Exciting reads coming up! The sampler is appreciated in deciding what to order for the new school year.

Many titles to look forward to. The samples provided showcase a variety of writing styles and themes.

These samplers are so helpful. I especially enjoy reading them when I am in between books and not quite sure what to read next. I like that I can get a brief sample of the writing style, characters and settings without fully committing. They also help me with reader recommendations, because I can get a sense of what the books are like. With this set in particular, I think I am most excited for The Minus One Club, Promise Boys and The Headmaster's List.

We enjoyed this sampler with excerpts from some titles coming out in Winter, and we used it as a guide to purchase several books for our inventory. We will consider reading more samplers in the future to help us with purchasing.

Another great sampler for what's to come. I really enjoyed all of these and there were several stand outs among them!

There was some interesting ones in there. So I guess it did it's job in making me want to read some of them. I picked up The Lost Dreamer, so I'm happy to see what comes out of that.

I always love samplers, because I get to see a chapter or two from books I may have otherwise missed out on.  I'll be buying a few of the books from this particular sampler.

Fierce Reads Winter 2023 Digital Sampler - 5/5

I truly love these samplers.  They allow the reader a beak behind the blinds of multiple YA stories so we can truly take the time to see if there is on, we would like to commit to.  I do not think there is a book on this list that did not make my 'to be read' list.

Thank you for offering samples of highly anticipated titles. Especially for those of us who aren't approved quite so often.

A good sampler of the various upcoming releases for Fierce Reads; will definitely be purchasing some of the titles in this for our collection.

Nice collection from everyone here and I liked most of the stories assorted in this! Definitely makes me curious for the rest when they're released.

A wonderful sneak peek of some of YA's most anticipated titles. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into these books and am most interested in those with unique storytelling formats such as verse and interview transcripts. This is a great resource for those planning their TBRs and trying to decide on what arcs to request.

I loved the Fierce Reads Winter 2023 Digital Sampler! It helped me determine which books I wanted to request and (maybe most importantly) it give me helpful material for discussing upcoming titles with my students.

Can't wait to read some of these books once they are available!

I love the samplers too give me a taste of what is to come

Thank you NetGalley and Fierce Reads for this sampler. There were so many books that I really enjoyed in this sampler. I am so excited about a few of these. I can’t wait until they come out to read the rest of them. There is such a great collection of contemporary, fantasy, and thrillers in this sampler. Thank you again Fierce Reads! I look forward to reviewing these on my Instagram when they come out!!!

I really love getting these samplers. It gives such a variety of things to come and the opportunity to get excited for books we might not have tried otherwise. Some unexpected ones added to my list of requests.

5/5 stars!!
Another great sampler! Before reading, I was not sure what to expect from some of these titles as they are not my typical book; however, the excerpts were breathtaking! Bestsellers, for sure! I will be purchasing all after they release and pre-ordering!

Like with any sampler there were stories I’m looking forward to reading in full and a few that I’m not interested at all. What a great way to see before you buy the book. 

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the digital advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

**Thank you to Fierce Reads and NetGalley for this Sampler. This in no way affected my ratings**

We Are All So Good at Smiling: 
The formatting of the sampler was off so it took a minute to figure out it was a novel in verse. I ended up reading this title in full when it came in at my library and have a full review of this. Long story short is that I didn't like it and I think the author tried to do too many things at once, which is a shame because the Black community needs more books about our mental health. 

The Buried and the Bound:
Had a super interesting premise. I liked the two (of I'm assuming three) POVs we got in the sampler. I am planning on ordering this for the YA collection at the library in the future. 

The Minus-One Club:
Kermit is okay as a main character. He's going through grief from losing his sister. He's invited to a secret after-school club where all of the members have lost a family member. There's a weird formatting thing with the chapter titles and I don't know if that's because it's a sampler or if it's intentional. You can figure out what the chapter is called, but some letters are missing. I would probably read this, but I'm on the fence about ordering it. As a biracial reader, it's nice to see some more biracial characters and I'm hoping the rep in this one is good. 

Promise Boys:
I've already ordered this book on the recommendation of another librarian who listened to the title as a whole. However, I really liked this sample! I like that it seems to be told in a series of interviews with people who knew the boys (or didn't or think they do) and that you're getting a bunch of vantage points to this situation. If I hadn't already ordered this, I would be. 

The Pledge:
My only experience with Cale Dietrich was his co-written book with Sophie Gonzales (If This Gets Out) which I really enjoyed. I'm not typically one for Horror, but this seemed interesting in the little bit of it that we got in the sampler. I would definitely read this and will probably order it. 

The Headmaster's List: 
I think people who really liked Sadie will like this. I liked Sadie, but the podcast parts of this were very crass and more for entertainment than education, which reminded me why I don't love the true crime community in terms of things like podcasts and TikTok. Unfortunately, that was a large part of the sample, so I don't think I would personally enjoy this title and there are at least two other YA titles being released around the same time that also feature a true crime podcast. I'd rather pick ones that I think aren't going to focus on the callous side of this community and would treat the subject matter with more gravitas. 

My Dear Henry:
I didn't love the original Jekyll & Hyde, but I'm intrigued by this one. Bayron is a talented writer and she seems to be playing the the "nature of good and evil" parts of the story as it relates to racism in 1800s England. I would be interested to read this one. 

Saints of the Household: 
I'm interested in this title especially because I know the pov she's writing from is underrepresented. I've never seen another book written from the POV of Indigenous Costa Ricans, so I'm already in from that alone. The chapters in this were very short, which I like. I also feel like we don't often see books about brothers, so that was a nice change of pace. I'll probably order this one. 

Stars & Smoke:
This reminded me of that comedy movie with Sandra Bullock where she's an author who gets kidnapped, just with a pop star instead. I'm lukewarm about Marie Lu. I always *want* to like her books (the premises she comes up with are so interesting!) and end up liking them less than I thought going in. I'm sure this will be fine, I just am not immediately hooked on "the most beautiful popstar in the world." It's a maybe for me. 

Becoming a Queen:
This is going to get banned a million different times, which is a shame because I enjoyed this sample. The prose is nice and discusses an important part of the community that is being challenged heavily right now. I appreciate Clay's take on this even from just the sampler. This is already in my list to order, but this sample further confirmed it. 

The Other Side of Infinity:
I liked that this was dual POV. This was also already on my list to order,

An Improbable Season:
I skipped this one because I'm not the audience for Historical Romance like this. I typically am not super into debutante, Bridgerton-esque books. 


7/12 is better than average. There are only a handful I'd skip and there are a few maybes, so if they seem interesting to you, I would err on the side of reading it over not. The only one I can unequivocally not recommend is We Are All So Good at Smiling.

I'm so glad I checked this out! So many of these titles were not on my radar but I'm glad I found them. There are so many compelling mystery/horror/.thriller stories in here, and they definitely excited me the most.  That being said, there's a great variety in here, and you will find something for every reader. Can't wait to read some of these in full!