Never Say Never - Justine Manzano

What is it about: Brynn is done with love. 
After she walks in on her mom doing the horizontal mambo with a man that’s decidedly not her dad, Brynn Stark swears to NEVER fall in love. One of her friends--Val-- reveals her true identity--Aphrodite, goddess of love, and promises to show Brynn why she shouldn’t lose faith.
But when Brynn realizes she’s beginning to fall for Adam, Aphrodite's boyfriend, Brynn’s forced to decide if she’ll choose her goddess-given fate, or risk it all for the wrong-but-right guy.
One thing’s for sure.
Love sucks.
And it's all about to blow up in their faces.

My Thoughts: I have mixed feelings about this one.
Let's start with the positives.
I would have loved to read this book when I was a teenager. It has mythology, it has a hurt teenager who doesn't believe in love, it's a fantasy and it's easy to read. I most definitely found some elements of myself - mostly my younger self - in the main character, Brynn.
"True love is a relationship unicorn. You either find it, or you spend your entire life searching for it", this has been my view of love my entire life.
And... All this talk about mythology, made me want to read Stephen Fry's 'Mythos' again - which I think I will! Now, for the parts I didn't like.
At times is a bit too dramatic. I know Greek mythology is supposed to be dramatic, but I found it overly so. Like the arrival of Val's real father - I won't spoil it -... was not keen on that part.
Quite a few times, Nina's asthma took over the story, I think there was way too much of it. Overall, I enjoyed it. I wouldn't read it again, it is one of those books I would read on holiday but nothing more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sword and Silk Books for providing me with an e-ARC for an exchange of an honest review.

Foretold - Violet Lumani

What is it about: Cassandra sees death and devastation all around her. In vivid detail.
It’s the price of living with her OCD and extreme anxiety. In every situation, Cass imagines the worst possible fate for everyone in her life. Her dad in a pool of blood after a break-in. Her beloved older neighbour, homeless. A splinter in her finger turned to gangrene.

But this time, it’s not her imagination. The boy next door, Colin, is destined to die. Cass has foretold a real death before; she knows this is a true vision.
Desperate to save Colin's life, Cass immerses herself in a secret organization of soothsayers that promises to teach her how to change the future she foresees. But as she descends into their hidden world of divinatory magic and predictive technology, she discovers there's always a price to pay for unravelling fate's strands. And cheating death will cost her everything.

My Thoughts: First things first, the cover is just beautiful - look at it!! I got attracted by it and made me read the synopsis - which then drew me to read the book.

I gave this 4* just because there were only a couple of things I struggled with. It has a bit of a messy plot at the beginning, it was slow to start with but I wanted to see where it was going and towards 60% of the book, it became better and better. So now I am looking forward to reading the second one, specially after the ending! OMG that ending. I did not see it coming at all, had to re-read that part a couple of times to make sure I read it correctly the first time.

Said so, I really enjoyed the concept of this book. The trilogy has great potential and it looks like in this first book, we only discovered a small part of what can be a wonderful new world. 
Some elements were based on mythology - which is always a plus for me; some parts made me chuckle and others made me gasp. 
I liked how the characters were built, except for Noah, which I am still struggling with and hope to have some sort of closure in the next book. 

Thank so much to NetGalley and Uproar Books for the ARC of this book.
Foretold is the first book of 'The Scryers' trilogy by Violet Lumani and will be published on 20/07/21 - will definitely get the physical copy of this.

Exciting Times - Naoise Dolan

What is it about: When you leave Ireland to spend your parent's money, it's called a gap year. When Ava leaves Ireland to make her own money, she's not sure what to call it, but it involves:

• A badly paid job in Hong Kong, teaching grammar to rich children

• Julian, who likes to spend money on Ava and lets her move into his guest room

• Edith, who Ava meets while Julian is out of town and actually listens to her when she talks

• Money, love, cynicism, unspoken feelings and unlikely connections

Exciting times ensue.

My Thoughts: I wanted to like this book, but I couldn't. It'll be such an unpopular opinion, but it dragged for me. I couldn't get into it. All the characters were unlikable.
Ava is moving to a new country and all she does is spending her time with a man she barely knows who just controls her because he can. Even Ava herself refers to Julian as "her owner" at some point. How sad.
She leaves home for a new adventure, for something exciting, like the title would suggest, but she ends up in this relationship that's not even a relationship.

Then she meets Edith and once again, she is constantly seeking her approval. She has a crush on her and she doesn't know how to deal with it, she starts questioning her sexuality. Probably the Edith's chapters are the most likeable part of this book. Ava becomes a little more human and relatable. Although I still don't like her, she's another person with Edith.

When Julian comes back from London, the old Ava appears again and now she has to choose between Julian and Edith. Needless to say she made a mess out of it.
All of them were such annoying characters.
The writing was flowing at least.
But I'm really sorry to say, this book did not bring me joy.