Reviews in a Minute: March 8th Madness

Happy book birthday to all of these lovely- and I do mean lovely- books. I really enjoyed all of these, and you can (and should) read them right now!

Daughter by Kate McLaughlin
The Damage Done by Michael Landweber
One For All by Lillie Lainoff
Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth H. Bonesteel

All That’s Left in the World by Erik J. Brown
Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye


Reviews in a Minute: March 8th Madness Daughter by Kate McLaughlin
Published by Wednesday Books on March 8, 2022
Pages: 336
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Scarlet’s life is pretty average. Overly protective mom. Great friends. Cute boy she’s interested in. And a father she’s never known – until she does.

When the FBI show up at Scarlet’s door, she is shocked to learn her father is infamous serial killer Jeffrey Robert Lake. And now, he’s dying and will only give the names and locations of his remaining victims to the one person, the daughter he hasn’t seen since she was a baby.

Scarlet’s mother has tried to protect her from Lake’s horrifying legacy, but there’s no way they can escape the media firestorm that erupts when they come out of hiding. Or the people who blame Scarlet for her father’s choices. When trying to do the right thing puts her life in danger, Scarlet is faced with a choice – go back into hiding or make the world see her as more than a monster’s daughter.

Kate McLaughlin’s Daughter is a novel about trying right deadly choices that were never yours to begin with.

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Daughter is such a compelling and unique book, and I loved every minute. I was initially drawn to the story for personal reasons (no, I promise, my dad definitely isn’t a serial killer), and I felt it delivered on that aspect as well (we’ll delve more into that later). Scarlet is just living her life, getting annoyed with her overprotective mom, when suddenly, the FBI is at her door with an absolute bombshell: She’s not Scarlet, everything she thought she knew was a lie, and by the by, her dad is an infamous serial killer on death row who wants to see her, as he’s terminally ill.

I mean, that is a lot, but the author did a great job of not making it seem too overwhelming for the reader. It’s obviously overwhelming for Scarlet, who now must decide whether she will agree to see her father, who promises to give her the names of victims the police were unable to tie him to if she does. Talk about a hard ask! Especially for someone who just found this information out. Add to it, she’s now found herself in the spotlight as the daughter of a notorious murderer, and just… wow.

One of my favorite (and most infuriating) parts of the story is how people react to Scarlet’s life-changing news. Because this is such a high profile case, it’s a pretty big story. And because it’s the age of social media, Scarlet cannot escape the media circus, and the awful people who feel like they’ve earned the right to comment on her life, or her mother’s choices. Because here’s a thing that most people don’t stop to think about from behind the anonymity of their computer screens: family members are not responsible for their relative’s crimes (unless they are actually responsible). And Scarlet was a literal baby at the time, so how exactly can they use this against her? But they do, because of course they do. The vitriol targeted at Gina, Scarlet’s mom, was even more awful. At least most people understood that Scarlet was a baby. But the court of public opinion demonized Gina nearly as much as they did her ex-husband, and it was appalling.

The how could she not know? and the well she must have suspected and the how was she so stupid to marry this guy hit me hard. They hit Scarlet hard too, which I applaud the author for. Because two things are very true: Gina was hurt by Jeff too, and the reason people don’t see the truth isn’t because they’re stupid, it’s because the criminal is a manipulator and a psychopath. Gina hid the truth from Scarlet for one reason: she was so afraid to have Scarlet’s life marred by this as her own was.

I adored Scarlet’s whole journey, and Gina’s too. They are trying so hard to rebuild and pick up the pieces, while dealing with this huge adjustment. Scarlet has to decide how much she is willing to tolerate in order to get answers for the dead women and their families, and it’s no easy task. She also has to reconcile her old life with her new life, and figure out where people fit into the life she wants moving forward. She’s not only introduced to the bad parts of Jeff’s existence, but she’s introduced to some of the wonderful parts of her old life that she missed out on by having to hide. I loved seeing her learn the good along with the bad.

Ultimately, the story was incredibly satisfying and well done, and I loved reading about Scarlet and her mom and all the people they met along the way. I also was so, so happy to see such a responsible and positive portrayal of this sort of situation. I will be buying this book for my own kids, especially my daughter, who worries all the time that she will be defined by some people for her father’s actions. I am so thankful to the author for giving me a story to encourage her to read that will not only give her a wonderful character to feel connected to, but assure her that there are people out there who understand, who won’t erroneously and cruelly judge, and that she is unequivocally not a reflection on someone else’s poor choices.

