) making guesses and wanting to know more. I suggest reading it when you need a break from romance (hey, it can happen) but don’t want to dive into something dark that will keep you up at night pondering the state of humanity. Buy it.

*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review


There you have it! Real quick reviews for books we loved … real quick because we lazy. Hope you find something new to read. But in the meantime, tell us what you are reading in the comments or on twitter using #TNReads. 

If you like what you see, check out our other #TNReads posts for more quick and dirty recommendations. Or our Books Section for all the rest of our favorite novels.

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Join the ladies of That’s Normal as we read a new book (paranormal/YA/guilty pleasure/romance) each month and discuss it over drinks on a Google Hangout at the end of the month!

Books we’ve read

Written in Red
The Fever Series
The Spectacular Now
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Hex Hall
Chocolates for Breakfast
Night Film
Fangirl
Morning Glories, Vol. 1: For a Better Future
Just One Year
Allegiant
Vicious
Poison Princess
The Handmaid's Tale
Saga, Vol. 1
Deeper
Forever . . .
The Siren
Persuasion
Murder of Crows



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