loved the use of the monster academy, the story was super well done and the characters were well done. It was a great start to a series.

Not gonna sugarcoat it for you, folks: this might be one of the worst books I've ever read.

The writing was bad. It was underdeveloped and could have used several more edits. We jumped through chunks of time without warning and the only thing to help you understand that time passed was when someone said something along the lines of "that was months ago," when really, it was a couple of pages ago.

The sexual scenes were really cringey. I thought it couldn't get worse when I laughed out loud because one girl started turning into a werewolf as they hooked up, but no no no, it definitely got worse when Nat was almost raped.

It was difficult to remember who was who because there were a lot of names without much of a background story, nothing seemed to make sense, nothing tied together, and I have rarely been so confused about what the hell is even happening as I have physically read a book from start to finish.

I was granted complimentary access to Strange Thigns Await via NetGalley after featuring this title during a blog tour with Bewitching Book Tours. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

I had the pleasure of asking Jamila a question and having her spin that into a guest post for my blog, and it was all about giving Black voices a space in publishing. That's great! I'm so excited for Jamila's future as an author, for her company's future, and for all the authors who will be lifted up. This is why I'm so sad to say Strange Things Await didn't do it for me. I'd definitely like to give her work another chance in the future, but this one? Strange is an apt choice of words.

The POV shifts felt random and unclear, to the point that I really wasn't sure who's head I was in half the time. I;m not sure if that means the POV characters are too similar in key ways or if the transitions needed to be written differently. The plot also jumps around a lot. This feels more like a season of a TV show with short episodes that vaguely achieve an overarching storyline throughout the season than one novel presented as a single story.

The premise of this book made me really excited to read it. The prologue sucked me in but the first few chapters were kind of boring. I didn't really enjoy the characters and they fell a little flat for me throughout the whole book. The bullying was juvenile and none of the teachers at the school really did anything which was annoying because they just kind of faded into the background and occasionally popped up if they were in a class. The romance in the book was also annoying because the main character Nat had four different love interests throughout the book. It just seemed very unrealistic and juvenile since she was convinced she was in love with all of them and there was cheating involved.

1.5 Stars

The book starts of attempting to be mysterious, but it just came off extremely annoying to me. With a lot of “he had been found, “he died”, and what happened to “him”.
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The 𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁 of “Strange Things Await” is basically non-existent. At 44% of the book I still felt like nothing had happened. Definitely nothing exciting, or anything to draw me into the book.
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The 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱-𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 is unconvincing and severely lacking. I’m still not entirely sure what kind of world setting this is.
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The 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 in this story are in my opinion not introduced very well. I had a hard time remembering who was who. And I didn’t feel any attachment to any of the characters. They were all very superficial introductions and quick switches from character to character.
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Unfortunately the 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 was subpar as well. A few of the things I noticed that drove me crazy were redundancies, punctuation errors, and random jumps in thought processes:
“But they never showed themselves out in the open a lot” was it never or not a lot?!?
“It took one more disappointing look at Brenda and a disappointed one at Nora” either use two different adjectives or say a disappointing look at Brenda and Nora.
“Russel slowly bore his fangs immediately, showing off his glowing claws” was it slowly or immediately?
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I regret that I didn’t enjoy this book more. I did want to DNF it multiple times, but pushed through. While this book wasn’t for me, book reviews are highly subjective and I recommend finding out for yourself if this book is different for you!
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Thank you #netgalley and Black Glory Publishing House for providing me with a digital ARC copy!

I received a copy of this for review from the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions are my own

The premise of this book was intriguing, but this book just wasn't for me. I think it may have been a little too YA? I DNFd at 20% but will try and explain why.
The writing, for me, was quite juvenile and the characters (the main character in particular) felt inconsistent or not "fleshed out" enough. At first, I was into it, I thought the character was someone I could get behind and cheer on. She had gone through a traumatic experience and then had terror stare her in the face. Her mum also seemed like she was only trying to do whatever she thought was best, even though she was away at work a lot. I was pro her mum.

The prologue hooked me in. Especially with the following:
"Nat paused and peeled her ears to the troubling sound of what she could only assume were footsteps. "Don't look back! Don't look back!" she warned herself while gulping down a full load of saliva and began intensifying her walk toward the brighter section of the street ahead......The night suddenly felt less comfortable to be out in."
I even highlighted it because every single woman knows exactly what this is like and it made me emotionally invested. Protective even. I was ready to hunker down and really get into this book, but then it confused me and frustrated me.

Initially, I got thrown whenever Nat's thoughts were in speech brackets even though it was a thought. It's a 'me thing' but I felt reading would've flowed better if there was a difference between speaking and thought speak.

Even though she was new to the school she knew people there. I know she is Mayor's daughter, but some background would've been great. There was a lot of telling and not enough showing in cases like this.