Bottom Line: Moving and incredibly hopeful despite the context, I absolutely fell in love with both Scarlet’s story and the messages it provided.



Reviews in a Minute: March 8th Madness The Damage Done by Michael Landweber
Published by Crooked Lane Books on March 8, 2022
Pages: 352
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Perfect for fans of Ben Winters and Sarah Pinsker, violence is a thing of the past—but could new horrors lie in wait?

Imagine a world devoid of violence—a world where fists can’t hit, guns don’t kill, and bombs can’t destroy. In this tantalizing novel of possibility, this has become our new reality.

The U.S. president must find a new way to wage war. The Pope ponders whether the Commandment “Thou Shalt Not Kill” is still relevant. A dictator takes his own life after realizing that the violence he used to control his people is no longer an option.

In the first days after the change, seven people who have experienced violence struggle to adapt to this radical new paradigm: Dab, a bullied middle schooler; Marcus, a high school student whose brother is the last victim of gun violence in America; Ann, a social worker stuck in an abusive marriage; Richard, a professor whose past makes him expect the worst in the present; Gabriela, who is making a dangerous border crossing into the U.S.; the Empty Shell, a dissident writer waiting to be tortured in a notorious prison; and Julien, a white supremacist plotting a horrific massacre.

As their fates intertwine, the things each of the seven experience become emblematic of the promise and perils of the new world. The future holds bright new possibilities for ending terrorism, racism, and even hatred itself. But although violence is no longer possible, that doesn’t mean that some among us won’t keep trying. Mindless cruelty is still alive and well—and those bent on destruction will seek the most devious means to achieve it.

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The Damage Done has such a unique premise- what happens when people simply no longer possess the ability to be violent? Talk about thought-provoking, right? The story is told from several points of view of people coming to the realization that violence is no longer an option. They are all from extremely different backgrounds and circumstances, but we soon see that some of their stories intersect.

Now, each character must navigate this new world in a new way. The lack of violence changes everyone’s lives in one way or another, though some have more difficulty accepting it than others. And because humans are, well, humans, many people in this world try to find a way around the peacefulness.

I loved how the book brought issues that likely wouldn’t have crossed my mind into play. Like what happens in prisons if there is no ability to truly intimidate people locked up? How do dictators terrify their citizens without the threat of bodily harm looming large? Bullies are far less intimidating when you know they cannot actually hurt you. And this list obviously goes on and on. But it’s one thing to know this from a logical perspective, and another to adapt one’s whole mental outlook so quickly.

Watching the characters come to terms with their new world is certainly the highlight of the story for me. Seeing how they will move forward, hopefully move better, was fabulous. I do wish we’d have had a little more time in the story, perhaps to see what some of the more long-term affects of the nonviolence was. And of course, I was curious as to why, though had I been in this world I’d probably be less focused on the reasons as well.

Bottom Line: So very thought provoking, I enjoyed learning about this world without violence right along with the characters and their often quite moving stories.


Reviews in a Minute: March 8th Madness One for All by Lillie Lainoff
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on March 8, 2022
Pages: 400
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

An OwnVoices, gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, in which a girl with a chronic illness trains as a Musketeer and uncovers secrets, sisterhood, and self-love.

Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand. Everyone in town thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick girl”; even her mother is desperate to marry her off for security. But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father—a former Musketeer and her greatest champion.

Then Papa is brutally, mysteriously murdered. His dying wish? For Tania to attend finishing school. But L’Académie des Mariées, Tania realizes, is no finishing school. It’s a secret training ground for a new kind of Musketeer: women who are socialites on the surface, but strap daggers under their skirts, seduce men into giving up dangerous secrets, and protect France from downfall. And they don’t shy away from a swordfight.

With her newfound sisters at her side, Tania feels for the first time like she has a purpose, like she belongs. But then she meets Étienne, her first target in uncovering a potential assassination plot. He’s kind, charming, and breathlessly attractive—and he might have information about what really happened to her father. Torn between duty and dizzying emotion, Tania will have to lean on her friends, listen to her own body, and decide where her loyalties lie…or risk losing everything she’s ever wanted.

This debut novel is a fierce, whirlwind adventure about the depth of found family, the strength that goes beyond the body, and the determination it takes to fight for what you love.

