My current read is an ARC copy of That Girl America, which is the sequel to This Girl America, also known as TGA & TGA2. The author is Chelsie Prince, an Indie author who I met through TikTok, and love her work! Her story is a coming of age and deals with a lot of traumatic experiences that a teenage girl goes through. I personally found the nostalgia of the early 2000s to be so fun because I grew up during that era and remember all the fun things we had back then. Chelsie’s writing is so easy to read and is a great YA book for teens to read so they don’t feel so alone in their own traumatic experiences. I highly recommend reading This Girl America to start you off and you can find a copy off amazon at Amazon.com: This Girl America: Three boys. Three years. One assignment. (TGA Series Book 1) eBook : Prince, Chelsie: Kindle Store

Book Synopsis:

“America Rossi’s life used to be easy. She worried about not missing Saved by the Bell reruns, collecting enough Lisa Frank school supplies, and trying to convince her parents to switch from VHS to DVD. That was, until high school changed it all.

The start of a new millennium was also the start of America’s real-world experiences. They were nothing like she thought they’d be. Not her first kiss or the boys she thought she loved. Not the town she grew up in or the peers she thought she knew. Now she must figure out her senior year goals for The Assignment, a four-year long project of goal setting and letters of reflection. But after years of unexpected heartbreak, traumatizing sexual experiences, and uncovering some harsh societal truths, she’s found herself with no goals.

Were things really that bad? In hopes of finding a renewed outlook, she decides to open the freshman, sophomore, and junior letters she already completed for The Assignment. The letters take her back to the start of high school and into the relationships she has desperately tried to forget. Will reading these letters remind her of how far she’s come, or will they send her into an even darker place?”

Another book I am reading is from the library, called The Return by Rachel Harrison. I read her other book Cackle from the library last year and loved it! This story so far is just about to get interesting as the best friend is starting to wonder what is wrong with her bestie that went missing two years ago and suddenly returned. I know there are shows like Manifest which have a similar plot and I wonder what Rachel has in store for us readers to make it unique. Look for my review later on!

Book Synopsis:

“A group of friends reunite after one of them has returned from a mysterious two-year disappearance in this edgy and haunting debut.

Julie is missing, and no one believes she will ever return – except Elise. Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and feels it in her bones that her best friend is out there and that one day Julie will come back. She’s right. Two years to the day that Julie went missing, she reappears with no memory of where she’s been or what happened to her. 

Along with Molly and Mae, their two close friends from college, the women decide to reunite at a remote inn. But the second Elise sees Julie, she knows something is wrong – she’s emaciated, with sallow skin and odd appetites. And as the weekend unfurls, it becomes impossible to deny that the Julie who vanished two years ago is not the same Julie who came back. But then who – or what – is she?”

The last book I am currently reading is another ARC copy that I received from the author in exchange for an honest review. Now I am not too far into this one as I am in the others but so far, the eerie haunted feeling of the mansion the main character has just inhabited is so creepy. It’s giving me Darcy Coates vibes right now and I love it! I’ve read some of the early reviews as it was just released, and it sounds like a great read. I am very excited to see how the book goes and hopefully it continues to be creepy. Find a copy of The House on Hanging Hill Lane by Philip Baker at amazon, Amazon.com: The House on Hanging Hill Lane: Darkness Creeps Closer: A creepy horror novella involving a grieving teenager, scared and alone as death and darkness creep closer. eBook : Baker, Philip Alexander: Books

Book Synopsis:

“There is more going on at Hanging Hill Lane than simple mass killings.

Daphne Locke, eighteen and alone, is back in her old childhood house as a sequence of brutal killings moves closer. Powerless policemen break down and cry, tortured by the most horrific crimes they have ever seen.

Murders are not the only darkness on the street. Creepy neighbours act impossibly. Dogged Jehovah’s Witnesses prophesy and stalk. Daphne wonders if she’s going mad, or if there truly is something real and insidious at play.

Perhaps the fresh grief of her mother’s death is testing her sanity. Perhaps her childhood night terrors were real. Perhaps rumours of the supernatural at Hanging Hill Lane were true all along. What a terrible time for a killer to come knocking.”