Ash Reads Stuff

 Now is Everything  by Amy Giles Publication Date: November 7th, 2017 Pages: 368 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Now Is Everything is a stirring debut novel told in alternating THEN and NOW chapters, perfect for Sarah Dessen and Jennifer Niven fans, about what one girl is willing to do to protect her past, present, and future. The McCauleys look perfect on the outside. But nothing is ever as it seems, and this family is hiding a dark secret. Hadley McCauley will do anything to keep her sister safe from their father. But when Hadley’s forbidden relationship with Charlie Simmons deepens, the violence at home escalates, culminating in an explosive accident that will leave everyone changed. When Hadley attempts to take her own life at the hospital post-accident, her friends, doctors, family, and the investigator on the case want to know why. Only Hadley knows what really happened that day, and she’s not talking.

Release  by Patrick Ness Publication Date: September 19, 2017 Pages:  288 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  Inspired by Judy Blume’s Forever and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway , this novel by award-winning author Patrick Ness is a new classic about teenage relationships, self-acceptance—and what happens when the walls we build start coming down. Adam Thorn doesn’t know it yet, but today will change his life. Between his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam’s life is falling apart. At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend (he does love Linus, doesn’t he?) and his best friend, Angela. But all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam’s life into chaos. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one; yet in spite of everything he has to let go, he may also

The Border  by Steve Schafer Publication Date: September 5, 2017 Pages: 364 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: One moment changed their lives forever. A band plays, glasses clink, and four teens sneak into the Mexican desert, the hum of celebration receding behind them. Crack. Crack. Crack. Not fireworks―gunshots. The music stops. And Pato, Arbo, Marcos, and Gladys are powerless as the lives they once knew are taken from them. Then they are seen by the gunmen. They run. Except they have nowhere to go. The narcos responsible for their families' murders have put out a reward for the teens' capture. Staying in Mexico is certain death, but attempting to cross the border through an unforgiving desert may be as deadly as the secrets they are trying to escape...  My Review:  This book is a little out of my genre of YA simply because of the subject matter. While interesting, the writing was sometimes a

Mask of Shadows  by Lindsey Miller Publication Date: August 29, 2017 Pages: 384 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 1.5-2   Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class―and the nobles who destroyed their home. When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand―the Queen's personal assassins, named after the rings she wears―Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge. But the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. And as Sal succeeds in the competition, and wins the heart of Elise, an intriguing scribe at court, they start to dream of a new life and a different future, but one that Sal can have only if they su

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black Publication Date: January 15, 2015 Pages: 336 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for. Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once. At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations,

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan Publication Date: March 1st, 2006 Pages: 366 (paperback) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Syonpsis:  Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse—Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena—Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and preve

Spellbook of the Lost and Found  by Moira Fowley-Doyle Publication Date: June 1, 2017 (August 8, 2017) Pages: 368 (hardover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: The highly anticipated new book from the acclaimed author of The Accident Season is a gorgeous, twisty story about things gone missing, things returned from the past, and a group of teenagers, connected in ways they could never have imagined. One stormy Irish summer night, Olive and her best friend, Rose, begin to lose things. It starts with simple items like hairclips and jewelry, but soon it's clear that Rose has lost something much bigger, something she won't talk about, and Olive thinks her best friend is slipping away. Then seductive diary pages written by a girl named Laurel begin to appear all over town. And Olive meets three mysterious strangers: Ivy, Hazel, and her twin brother, Rowan, secretly squatting in an abandoned housing estate. The trio are wild and

Everything We Left Behind by Kerry Lonsdale Publication Date: July 4, 2017 Pages:  350 (kindle) Genre: Adult Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Two months before his wedding, financial executive James Donato chased his trade-laundering brother Phil to Mexico, only to be lost at sea and presumed dead. Six and a half years later, he emerges from a dissociative fugue state to find he’s been living in Oaxaca as artist Carlos Dominguez, widower and father of two sons, with his sister-in-law Natalya Hayes, a retired professional surfer, helping to keep his life afloat. But his fiancée, Aimee Tierney, the love of his life, has moved on. She’s married and has a child of her own. Devastated, James and his sons return to California. But Phil is scheduled for release from prison, and he’s determined to find James, who witnessed something in Mexico that could land Phil back in confinement. Under mounting family pressure, James flees with his sons to Kauai, seek

I forgot to do one of these for May, so we'll add it all in together. May was tough because it was the last month of school and most of my time was spent stressing out over school stuff. But June? June was amazing because I have all the time in the world now. I've finally been able to catch up on my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal and, as of today, I'm only one book behind.  So, on with the books. As usual, they'll be in Five Stars, Four Stars, or Three Stars. If you ever want to read reviews check out the blog or find me on Goodreads . Five Stars       Fours Stars         Three Stars               That's all I've got for you! I hope you find something amazing to read this summer. If I haven't read it, tell me about it! 

Everything We Keep  by Kerry Lonsdale Publication Date: August 1, 2016 Pages: 306 (ebook) Genre: Adult Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: A luminous debut with unexpected twists, Everything We Keep explores the devastation of loss, the euphoria of finding love again, and the pulse-racing repercussions of discovering the truth about the ones we hold dear and the lengths they will go to protect us. Sous chef Aimee Tierney has the perfect recipe for the perfect life: marry her childhood sweetheart, raise a family, and buy out her parents’ restaurant. But when her fiancé, James Donato, vanishes in a boating accident, her well-baked future is swept out to sea. Instead of walking down the aisle on their wedding day, Aimee is at James’s funeral—a funeral that leaves her more unsettled than at peace. As Aimee struggles to reconstruct her life, she delves deeper into James’s disappearance. What she uncovers is an ocean of secrets that make her question ever