Do you know where your food comes from? The Bitter Side of Sweet is a harrowing story of three children escaping the horrors of a cacao plantation. A must read. CW: physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, slavery, medical content

This Middle Grade fantasy adventure is fun for all ages. The mass extinction event that took out the dinosaurs never happened. Now they are a sentient society at war. I will admit I picked this for the cover alone!

Pub date: 4.4.23

Hate me if you want, but this is one I despise with all the power of a thousand suns.

A timely story of three young refugees: Josef, Germany, 1939; Isabel, Cuba, 1994; and Mahmoud, Syria, 2015. Each story describes vastly different people in vastly different situations with shocking similarities.

If you're looking for a memoir to put you through the emotional wringer, this is it. A fantastically written memoir of the heartbreaking childhood of the author and her siblings.

Releasing 1/3/23!

Loved the atmosphere of this one!

Love a strong woman in STEM!

The writing was fantastic. The story was awful. I'm so glad she's getting her story told. CW for lots of emotional abuse.

Just got this gorgeous ARC in the mail today!

Why can I not get enough of these two?! CW for mental illness, self harm, and eating disorders.

This was such an emotional ride!

I've decided I love this one after sitting on it for a couple days. The characters are obnoxious in their inability to communicate, but I was engrossed. The gaming framework is brilliant and makes it really unique.

I'm going to be obsessing over this novel for a while. It's heartbreaking and an important read for anyone interested in learning more about the horrific practices of Indigenous boarding schools in the U.S. and Canada. Look up content warnings before reading.

This was a fantastic book about blood for littles. A vampire smoothie barista convinces another vampire to try something besides blood while telling him how important it is for humans. My 5 year old approves.

Come read my longer reviews over on Instagram @library.dreamer ! I'm currently reading Five Little Indians by Michelle Good and I will have so many thoughts!

Creepy with a really good moral dilemma. There were a couple things I would change, but overall a great read! Why do DC's characters never explore a new, creepy house before sleeping in it?

I loved this one, but be ready to settle in for a while. It isn't a casual beach read. The third section was especially terrifying.

Fans of The Jigsaw Man will not be disappointed by this phenomenal sequel!

Karin Slaughter did it again! This was such a great read, but be warned there are lots of content warnings and heavy material.

Paul Pringle describes his time as a journalist working to bring to light a major scandal at USC in Los Angeles. It starts when a hotel employee tries to report to the school that the Dean of Medicine was present (and acting strangely) when a young woman overdosed in one of the hotel rooms. When his report goes unanswered, he turns to a journalist. It's clear why Pringle is a Pulitzer winning journalist.

Dirt Creek is the debut novel of Hayley Scrivenor and it was pretty interesting. Although it is technically a mystery, it functions more as a slow burn character study.

This isn't really structured like a pure mystery novel. Rather the focus is in the townspeople and the mystery is slowly spoonfed to the reader. I don't think this is a bad thing, but it was unexpected.

This is one of the few cases where the book is better than the movie. The dialogue was stiff. The characters were unlikable and made the dumbest decisions, even for teenagers. The revisions for modernity actually made it worse to me.

Biology isn't the only factor that affects a person's chances of becoming infected with dangerous diseases and their ability to recover. As we stand in the midst of two major health crises, this book is a timely look at the factors that exacerbate an epidemic. Thrasher's writing is well thought out and approachable.

Thank you to @celadonbooks and @NetGalley for the eARC.

The Neuroscience of You by Dr. Chantel Prat is such a fun look inside our heads. I've read a lot of neuroscience books and one thing I liked about this is that rather than focusing on "the average" brain, this one focuses on how we differ.