The Crush Collision by Danielle Ellison

Haley Howell has had a hopeless crush on her brother’s best friend, Jake Lexington, for as long as she can remember. Too bad to him, she’ll forever be off-limits. But with senior year and acceptance to a college outside their tiny southern town of Culler, South Carolina, comes new confidence. Haley’s ready to get Jake to notice her—whatever it takes.

No one in Culler notices the real Jake anymore—to them, he’s nothing more than the star football player or the kid with the family tragedy. When one mistake lands him in mandatory community service, he’s shocked to find his best friend’s little sister there, too. Jake’s looking for an escape; Haley’s looking for a chance. Together, they’ll find exactly what they need... if only they’re willing to cross that line and risk it all.

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains underage drinking, language, and a drool-worthy football player who puts Tim Riggins to shame. It will make you cry, sigh, and yearn for your own Friday Night Lights.

Book 2
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Entangled Publishing

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆
4.5 Teen Angst Stars.

The Crush Collision is the second installment of the Southern Charmed series. While it shares the same small town life and character set, it can easily be read independently of the series as a standalone. However, the emotional connection might have a better payoff if the series is read in order, since the reader would be familiar to the setting and characters, lending to stronger character development.

First of all, I'm a sucker for the young adult genre, even more so if it features a laid-back, southern lifestyle, allowing the story to shine. Next, nothing is as yummy as the 'my brother's best friend' premise. It adds that angst the young adult genre is known for, yanking those of us who are young at heart back into the past.

Haley has had a crush on Jake since she knew what a crush meant. Too bad Jake is her brother's best friend, therefore he's off-limits. Haley the wallflower, she's her twin's shadow, where he shines so bright, she turns nearly invisible.

Jake is the classic jock, where everyone wants him to succeed at the expense of him getting to be himself. He has a ton of pressure on his shoulders, which makes him play a role in life, instead of being himself. He falls into the stereotypical jock lifestyle of drinking far too much, paying the consequences of those actions.

The Crush Collision was a well-written novel with a decent pace to keep the reader interested. There were a few flaws, which I consider my pet peeves more than anything, added with my reading mood. Since this is a young adult review, I won't make it about me. I'm more likely to offer constructive criticism in an adult review (an adult space). In this genre, I go with the flow, instinctively knowing the teenage population will swoon for this novel.

What I adored the most is how real Haley and Jake's friendship felt, moving at a slow-burn pace, where the readers got to know the characters right alongside them. The foundation was being constructed to hold strong, instead of falling into insta-love territory.

As odd is as it is to admit, I'm enjoy that gut-punch, belly twisting sensation while reading, where I feel true emotions for the characters being brought to life. Ellison managed to pull those sensations out of me, running the full gamut of emotions.

Highly recommended to young adults and those young at heart.

Young Adult Stars: 14+ realistic teenage drama, alcohol abuse.

Also Available in the Southern Charmed Series

Book 1
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Entangled Publishing

For reviews & more info, check out our The Sweetheart Sham post.

Danielle Ellison is a nomad, always on the lookout for an adventure and the next story. In addition to writing, she’s the founder and coordinator of the NoVa TEEN Book Festival. When she’s not busy with books, she’s probably watching her favorite shows, drinking coffee, or fighting her nomadic urges. She is newly settled in Oklahoma (for now) with her cat, Simon, but you can always find her on Twitter.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Crush Collision (Southern Charmed #2) by Danielle Ellison to read and review.

Cover Reveal – Lone Star in Jersey by Gina Harris & Anne Key

Eli faced the fallout of returning to school after his transition, and now he’s starting over in a new school where no one ever knew him as Elizabeth. The best thing about this new beginning might be the girl in the bedazzled Keds.

Sammy’s world of cheerleading, advanced math, and popularity in her Texas high school crumbles with her mother’s death. She’s shipped off to New Jersey to face a father who feels like a stranger and a world where she doesn’t feel like she belongs. At least there’s Eli, the cute boy who is also new at school.

As their friendship deepens and romance begins to bloom, Eli knows he owes Sammy the truth. He hopes he can trust her, and Sammy hopes she can understand falling in love with a trans boy. It’s a lot to deal with alongside the long-buried family secrets coming to light, and neither of their worlds will ever be the same. But maybe building new lives won’t be so hard if they do it together.

