Athena’s Choice by Adam Boostrom
There’s a small part of me that is extremely intrigued by a dystopian novel written in 2018. That feels so late for the genre as, let’s be honest, dystopia stopped being a good genre when it became everyday life. I can’t imagine authors thinking about writing dystopian novels in 2025. Especially ones about a deadly virus, we lived that, it was not great.
Anyway, this does sound interesting but I don’t think it’s a book I would find myself reaching for. I won’t be deleting it from my Kindle, but I will be removing it from my Goodreads for now. My to be read is far too much of a mess.
Verdict: Remove
Synopsis: Athena Vosh lives just like any other teenager from the year 2099. She watches reality shows with her friends, eats well, and occasionally wonders to herself: what would life be like if men were still alive?
It has been almost 50 years since an experimental virus accidentally killed all the men on earth. However, a controversial project is currently underway to bring men back. There’s just one catch. The project has been sabotaged.
So begins Athena’s Choice. When the police of 2099 are tasked with finding the saboteur, they receive a mysterious command to investigate the otherwise innocuous Athena Vosh. After it becomes clear that the young girl might know more than she lets on, Athena is brought in to participate in the official investigation. Simultaneously, the girl begins to experience a series of cryptic dreams featuring a ruined library and an old book containing the saboteur’s true identity. As the police close in on their prize, Athena finds herself on a journey of her own. Her clue-filled dreams and incorruptible spirit bring her face-to-face with a pair of forgotten truths about happiness and gender. The world waits to see if men will return as Athena fights a separate battle, culminating in the choice that will define her and others’ lives forever.
A Midwinter’s Wedding by Melanie Cellier
I’ve read the first two books in this series (well one and a half, the second one was a DNF) and I really didn’t enjoy either very much. I thought my issue with book one was the audiobook narration but apparently this series just isn’t for me. Which is a huge shame as I loved Melanie Cellier’s Spoken Mage series. I wonder if I’d enjoy it these days or if my taste has changed over the years.
Verdict: remove
Synopsis: A retelling of The Frog Prince fairy tale.
Princess Cordelia is used to being overshadowed by her many brothers and sisters. So when she’s offered the chance to attend her brother’s wedding in a faraway kingdom, she leaps at it. In Northhelm, she’ll finally have the chance to stand out. And maybe, just maybe, she’ll even find romance.
But not everything in the Northhelmian court is as it appears. With her brother distracted by the wedding, only Ferdinand, the ugliest man at court, will listen to Cordelia’s concerns. An observant princess and a strangely amphibious soldier may be the only thing standing between all Four Kingdoms and disaster.
Cordelia will have to overcome prejudice, deceit and danger if she wants to save the day and find romance at A Midwinter’s Wedding.
Dark Promise by Julia Crane
My instinct with all of these free books is to remove them from my Goodreads but then there’s a small part of me that is drawn to how short they are. Books, especially festive ARCs, are really kicking my butt at the moment and I’ve basically lost all motivation to read. Something short like this could help me feel excited about reading again. Who knows, it could be a great read. It doesn’t have a terrible average rating (almost a 4).
Reading this synopsis alone gives away how old this book is. Books about the fae are definitely still popular but finding out you’re not actually human once you turn a certain age screams 2012. I would have eaten this up back then. I can’t tell you how many faerie/paranormal books I read back then. Probably because these types of books have always been free or very cheap so they were all I could afford to read.
Verdict: Remove
Synopsis: Rylie has it all – great friends, dream boy, loving family. But on the eve of her sixteenth birthday, her perfect little world shatters. A stranger claiming to be her real mother appears with a secret: Rylie is a faery whose powers will be unleashed on her birthday. Captured and forced into a new life, Rylie struggles to keep everything she loves and discovers a terrifying truth: some promises cannot be broken.
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