It’s probably the last book I will finish for 2023 and what a book to finish on!! I am completely in love with this book and I so need the next book in the series.

It is a YA fantasy type of book. Alex’s life is turned upside down one day and we have no idea why. I really liked that we were as clueless as Alex about everything. We didn’t have any information that Alex didn’t about the school, way of life or the creatures. I loved learning along the way and to be honest, I don’t think we have even scratched the surface of this world! There is still so much we need to learn and I just can’t wait!!!

I have no idea if there will be a book 2 but my gosh I want one! I need one! I became so engrossed in Alex and his cirocals’ world. His band of misfits were entertaining and loyal and everything you want in friends and defenders.

The variation of creatures was fascinating too, learning about the mixture of “Breeds” and half “Breeds”. There really is so much to this book and world that I can’t wait for it to be expanded.

The writing sucked me in straightaway as from the very first page I was hooked. I have definitely ended the year on a high with this gem. It’s been sitting on my NetGalley shelf for far far far too long and in a way I am glad. I’m hoping it means that I don’t have to wait much longer for the next book!

It has been compared to so many popular books but in my opinion, it is its own little gem.

Sadly I just didn't enjoy this one as I was hoping to, it took me 3 trys to finish it because I just didn't want to pick it up after I started it .

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

Join or Die is a bit of a fantasy/paranormal style of read. It is young adult genre, but don't let that deter you from reading it. Coming in under 200 pages made it super easy to stay engaged in and get through, even if it's not your typical cup of tea.

The character development was good; some of the characters were so fun to read about.. they were definitely unique in nature..
The world building was pretty good. There were some areas that I could have used some more details / explanation in, but still good.
Overall, the execution was slightly lacking. Just like some other reviews state. I wanted to be able to give it a higher rating, but I think it just missed the mark a little with the execution.

"Join or Die" isn't quite my cup of tea. I thought I would like it more than I did but it just didn't work out for me. It was a little bit of a below average read.

An adventure similar to Harry Potter and Percy Jackson coming together, just a bit darker. The story flowed at a decent pace, but had a few issues connecting things that had already been said. All in all it wasn't a bad read, and I'll probably look into future books in the series to see what happens.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenienc

The description of this book had the tv show Legacies on the CW vibes, but unfortunately, it just wasn't pulled off well. I also found it to be more geared toward younger teens than YA and I just didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I have elected not to read and review this book due to time constraints. Thank you for the opportunity.

When I got approved for this, I was like oh not another fantasy series about a secluded private school. Well, after finishing this, I enjoyed this one the most! The only downfall is I have to wait for the rest of the books in this series to be released. I want them now. I want to know what happens.

The race to save Otherworld

This book is initially set in the human realm, before Alex suddenly receives a visitor who tells him that his absentee father is a “Creature”, the various monsters out of myths and legends, and that he most likely will transform into one, too.

So there Alex is, a half breed with a human mother, suddenly taken away to a private boarding school for Creatures in another realm, Otherworld, leaving behind his best friend, Carlos, his mother, and everything he’s ever known. Worse than that, he’s told that he’s the Scion Heir (leader of all the Creatures), being a descendant of the original Scion, and that he’ll eventually have to battle the other Heir to become the leader of all.

Luckily, he somehow manages to find his place in this new world, making new friends who gradually form a part of his Ciorcal (Celtic for “circle”), the group that will support, protect, and guide him, if and when he does fulfil his destiny.

In the meantime, however, he has no idea what Creature he himself is going to be, and has to face off a Creature who has been killing off all of the Heirs. Along with some other hijinks with his Ciorcal, it’s a fight for survival he hadn’t been warned of or planned for.

I must say that the beginning didn’t thrill me quite so much, but the last part of the book made up for that and was pretty good. I can only assume that this is because this is quite obviously the author’s first book, with it having at times too much information, then at others not enough. There are still quite a few typos in this book, but I’m guessing that that is because it is, at the time of ARC release, still not fully edited.

However, despite its similarities to other Paranormal schools, it has enough differences in it to make it a new take on the idea, somewhat familiar yet with unique elements.

Hopefully the sequel, once it’s finally released, will further develop the ideas here and, after reading the preview, it looks like we will find out more about the current Scion and the ongoing war against him.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

*I received a free digital ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

This book has a lot going for it: an interesting concept, interesting world and an interesting types of monsters.
But I think the execution lacked a lot of what intrigued me at first. The main character is neither really interesting (despite being half monster) nor did I really like him. If Alex would have been a stronger main character I would have enjoyed this a lot more I think.

Description intrigued me at first, but monsters didn't end up intriguing me as much as they did when originally requested. Probably won't end up reading.

This book was just alright to me. The main character Alex Ayers is a 14 year old boy living in Las Vegas with his mom after his dad abandoned him. He learns from a friend of his father's that he's actually a Creature (but doesn't know what kind yet as he hasn't gone through the "Change") and that he needs to go to this private school for monsters across the country. If that isn't enough of a shock at 14, he is also a candidate to become the next leader of the Creatures. Once at the school Alex makes some new friends who become his own mini army to help him against the other candidates. To top it off, there are Creatures who don't want a new leader and have been killing off candidates. Alex and his friends must find out who the killer is so he doesn't end up as their next victim.