Cover Artist: Tiferet Design

Releases April 30^th

Pre-Order Links

Harmony Ink: eBook  ~  Paperback

Gina Harris

Gina Harris is caffeinated. When she’s not drinking coffee, she is on the beach or in a boat. Occasionally she can even be found writing. Gina holds a theater degree, and as an author, her strength lies in creating relatable, human characters who are flawed, but step up when you need them most. That unassuming but brilliant girl in your math class. The shy boy who is fantastic on his skateboard. The best friend that doesn’t need to ask because he just gets you, and the new friend that wants to be something more. Gina is the author of I Kiss Girls, a sweet YA romance about a lesbian girl in a small suburban town whose best friend, a straight guy, always gets the girl—until one day he doesn’t.

Gina loves all kinds of live music, musical theater, and superhero movies. She lives in the suburbs of New York City with her wife and children.

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East Meets West YA Facebook Group


Anne Key

Anne Key recently left her beloved Texas and now lives with her amazing wife in the New Mexico mountains, spending her time writing the kinds of books she wants to read, playing with her basset hounds, and making stuff that wants to be art when it grows up. She’s been writing and illustrating for decades, exploring media from poetry to sculpture, from romance novels to weaving. She believes in ghosts, in cowboys, in forgiveness, in happily ever after, in magic, and in love at first sight.

Mostly, she believes in experiencing your own personal joy wherever you can.

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East Meets West YA Facebook Group

The Princess of Baker Street by Mia Kerick

When she was a child, Joey Kinkaid, assigned as a boy at birth—wearing Mom’s purple sundress and an imaginary crown—ruled the Baker Street neighborhood with a flair and imagination that kept the other kids captivated. Day after day, she led them on fantastic after-school adventures, but those innocent childhood days are over, and the magic is gone. The princess is alone.

Even Eric Sinclair, the Prince Eric to Joey’s Princess Ariel, has turned his back on his former friend, watching in silence as Joey is tormented at school. Eric isn’t proud of it, but their enchanted youth is over, and they’ve been thrust into a dog-eat-dog world where those who conform survive and those who don’t… well, they don’t. Eric has enough to deal with at home, where his mother has abandoned him to live in isolation and poverty.

But Eric can’t stay on the sidelines forever. When Joey finally accepts her female gender and comes to school wearing lip gloss, leggings, and a silky pink scarf, the bullies readily take the opportunity she hands them, driving Joey to attempt suicide and leaving Eric at a crossroads—one that will influence both their lives in not just the present, but the future.

Is there a chance the two teens can be friends again, and maybe even more?

Buy Links

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Harmony Ink

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
This is the story of two childhood best friends whose relationship is nearly destroyed by social pressures in middle school. While Eric is determined to make himself as invisible at school, Joey finds it impossible to keep pretending to be a boy.

This story is told from Eric’s perspective and I kinda love that he isn’t a hero – he’s just a kid trying to survive middle school without drawing attention to himself or his increasingly scary home life. Eric makes some awful decisions and keeps some pretty huge secrets. Joey is both stronger and more vulnerable than Eric. Joey refuses to compromise herself but the reactions of her father and the kids at school soon destroy her self-esteem. And while Joey suffers emotionally, Eric starts to suffer physically as he attempts to manage on his own without food, electricity, or heat.

The one aspect of this story that doesn’t ring true for me is Eric’s mum’s transition from absent parent to supermom. As an experienced foster carer, I’ve never yet seen anything like the miraculous turnaround Eric’s mum makes in a relatively short period of time. I worry that this storyline could give kids like Eric unreasonable hopes and expectations.

Mia Kerick always makes me cry. Her writing is beautiful, and I love the way she makes Eric’s voice feel authentic in this story. I think the author captures Joey’s sense of identity well, but her experience is pretty brutal. At the moment, I’m caring for a child the same age as Eric and Joey and I know from their stories that not every trans child has experiences as difficult as Joey’s.

As an English teacher, I think this story is useful for kids who are learning lessons about acceptance and inclusion. I like the way the book explores friendships, peer pressure, and loyalty. However, I do worry that Joey’s story could cause unnecessary fear and anxiety for kids who are already struggling with gender and identity. I do like the sense of hope that infuses the end of the story and I really enjoy the resilience we see in both Eric and Joey.

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children, a political Progressive, and a writer of multiple award winning YA LGBTQ fiction that focuses on emotional growth in complicated relationships.

Her books have been featured in Kirkus Reviews magazine, have won a 2015 Best YA Lesbian Rainbow Award, a 2017 Best Transgender Contemporary Romance Rainbow Award, a Reader Views’ Book by Book Publicity Literary Award, the Jack Eadon Award for Best Book in Contemporary Drama, a YA Indie Fab Award, and a Royal Dragonfly Award for Cultural.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Princess of Baker Street by Mia Kerick to read and review.

