MINI REVIEWS: The Truth Lies Here / Dreaming Dangerous

 /  / Goodreads

Clara can’t believe her no-nonsense grandmother has just up and moved to Florida, leaving Clara and her mother on their own for the first time. This means her mother can finally “follow her bliss,” which involves moving to a tiny apartment in Kensington Market, working at a herbal remedy shop and trying to develop her so-called mystical powers. Clara tries to make the best of a bad situation by joining the newspaper staff at her new middle school, where she can sharpen her investigative journalistic skills and tell the kind of hard-news stories her grandmother appreciated. But the editor relegates her to boring news stories and worse . . . the horoscopes.

Worse yet, her horoscopes come true, and soon everyone at school is talking about Clara Voyant, the talented fortune-teller. Clara is horrified–horoscopes and clairvoyance aren’t real, she insists, just like her grandmother always told her. But when a mystery unfolds at school, she finds herself in a strange situation: having an opportunity to prove herself as an investigative journalist . . . with the help of her own mystical powers.

Disclaimer: Book Princess Reviews is a professional review site that receives compensation through affiliate programs (Barnes & Noble and Book Depository). We receive a percentage of commission from each purchase you make after following links provided on our site. Our promise to you is to always disclose affiliate links/buttons which you see above!

Oh, look, a highly anticipated read that didn’t fail me. Call me impressed.

As you can see, my pre-read review was allllllllllllllllll the fangirl feels since the premise was literally alllllllllllll of my buzzwords? I was like, all this book needs is some Bigfoot and it would be good, and how does this book start???? MC AND DAD ON A BIGFOOT HUNT. Omg, I was having a moment, y’all. Me was in the corner, heavy breathing because I just can’t.

Overall, though, besides hitting all of my buzzwords, it was a pretty good read. There were a few parts that I thought could have grazed deeper than just the surface, but otherwise, I was vibing this story.

I really liked the storyline. I really wasn’t quite sure where it was going. I was honestly thinking, is it aliens?? government mind wipe?? middle grade emotional Bigfoot – oh, wait, wrong book. I really couldn’t figure out where this story would lead, and I was super enjoying the journey of Penny on the search for her father, trying to find out why all of the townspeople say the say things over and over, and what is really going on with all of the burned bodies. There were a lot of little things that added up to a bigger mystery, and I was in deep with all of them.

The characters were pretty good. I would have liked to dive a little deeper with them, but they were pretty good. I liked Penny well enough, and I thought she was a good main character. I got her motivations, and her journey with how she was a believer to being a not a believer to maybe a believer brought a lot of depth to her and made me really root for her. Dex was a nice character, but I would have liked a bit more from him. Reese was kind cartoonish for most of the time, but I got the psychology behind her. The dynamics between everyone was really interesting, too, and it definitely brought the interconnected small town feels.

Ariel is not so sure about The X-Files especially with that worm thing swimming around. Where’s some nice romance??

The thing that I loved the most about this book was the setting/atmosphere. This honestly just felt like an X-Files episode sans Scully and Mulder. It had the same spookyish, fall atmosphere that brought the creepy small town feels. It bordered on the edge of is this normal/is this paranormal? It would bring intriguing plot twists and turns that you weren’t expecting at the unexpected moments. It really was the closest I felt to The X-Files without honestly watching it. I was loving the mood it brought and it was perfect for spooky readathon and the start of fall.

The romance was okay. I wasn’t vibing, but it was okay.

The writing was pretty easy to read as well. It flowed nicely and everything came together in a believable, complex but easy way.

Overall, this was a pretty good read. It lagged in a few places, but I really enjoyed it. It’s definitely a great gateway to get into the fall, spooky season, but also brings a last little bit of summer. It has a cool vibe to it and it totally feels very X-Filesish. 4 crowns and an Ariel rating!

 

 /  / Goodreads

Brassmere Academy for the Extraordinary is a school for orphans with strange and wonderful gifts. Twelve-year-old Plum has lived there forever, and each night, she ventures into her dreams alongside her three best friends, Vien, Gwendle, and Artem, to fight monsters and journey on dangerous quests. But one night, Plum gets a mysterious warning that she and her friends are no longer safe. And the next morning, Artem is nowhere to be found.

As Plum, Vien, and Gwendle search for their friend—in both the dreaming and waking worlds—they start to uncover alarming secrets about Brassmere and its intentions. Will they be able to find Artem before it’s too late, or will they be next to disappear?

Disclaimer: Book Princess Reviews is a professional review site that receives compensation through affiliate programs (Barnes & Noble and Book Depository). We receive a percentage of commission from each purchase you make after following links provided on our site. Our promise to you is to always disclose affiliate links/buttons which you see above!

This was a strange little book that was pretty into for the first 1/2, but it kind of fell apart for me in the second half – and yes, this is only 200 pages, so, um, that’s not a lot of time to do that. Tbh, there wasn’t enough time to do a lot of things since there was a LOT of take care of this novel, and only 200 pages to actually accomplish anything. Safe to say that pacing got incredibly fast at the end and I was left blinking in confusion and wth moments.

But I really did like the concept and the cover and the dreams. I think the main characters were interesting, and the first part of the novel was really intriguing. Jumping into dreams with the kids and the spookiness/mood/atmosphere was fantastic. It was totally my vibe and I was feeling it.

I really don’t have too much to say beyond that, since it was such a short book, but it was a decent story. 3 crowns and a Belle rating!

What do you think? What anticipated read hasn’t let you down so far this year? What short book left you wanting more? Let’s discuss in the comments below!