This book sounded like a lot of other books, different monsters at a private school, someone killing them off, a heir/leader position to obtain. However, what grabbed my attention was that it wasn't just shifters and vampires, it was mentioned that there were Valkyrie and later in reading the book there is even a succubus.

Where this story fell flat for me though was that Alex and his friends were only supposed to be 14-15 years old. At times they talked and acted like 14 year olds, but I felt like a lot of interactions were more advanced for the ages that they assumedly were. I have cousins this age who would not react, speak or have the interactions that these teens had. I felt like the author couldn't get a grip on what a 14-15 year old was really like.

I was also very turned off by Alex. In the beginning he has all this rage against his father leaving but when this guy comes and tells him he's a Creature and he has to move Alex really doesn't question it. His life literally changed completely in a span of a few hours and he doesn't ask any questions or push back on this at all which is not typical of any teenager. Once he gets to the school he's very careless and just all around oblivious to what dangers there are and just does what ever he's told without once again questioning it. It made me dislike him right away and finding that the only reason I wanted to continue along was because of the minor characters. I'm honestly not sure if I will pick up the sequel or not as this story really didn't do much for me.

I received a review copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

this was a fun concept, the characters were great and I had a lot of fun reading it. I liked the use of different mythic creatures and hope there is more to the story.

I enjoyed the first book in this new series. Little slow at times, but I was curious enough about the different creatures that I just kept going.

*I received this book from Netgalley for my honest review*

This is a really cool mixture of Rosario+Vampire and Harry Potter. Alex’s life is thrown for a loop when he finds out he is halfbreed—half human, half creature. I won’t spoil what he is, as that is a big mystery he has to discover, but it is a really cool twist. He is mad his father left him and never told him the truth, and that resentment plays a big part on what he need to do to accept his fate.

I liked the other characters as well, especially Elvey, the half vampire-half elf roommate. That is, actually, one of my favorite mixtures and one that I think would be cool to read more about. Both a creature of life and death—a cool dynamic that hasn’t been touched on. I also like Yoshi and how he is a Japanese creature. The author did a great job of mixing a few different creature myths from different parts of the world.

All in all, if you like Percy Jackson or Harry Potter or Rosario+Vampire, I think you will like this series! The story is a little on the shorter side, but to me that is nice as it is a relaxing read.

I really enjoyed this book, although i dont believe the title does it justice. still not sure how it plays in exactly. really interesting story that weaves together all the different creatures and gives them such personalities. I really fell in love with some of the characters (Elvy is my favorite although Kara is really raising in the ranks). I hope to be able to read the rest of the series when it comes out.

This was really good for such an underrated book and I was really invested overall in the story. It was slow at times but overall a good read

Join or Die focuses on Alex Ayers’ life and the unexpected news he gets on a seemingly ordinary afternoon after school. He finds out that he is a Creature thanks to his father’s dragon blood. However, he does not know what kind of Creature he is yet and for this reason, he is whisked off to a private academy for Creatures. In this new world, he makes friends with some very odd Creatures and has some very weird adventures. He also learns that he is a lot more important than he thought in the world of Creatures. He is being groomed to be the next Scion, the leader of all the Creatures. However, his notoriety makes him a target for renegade Creatures who are fed up of being controlled and he finds himself wondering if he would actually live to be the next Scion.

Alex was the perfect main character. He loved his friends and they, in return, were extremely loyal. I loved the fact that even though he was far away from his original best friend, Carlos, he made sure and spoke to him nearly everyday. I liked his other friends as well, but I was fascinated by Mano the most. He was also a half-breed like Alex and nobody was sure what he really was. However, judging from his actions, he seemed to really care for Alex and I hope he joins his ciorcal (mini-army).

The plot was really interesting. I found myself sneaking peeks at work to see what next Alex was doing.

What I liked in particular was the fact that the author did not just include the normal Creatures. There was a wide variety. There were vampires, elves, succubi, Valkyrie, shifters and even a Wendigo. There were mythological beings from Japanese culture and Polynesian culture. I hope to see more in the following books.

My only issue was that there were quite a few grammatical and spelling errors. I felt like another round of proofreading would have corrected most, if not all, of these very simple errors.

I am hopeful that the author publishes the other book in this series soon. This is a series I definitely want to continue reading.

Suitable audience: This is a book I would definitely recommend to teenagers who enjoy fantasy and mythology. Adults would also enjoy this series.

Recurrent themes: Magic. Monsters. Creatures. Mythology. Loyalty. Friendship.

Violence: Some violent incidents. However, the author does not describe them in detail
Sexual Content: None
Profanity: Some obscene language but not too much.
Religious Themes: None
Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: None

I was really interested in the plot of this book. Unfortunately, the execution just wasn't for me. I thought it was boring and I didn't care about any of the characters.