Back again with another seasonal faves post :) These are the best books I’ve read, movies I’ve watched, music I’ve listened to, and other great things I’ve found this winter!
Books
Reminder: ALWAYS check trigger warnings before reading! I have many listed in each book’s individual section, but you can look here to find a more comprehensive list.
All summaries are shortened from the synopses on Goodreads.
Contemporary
Love From Scratch by Kaitlynn Hill (14+)
Reese Camden has landed her dream marketing internship at Friends of Flavor, a wildly popular cooking channel in Seattle. The only problem? Benny Beneventi, the relentlessly charming, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing culinary intern--and her main competition for the fall job.
Reese's plan to keep work a No Feelings Zone crumbles when she and Benny are thrown together for a video shoot that goes viral, making them the internet's newest ship. Audiences are hungry for more, and their bosses at Friends of Flavor are happy to deliver. Soon Reese and Benny are in an all-out food war --while hundreds of thousands of viewers watch. Reese can't deny the chemistry between her and Benny. But the more their rivalry heats up, the harder it is to keep love on the back burner...
Rivals to lovers <33
CW: misogyny, slut shaming, online harassment (hate comments), racism & homophobia (mentioned/described)
Thank you to Random House Children's and NetGalley for an e-ARC! Love From Scratch comes out April 5!
With and Without You by Austin Siegemund-Broka and Emily Wibberley (14+)
If high school seniors Siena and Patrick were a superlative, they'd be Couple Most Likely to Marry. Three solid years of dating, and everyone agrees they're perfect for each other. But with college on the horizon, Siena begins to wonder whether staying together is the best idea. Does she really want to be tied down during the most transformative years of her life? So she makes a decision to break up with Patrick, convincing herself it's for the best. Though, before she can get the words out, he beats her to the punch: his family is moving. He’ll be spending senior year in Austin. A thousand miles away. Caught off guard by the news, Siena agrees to stay with Patrick, believing their relationship will naturally fizzle out with time and distance. But over a series of visits throughout the school year, Siena begins to see a different side of Patrick--one that has her falling in love with him all over again.
WIBBROKA >>>>
Second chance romance, long distance love
Thank you to Penguin Young Readers and NetGalley for an e-ARC! With and Without You comes out April 19!
Mystery/Thriller
The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (13+)
Sequel to The Inheritance Games -- SPOILERS IN SYNOPSIS
The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of her questions - including why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire fortune to Avery, a virtual stranger, rather than to his own daughters or grandsons.
Avery knows that she's not a Hawthorne by blood, but clues pile up hinting at a deeper connection to the family than she had ever imagined. As the mystery grows and the plot thickens, Grayson and Jameson, the enigmatic and magnetic Hawthorne grandsons, continue to pull Avery in different directions. And there are threats lurking around every corner, as adversaries emerge who will stop at nothing to see Avery out of the picture - by any means necessary.
CW: here
You'll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus (13+)
Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day. Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out--he's been working two jobs since his family's business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up . . . again.
So when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They'll ditch and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they've barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say . . .until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school--and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common. They all have a connection to the dead kid. And they're all hiding something.
CW: murder, death, blood, violence, drug use, underage drinking
How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao (14+)
Nancy Luo is shocked when her former best friend, Jamie Ruan, top ranked junior at Sinclair Prep, goes missing, and then is found dead. Nancy is even more shocked when word starts to spread that she and her friends--Krystal, Akil, and Alexander--are the prime suspects, thanks to "The Proctor," someone anonymously incriminating them via the school's social media app.
They all used to be Jamie's closest friends, and she knew each of their deepest, darkest secrets. Now, somehow The Proctor knows them, too. The four must uncover the true killer before The Proctor exposes more than they can bear and costs them more than they can afford, like Nancy's full scholarship. Soon, Nancy suspects that her friends may be keeping secrets from her, too.
Pitched as Crazy Rich Asian meets One of Us is Lying
CW: abuse, self-harm, violence, parental neglect, panic attacks, drug use, mental illness, inappropriate student/teacher relationship, racism, suicidal thoughts
Music
"Meant To Be" - Ber, Charlie Oriain
"minor" - Gracie Abrams
"WYD Now?" - Sadie Jean
"Kilby Girl" - The Backseat Lovers
"creature" - half*alive
"Lost in the Wild" - WALK THE MOON
"Crash" - Clara Mae
"You Know It" - Colony House
"Hot Rod" - Dayglow