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I don’t think I knew quite what to expect when I started All For One, frankly. But what I did get absolutely blew my expectations out of the water, so there’s that.

The story starts off a tad slow, with the reader being introduced to Tania. She has a condition that causes her to experience dizziness and fainting frequently, and as such, she’s basically been written off by her 17th century French town, and her mother. Her father, however, has always had full faith in Tania, and they have a strong relationship. She’s always admired him for his background in the Musketeers, and he has always supported her, trained her, and believed in her. And then he is killed.

This is obviously awful for Tania for a myriad of reasons, and one of the biggest is that his will has arranged for Tania to head off to Young French Lady Boarding School™. This is not the name for real, but anyway. There she realizes that maybe she’s not just going to learn some boring etiquette lessons, and that perhaps her father’s biggest surprise for her is still ahead.

First, I loved reading about this time period! I don’t know about you, but my crappy American school history books never once discussed La Fronde, and I will probably end up down a pretty serious rabbit hole now that Wikipedia is open. I digress. So much of what I have read about historic France is set in the 18th and 19th centuries, so this was a delightful change, and I absolutely loved learning about it. That, and the author did a wonderful job of making me feel like I was there.

I also was thrilled to see a main character with a disability, especially in a historical fiction novel. Tania’s condition is, per the author, akin to a modern day diagnosis of POTS, but of course Tania had no such diagnosis. It obviously was a factor in her daily life, and she had to not only find ways to manage it, but she had to deal with the constant disdain from some really awful and ableist people.

Hands down, my favorite part of the story was the characters. I adored Tania, and her incredible spirit and strength and vulnerability, but I also enjoyed the people she met along the way. Since this is in fact a gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, you can imagine that Tania finds herself in the company of some pretty incredible women- but that is a story that you need to read for yourself.

Bottom Line: Hands down one of the best retellings I’ve read. Tania’s journey was hopeful, adventurous, and full of heart.


Reviews in a Minute: March 8th Madness Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth H. Bonesteel, Elizabeth Bonesteel
Published by House Panther Publishing on March 8, 2022
Pages: 432
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Head peace officer Anya Savelova believed her people, living on a hostile planet in the ice-bound city of Novayarkha, were the last of humanity.

Until the day she learned they weren't.

When a starship from an Earth thought long dead appears in orbit over her world, Anya imagines an explosion of possible futures, offering her people the freedom to transcend the limiting environment of the planet they'd thought was their last refuge. In the starship's crew, Anya finds creativity, diversity, innovation-all things the colony has had to inhibit to survive.

Seeing her world through the eyes of the starship crew makes Anya look closer at her city's inconsistencies, oddities she's always been told to ignore. But the harder she pushes at the pieces that don't fit, the more her government perceives the strangers as a threat. There are secrets in Novayarkha, hiding in plain sight, that the strangers can't possibly understand-and Anya's drive to uncover them risks shredding the fragile web holding together everything she's ever known and loved.

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Arkhangelsk is such a unique story. Part mystery, part new-world sci-fi, it has a little something for everyone. Anya and her people are trying to survive on an icy planet far from Earth. They assume themselves to be the last outpost of humanity, as their ancestors fled a dying planet hundreds of years ago. Only… here comes another ship and they aren’t as alone as they’d assumed!

I don’t want to give too much of the story away, because at its heart, it really is quite a mystery. Sure, the sci-fi elements are great, but I also wouldn’t want to spoil anything. So I am going to just give you a brief overview of what I enjoyed about the story, and you can just… read it yourself!

  • Loved (and loved to hate, in some cases) the characters. They were really well developed, and I absolutely felt for Anya from the start. I mean, her whole world is turned upside down more than once, and you can tell that she is battling some demons of her own. I liked that we got to meet so many of the newcomers as well, as they had their own great story to tell.
  • Incredibly atmospheric. I mean, this planet isn’t fun. It’s a constant fight for survival, with the elements, sickness, lack of resources, and fellow man. And it sure felt it! It was totally understandable why everyone was so… ill at ease here. The planet is just… it’s not a good one, okay? But they’re alive, and trying to stay that way, and you can definitely feel the desperation, the isolation, and the secrecy.
  • There is a great mix of emotions. A lot of stuff that happens is a bit depressing, but the author does a great job of balancing that out with romance and friendship and humor. And yeah, a bit of hopefulness, too.
  • The mysteries kept me flying through the pages. There are a lot of unknowns presented, and perhaps some mistruths, and when one mystery was solved, it often brought up several more, and I was here for every single one. I didn’t see the twists coming, and I really enjoyed peeling back the world(s) layer by layer.

