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Blog Tour and ARC Review: Dauntless by Elisa A. Bonnin

July 19, 2022

“Be dauntless, for the hopes of the People rest in you.” 

Seri’s world is defined by very clear rules: The beasts prowl the forest paths and hunt the People. The valiant explore the unknown world, kill the beasts, and gain strength from the armor they make from them. As an assistant to Eshai Unbroken, a young valor commander with a near-mythical reputation, Seri has seen first-hand the struggle to keep the beasts at bay and ensure the safety of the spreading trees where the People make their homes. That was how it always had been, and how it always would be. Until the day Seri encounters Tsana. 

Tsana is, impossibly, a stranger from the unknown world who can communicate with the beasts – a fact that makes Seri begin to doubt everything she’s ever been taught. As Seri and Tsana grow closer, their worlds begin to collide, with deadly consequences. Somehow, with the world on the brink of war, Seri will have to find a way to make peace.  

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Filed in: blog tour, caitlyn, posts, reviews, upcoming releases • by caitlyn @ teatimelit •

Let’s Talk: My Favorite Reads of 2022 Part 1

June 29, 2022

Hi besties! Can you believe we’re at the end of June? I truly cannot. I know I say it all the time, but time really is just a construct isn’t it? I hope that the first half of the year has treated you well and that the second half has many magical things coming your way!

With the first half of the year coming to a close, you know what it’s time for. It’s time for the first part of my Favorite Reads of 2022 post! I love doing these each year because it’s so fun to take a look at all the books I’ve read so far and highlight my favorites. As of the end of June, I’ve read 138 books, and as you can expect, with a number like that it was a little tricky to narrow this list down to the 16 books that I’m featuring.

Y’all know the drill — no rereads are listed here, all of these books are ones that I read for the first time this year, so that you don’t hear me once again go on and on about my love for certain books (iykyk). 

As always, I have done my best to list trigger warnings based on my own personal notes, trigger warnings from other reviews and what is listed on websites like Book Trigger Warnings and Trigger Warning Database if needed. That being said, there may be things that I have forgotten and if so I apologize! If you’ve read any of these books and notice that I’m missing some triggers, please let me know so that I can update the trigger lists!

✩ indicates an ARC / Read as an ARC

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Filed in: caitlyn, let's talk, posts • by caitlyn @ teatimelit •

Let’s Talk: My Current and Recent Reads

June 22, 2022

Happy Wednesday, my friends! I hope that the week has been treating you well so far!

Work has been really busy lately, so I’ve been reading at a much slower pace than usual. However, I was lucky enough to receive ARCs of two of my most anticipated reads of 2022, Chloe Gong’s Foul Lady Fortune and Elisa A. Bonnin’s Dauntless!

I’ve been sneaking in all the reading time I can manage while also juggling work and trying to maintain a somewhat healthy sleep schedule, and I thought it would be fun to talk a little bit about each book and share some of my spoiler-free thoughts!

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Filed in: caitlyn, let's talk, posts • by caitlyn @ teatimelit •

Mini Reviews: See You Yesterday, Boulevard of Dreams, Rivals and This May End Badly

June 15, 2022

Hi friends! Can you believe we’re about half way through June? This month has been a crazy one, as the summer camp program I’m in charge of began. Which means that at any given point there can be 7 camps running in one week, so to say that my life has been busy would be an understatement!

With my busy work schedule, I thought that this week it would be nice to share some mini reviews of books that I’ve read in the last few months! For this set of mini reviews I’ll be featuring: See You Yesterday, Boulevard of Dreams, Rivals, and This May End Badly. So grab a glass of iced tea (is it as insanely hot where you are as it is over here?) and get comfy!

✩ Indicates read as an ARC

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Filed in: caitlyn, posts, reviews • by caitlyn @ teatimelit •

Review: Great or Nothing by Joy McCullough, Caroline Tung Richmond, Tess Sharpe, and Jessica Spotswood

June 8, 2022

A reimagining of Little Women set in the spring of 1942, when the United States is suddenly embroiled in the second World War, this story, told from each March sister’s point of view, is one of grief, love, and self-discovery.

In the spring of 1942, the United States is reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor. While the US starts sending troops to the front, the March family of Concord, Massachusetts grieves their own enormous loss: the death of their daughter, Beth.

Under the strain of their grief, Beth’s remaining sisters fracture, each going their own way with Jo nursing her wounds and building planes in Boston, Meg holding down the home front with Marmee, and Amy living a secret life as a Red Cross volunteer in London–the same city where one Mr. Theodore Laurence is stationed as an army pilot.

