Booked with Abby

 People say the Wicker Woods are magical. Haunted. Nora Walked is rumored to be a witch and only she knows the truth of the Wicker Woods. Nora's special connection with the woods leads her to Oliver Huntsman. There's something off about Oliver's presence though. Nora has no choice but to find out the truth behind Oliver's sudden appearance, but Oliver is hiding something. Secrets that he wants to keep buried. The first thing that pulled into this book was the gorgeous cover. I love how pretty it is and the writing inside is beautiful enough to match. The writing is so atmospheric. It's stunning. I really liked the fairy tale-esque setting. The Wicker Woods sounds beautiful. I love the haunted woods and witchy ancestors. The Walker women are so gothic and creepy. This love story is so unique. I love the ending. It's impossible not to love sad, introverted Nora. Her romance with Oliver was so cute. Usually I get so annoyed with slow-burn romances but I really like...

 Ten years ago, Mary Morton's father vanished. Four years later, pearls began arriving. There were six in total and she ended up with a mysterious indentation to meet the sender. Miss Morton hires Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in hopes that they will accompany her and solve her father's disappearance. The only clue she has though is a map of a fortress with the name of four strangers. Although the Sherlock Holmes  series is narrated by John Watson, I would love to see these stories told through Sherlock's eyes. I would love to know what's going on inside his head. He's so smart and is able to deduce anything in a way that makes me wish I knew how he did it. I love that the Sherlock Holmes  novels are so short so it's easy to just fly through them. So far, my favorite book in this series has been The Hound of Baskervilles.  I recently got a graphic novel of  The Hound of Baskervilles  so I'm excited to read more Arthur Conan Doyle books. I loved the BBC ser...

 Mary is the queen of Scotland, but she's spent almost her entire life living in France. She's also spent her entire life hiding the fact that she is an eðian. Mary can turn into a mouse. In a kingdom ruled by Verities, it's a secret that could cost her her head. Aristotle (call her Ari) Notredumos thought being one of Mary's ladies in waiting would be the perfect way to secure her position in court, but she never thought she would stumble into a plot that could change France's fate. Francis is Mary's betrothed and one of the few people that know her secret. When the king of France dies in a suspicious "accident," Mary and Francais are thrust into a world of conspiracies and treason. I have always been a fan of Mary, Queen of Scots. This whole era of royalty is something I always enjoy learning more about. I was so excited to finally get a novel about Queen Mary from the Lady Janies! These authors never cease to amaze me with their astounding stories. ...

 Hunter and Mercy Goode are twin witches. They are the direct desendents from the founders of Goodeville. As their ansentors before them, it's time for Hunter and Mercy to become Gatekeepers- protectors of the gates to different underworlds. When their mother becomes the first in a series of murders, it's up to Hunter and Mercy to avenge her death. They'll need more than magic if they hope to defeat the mythical creature terrozing Goodeville though...  THAT ENDING! I NEED THE NEXT BOOK NOW! Spells Trouble  was a great book though there were some parts that where a little boring. It was really slow, but I'm still going to read the sequal when it comes out next spring because I need to know what happens to Hunter. I love the cover. And the name. Both are great and defitnly the best part of the book. I love the names of these two girls. Hunter and Mercy. I just love it. That is the best name for twins. My favorite of this sisters was Hunter. She was somewhat independent. M...

 Clay and his friends have never seen the outside world before. They are part of a prophecy that is predicted to save the Sandlands from total war and destruction. When Clay finally does escape the cave, he finds himself in more trouble than he thought he would. He and his friends have been taken captive by the evil Queen Scarlet. Out of the five main dragons featured in this book, Clay was probably my least favorite. He was so positive all the time but not in the cute way Sunny was. Clay was immature and annoying. On the other hand, my favorite dragon in the book was Starflight. He was calm the whole time and I think I just related to his personality the most. He was pretty serious the whole time which was a welcome break compared to all the other dragons who shared the same excitable personality. While on the topic of characters, none of them were very dynamic. Even Clay, who was the many characters, was static. He spends the whole book focused on two things: finding his family a...

