PERMANENT RECORD by MARY HK CHOI A REVIEW BY ALEXA DUNCAN Welcome back to another New Release Friday, everyone. This week, I’m going to be reviewing Permanent Record by Mary HK Choi. You may recall that, in the past, I reviewed Choi’s debut novel, Emergency Contact. I liked that book well…
FRUITS BASKET 1 by NATSUKI TAKAYA A REVIEW by ALEXA DUNCAN Fruits Basket is a series that is very near and dear to my heart. Teenage Alexa loved the manga and the anime adaptation that followed, but I haven’t kept up with the series since then. Until now. The original Fruits Basket…
FURYBORN by CLAIRE LEGRAND A REVIEW by ALEXA DUNCAN Furyborn by Claire Legrand is the much-hyped first book in the Empirium Trilogy, a series of high fantasy novels set in the fictional world of Avitas. When Furyborn was first announced in 2018, I saw it everywhere. Everyone on Booktube was talking…
AGAIN BUT BETTER by CHRISTINE RICCIO A REVIEW by ALEXA DUNCAN If you’re not familiar with Booktube, let me take a moment to remedy that. You may or may not know that there are communities for almost everything on YouTube. There are YouTubers who talk about makeup, fashion, video games,…
THE BEHOLDER by ANNA BRIGHT A REVIEW by ALEXA DUNCAN Let me preface this review by saying I haven’t picked up a YA fantasy in a long time. We’re talking months here. I think I’m finally getting to the point in my reading career where fantasy is completely oversaturating the…
EVE by ANNA CAREY A REVIEW by ALEXA DUNCAN I’ll be honest, dear readers…I didn’t finish this book. I know, I’m sorry. Before calling me a fraud and throwing tomatoes at the library, let me just say one thing: You don’t always have to finish a book. Especially if you don’t like…
SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW by MAURENE GOO (2019) A REVIEW by ALEXA DUNCAN It’s no secret that I’m a K-pop (Korean pop) fan. I’ve been interested in it since 2009 or so when a friend of mine linked me to a YouTube video for a song called “Gee” by Girls’…
BATTLE ROYALE by KOUSHUN TAKAMI A REVIEW by ALEXA DUNCAN If you aren’t familiar with Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, then you might be familiar with its American counterpart, The Hunger Games. Ring any bells? The reason why I’m bringing this up is because Battle Royale and The Hunger Games are cut from the…
GIRLS ON THE VERGE by SHARON BIGGS WALLER A REVIEW by ALEXA DUNCAN Girls on the Verge by Sharon Biggs Waller tackles a topic rarely discussed in the YA world, let alone as the main topic of the novel. That topic being abortion. Despite YA’s growth over recent years, abortion…
FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS (#1 RISE OF THE EMPRESS) by JULIE C. DAO A REVIEW by ALEXA DUNCAN Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao is one of those books I’d seen everyone talking about when it was first released in 2017. An East Asian inspired retelling…