Spartan Promise by Jennifer Estep

Hunting for the bad guys has never been so dangerous...

My name is Rory Forseti, and I attend the Colorado branch of Mythos Academy, a school of warrior kids, powerful artifacts, and mythological monsters.

I’m a student, a fierce Spartan warrior, and a member of Team Midgard, a group of kids and adults tasked with stopping the evil Reapers of Chaos. There is one Reaper I’m determined to hunt down above all others: Covington, the man who murdered my parents.

So when the Midgard gets a tip that Covington is going to try to steal a dangerous artifact, I’m ready to fight. But the situation is far more complicated than it seems, and the Reapers aren’t my only enemies.

I’ll have to use all my Spartan strength and skills to survive this. And even then, it might be my blood that gets spilled...

Book 2
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆☆
It is impossible for me not to love a heroine who can look the guy she fancies in the eye and tell him she’ll rescue herself. Rory is pretty special. Adult urban fantasy has had a few heroines who rescue themselves, but there is something special about this teenage warrior who doesn’t feel the need to prove herself to anyone. Rory is her team’s most skilled warrior and she expects to be respected for her abilities. Rory’s clever, she’s brave, and the feminist in me wants a set of these books in every school library.

I’m revealing my age when I compare Rory to Buffy, but this second book gave me a few flashbacks. Apart from the Mythology twist, the framework for these stories is quite similar. And I swear I saw the episode where the characters follow underground chambers up to a graveyard… I have to say that I’m actually finding Rory a more interesting character than Buffy and her innate confidence is a better fit for the post #metoo generation.

The writing is stronger in this second book than it was in the first. As the characters develop and the world building gets more complicated, this series is turning into something memorable. I’m really enjoying the mythology aspect of the book and the references to so many ancient cultures and theologies. The concept retains the action and power dynamics I love in Urban Fantasy while providing a welcome break from vampires and werewolves. The plot feels tighter in this second book and I like the way the wider story is starting to unravel. I’m very excited for the next book in the series!


Erica – ☆☆☆☆
Spartan Promise is the second installment in the Mythos Academy: Colorado series, a sister series to Mythos Academy. First, I suggest reading the main series first. Second, I strongly suggest reading this series in order, as everything ties together in a continuous plot.

After slightly struggling with Spartan Heart – simply because it was no longer a good fit for me like it was nearly a decade ago, reading-wise – I was apprehensive to begin Spartan Promise. I told myself I'd read a little bit and put it down if the book wasn't doing anything for me, reading a little at a time. I sat down with my Kindle and didn't come up for air until I was finished.

Beyond fast-paced, the pages flew by as I immersed myself in the young adult fantasy world Estep has created. Rory is a member of the Migard team, an offshoot of the Protectorate, battling the insurgence of Reapers in Mythos Academy, stealing artifacts to advance their cause.

Set in the backdrop of a school academy catering to those blessed by the gods, be it Spartans, Valkyries, or Vikings, Rory battles beasties, delves through the angst of unrequited crushes, connects deeper with true friends, and wages war against the very man who murdered her parents.

A true page-turner, the novel was exciting, highly descriptive, with deeper world-building than its predecessor.

Definitely recommend to fans of Jennifer Estep, readers of Young Adult Fantasy, and those young at heart who want a little dose of first crushes while saving the world from impending doom and gloom.

Young Adult age-range: 13+. Be warned of fantasy violence.

Also Available in the Mythos Academy: Colorado Series

Book 1
Buy Links

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B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our Spartan Heart post.

JENNIFER ESTEP is a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author, prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea.

She is the author of the following series:
The Elemental Assassin Series
The Crown of Shards Series
The Mythos Academy Spinoff Series
The Mythos Academy Series
The Bigtime Series
The Black Blade Series

Connect with Jennifer

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Sarah and Erica reviewed their personal copy of Spartan Promise (Mythos Academy: Colorado #2) by Jennifer Estep for this post.

Spartan Heart by Jennifer Estep

New school year, same old problems...

At Mythos Academy, everyone knows exactly who I am: Rory Forseti, Spartan girl and the daughter of Reapers.

Even though I fought alongside my cousin Gwen Frost to save the mythological world from Loki and his evil Reapers of Chaos, I’m still the most hated girl at the academy because of all the horrible things my parents did. I had hoped that this school year would be different, but the other kids just won’t let me forget about my parents.

