Buried Secrets by John R. Petrie

Teen detectives Wyatt and Timothy are determined to find out what happened to a group of boys who disappeared years ago—but surviving the mystery might be as challenging as solving it.

To make ends meet, Wyatt works construction instead of attending school, and it’s in an old house he’s gutting that he finds a collection of articles about a missing boy. Wyatt knew Bobby LaFleur before he disappeared, and this new clue stirs up Wyatt’s old memories.

Sheriff’s son Timothy Mitchell can’t resist a challenge—or the chance to show his dad he’s more than capable of working in law enforcement. Together with Wyatt, he investigates the disappearance and learns Bobby isn’t the only victim—and that Wyatt and Bobby were more than friends. As the case grows darker and more twisted, the connection between Wyatt and Timothy deepens. But the secrets they uncover could get them killed.

A Harmony Ink Press Title

Book 1
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Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Veronica – ☆☆☆
Buried Secrets is a young adult novel in which local teen Wyatt asks the sheriff’s son, Timothy, for helping in finding out what happened to his friend, Bobby, who disappeared four years prior. Timothy wants to be a cop and agrees to help Wyatt try to solve the mystery, and also hopes to impress his dad.

This story mixes teenage romance and mystery well and also deals with the family lives of these two young teens. I loved the family dynamics we see with Timothy’s family. Timothy is openly gay, and he has accepting and supporting parents. Wyatt’s home life is the complete opposite with a drunk, neglectful mother who is full of prejudice.

On the mystery, as a reader, with a few clues I figured out what had likely happened early on but I enjoyed seeing Timothy figure it out and watching the story unfold. There is a good helping of danger and suspense to keep you a bit on edge right through the story. On the romance side of things, I liked the age appropriate romance. These guys are smart enough to realise they are still young and they don’t go rushing into things they might not be ready for.

I really enjoyed Buried Secrets. It has a good, fast pace and I had a good time reading it. A solid three stars from me.

John R. Petrie grew up in Boston and now lives in the Bronx, NY. Almost his entire working career has been spent around books, from his first job in the town library to more than twenty years bookselling in one of the biggest bookstores in the US. He’s also worked for the Housing Works thrift stores in NYC, Valiant Entertainment Comics, and is now a bookstore manager, which gives him too much access to books and not enough time to read them.

He’s had stories published in True Romance magazine, had a play he wrote produced at his college, acted, danced, and was nominated for a Barrymore award playing Belize in Angels in America.

He stays up too late, eats too much junk food, and has been reading Wonder Woman comics for over forty years.

He is very, very happy to be published by Harmony Ink Press. He hopes to continue writing stories which make people smile.

He likes to hear from people, so say hello.

Connect with John

Twitter  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Buried Secrets (Timothy and Wyatt Mysteries #1) by John R. Petrie to read and review.

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

A speculative thriller in the vein of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power. Optioned by Universal and Elizabeth Banks to be a major motion picture!

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.

Girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for their chance to grab one of the girls in order to make their fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.

With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆☆
Spoiler-Free review.

There are times where I’ll add a disclaimer to my review, stating how I’m not sure how to review the novel. Added to this issue, I wish to maintain a spoiler-free review, simply because I went into it blindly and found a higher entertainment value due to it.

When I see the tagline of a novel featuring the titles of novels by other authors, I tend to steer clear, my ethics getting rubbed raw. It’s just a personal pet-peeve of mine, how you’re not to compare yourself to others. But in this case, I tend to agree. It’s helpful for readers to know that The Grace Year is an amalgamation of The Handmaid’s Tale and Lord of the Flies.

As a feminist, this novel was beyond difficult to read without being filled with rage. However, as a feminist, this novel had a spark of hope at the ending, where women were empowered instead of subjugated.

Set during an indiscriminate era, in a world built around the false belief systems of religion, where men are the voice of God and women are reduced to nothing but the harbingers of sin, all to keep the men in power and the women under their constant control.

Every year, the mature girls (I believe it was sixteen years of age), an entire grouping of girls are segregated, some chosen to become wives, whereas others are chosen to become workers or outcast for the males’ pleasure. These girls are coming into their magic (the ability to have a voice, see logic, and notice how everything isn’t as it seems). They are sent off to endure their grace year (to break them into their role of subservience).