Each March sister’s point of view is written by a separate author, three in prose and Beth’s in verse, still holding the family together from beyond the grave. Woven together, these threads tell a story of finding one’s way in a world undergoing catastrophic change. 

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Filed in: caitlyn, posts, reviews • by caitlyn @ teatimelit •

Blog Tour + Review: Please We’ve Never Been by Kasie West

June 1, 2022

A sweet and swoony contemporary Young Adult novel about a cross-country family road trip that puts one girl and her childhood best friend on an unexpected road to romance!

Norah hasn’t seen her childhood best friend, Skyler, in years. When he first moved away, they’d talk all the time, but lately their relationship has been reduced to liking each other’s Instagram posts. That’s why Norah can’t wait for the joint RV road trip their families have planned for the summer.

But when Skyler finally arrives, he seems…like he’d rather be anywhere else. Hurt and confused, Norah reacts in kind. Suddenly, her oldest friendship is on the rocks.

An unexpected summer spent driving across the country leads both Norah and Skyler down new roads and to new discoveries. Before long, they are, once again, seeing each other in a different light. Can their friendship-turned-rivalry turn into something more? 

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Filed in: blog tour, caitlyn, posts, reviews • by caitlyn @ teatimelit •

Review: Cover Story by Susan Rigetti

May 25, 2022

Netflix’s Inventing Anna and Hulu’s The Dropout meets Catch Me If You Can, a captivating novel about an ambitious young woman who gets trapped in a charismatic con artist’s scam.

After a rough year at NYU, aspiring writer Lora Ricci is thrilled to land a summer internship at ELLE magazine where she meets Cat Wolff, contributing editor and enigmatic daughter of a clean-energy mogul. Cat takes Lora under her wing, soliciting her help with side projects and encouraging her writing.

As a friendship emerges between the two women, Lora opens up to Cat about her desperate struggles and lost scholarship. Cat’s solution: Drop out of NYU and become her ghostwriter. Lora agrees and, when the internship ends, she moves into Cat’s suite at the opulent Plaza Hotel. Writing during the day and accompanying Cat to extravagant parties at night, Lora’s life quickly shifts from looming nightmare to dream-come-true. But as Lora is drawn into Cat’s glamorous lifestyle, Cat’s perfect exterior cracks, exposing an illicit, shady world.

A whip-smart and delightfully inventive writer, Susan Rigetti brilliantly pieces together a perceptive, humorous caper full of sharp observations about scam culture. Composed of diary entries, emails, FBI correspondence, and more, Cover Story is a fresh, fun, and wholly original novel that takes readers deep into the codependency and deceit found in a relationship built on power imbalance and lies.

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Filed in: caitlyn, posts, reviews • by caitlyn @ teatimelit •

Let’s Talk: Books by AAPI Authors I’m Looking Forward To

May 11, 2022

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! I think that it’s always so important to celebrate our cultures and heritage, but I think after the last few years it’s extra important to celebrate and uplift the AAPI community. 

There are so many exciting new books coming out this year by AAPI authors, so I thought it would be fun to talk about some of the ones that I’m looking forward to!

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Filed in: book recs, caitlyn, let's talk, posts, tbr, upcoming releases • by caitlyn @ teatimelit •

Review: Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

May 4, 2022

They Wish They Were Us meets The Queen’s Gambit in the world of competitive Scrabble when a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend a year after the fact when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages.

CATALYST

13 points

noun: a person or thing that precipitates an event or change

When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend’s death, it’s with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It might be even though Najwa’s trying to change, she’s not ready to give up Trina just yet.

But the same can’t be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All’s fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina’s formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina’s death wasn’t as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.
As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it’s up to Najwa to find out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not just to save Trina’s memory, but to save herself.

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Filed in: caitlyn, posts, reviews • by caitlyn @ teatimelit •

ARC Review: The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray

May 1, 2022

From New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray—a summer house party turns into a thrilling whodunit when Mr. Wickham, one of literature’s most notorious villains, meets a sudden and suspicious end in this brilliantly imagined mystery featuring Jane Austen’s leading literary characters.

The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a house party, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances—characters beloved by Jane Austen fans. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.

Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. In a tantalizing fusion of Austen and Christie, the unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.

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Filed in: caitlyn, posts, reviews • by caitlyn @ teatimelit •

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