But something strange is going on at the Colorado academy. First, I run into a Viking guy who dislikes me more than most. Then I notice some odd artifacts in the Library of Antiquities. And worst of all, I start hearing rumors about a new group of Reapers who can summon mythological monsters.

I might be the most hated girl at Mythos Academy, but I’m also the only one who can save it...

Book 1
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B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
The mythological warriors in the Mythos Academy stories offer a welcome reprieve from the myriad of Urban Fantasy vampire and werewolf stories. A spinoff from the original Mythos Academy books, Gwen’s cousin Rory begins this first Colorado book as a grieving social outcast before finding her place and growing into her potential.

I have to admit that Rory grew on me. She’s a little bit wet and a little bit maudlin at the start of the book. Self-pity doesn’t look good on anyone and Rory is wallowing at the beginning of her story. But as Rory’s confidence grows, she quickly becomes more interesting and more likeable. I like the team around Rory and I look forward to watching the characters and relationships grow as the series progresses.

This is good young adult urban fantasy writing. The genre tropes are pretty familiar and there isn’t anything particularly remarkable about the story, but it is well written. I love Jennifer Estep’s adult writing and while this lacks the complexity of her mind blowing Kill the Queen, this is still decent quality young adult storytelling with a strong female lead.

My one issue with this book is with Rory’s Aunt Rachel. At the start of the story, Rachel is 27 and Rory’s new caregiver. She’s described as more of a big sister than a parent. Which makes sense considering the ten-year age gap. However, through the rest of the book she comes across as a maternal matron who chaperones school dances and prepares healthy balanced meals. It doesn’t work for me. Aunt Rachel is supposed to be younger than Taylor Swift. She’s the same age as Selina Gomez. The domestic maternal thing really, really doesn’t work.


Erica – ☆☆☆☆
Spartan Heart is the first in the Mythos Academy: Colorado series. However, it is a spinoff of the Mythos Academy series. While it's possible to read as new, I do believe that it would cause massive confusion, as events that happened in the previous series were mentioned almost on every page.

I would not call this the debut in a brand-new series, as a new series to me means the reader can just pick it up, with no backstory ever told elsewhere. This is a continuation, set in another campus of the Mythos Academy. I suggest reading from Touch of Frost onward.

Having read Touch of Frost almost eight years ago, I was rusty on what had happened, but Estep does a good job on jarring memories without doing too much info-dumpage. Gwen's cousin is the narrator, Rory, who lost her parents, discovering they were Reapers.

Rory is carrying a ton of guilt, even if she helped the good side win a battle in the never-ending war against the Reapers in the previous series. She has to face her peers on the first day of school, when no one trusts her. Not only has she lost her parents, her faith in her abilities to accurately judge a person's character, but she has no one on the planet on her side, worrying about her welfare, except for her aunt.

Spartan Heart was nothing but endless fast-paced action, from page to page, with a bit of everyday life thrown in, but mostly it gave a rundown on what happened in the previous series and how it connected into the current situation.

Reapers are stealing artifacts, and Rory gets caught up in the action.

Rory has a reluctant love interest, where I am beyond thankful there isn't even a hint of insta-love. However, the enemy’s banter was a bit forced, as it also felt irrational. If anything, Ian would have seen Rory as a kindred spirit, not hated her on sight. So the romance angle simply felt forced to me.

While I do believe young adults will find the novel beyond exciting, I will admit that I believe I'm not the target audience anymore. Had I read this almost a decade ago, when I first read Touch of Frost, I would have been captivated, but today I'm a different sort of reader. This doesn't invalidate the novel, just that it wasn't exactly my cup of tea anymore.

There was a bit too much going on at all times for me to truly relax and fall into the story. Like Rory didn't even get to catch her breath before she was being attacked by more mythological beasties. One battle would be over, yet another would start three pages later, in an endless loop, feeling redundant after several battles. As this was book one, I knew Rory would come out on the surviving end, so that took away from some of the heart-stopping action.

Recommended to fans of the author. New readers, I strongly suggest against reading this without reading the original series first.

Young Adult Age-range: 13+, parental discretion as there is nonstop fantasy violence.

JENNIFER ESTEP is a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author, prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea.

She is the author of the following series:
The Elemental Assassin Series
The Crown of Shards Series
The Mythos Academy Spinoff Series
The Mythos Academy Series
The Bigtime Series
The Black Blade Series

Connect with Jennifer

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads


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Sarah and Erica reviewed their personal copy of Spartan Heart (Mythos Academy: Colorado #1) by Jennifer Estep for this post.