Nothing About Today, About Tonight, Went as Planned

~Today Tonight Tomorrow~
By Rachel Lynn Solomon
Amazon ~ Powell's

Today, she hates him.

It’s the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time.

Tonight, she puts up with him.

When Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at victory: Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle, a farewell tour of the city she loves. But after learning a group of seniors is out to get them, she and Neil reluctantly decide to team up until they’re the last players left—and then they’ll destroy each other.

As Rowan spends more time with Neil, she realizes he’s much more than the awkward linguistics nerd she’s sparred with for the past four years. And, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams.

Tomorrow…maybe she’s already fallen for him.


If you came to my blog and just glanced at the covers I've been reading, you'd think I'm in some sort of blue phase. But anyway, continuing down RivitedLit's 25 Reads of December list, this one promised a cute one-night romance, which sounded great coming off the more serious murder/mystery vibe of my last book. I like rom-coms and I always enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope, so I was excited to dive into this one for a little lighthearted fun. I was not expecting to love it so much.

Zoe Spanos is Missing - And We're Missing Zoe

~I Killed Zoe Spanos~
By Kit Frick
Amazon ~ Powell's

What happened to Zoe won’t stay buried…

When Anna Cicconi arrives to the small Hamptons village of Herron Mills for a summer nanny gig, she has high hopes for a fresh start. What she finds instead is a community on edge after the disappearance of Zoe Spanos, a local girl who has been missing since New Year’s Eve. Anna bears an eerie resemblance to Zoe, and her mere presence in town stirs up still-raw feelings about the unsolved case. As Anna delves deeper into the mystery, stepping further and further into Zoe’s life, she becomes increasingly convinced that she and Zoe are connected—and that she knows what happened to her.

Two months later, Zoe’s body is found in a nearby lake, and Anna is charged with manslaughter. But Anna’s confession is riddled with holes, and Martina Green, teen host of the Missing Zoe podcast, isn’t satisfied. Did Anna really kill Zoe? And if not, can Martina’s podcast uncover the truth?


Another hold-over from 2020's 25 Reads of December from RivitedLit. I wasn't planning on picking this one, what with it not having any of my typical favorite aspects, like Fantasy or Sci-Fi setting, nor did it promise much in the way of sass or rom-com vibes. But then I read that it's inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, which I haven't read but know a bit about from one of my favorite YouTuber's Lost in Adaptation episode on it. So, armed with a cursory knowledge of the mystery I might be facing, I jumped in with both RivitedLit's web version and the audiobook on loan from my library. And boy, did things sure get twisty.

For All We Knew, We Came From Pieces of Corn at the Beginning of Everything

~Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything~
By Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Amazon ~ Powell's

It’s been three years since ICE raids and phone calls from Mexico and an ill-fated walk across the Sonoran. Three years since Sia Martinez’s mom disappeared. Sia wants to move on, but it’s hard in her tiny Arizona town where people refer to her mom’s deportation as “an unfortunate incident.”

Sia knows that her mom must be dead, but every new moon Sia drives into the desert and lights San Anthony and la Guadalupe candles to guide her mom home.

Then one night, under a million stars, Sia’s life and the world as we know it cracks wide open. Because a blue-lit spacecraft crashes in front of Sia’s car…and it’s carrying her mom, who’s very much alive.

As Sia races to save her mom from armed-quite-possibly-alien soldiers, she uncovers secrets as profound as they are dangerous in this stunning and inventive exploration of first love, family, immigration, and our vast, limitless universe.


Though I planned to read this as one of the 25 Reads of December from RivetedLit, I actually missed the deadline for opening the book before the day was up, so I ended up picking this up from my library as both an e-book and an audiobook instead. This one caught my eye firstly from its gorgeous cover, and secondly due to its interesting premise which promised to blend immigration issues with aliens?! Bizarre? Maybe. But surely it had to be exciting, right?

I've Got a Wish List & This Invisible Spirit Floating Over My Head

~The Wish List~
By Eoin Colfer
Amazon ~ Powell's

Can dead teen Meg save her soul by helping a near-death senior finish his wish list?

Meg Finn is accidentally killed by her partner-in-crime during a burglary. Her last-minute act of kindness rescues her from being sent through the tunnel directly to hell. After winding up in limbo instead, the girl's spirit returns to earth in the hope of eventually going through "the Pearlies."

To make the heavenly cut, Meg goes to the aid of the elderly Lowrie McCall 68, a depressed down-and-out bloke who has four wishes on his list before he dies. But demon Beelzebub wants her soul, too, and he's sent a "Soul Man" -- a vicious dog-boy who murdered her -- to retrieve it.


This book was one of the first of Colfer's I picked up. I assume it was following reading Artemis Fowl but I don't know for certain. Regardless, when my library finally got its e-book copy in (after my having suggested it years ago), I figured it was a good excuse to pick it up again and see if it still held up over the years. Admittedly, I have a lot of nostalgia for this book. In fact, I remember it being one of the more influential stories that helped shape my religious views. Reading it again now, though, I'm not sure what enthralled me so much back then. Because I doubt I'd forget loving it for the reasons I do now.

The Star Only Rises at Nightfall

SPOILER ALERT
This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous five books in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, or don't mind knowing spoilers for them.
SPOILER ALERT

~Nightfall~
Keeper of the Lost Cities
Book 6
By Shannon Messenger
Amazon ~ Powell's

Sophie Foster is struggling. Grieving. Scrambling. But she knows one thing: she will not be defeated.

The Neverseen have had their victories—but the battle is far from over. It’s time to change tactics. Make sacrifices. Reexamine everything. Maybe even time for Sophie to trust her enemies.

All paths lead to Nightfall—an ominous door to an even more ominous place—and Sophie and her friends strike a dangerous bargain to get there. But nothing can prepare them for what they discover. The problems they’re facing stretch deep into their history. And with time running out, and mistakes catching up with them, Sophie and her allies must join forces in ways they never have before.


After the game-changing ending of Lodestar I was ready for this series to take a new, more progressive turn. After all, a main character just died on-screen, an inter-species summit was just blown up, and Sophie's human family has just been kidnapped. If ever there was a time for serious repercussions to come in, this would be it. And yet...