Leila was orphaned when she was just a baby. Since then, she was adopted by Mr. Veron. Leila is an escape artist and finally found her place among the Magic Misfits. After defeating Bosso and his gang, a new mystery will arrive for the Magic Misfits to solve. At the same time, Leila is trying to figure out more about her father's past.     One thing I love about these books is Neil Pattrick Harris integrated LGBTQ characters into his story. Mr. Veron is gay which I think is awesome!     My favorites of the misfits, Olly and Izzy. They named their mouses Ozzy and Illy which I think is adorable. Each book in this series is about a different misfit which I love. Book one was about Carter and book 3 is about Theo. For the next book in the series, I'm hoping that Izzy and Olly get separate books. They so often get grouped together which is one thing I don't like about the series. I get that they are twins and all but they are often looked at as the same person. Page Count...

 Tilly and Oskar are bookwanderers. They can travel into any book they want, but their powers are put to the test when fairytales start leaking book magic and causing chaos. While on a trip to Paris, the pair travel into a book of fairytales only to find that the characters are getting lost in the wrong story and mysterious plot holes are opening. Compared to The Bookwanders, The Lost Fairytales was kind of a letdown. Half of this book didn't seem to have any real plot and Tilly just ran around a book the whole time. Tilly was so infuriating in this book. She couldn't follow any rules! Her grandparents gave her two rules. ONLY TWO. Tilly broke them both on the same page. She was so careless and had no disregard for others. In the first book in this series, Tilly worked so hard to find her long-lost mother Bea. Bea was literally only present for a total of maybe ten pages. Most of the time she was in the background and didn't talk, let alone do anything. There was one moment...

 Audrey Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell are in America. New York is nothing like London but when people turn up murdered, it seems too much like the Jack the Ripper case. Audrey Rose and Thomas follow this new serial killer all the way to Chicago only to find this killer is unlike anything they've faced before. Capturing him will be much harder than they expected. Capturing the Devil was a great conclusion to the Stalking Jack the Ripper series. It was impossible to put down. No one creates plot twists like Kerri Maniscalco. The killer's identity was pretty easy to figure out compared to the previous books. The clues were so obvious and scattered everywhere throughout the book. Capturing the Devil  managed to repair how horrible Audrey Rose was in Escaping from Houdini . I was so mad when Mephistopheles showed up in this book. I will never understand why people like him especially after he tried to ruin Audrey Rose and Thomas's relationship. Thomas and Audrey Rose are s...

   Tilly's mother disappeared almost ten years ago. Ten years later, Tilly starts to experience strange things. Anne of Green Gables and Alice from Wonderland have started appearing in her family's bookshop, Pages and Co. to make things even weirder, Tilly finds she has the ability to travel into Anne and Alice's stories. Tilly's new discovery is fun at first, but danger lurks at every turn... This book was so much better than I thought it would be! I couldn't put it down. I wouldn't describe this book as gripping, but the plot certainly moved fast enough to keep me interested.  The Bookwanders  was so lighthearted and after recently dealing with all the politics in  War Storm  and  Broken Throne , it was a nice break. The plot was nothing new: an orphan who discovers a new world and that she has magical powers. I've read dozens of books like that before, but  The Bookwanders  had its own special twist on things. Everything that happened with...

Percy Jackson just got kicked out of another school. He always seems to get into trouble. After a road trip with his mom goes south, Percy finds out that he is a demi-god. He travels to Camp Halfblood with his friend Grover where they meet Anabelle, the daughter of Athena. The three are sent on a quest to recover Zeus's stolen lightning bolt.     I really liked Percy Jackson . There's this whole thing about whether Percy Jackson or  Harry Potter  is better. After reading both books I would 100 % go with Percy Jackson .      I definitely will be continuing this book series. There was never a boring moment and I enjoyed the book. Rick Riordan did an amazing job with this book and I can see why everyone loves his books so much.     I saw the movie for this book two years ago in my history class and it was okay. The book was much better. If I hadn't seen the movie, I think I would have been really surprised by some of the stuff that happened. I a...

