Reviews: Ruthless Gods + Meet Me at Midnight + You and Me and Us

Ruthless Gods (Something Dark and Holy #2) by Emily A. Duncan

pub 4/7/20 by Wednesday Books
Young Adult - Fantasy
Received ARC from pub for review

⭐⭐⭐ 3 stars | In Ruthless Gods, everyone is dealing with the aftermath of Wicked Saints' crazy ending (definitely re-read the last 50 or so pages before starting this!). Nadya is struggling with her faith and magic. Serefin is trying to make sense of who the voice inside his head belongs to. And whatever Malachiasz has become is a mystery. All three have different agendas when it comes to the gods, but at least temporarily Nadya and Serefin are after the same person and that's Malachiasz. It's clear their three fates are somehow intertwined and as this new stage of their journey unfolds, the big question is if there's a higher power orchestrating it all. While the world and its' characters still fascinated me, I do think the storytelling and plot got a bit muddled. Even the characters felt unclear and I was getting whiplash from some of the about faces they each person took. What kept me interested was the friendship between Nadya and the Akolans from the first book (Parijahan and Rashid) plus the always-complicated relationship between Nadya and Malachiasz. Overall, I just wanted more explained about the gods and the lore behind them and for the characters to start picking sides and sticking with them.

Do I recommend? I'm actually not sure if I'll continue the series. I liked Ruthless Gods but not enough to make me excited for book 3 unfortunately.

Meet Me at Midnight by Jessica Pennington

pub 4/7/20 by Tor Teen
Young Adult - Contemporary
Got ARC from ALAMW

⭐⭐⭐ 3 stars | A love-hate relationship set during the summer time was exactly what I was in the mood for when I picked this up. And even though it didn't become a new favorite and quite frankly felt very run-of-the-mill YA, it was still light and entertaining! Sidney and Asher have been playing pranks on each other every summer for the last six years. Even though their parents are best friends, they rent summer houses next to one another, and both have swimming in common, all they do is antagonize each other. But then one prank goes too far and the owner ends up kicking both families out of their lake houses. Sidney and Asher decide team up to "get revenge" (aka play more pranks) on the owner who kicked them out instead and that becomes the start of a rather obvious, growing attraction between them. I think the reason why I struggled with this book is that I didn't get the point of the pranks at all, especially when they got out of hand. I get it, they're teenagers but even if I had read this book as an actual teen my reaction would've been the same—these pranks are such a waste of time and kind of stupid and mean! Not to mention that the actual major conflict and climactic point of the story felt a bit forced. What really kept me entertained was the tension and banter between Sidney and Asher, the summer lake house setting, and their families. If the book had toned down the pranking and instead focused on developing the individuals and romance more, I would've loved it.

Do I recommend? It is a quick and light read so if that's what you're in the mood for and you don't mind pranks that much, I'd say borrow it from the library.

You and Me and Us by Alison Hammer

pub 4/7/20 by William Morrow
Adult - Fiction
Received e-ARC from pub for review

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 stars | This was tough for me to read at times and even tougher to rate how I felt at the end. It's told from two perspectives. There's Alexis Gold who spends most of her time at the advertising agency she founded while her partner Tommy handles their home life. Their daughter Cece is the other perspective and she has aspirations of becoming an actress, harbors a ton of resentment towards her mom, and considers her dad to be one of her best friends. Their world falls apart when Tommy tells them he has terminal cancer. Instead of doing treatment, he'd rather spend what time he has left at their beach house for one last summer and that's exactly what they do. It was easy and quick to see why Tommy was the center of their lives. He's a loving partner, doting father and just a good man and reading about how he slowly weakened made me emotional. It was actually Alexis and Cece I struggled with, especially the latter. I sympathized with Alexis because she was honest, flawed, driven and when push came to shove, she put her family first. With Cece, I found her to be really bratty? Maybe I'm just getting old but I couldn't connect with her and I really thought I would since I've been in her position. Regardless of how I felt about them, everybody handles their pain and grief differently, which is what I believe the author was trying to convey with such two different women. Ultimately it was their mutual love for Tommy and his journey is that moved me the most.

Do I recommend? I do think you really have to be in the right mood or mindset to pick this one up. And if you are, it's another "borrow from the library" type of book.