Actual Rating: 4.5/ 5 stars

“With the Fire on High” is my second read from Author Elizabeth Acevedo ( the first being “ The Poet X”) and I was not disappointed. Emoni is a teenage mother balancing school, family issues, and her hopes for the future, which includes becoming a chef.

This book was very realistic and showed some very real-life issues that occur. Grandmothers raising their grandchildren, teenage pregnancies and the aftermath, so many things. The book was light, and the chapters were short. I took my time reading it because I felt like I breezed through ‘The Poet X’ too quickly and was so upset when it was over lol. The characters were well developed, and I found myself wanting a peek into everyone’s lives, especially Leslie and Tyrone’s. Of course, I shed a few tears towards the end because, hey that’s just what I do lol.  There were some things that resonated with me while reading it and I could identify in many ways with Emoni. Acevedo is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors and I cannot wait to read more from her in the future.

“ Truly Devious” was my first read by Maureen Johnson. I had been hearing so much about this book, so I decided to check it out myself. I am so glad I did! For anyone wondering, the order of the series is as follows:
• Truly Devious
• The Vanishing Stair
• The Hand on the Wall ( coming in 2020)

Now back to the review. Stevie Bell has talked her very conservative parents into letting her attend Ellingham Academy, an infamous private school. Stevie has dreams of being a crime investigator and what better way to do that than to solve the kidnappings that happened centuries before at Ellingham Academy thanks to someone who calls themselves, Truly Devious? But it’s not that simple and Stevie soon finds herself in the middle of another mystery when Truly Devious returns.

This book features a very diverse group of characters which I really loved. Stevie is a very likeable character (although some of the choices she made throughout the book stressed me out 😊 ) . The past and present intertwined perfectly and really helped set the pace and setting of this book. The ending itself left me dangling from a cliff fifty feet in the air. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to start “ The Vanishing Stair” soon.

Ok, before I begin with this review let me go ahead and state the obvious. That freaking cover is beyond gorgeous! Definitely one of my favorite covers of 2019 so far. Ok, now to the review portion.
This book is described as a feminist “Lord of the Flies”( one of my favorites) and while I do get that sentiment, it is also had a few elements that reminded me of Michael Grant’s “ Gone” series which I absolutely loved as well. Here’s the blurb:
“It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty’s life out from under her.
It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don’t dare wander outside the school’s fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there’s more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.”
Rory Power has a wonderful way with words. I was transported to the island almost as soon as I began reading . Great worldbuilding.This book was creepy. Definitely made my skin crawl and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I won’t say anything about the actual story itself, but I will tell you that it is told in two alternating views. Hetty and Byatt. I loved the friendship theme that was evident throughout the story. I found myself rooting for a certain pairing. There was such a strong message within the three hundred and sixty-eight pages of this story.
This would have been a five-star read however, I did have a few issues with it. The first was the ending. It kind of left me hanging in the balance. I’m curious to see if there will be a sequel but I would have loved a few more chapters to wrap things up a bit more. I also felt like the backstory of it all could have been more detailed. Lastly, I believe that we have only just begun to scratch the surface of the three main characters. There’s so much more I need to know! *hint, hint for that sequel*
Overall, I absolutely enjoyed this read and look forward to reading more from Rory Power in the future.
Trigger warnings include talk of suicide, suicide, non-pet animal killings, violence, gore, body mutilation, starvation and more. An extensive list of the trigger warnings can be found on the author’s website, https://itsrorypower.com/wilder-girls/.

* I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

This blog is still under construction and will officially be ready on May 4^th. In the meantime, I wanted to post a little bit about a challenge I am taking part in this year. The TBR challenge is one that I wanted to complete last year, but I had way too much going on and only completed about four of the fifteen books from my backlist that I planned to complete. Sad, I know. This year though, I… am…ready!

We all have one. A list of books that we plan to read. We buy them  but may not get around to reading them as soon as we’d hope. I don’t even know where the count on my list currently stands, last I checked…well, let’s not talk about that lol. It’s grown since then. I have chosen fifteen of those books to read this year.

Here’s my list:

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid   5 Stars
2. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
3. A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir
4. In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
5. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
6. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo  5 Stars
7. Scythe by Neal Shusterman
8. One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus 4 Stars
9. Britt Marie  was Here by Fredrick Backman
10. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
11. Girl Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis  2 Stars
12. WildCard by Marie Lu 4.5 Stars
13. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
14. Vicious by V.E Schwab
15. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

As you can see, I’m already ahead of last year’s challenge by one book lol. I hope to continue this trend but with so many new and exciting releases coming this year, only time will tell!  What are some books that you’ve had for a while that you plan to read soon?