 Sadie couldn't handle it when Mattie died. That's when she went missing. Now, West McCray is producing a new podcast called The Girls . At first, he doesn't want to do the show. Girls go missing all the time. Why would there be anything special about Sadie? When West finally does travel to the small town of Cold Creek, he's determined to find out what actually happened to Sadie. Wow. Sadie was really hard to digest. I feel like this one will be one that sticks with me for a while. I'm not going to say I enjoyed Sadie  because it's not the type of book one would enjoy reading. I could never imagine going through the same types of things Sadie went through. It's something that no girl should have to face. Still, all those troubling instances didn't stop this book from being gripping. I read Sadie  within two days. I started it Saturday afternoon and finished Sunday night. I couldn't stop reading. It wasn't just addictive because I wanted to know w...

 In the Kingdom, happily ever after isn't just a promise. It's a rule. Ana is one of the Fantasists, engineered princesses designed to make dreams come true. When Ana meets Owen, she starts to experience emotions beyond her programming. Love. But her fairytale takes a turn as Ana is accused of murdering Owen. Why hasn't there been more hype surrounding this book? It was so freaking good! I couldn't put down this. At first, I didn't plan on finishing it as quickly as I did. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop.  The Kingdom  is a very fast-paced book. It was so original too. I've never read anything like it! The Kingdom was basically Disney but cooler... and evil. Just the entire aspect of this theme park is amazing! There were so many cool aspects of this book! I loved that part of the book we're told through court transcript. Though the story basically followed two different timelines, it was very easy to keep track of everything happening. I also lo...

 A year after Citra was supposed to kill Rowan, he lives on the run as the infamous Scythe Lucifer. He kills the corrupt scythes in the scythedom, but his acts have placed a giant target on his back. Citra does her duty day by day as the honorable Scythe Anastasia. But someone is targeting Citra and Scythe Curie. Someone who means to end their lives. This book was so good! I loved Scythe , but Thunderhead was so much better. I never wanted this book to end and I was so not ready for that ending! The worst part is that Thunderhead  ended off on a cliffhanger and I don't have  The Toll  yet! I love the characters in this book so much. Citra and Rowan are so amazing. I am was so emotionally invested in this story. I couldn't put it down because I was so eager to see what would happen to these two. I feel like all the characters in this series have so many sides to them. At every moment, I feel like I was learning something new about each and every character. THAT ENDING...

Emily's luck seemed to run out three years ago when her mother died. Ever since she and her boyfriend broke up at junior prom, she barricaded herself in her room, preparing for the worst summer ever. But then Emily meets Blake, the daughter of her father's childhood best friend. While cleaning out her mother's closet, Emily finds her mother's senior year bucket list. When Blake suggests that they complete the list together, it kicks off a summer of self-discovery. As they check more things off the list, Emily starts to feel closer to her mother, and Blake too. This was such a heartwarming book! There were definitely a few moments that made my heart swell with sadness. Rachael Lippincott is also the author of Five Feet Apart  which I read last January. Her third novel is so much better! I think The Lucky List  is exactly the type of gay coming-of-age teens need. In many novels, teens already know they're gay but before this book, I never got to read a novel with a ch...

 Quinn was shocked when he found out that the king wanted a map of the world. Everyone knew that eventually, one would fall off the world and into the jaws of a fire-breathing dragon. Quinn was even more shocked to find out that the king wanted Quinn to be the mapmaker. With his hidden gift, he'd be the perfect scribe. Reluctantly, he agrees and sets out on a journey he never intended to go on.     I regret buying this book. It was so boring and there multiple instances where I considered DNFing it. Honestly, I don't know why I kept reading it. I know that there is no way I'm going to finish this series.     The book had a lot of potential, but it just didn't come through. There were so many exciting things that could have happened yet the story kept a slow pace with little exciting action. When something did happen, the solution to the problem was predictable.     Quinn was a poorly written main character. He was dull and static. Nothing about him cha...

