Complete Nothing by Kieran Scott

Complete Nothing by Kieran Scott
"True is not exactly loving New Jersey. Banished from Mount Olympus and tasked with helping couples find love without using her powers, the goddess-formerly-known-as-Cupid is having a tough time. Especially now that True’s immortal love, Orion, has also appeared at her New Jersey high school—but with no memory of their relationship.

To distract herself from seeing Orion flirt with another girl, True focuses her efforts on making a match: Peter and Claudia. Peter is the star quarterback and the most popular guy in school. But he’s insecure about his future, so he preemptively dumps Claudia, his girlfriend. (If she won’t want to be with him later, why stay together now?) Claudia doesn’t take the breakup too well, and she’s ready to show the quarterback of their rival school just how ready she is to get over it.

But True sees something in these two seniors. She believes they should be together—but can she help them find their way back to each other (and get herself closer to home)? Or have things already spun too far out of control?"- summary from Amazon

I am a huge fan of Scott's books and I absolutely adored this follow-up to Only Everything. I loved seeing True and Orion slowly getting to know each other (and usually at the embarrassment of True). The couple that True works on in this novel are wonderful and I think the way that Scott writes these books really helps. It goes between three different characters- True, and then the boy and girl of the couple being worked on. This really allows the reader to get into the heads of these characters and see exactly what they are thinking and feeling and why they are doing what they're doing. Scott really gets into the heart of different kinds of relationships through these books and it makes me eager to see what happens in Book 3.

Overall, such a great second book in this trilogy and it's going to be sad when I finish the final book.

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Zodiac by Romina Russell

Zodiac by Romina Russell
"Rhoma Grace is a 16-year-old student from House Cancer with an unusual way of reading the stars. While her classmates use measurements to make accurate astrological predictions, Rho can’t solve for ‘x’ to save her life—so instead, she looks up at the night sky and makes up stories.

When a violent blast strikes the moons of Cancer, sending its ocean planet off-kilter and killing thousands of citizens—including its beloved Guardian—Rho is more surprised than anyone when she is named the House’s new leader. But, a true Cancrian who loves her home fiercely and will protect her people no matter what, Rho accepts.

Then, when more Houses fall victim to freak weather catastrophes, Rho starts seeing a pattern in the stars. She suspects Ophiuchus—the exiled 13th Guardian of Zodiac legend—has returned to exact his revenge across the Galaxy. Now Rho—along with Hysan Dax, a young envoy from House Libra, and Mathias, her guide and a member of her Royal Guard—must travel through the Zodiac to warn the other Guardians.

But who will believe anything this young novice says? Whom can Rho trust in a universe defined by differences? And how can she convince twelve worlds to unite as one Zodiac?"- summary from Amazon

This book was such a fantastic debut and Russell's writing is amazing and compelling. I loved following Rho's journey as her life is turned upside-down by this mysterious force and as it propels her to grow up very fast and make some huge decisions. I also really loved the characters of Mathias and Hysan and her complicated relationships with both as the three of them travel the Zodiac together and figure out what exactly is going on.

Russell's world-building here is so good and I really enjoyed learning all about the Zodiac world and how it works as well as its mythology and the differences between each of the Houses. It's extremely clever and makes for an interesting read.

Overall, I really enjoyed this debut and I'm looking forward to seeing where the rest of the series goes from here.

FTC: Received hardcover from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.