Library book cover first impressions

I love to just browse the shelves at my local library and find new-to-me gems like these! I wrote on the pictures why I picked them and my first impressions but here are the actual blurbs for you to decide if they're worth your time!

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📚A Hundred Vicious Turns by Lee Page O'Brien📚

The heir to an arcane bloodline must outwit their ambitious rival to stop a ruthless magical adversary in a YA fantasy debut perfect for fans of A Lesson in Vengeance and Hell Followed With Us

Rat Evans, nonbinary heir to one of the oldest magical bloodlines in New York, doesn’t cast spells anymore. For as long as Rat can remember, they’ve been surrounded by doorways no one else sees and corridors that aren’t on any map. Then one day, they opened a passage and found a broken tower in a field of weeds—and something followed them back.

💭My thoughts💭: I love to see a nonbinary leading character! It also looks like is a fantasy, dark academia which I'm a huge fan off (See: A Deadly Education). I will say, this book has very mixed reviews on Goodreads but I will still give it a shot!

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📚Game of Strength and Storm by Rachel Menard📚

Once a year, the Olympian Empresses grant the wishes of ten people selected by a lottery—for a price. Seventeen-year-old Gen, a former circus performer, wants the freedom of her father, who was sentenced to life in prison for murders she knows he didn’t commit. Castor plans to carry the island Arcadia into the future in place of her brother, Pollux, but only after the Empresses force a change in her island’s archaic laws that requires a male heir.

To get what they want, Gen and Castor must race to complete the better half of ten nearly impossible labors. They have to catch the fastest ship in the sea, slay the immortal Hydra, defeat a gangster called the Boar, and capture the flesh-eating Mares, among other deadly tasks.

💭My thoughts💭: Great goodreads reviews! I will say, Gen does seem a little /too/ special to me. She has magic, can talk to animals, and inhuman strength, while Castor only has one power (storms) and a magic item. I think it's giving fantasy Hunger Games and I like that!

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📚A Spark in the Cinders by Jenny Elder Moke📚

Aralyn has lost everything - the coveted glass slipper, the prince's hand in marriage, and her only chance to save her mother and sister from destitution. Now she spends her days sweeping the cinders and washing dresses as her stepsister Ellarose once did, plotting her revenge against the girl who robbed her of her future. But when Ellarose, now the princess, comes to beg her help with saving the kingdom from ruin, Aralyn sees the opportunity to seize everything she's ever wanted.

💭My thoughts💭: it IS gay and I love an evil step sister redemption book!

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📚Nisekoi: False Love by Naoshi Komi📚

It’s hate at first sight... Rather, a knee-to-the-head at first sight when Raku Ichijo meets Chitoge Kirisaki! Unfortunately, Raku’s gangster father arranges a false love match with their rival’s daughter—who just so happens to be Chitoge! However, Raku’s searching for his childhood sweetheart from ten years ago, with a pendant around his neck as a memento, but he can't even remember her name or face!

💭My thoughts💭: ew, love triangle, also it's ecchi which is really not my thing. After flipping through the volume, I decided the art style wasn't for me.

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