After refusing to give up the location of the Vanargade hideout, Chatine is sent to Bastille. Marcellus is a traitor to Laterre and Alouette is a fugitive on the run. The three are all enemies to a country on the brink of war. When Marcellus uncovers his grandfather's plans to take over the country, it could mean absolute destruction for Chatine and so many others. I finally finished the sequel to Sky Without Stars . At some points, this book felt so long, but I really liked it.  My favorite chapters were Chatine's and I wish I got more chapters with her. Marceullus and Alouette are cool, but they aren't nearly as interesting as Chatine. My favorite character in this book is undoubtedly Gabriel (though Chatine's a close second). He was sarcastic and pretty funny. At first, I thought he was supposed to be Grantire until a character actually named Grantire showed up. I read online that he was supposed to be Courfeyrac. No matter who Grabriel was inspired by, I hope to see...

 Audrey Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell are on their way to America after solving the gruesome murder at Bram Castle in Romania. When they set sail on the RMS Etruria , they think they're finally free from the trail of dead bodies that have been following them across Europe. But then someone turns up dead. Set to the backdrop of a magical carnival, Audrey Rose and Thomas must catch another killer before he's let loose in New York City. Escaping from Houdini  is my least favorite book in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series. I really liked the setting of this book. The ship was so mystical and combined with Kerri Maniscalco's enchanting writing- it was beautiful! I loved the magical carnival vibe. My favorite character in this book was Thomas. I love his sarcasm and undeniable charm. He and Audrey Rose are such a great couple. The most annoying thing about this book was the love triangle. It was small but so terrible. Mephistopheles was such a terrible character! I hated ...

 Nadya doesn't know if she still trusts her magic. She doesn't know if she can trust anyone really. As her group is torn apart the tensions between them become higher and higher- actually leave Serefin out of this because he really did nothing the whole book. So 500 pages later and basically nothing happened. I can't really remember anything from the book, but hey, we've all been there at some point or another. While I read Wicked Saints  in a physical book form, I chose to listen to its sequel as an audiobook. And let me tell you, the audio is so much better than physical. I actually wasn't as bored with Ruthless Gods as I was with  Wicked Saints . Like I said before, I was listening to the audiobook and I just found it so weird that everyone sounded like vampires. The dialogue was spoken out in a Translyvnia accent. It sounded weird and it didn't fit the book too well at first. I think after a while I got used to it though. I think Serefin's character was...

 Amandine Klinghoffer is a young detective working on her first solo case in the kingdom of Glamwein. Prince Ivan is being haunted by ghosts. He's also hiding something from Amandine. He would rather distract her with romance than give her any useful information for solving the mysterious murder at the palace. Your Vilness  was nothing special. It's a cookie-cutter YA book that was enjoyable, but not great. It was also so full of poorly executed tropes. The story was so predictable too. The plot twists weren't exciting at all. Though Your Vilness  attempted the opposites attract trope, I couldn't care less for the romance in this book. Amandine and Ivan couldn't be more different. Once in a while, they had great banter. I liked them as friends, but my feelings for them as their attraction grew didn't change. Their connection felt forced and it might have helped a bit if there had been a few chapters from Ivan's point of view. The characters in general weren...

 Ruban Montez and Zach Knight are both part of the boy band Saturday. Along with their best friends, Angel and Jon, share the stage and the spotlight. Shortly after they finish their American tour, they are shipped off to Europe for another long strand of tiring days and restless nights. Those nights become even more restless when Zach drunkenly kisses Rubin. While their bandmates may be supportive of the budding romance, it feels like the world is trying to come in between them. I loved this book. This gay boy-band romance was absolutely adorable. I think now I might be a Saturday fan girl. Zach and Ruban were great together. I loved reading from both of their point of view. I also loved getting to see how their feelings changed as the story progressed. Zach especially had great character development.  The friendships in this book could have stolen the show. The four boys had such a deep bond but it was tested with several ups and downs.  I was expecting this book to be ...