Hamilton is a psycho sociopath and super rapey. Full on from the get-go, with no apparent drive being it other than just because he could. Did not like at ALL.

Nat going to the party in ch 3 also felt out of place from the way her character was built up till that point. At the start, she wondered "how she would successfully navigate the entire semester without any hassle or unwanted attention". She did almost everything to be invisible but then rocked up to a rave by herself as a new kid, knowing Hamilton the psycho, who had already tried to attack her, was going to be there???

Chapter three and (said to new girl by cute protective vampire guy) "there is no way in hell I'm letting you get hurt"... Seemed a bit insta lovey to me. Why her out of all the other people and non-vampires at the party. We just read Hamilton nearly kill some minor and he didn't stop them from being hurt...

There was excessive use of the word 'immediately'. This is a 'me thing' but it frustrated me so much.

It had all the makings and tropes of a typical academy vampire book which isn't a bad thing, although I did think it would be more witchy than the beginning gives us. . But the writing and characters needed a bit more work for me. I couldn't even read through to see how Sheila played a part and who the killer was.

With another draft and editor to go over this, the story could be amazing.

I would still read another work by this author as the ideas are there. Unfortunately for me it just wasn't quite there yet.

ARC from NetGalley

DNF @ 3% so I'm not going to rate it. (NetGalley makes you rate, so I default to 3 stars, but what I have read thus far is not a 3 star read)

I can't. This book is really not very well-written. Everything is told. The dialogue is clunky. We have multiple exclamation points and even the dreaded interrobang. It desperately needs an edit (ARC, so fair enough), and it reads like... well like someone not an adult wrote it.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Hogwarts meets Degrassi High, in this twisty tale. Exciting and pulse shattering from the very beginning. The first in a series will leave you panting for more. I wonder which friend you'll love and which one you'll hate. Nat the good girl or Alex, the seemingly ring leader of the bad witcher's club. Happy reading.

DNF 49%

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me a free online copy for an honest review.

I tried guys, I really tried. This book started okay, a slight mystery in the first few chapters, and then the protagonist going into a high school full of magical people. Usually a set up that I enjoy immensely. However, it became very quickly apparent that there wasn't any clear idea of what the plot was, despite the opening. There wasn't any more focus on it aside from getting teased and stared at while at school.

The writing style was quite juvenile, and could use several more drafts as there were a lot of typos and grammatical errors, as well as words being used incorrectly.

What really got me is when the sexual scenes started. Now, I'm not a fan of graphic scenes to begin with, but I am able to overlook them for the sake of a fair review. Usually. What makes this situation different is that, like I've mentioned earlier, they were in high school. And not even about to graduate, these characters were like 14-15, which when paired with the description of those scenes... disgusting. I really couldn't overlook that. I was really confused at this point, wondering who the intended audience was. The storyline points are clearly meant to be more adult, but both the writing, setting (and minor conflicts too if we are being honest) all read incredibly young.

I should have went with my gut and stopped at like 25% (before encountering the underage sex scenes) but I really hoped the plot could turn around at some point and offer something redeemable, however at this point I need to cut my losses and save myself from skimming the last 200 pages and still hating it.

So, pick this up with a grain of salt. If the story isn't working for you past Chapter 5, it won't start working for you at all. And once again thank you for the opportunity to try out this story, unfortunately it did not deliver.

DNF at 16%

This book had real potential, it had a great synopsis and a good prologue. But after the prologue I just struggled so much to read it. Once I got to chapter 5 I just couldn’t do it anymore, I was afraid this book was going to put me in a reading slump and I was just going to be wasting my time

The writing was really good not, I’m surprised the editor didn’t pick more up. I was so confused at times as to what was happening and also cringing at nearly every second with what the characters were saying and doing. In the chapters that I read everything was feeling so rushed and no character development

It’s a real shame that this book was such a let down

I absolutely loved the premise which is why I requested this one in the first place.
Unfortunately, it did not deliver on my expectations and the quirkiness and weirdness was too much for me to enjoy as it just ended up being confusing and leaving me with a big question mark.

This book was strange for sure, but unfortunately not in the best way. I felt like the story jumped around a lot and there wasn't anything to let you know the book was switching point of view. There was an excess of drama that wasn't necessary and it felt like the author was trying to cram in as much as they could.

The main character is Nat, a fifteen year old witch starting at the magical Virtus Academy. The school is supposed to help train the kids in their various abilities, but instead they terrorize each other and the staff mostly fades into the background. I wish the school had been more strict and enforced some kind of order instead of letting the powerful kids hurt the weaker.

I thought it was unrealistic that Nat kept jumping into relationships and saying she loved people after a week or two. Her relationship with the teacher was especially skeevy and I was disappointed in her choices there. Nat was not a good judge of character and needed someone older to help guide her.

