Molly E. Lee

Amber and Dean are students at an elite but conservative high school. They both love hacking and became friends due to that shared interest, but their friendship never really extended outside of school until an incident at the school's annual "abstinence is best" presentation prompts the principal to order Dean to start "Code Club." Amber ends up being the only person to join, and they spend most meetings practicing their hacking skills with friendly competitions. Then they make a bet that leads to Amber secretly creating an anonymous website called "Ask Me Anything" - she'll thumb her nose at the principal while answering all the sexual health-related student questions that the school refuses to recognize even exist.

This is one of the books I bought at a past Book Bonanza.

The Q&A posts reminded me a lot of a YA book I read back in 2020, L.C. Rosen's Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts), although that one was a bit more explicit, and Jack was more sexually experienced than Amber. I did think that the explanation for how Amber wrote all her posts was more believable, though - she drew a lot on her parents' work-related knowledge (her dad was a teen psychologist and her mom was an erotica author), letting them think she was asking questions because she was considering doing work similar to theirs.

I don't recall Jack's posts inspiring quite as much panic as a few of Amber's, though. One of them eventually blew up in a way that was addressed in the text. There was another, however, that Amber took as a question about cheating and that, to me, sounded like a potential statutory rape situation - the question asker, almost certainly a minor, was in a relationship with a married woman who was 6 years older than them.

Anyway, I liked this book reasonably well at first, but unfortunately it vastly outstayed its welcome. It should have been at least 100 pages shorter. It took Dean way too long to realize who was behind the blog, considering the hints Amber let slip in her entries. Also, it was pretty obvious what must have happened between Amber and Brandon, her ex-boyfriend, but it took ages for everything to finally be laid out on-page.

Amber and Dean read like the main characters in a New Adult romance, to the point that the occasional reminders that they were, in fact, high schoolers felt almost weird. Neither of them were all that interesting, and Amber, in particular, came across like a pile of "cool girl" stereotypes.

The ending was a group hug's worth of gooiness, complete with just about everyone apologizing to each other. Except for the principal - he was just 100% horrible, and pretty stupid to boot.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (mehr)

DNF at 50%…I really wanted to like this book. It had everything I loved, a tough heroine, a demon love interest, and sisterly love. But, I couldn’t connect to the story or any of the characters.

I didn’t like the protagonist…I found her reckless and annoying. The love interest wasn’t much better…I didn’t find him sexy or desirable. I felt like it was a girl meets bad boy who shows no interest in her yet she throws herself at him story, and I don’t enjoy that. I actually was shipping her and her best friend instead. Still, I found it interesting enough up until 40% or so, tried to push through and then completely lost interest at 50%.

Also, I got really confused on the genre. It’s marketed as YA and the heroine is 17-18, but I felt there were too many steamy love scenes and swearing for it to be YA (to be clear, I have no issue with either).

I tried to like it and I really wanted to, but maybe it just wasn’t my cup of tea.… (mehr)

This is your introduction to Harley, a seriously AWESOME female lead you won’t soon forget! Think Buffy before she knew what she was but with a murkier background, a tiny bit of a death wish, and a total desire to see all things evil put to rights. She has the same hardcore protection of loved ones build into her DNA, the same questionable choice in friends/acquaintances/boyfriends, and the same ability to smell BS a mile away...even if she doesn’t necessarily have a plan of attack on how to end it before it begins. She rides by the seat of her pants, but she kinda likes it that way too. I mean, she’d love a different life for herself, but she’ll make sure her little sister gets one...come heck or high water...which, by the way, both TECHNICALLY come! By book’s end, you’ll be on the edge of your seat as trusts are broken, alliances are made, and right becomes wrong and back again, all in an effort to stop something BIG, something DARK, something WORLD ENDING from coming to pass. Are they successful? Well...it all depends on how you look at it.


*ebook received for review; opinions are my own… (mehr)

Did I mention Harley is an ABSOLUTE BAD*SS?! Yeah because she is...but Draven is definitely up there in the ranks too, and this time around, they’ll need each other just as much, if not more, than last go round, and there is far more at stake! What? You thought the world ending scenario was a bad turn? You thought how far she went to try and save pretty much EVERYONE was over the edge? Honey, she redefines what an edge even is in this book, and with Draven in the mix, things are bound to get a bit hot and heavy. Did I mention how CURIOUS the twists and turns given to what we thought we knew about good and evil, heaven and hell (or rather Ather), or even those in charge of both? So good! It’s not remaking the wheel, and it’s FICTION, before anyone gets their hackles up about it, but it makes for some things to really think on and consider. I mean, why couldn’t there be darkness and light in everyone? It might really all depend on which side you listen to and how you use your power in the end.

Trust me when I say, this is one not to be missed! The new friends she makes (just don’t call them that to their faces), the acquaintances we get to know better, the enemies we get closer than we ever dared, the history revealed, and the future we glimpse, all add up to a truly remarkable second installment that leaves you thirsting for more! All I can say is...WHY did I not read the first one sooner...and WHY isn't the third one out yet?!


**ebook received for review; opinions are my own… (mehr)