Bottom Line: A very exciting and unique story with a lot of mysteries to unfurl, complete with characters I really cared for.


Reviews in a Minute: March 8th Madness All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown
Published by Balzer & Bray/Harperteen on March 8, 2022
Pages: 352
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

What If It's Us meets Life as We Knew It in this postapocalyptic, queer YA adventure romance from debut author Erik J. Brown. Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Alex London.

When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie's house, he's injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world's population, including everyone both boys have ever loved. And if this new world has taught them anything, it's to be scared of what other desperate people will do . . . so why does it seem so easy for them to trust each other?

After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization. But something isn't adding up about Andrew's story, and it could cost them everything. And Jamie has a secret, too. He's starting to feel something more than friendship for Andrew, adding another layer of fear and confusion to an already tumultuous journey.

The road ahead of them is long, and to survive, they'll have to shed their secrets, face the consequences of their actions, and find the courage to fight for the future they desire, together. Only one thing feels certain: all that's left in their world is the undeniable pull they have toward each other.

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We all know that I am always here for an apocalypse book. And All That’s Left in the World did not disappoint! And as such, I shall tell you the reasons I enjoyed it so much!

  • The characters were great. Jamie and Andrew were so different, but both so wonderful. And they were on very different apocalypse trajectories before Andrew found himself outside Jamie’s house. But I really enjoyed what each character brought to the table. They felt very well fleshed out, and realistic, like you could see a part of yourself in them as they try to navigate the world they’ve found themselves survivors in. Neither is particularly well equipped, mentally or physically, to handle the trials thrust upon them, but they haven’t a choice. It’s basically exactly how a huge majority of us would feel, I assume.
  • There’s nothing better for me than an apocalyptic road trip. That’s just facts, okay? For whatever reason, I am a huge sucker for not just the end of the world, but having to go on some epic journey during it. So when the guys set out to see what’s shakin’ in Washington D.C., I was beyond excited. In this book especially it works great, because they happen to find some people and a whole lot of answers along the way.
  • The pacing was spot-on. A great blend of action and character development, I absolutely flew through the story, yet at the same time didn’t want it to end! Kind of the perfect combo.
  • The whole apocalypse was presented in an authentic-feeling way. Ugh, humans, am I right? We are always over here sabotaging ourselves, and this is no different. I mean, sure, a virus is the reason, but we know no one did humanity any favors. There’s frank discussion about how the US basically shat the bed (again) in terms of trying to control things, which at least gave the guys a little hope that some other country maybe handled it better. People, of course, are both amazingly kind and incredibly evil. I love that the author explored both types, frankly. Because yeah, there is a lot of human garbage out there at the end of the world. But there are also some real pillars of mankind out there too, and I love that both were featured.
  • Speaking of which, despite the ruined world, there was an air of hopefulness. I mean, that’s what you need in the best apocalypse books, right? Not just despair and death, but hope that there is enough left worth saving. And this book, even when things looked bleak, managed to keep the hope alive.
  • And as such, it gave me many feels. I loved the bond that grew between Jamie and Andrew, and I loved learning more about the lives they had lost, too. There are a lot of moments during the course of the story that also broke and/or warmed my heart, that I won’t mention because spoilers. And, there was a perfect amount of lighter banter, too, so the story didn’t feel too heavy.

There was one tiny thing that wasn’t my favorite, which was a pretty big Lie of Omission™ situation. But while it isn’t my favorite device, I could at least respect and understand the context, so I was mostly able to overlook it.

Bottom Line: A heartfelt book about the apocalypse with some great characters and an exciting story made me fall in love with this one!


Reviews in a Minute: March 8th Madness Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye
Series: Blood Scion #1
Published by HarperTeen on March 8, 2022
Pages: 432
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Edelweiss

This is what they deserve. They wanted me to be a monster. I will be the worst monster they ever created.

Fifteen-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will—she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods.

Under the Lucis’ brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training, and destroy them from within.

Sloane rises through the ranks and gains strength but, in doing so, risks something greater: losing herself entirely, and becoming the very monster that she ahbors.