What happens during the grace year is tragic, heinous, gut-wrenching, and beyond difficult to read. It’s a mix of environmental factors and mental suggestion, along with actual evil human beings. The girls aren’t thought as human beings, but ITs, evil creatures who need to expel their magic.

What I struggled so hard with the world building, not so much how twisted and intriguing I found it… the mothers and fathers sent their daughters there, a choice made for offspring in their care. What monsters they truly would be, to send your own child to certain death to satisfy a perverse need to be in control. The outcast women of that age group weren’t subjected to the grace year, so how come the Poachers didn’t cull their own mothers and sisters for never releasing their magic? As children were born outside the Country. The Poachers not seeing these young women as humans, so why did they see their own sisters as humans? Why did only the girls from town have magic?

Another hard facet to digest is how God-fearing people had no issue murdering without a second thought, as long as it suited their own needs. The need for power. The need to balance the genders, so there would be more men than women.

Absolutely fascinating and equally frustrating, I read The Grace Year in a single sitting, unable to put it down. Equally feeling compassion for the girls, while also loathing how weak the majority were for believing the lies, never questioning the conditioning, never standing up for themselves (at their encampment).

The novel itself proves how we women are our own worst enemies, the internalized misogyny running so deep we don’t recognize it. We may not be separated by the males in this day and age, but our judgments, vocal admonishments, and jealous hostility toward our sisters is what keeps us from banning together in solidarity. Our sick need for male validation, as if our fellow women are our competition. This mindset making it possible to be subjugated by the very ones we all so desperately need to validate us.

Young Adult age-range: 14+ due to on-scene violence and fade-to-black sexual situations.

Kim Liggett, originally from the rural Midwest, moved to New York City to pursue a career in the arts. She's the author of Blood and Salt, Heart of Ash, The Last Harvest (Bram Stoker Award Winner), The Unfortunates, and The Grace Year. Kim spends her free time studying tarot and scouring Manhattan for rare vials of perfume and the perfect egg-white cocktail.

Connect with Kim

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Grace Year by Kim Liggett to read and review.

Cranberry Boys by Scudder James Jr.

Is it possible to have it all—even for a boy from a dying town of old cranberry bogs? Even for the son of religious zealots who will never accept his being gay? Even if his closeted boyfriend will never acknowledge their relationship and dates girls to distract people?

Sixteen-year-old cross-country runner Zeph hopes so, because he isn’t giving up on his happily ever after. He has big plans for life after high school and for his relationship with Connor… even if Connor insists they keep it secret.

Then Bronson, an old friend of Zeph’s, returns to Watermarsh after being kicked out of boarding school with secrets of his own in tow. But they keep their eyes on the prize and start a blog to impress colleges who often dismiss small-town students like them.

But not even Zeph can run from everything as his home life implodes and the love triangle he’s stuck in with Bronson and Connor begins to crumble. He’ll do whatever it takes to hold on to hope—even if it means a covert trip to Bronson’s old prep school.

Book 1
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Harmony Ink at Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
When we first meet Zeph (great name), his life seems pretty good. His best friend Connor is his secret boyfriend, he is on the track team, he is well liked, he has solid parents (even if they are religious zealots), and a really cool attic hangout in his dad’s factory.

It doesn’t take long before Zeph’s life starts to become complicated. He’d rather things with Connor not be secret. And are you really boyfriends if your secret boyfriend is getting it on with girls? Then Bronson returns to school having been gone for several years. He his openly gay and interested in Zeph, and Zeph finds being with Bronson so much easier than being with Connor. Add in issues with his parents, issues with being in the closest, general teenage angst, and suddenly Zeph’s easy life is anything but and things get quite serious.

I was fascinated by Zeph. He is a good guy but there were times when he didn’t stand up for himself or speak up when I thought he should have, and it frustrated me. But it interested me too. He was intelligent, why did he seem so tongue tied at times? I wanted to learn more about Zeph and the further into the book we got, the more I understood him.

There are some very difficult scenes in this story and also some uplifting ones. Zeph’s journey sucked me right in and I even cancelled plans I had made so that I could stay inside and keep reading. Cranberry Boys is an excellent young adult novel that is about more than just the romance, it is about growing up and it is really well done. A solid four stars from me.

