Ash Reads Stuff

Haunting the Deep by Adriana Mather Publication Date:  October 3rd, 2017 Pages: 368 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3 stars Goodreads Synopsis: Samantha Mather knew her family’s connection to the infamous Salem Witch Trials might pose obstacles to an active social life. But having survived one curse, she never thought she’d find herself at the center of a new one. This time, Sam is having recurring dreams about the Titanic . . . where she’s been walking the deck with first-class passengers, like her aunt and uncle. Meanwhile, in Sam’s waking life, strange missives from the Titanic have been finding their way to her, along with haunting visions of people who went down with the ship. Ultimately, Sam and the Descendants, along with some help from heartthrob Elijah, must unravel who is behind the spell that is drawing her ever further into the dream ship . . . and closer to sharing the same grim fate as its ghostly passengers. My Review: When I reques...

The Love That Split the World  by Emily Henry Publication Date:  January 16, 2016 Pages: 390 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating:  3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves. Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start…until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right. That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautif...

The Accident Season  by Moira Fowley-Doyle Publication Date:  August 18, 2015 Pages:  304 (hardcover) Genre:  Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating:  4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  Every October Cara and her family become inexplicably and unavoidably accident-prone. Some years it's bad, like the season when her father died, and some years it's just a lot of cuts and scrapes. This accident season—when Cara, her ex-stepbrother, Sam, and her best friend, Bea, are 17—is going to be a bad one. But not for the reasons they think. Cara is about to learn that not all the scars left by the accident season are physical: There's a long-hidden family secret underneath the bumps and bruises. This is the year Cara will finally fall desperately in love, when she'll start discovering the painful truth about the adults in her life, and when she'll uncover the dark origins of the accident season—whether she's ready or not. My Review:  I really enj...

Down with the Shine by Kate Karyus Quinn Publication Date: April 26, 2016 Pages: 368 (kindle) Genre: Young AdultFantasy My Goodreads Rating: 3.5/4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: There's a reason they say "be careful what you wish for." Just ask the girl who wished to be thinner and ended up smaller than Thumbelina, or the boy who asked for "balls of steel" and got them-literally. And never wish for your party to go on forever. Not unless you want your guests to be struck down by debilitating pain if they try to leave. These are things Lennie only learns when it's too late-after she brings some of her uncles' moonshine to a party and toasts to dozens of wishes, including a big wish of her own: to bring back her best friend, Dylan, who was abducted and murdered six months ago. Lennie didn't mean to cause so much chaos. She always thought her uncles' moonshine toast was just a tradition. And when they talked about carrying on the...

The Library at Mount Char  by Scott Hawkins Publication Date:  March 15, 2016 Pages: 400 (paperback) Genre: Adult Fiction/Fantasy My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  A missing God. A library with the secrets to the universe. A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away. Carolyn's not so different from the other people around her. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. Clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit with the Christmas sweater over the gold bicycle shorts. After all, she was a normal American herself once. That was a long time ago, of course. Before her parents died. Before she and the others were taken in by the man they called Father. In the years since then, Carolyn hasn't had a chance to get out much. Instead, she and her adopted siblings have been raised according to Father's ancient customs. They've studied the books in his Library and learned ...

Unhooked  by Lisa Maxwell Publication Date: February 2, 2016 Pages:  342 (hardcover Genre:  Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: For as long as she can remember, Gwendolyn Allister has never had a place to call home—all because her mother believes that monsters are hunting them. Now these delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. The only saving grace is her best friend, Olivia, who’s coming with them for the summer. But when Gwen and Olivia are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and taken to a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey, Gwen realizes her mom might have been sane all along. The world Gwen finds herself in is called Neverland, yet it’s nothing like the stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through her fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and find a way home, she must choose between tru...

This week's Top Ten Tuesday by The Broke and the Bookish is a Valentine freebie. Yay? I decided to break this up with my favorite OTPs from books, movies, and TV and my favorite quotes about my favorite OTPs from books, movies, and TV. We'll see how this goes. OTP: St. Clair and Anna, Anna and the French Kiss Quote: St. Clair is one of my favorite book boys. Forever.  OTP: Ron and Hermione, Harry Potter Quote:  I loved reading this part. Through the darkest times in this book, this one made me smile.  OTP: Feyre and Tamlin, A Court of Thorns and Roses Quote:  THIS BOOK. OTP: Cath and Levi, Fangirl Quote:  Seriously, but Levi is so cute.  OTP: Will and Lou, Me Before You Quote:  Come, cry with me.  OTP: Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, Tangled Quote:  Like, how perfect are these two?  OTP: Dean and Jo, Supernatural Quote:  I will forever mourn.  OTP: Piper...