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!

What a great line up! There are samples from some of my favorite authors and others I'll get to know. This is helping me organize (and prioritize) my TBR pile!

Very excited for many of these titles. Especially looking forward to Melissa de la Cruz's and Ari Tison's new books. Excited to see lots of female authors on here I haven't read before.

I’m so addicted to these I’ve even been hunting down the old ones to see if there’s any interesting books I’ve missed!

This was a great mix of reads - really tackling mental and emotional moments in one's life.
Thank you for the samplers of all the great upcoming reads!

The Fierce Reads 2023 sampler is always dangerous to my TBR! I’m really looking forward to Stars and Smoke; I’ve heard fantastic things about it. Amber McBride is one of my favorite writers and I’m very excited to read We Are All So Good At Smiling. I had not previously heard about My Dear Henry, but it is definitely on my TBR now. Promise Boys and The Other Side of Infinity also look great. Thank you so much to Macmillan Children’s Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read the sampler in exchange for honest feedback.

I love samplers because I always discover a book I want to read that I would have never picked up otherwise. This seems to be no different and it looks like we have some real winners here! Several of these fall in to that category and I can’t wait to read the whole thing!

This sampler seems largely to be designed with teen boys of color in mind, and I am HERE for it. While I personally did not resonate with a handful of these, the kind of representation I saw in this collection was heartwarming and I would push for my local libraries to stock them ASAP

Woohoo I love these samplers! It's such a great way to try out these books I've seen around without having to commit fully to them. This is a great selection and I'm especially looking forward to Promise Boys, Stars and Smoke, and An Improbably Season!

I am certainly one to judge a book by its cover and later am terribly disappointed when I don’t finish a book because it isn’t what I expected to be. I don’t like spoilers so I typically avoid looking up what a book is about. A collection of samples is the way to go! After reading the collection of samples, I was glad that I did spend money quickly on books that wouldn’t have held my interest in the first few pages. I was also introduced to authors and genres that I wouldn’t have even given a thought to. And now my tbr pile has grown! This was a great collection of samples and I look forward to seeing more of these!

Samples on Netgalley are the best way of having a taste of what's coming out, I love them!
I'll definitely be checking out:

- WE ARE ALL SO GOOD AT SMILING by Amber McBride
- THE MINUS-ONE CLUB by Kekla Magoon
- THE PLEDGE by Cale Dietrich
- MY DEAR HENRY by Kalynn Bayron
- STARS & SMOKE by Marie Lu

Fierce Reads has an amazing selection of YA books coming up. I'm most excited for The Pledge, Stars & Smoke, Promise Boys, and We are All So Good at Smiling. Looking forward to reading the full versions.

So happy this came out! I have seen a couple of these titles but wasn’t sure if I would like them. I was surprised how much I liked them. My favorites were We Are All So Good At Smiling and Stars and Smoke. Definitely gonna check those out when they release. Thanks for the samples.

There are so many great books coming out and this was the perfect way to sample some of the great titles on the way.

Oh how I look forward to these samplers! They are such an awesome way to get a glimpse and sample of upcoming books. It gives you the opportunity to see if the book is interesting and if you like the writing style. I’ve already added quite a few to my tBR as a result! Several that I likely never would have picked up if it weren’t for the sampler! Thank you Fierce Reads and NetGalley!

Nearly every title in this sampler is intriguing, and my "to read" list just got longer. I had written off several of the books because of their cover or the genre I assumed they would be or just nothing catching my interest. But this is the most intriguing, well-written batch of books in a sampler I've read in a while. It makes me very excited about 2023 and all of the amazing books we are going to get.

I knew I would read The Buried and the Bound, My Dear Henry, and Stars and Smoke. But now my list has grown quite a bit, as I also need to read An Improbable Season, The Other Side of Infinity, Becoming a Queen, and the Minus-One Club. Those all grabbed my interest immediately and now I can't stop wondering what will happen next. I'm on the fence about We are All so Good at Smiling. Novels in verse can be hit or miss for me, but this one seems like it will hit hard and the topic is... close to me.

I love these samplers because they get me excited about books I didn't even know I wanted to read and some I'd forgotten about.

I love reading the chapter samplers every time they come out! It's an easy way to find new books that are coming out to add them to my tbr. After reading this, I am most excited for We are All so Good at Smiling by Amber McBride, The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz and The Other Side of Infinity by Joan F. Smith.

Absolutely Ioved this look into the books listed! I’m so excited to read some of these and can’t wait for their release! This is such a great option for finding more books to add to my to be read list.