Scudder James Jr believes happily ever after begins today. Junior high was terrible, boarding school better, and college the place he met the boyfriend he married (despite a pit stop in a fraternity). He started in finance because he thought he had to, but instead became a counselor for refugees, a fundraiser, and a teacher of sex and spirituality classes. After Chicago, Seattle, London, and Japan, he’s back in Boston where it all started. His favorite place to write has a harbor view of two colonial ships.

Scudder loves telling stories in print and on film. He’s thrilled that his short LGBTQ films have shown around the world in places as unexpected as Alabama and East Africa. Twenty years ago, he was diagnosed with a debilitating neurological disease that doctors are bewildered has disappeared. Scudder is an avid meditator and passionate about appreciating every moment.

One of his favorite mornings has been waking up on a boat in Patagonia with his perfectly imperfect partner and hiking an island of 130,000 penguins.

Connect with Scudder

Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Cranberry Boys (Watermarsh Tales #1) by Scudder James Jr. to read and review.

I Dare You to Break Curfew by Eva Muñoz

To save humankind, Camron may have to fall in love.

Vampires are real, and they are called the Inshari. After Camron Masters breaks curfew the first time, he discovers them living beneath Braylin Academy. The second time he breaks curfew, he meets a mad scientist who convinces him to take part in an experiment in exchange for more information about the Inshari. A small pinprick later, Camron wakes up as one of them and finds himself bonded to the prince of his dreams—vampire or not, Troyan is dark, brooding, and oh so delicious. But there’s the enigmatic Zaire vying for his attention too. Or is Camron just a pawn in a centuries-old feud?

All Camron’s ever wanted was to live his own fairy tale. But there’s always a catch after meeting Prince Charming.

Book 1
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Harmony Ink

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆
This review is by a mature adult. Do I believe a younger reader would be enthralled by the story and the characters? Absolutely yes. Do I believe I look too deeply into a novel? A resounding yes.

Cam attends a boarding school, where there is one rule... never remain on campus after curfew or risk automatic expulsion. The book starts with what exactly happens should a student remain on campus after dusk.

I Dare You to Break Curfew has a unique take on vampire culture, more flesh-eaters than blood-drinkers. Where an entire world is hidden on the grounds of a boarding school. These flesh-eaters are looking for a human to experiment on, as they slowly wither from a wasting disease.

The premise and the world-building did hit the sweet spot of highly inventive and original. However, the pacing was so rapid, I felt as if we journeyed from point A to D without B & C being explained. I was just as confused as Cam.

While I enjoyed the book, there were a few things that kept me from fully immersing myself in the storyline.

Cam's voice was inherently feminine, as well as his actions, thought processes, and behaviors. That's not a bad thing, just that I could sense the female voice of the writer beneath.

On the character front, no matter if they are adolescents by vampire terms, they still lived nearly a thousand years of days, so I was unsure why they still acted as teen humans. Time is what matures all beings, not chronological age dependent on species. So it was off-putting, how thousand-year-old vampires were essentially going to high school, yet also ready to take over the task of leading their people and developing a cure for their malady.

When it came to a betrothal, where the thousand-year-old vampire continuously attacked and bullied Cam, as if this would somehow buy Troyan's affections... I was confused.

Do teen girls act as if their crush is their hostage? Maybe.

Usually around age fourteen, we figure out, no matter our gender, the other party has a say in the matter. I mean, who would want to force someone to marry them? Held hostage for an eternity. Sociopathic much? But I see this theme repeatedly. I feel for teen girls, because they aren't the monsters literature paints them to be.

Would someone who lived a thousand years act in such an unhinged manner? No. No way. Calculating and manipulative? Oh, yes.

It just left a bad taste in my mouth, how one of the only female characters was created simply to be a vapid harpy, painting all women as if we have to force men to partner with us. Yes, I'm reading too much into this, but I see it in just about every book I read, no matter the genre or age-group.

Other than my feminist beef with how females were portrayed, I enjoyed the story for the most part, finding the novel to be unlike anything I've read before.

Where I was confused on the world building front... to slowly wither and die over a millennia seems like a better deal than to become human and perhaps die in a car accident a few days later, with no guarantee of living another fifty years at most. Also, losing all your enhanced abilities. But that's just me.

With that being said, I'm curious to see where the story goes next. I'm willing to read more by this author before I make a decision on whether or not we're a good fit, reading-wise.

