These themes will vary! It could be based off of some book mail I just received, pop culture, something personal to me, a headline from the news, a trend I noticed when I was buying books for my library system, etc. I hope you stick around to see all the themes and book recs I come up with!
Today’s Theme: It Really is Quite Puzzling…
Where I’m from the teens LOVE this series. I find myself having to get more every year. We’ve had her in my area a few times and every time her signing line is out the door. And let me tell you a little secret….. This book came out in 2020. Right in the middle of our COVID lock-down and this book (well the whole series) still moves like it came out yesterday. I love this so much because it’s filled with puzzles and fun and a rags to riches story featuring Avery and the Hawthorne boys. Their grandfather has passed and he left their entire fortune to her. They have to figure out why and what she means to their family and in order for her to get the money, she has to move into their grandfather’s mansion, with the secret passages and all, just to figure out what is going on.
Ex Marks the Spot also has a grandparent who likes puzzles and likes to give information about themselves and the family through those puzzles. In this one Gemma’s grandfather dies and he leaves her a box. This confuses her because her mother told her he had already passed. As it turns out, he was alive in Taipei but they had a falling out years before. Her grandfather had left her a trail of puzzles to find and solve if she wanted, but she had to go to Taipei to do so. And the only way she can get to Taipei on such short notice? With her ex. Listen, I’m not gonna lie to you….. I probably would’ve been like never mind. Because who wants to do this with their ex? But as it turns out, he’s a lot more involved than either of them think. This story has so much depth and there’s so much more to this story than the surface. I have no idea how Chao was able to tell two stories in one (the grandfather’s and Gemma’s) but she did and she did a great job.
For those wondering, the puzzles are very different, but the fact that they were both there was enough for me. I think Ex will serve as a great alternative to those that are waiting on The Inheritance Games holds and to those that are looking for something like The Inheritance Games but with diverse characters.
[Both of these are YA!]
Well, there you go! Here I’m just going to talk about why I grouped these two books together. I hope you enjoyed a look at this small part of the books. For a full synopsis of the book or to add it to your TBR, click the picture and it will take you to their Storygraph. The link on the caption will take you to it’s Goodreads.
Have you read either of these? Will you do so now? Do you try to solve the puzzles you see in books like these? Let me know in the comments!