I did like the friend group of different supernaturals. Some of the kids could see the future and there a phoenix which was cool. I wish the plot had focused more on the friendships and cut out a lot of the unnecessary side plots.

This did wrap things up at the end and I'm happy because I would not read a sequel. I think this had potential to be good, but it needs a rewrite to clean up the plot and make Nat a more likeable character. Also, four romances for the main character seems excessive and the cheating really turned me off.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. I have voluntarily chosen to leave a review.

This book pulled me in with it's amazing prologue. I kept wanting to know what happens next with our main character. While the book was fun to read, it is only for those who like the tried and tested formula where we always know what happens next

I really wanted to like this book and tried my best to get through it, but I couldn't get past the way it was poorly written and how childish and outlandish the dialogue seemed. It has a great premise, an interesting start, and I love the hell out of diverse queer books, but this just fell flat for me too much.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Strange Things Await definitely held up to it's name. In the beginning, the prologue definitely sucked me in. Yet, after the first few chapters I grew bored pretty quickly with the characters and the upcoming drama. In some ways, it just seemed so juvenile to me and all I wanted to do was roll my eyes at things that were being said or done.

I still kept with the book though because of the prologue. I wanted to know more about Natalie as well. After meeting her and knowing that something tragic and unexpected happened to her family.. I just wanted to know more about her. Little did I know, that I was going to see her get romantically involved with so many people - whether it was fake or not. Then the whole drama about certain things just annoyed me as well.

Her magic was pretty interesting though but that's basically it for me. I wanted to know the main character so badly and ended up thinking she was okay but nothing spectacular or special for me. Just an ordinary witch with powers that she doesn't fully understand yet. Also the villains in this were pretty obviously from the get go. So with the ending, I wasn't really surprised by what went down.

All I can say is that I dove into this book and I made it out alive.

I wanted so badly to love this book. It had all the things I love in it. Unfortunately I couldn't get into it.

Events happen so quickly that I didn't have the time to get attached to and understand the characters. It was just violence suddenly.

The worldbuilding was another area I had an issue with. In the beginning of the book it was handled clumsily on the page and wasn't explained well. It was just sort of there.

The biggest issue was the writing itself. It was the biggest barrier to getting into the book because the writing just wasn't that great. There were sentences that were too long that used the same word three or four times. A lot of clunky writing that made it impossible to slog through the book.

I hope the next book by this author is better but I'm not sure I'll ever check it out.

**Thank You Netgalley For the eARC for the book in Exchange for my honest opinion**

The Story Center’s Around Natalie and Alexandra. Both Were inseparable Best friends Joined at the hip After a Falling Out Leads them to be in bad terms with each other and now they are enemies.

Both Are in their sophomore year at the Virtus Academy a school for the Supernatural From vampires, to witches, werewolves and werecats, the freakishly powerful youngsters Have to Navigate school and relationships between natural enemies species, and trying to figure out how to navigate the average world.

Things change as a monster murders Students and the likely next victims are Natalie and Alexandra, and there are rumors of malicious hearsay going around the school. Having figure they are strength in numbers they have to figure out if they are willing to unite. I like the idea of a twist in enemies to lovers trope, I don't really like Idea of a book starting with enemies and have change without any type of story but I loved how Jamila Stone did her own take of and it was executed perfectly.

Things a liked about the characters were that they were really genuine to the the word “teen” in many YA or Book the characters are Matured beyond their years to help the plot developed and its a very good tool to convey certain messages but i enjoyed the way the characters in the book stay true to the type of characters they portray to be. There was many unforgettable characters from Olivia, Ella and Leslie All who are Very empowering characters as some of the heroines in the book.

Definitely Give the Book a 4/5 Such a good read.

Strange Things Await centers around two witches, Natalie King and Alexandra Aurelius. Natalie and Alexandra are both in their sophomore year at the Virtus Academy, a boarding school for the supernatural. The Virtus Academy houses all sorts of supernatural creatures. Natalie and Alexandra were friends, but after a falling out they are on bad terms. When the school is plagued by the mysterious murders of several students, will Natalie and Alexandra be able to work out their issues to find safety in numbers?

I loved this story. The characters were very relatable for me, it was interesting to see Natalie and Alexandra navigate through their classes but also with their falling out.
The story building was good, I enjoyed reading about the Virtus Academy.
The plot was also enjoyable, with a monster on the loose. It feels like the stakes are raised at some point (you will know what I mean once you read it).

An interesting enough read. With nice character development.
The story flows nicely. Nat and Alex are great characters.
I don't know what else to say about this. Other then I didn't like it as much as some other people have. And I probably won't continue with the series. It was a nice read but it didn't make me feel anyway or leave me with any lasting memories. Or make me want more.

The book opens and leaves no chance for connection to the main character before stumbling on death and suffering. It takes you as a reader out of the story and makes it harder to be interested in any character development when nothing is presented past a grisly murder in the first few pages.