Definitely recommend to readers looking for a new take on vampire culture, specifically those who don't look too deep into things or nitpick, like yours truly.

Young Adult age-range: 14+, featuring intimacy and violence.

Eva Muñoz loves dreaming of worlds filled with hot guys falling in love with each other. She believes that love is love is love and everyone has a right to find their person. Her love for writing began in high school. It was because her teacher complimented a story she had written that put her on the path she is on today. She would spin yarns on her father’s electric typewriter, bind the pages together, and bring the finished product to school for her classmate to pass around and swoon over. Little did she know at the time that writing would be a career she never knew she wanted.

She may have taken a circuitous path toward her passion for writing, but when she finally made that decision to stick with it after countless rejections, she never looked back. A degree in creative writing helps too. When she’s not at her favorite coffee shop thinking up new worlds and characters to explore, you can find Eva in a classroom teaching creative writing of all things. Talk about passion meets day job. Today she is molding impressionable minds the way her teacher once did for her.

Connect with Eva

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of I Dare You to Break Curfew (Inshari Chronicles #1) by Eva Muñoz to read and review.

Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Enter a world of gargoyle protectors, rising demons and one girl with an explosive secret.

Eighteen-year-old Trinity Marrow may be going blind, but she can see and communicate with ghosts and spirits. Her unique gift is part of a secret so dangerous that she’s been in hiding for years in an isolated compound fiercely guarded by Wardens—gargoyle shape-shifters who protect humankind from demons. If the demons discover the truth about Trinity, they’ll devour her, flesh and bone, to enhance their own powers.

When Wardens from another clan arrive with disturbing reports that something out there is killing both demons and Wardens, Trinity’s safe world implodes. Not the least because one of the outsiders is the most annoying and fascinating person she’s ever met. Zayne has secrets of his own that will upend her world yet again—but working together becomes imperative once demons breach the compound and Trinity’s secret comes to light. To save her family and maybe the world, she’ll have to put her trust in Zayne. But all bets are off as a supernatural war is unleashed…

Book 1
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Inkyard Press – Harlequin

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Jordan – ☆☆☆☆☆
I am a HUGE fan of Jennifer L. Armentrout (JLA) and I have read most of her books, which means I was of course so excited to get my hands on Storm Fury, the first book in The Harbinger series! Storm Fury (The Harbinger #1) by JLA is a spin off series from The Dark Elements series. I would highly recommend reading The Dark Elements series first before diving into Storm Fury. This book draws you in from the first page and I couldn’t put it down. JLA does not disappoint and I was completely hooked from start to finish.

Storm Fury picks up not too long after The Dark Elements series finishes but follows Zayne and Trinity’s story. Trinity can see and communicate with ghosts and spirits. Her special gift has kept her fiercely protected in an isolated compound hiding amongst the Wardens. The Wardens are shape-shifting gargoyles that protect humans from demons. If the demons knew about Trinity, they’d consume her to increase their powers. When Zayne and his clan arrive from D.C. to share disturbing reports demons and Wardens killings, and now Trinity’s safe spot has been turned upside down.

I just can’t get enough of all of JLA’s amazing characters. I mean, who ever imagined that gargoyles would be sexy? Then in walked Zayne in the Dark Element series and suddenly I’ve found a whole new shapeshifter to obsess over. I am so excited to read more about Zayne and Trinity’s story in The Harbinger series. Trinity is exactly the kind of kick-ass heroine I have come to expect from JLA! She’s fierce, strong, and loyal. Now, Zayne is such a fantastic character and totally swoon worthy, and honestly, I could continue to gush about him for the rest of this review, but that might be overkill.

All in all, a solid 5-STAR read for Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Storm Fury (The Harbinger #1). I can’t wait to get my hands on the next installment, and I’ll be attempting to patiently wait for it.

JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT is the #1 international and #1 New York Times bestselling author of over 40 books, including the Wait for You, Lux series, the Dark Elements series, and Til Death. She is published with Tor, HarperCollins Avon and William Morrow, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion, Harlequin Teen and writes steamy and fun New Adult and Adult romance under the pen name J. Lynn. Jennifer is also the founder of Apollycon, a yearly reader event that brings in over 1400 readers and authors together each year. She currently lives in West Virginia with her husband and two dogs, Loki and Diesel.

Connect with Jennifer

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Storm and Fury (Harbinger #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout to read and review.