Following one girl’s journey of magic, injustice, power, and revenge, this deeply felt and emotionally charged debut from Deborah Falaye, inspired by Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, is a magnetic combination of A Song of Wraiths and Ruin and Daughter of Smoke and Bone that will utterly thrill and capture readers.

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Okay, first things first, Blood Scion is not for the faint of heart. The world in this book is brutal. I tried to find an official trigger warning, but was unable to- but pretty sure you can get the gist from “brutal” that things are rough.

Sloane is trying to hide her (punishable by death) powers, and basically trying to survive in this hellscape when she is conscripted into the army. This in itself is upsetting, mainly because Sloane is fifteen and also she doesn’t want to be in the army, but I suppose that is a topic for another day. Point is, my heart was with Sloane from the start. Because the author did such an incredible job of making you feel the dread Sloane was feeling, making you feel her desperation, her heartbreak, it was impossible to not care for her plight immediately.

And not only was Sloane’s life at stake, but the lives of everyone she’s ever loved were as well. See, in this vicious, evil place, they’ll kill people for whatever reason: to make others fall in line, to show power, as a scare tactic, or even just because they are vile, awful people and think it’s fun. Honestly, this world is one of the darkest I’ve read about in recent memory. Not only the brutality, but the absolute apathy the Lucis have for humanity as a whole.

Here’s one thing I did want more of: the why of the world. And maybe that is coming in the next book! But my one and only qualm with the story was… why the heck are these people so evil? Maybe just because they are evil, history obviously tells us that’s more than possible. Hell, current events tell us that, no? But I just need to know a little more. Regardless, as much as I would never, ever want to live in this world, I was drawn to the mysteries surrounding it, and of course, to the characters that inhabited it.

Without saying too much, Sloane has to make some truly horrific choices as the story goes on. And trust when I tell you, this is one of those “no good choices” stories. No matter what happens, no matter what Sloane chooses, someone will lose. Someone will likely die. Over and over again, she’s faced with gut-wrenching, impossible decisions and tasks. And she can’t help but wonder if they’ll steal her humanity or her life first.

The book is full of twists and excitement, but also a lot of great character development and reflection. I cannot wait to continue this story, especially since the ending was pretty epic.

Bottom Line:  Sloane is an amazing character in the bleakest of worlds, struggling to stay true to herself in the midst of brutality and betrayal.

Have you read any of these books? Plan to? Let us chat about them!  

Posted March 8, 2022 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in In a Minute, Review / 10 Comments

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10 responses to “Reviews in a Minute: March 8th Madness

    • Honestly, maybe? I mean there is a LOT of murder and torture and such, so it’s possible. Idk how the categorization works exactly, though. There were definitely things that leant it to being YA too though, so… tough call, really!

      I think for like, personal reasons, I was glad it was just moving? But I definitely get what you mean! I have had your review open for at least a week in a tab, I should go read it now 😂 (I try not to read people’s reviews until I finish my own- and it clearly took me longer than I anticipated bwhaha)

  1. Wow, what a great bunch! I have to admit Daughter is really grabbing me, especially with that Betty/Riverdale-like plot! But really I want to read all of these. I have a copy of Blood Scion but I’m behind so I haven’t read it yet. Very curious about the “brutal” aspects😬

  2. Arkhanels appeals to me- surprise, right? 🙂 I love that whole last outpost of humanity type trope, though. And nasty planets of course. I probably need to have this one lol.

    Post apocalyptic and road trip sounds great too. That one is totally new to me as well.

    Glad these ere all good!

  3. The premise of Daughter is really intriguing, and Scarlet sounds like a complex and interesting character. I am not usually one for books like this, but there is something about Scarlet that makes me want to learn her story.

  4. Ohhh a diverse set of books here!
    In The Damage Done, I hope the author acknowledges that physical violence isn’t the only way to wound, scar, control, and harm others (as tempting as it is to assume an end to violence would mean an end to that as well).

    One for All has been on my list for awhile, especially as someone with dysautonomia (I read an interview with the author, who was also a top-notch fencer, and apparently she and her coach developed a fencing style that enabled her to keep doing the sport despite the limitations of POTS and I was so excited about that…I hope it made it into the book).

    Aaaaand now of course all of these are on my list. 😀
    I think I’ll have to be in A Mood to read Blood Scion, but I do love a ‘no good choices’ story. Also….Yoruba-Nigerian mythology *yes please*.
    Thanks as always for reading and reviewing these!

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