The Stranded by Sarah Daniels
This book is so complex but also a wild ride. I didn’t think it would be possible to have such a layered society within the confines of a cruise ship, but Sarah Daniels create an incredibly detailed world with class divisions, gangs and hierarchies all based on ship levels, ticket holders (or not) and some misplaced ideas about loyalty or disloyalty. It was such an interesting world to read about and completely unlike any dystopian society I’ve encountered before.

This book really starts off with a bang (although not quite literally). In the very first chapter we see Esther (one of our protagonists) getting caught up in a leaflet drop (which is illegal), and these leaflets tell of how another cruise ship has been destroyed further up the coast. The first glimpse we get of Esther is her panic at her being found by the Coalies (the police force) in this scene of rebellion and the fear that she might lose her place as a medical cadet, her only chance to one day get ashore and off the ship The Arcadia. Esther, at first, is quite an insipid character. She’s a rule-follower, a stickler for protocol and the kind of character that you know would just snitch on anybody. You see this when she actually abandons a poor girl to the Coalies to save her own skin at the leaflet drop. I really didn’t like her character at first, but as the story progressed, she became one of my favourite characters in the book. She is driven and sometimes impulsive, and the way her storyline develops is really intriguing.

Our other protagonist, Nik, is seemingly at first your typical bad boy, but later on proves to not necessarily be that. I wasn’t sure about Nik at the beginning, he comes across quite immature and selfish which kind of put me off him at first. He’s an upper decker, with the privilege of that. But his father had ties to the Neaths (a below deck gang) and he’s involved in the rebellion. His connections make him complicated, but his character wasn’t that complex to me, at least not until the story started to pick up. He really is defined by his relationships to other characters and it isn’t until he has to break away from them and choose his own path that he really becomes his own person.

The thread that ties these two characters together is Esther’s sister May. I won’t say much about May as it would give away too much of the story, but she joins Nik and Esther together in a way that they cannot break.

The real shining thing about this novel is the story itself. This is very much a mixture between a character and a plot driven novel. The first half is about the characters, about their place in society and how they react to different situations. But, under the surface of the first half bubbles the plot that bursts into the forefront in the second half of the book. This is a twisty tale of gangs, rebellion and spies all mixed up together. Hadley (the third POV character in this book) is an interesting enigma that brings the characters, plot and explosive moments in this book together until they collide in spectacular fashion. It’s a really fast-paced read.

This is such a fun idea! I had a lot of fun seeing everyone’s Bingo boards and Get To Know Me’s. I love that new stickers were included for the reading journal. The instructions for downloading were really clear and I love that we can get another badge!

Thanks for taking the time to put this together for us!

I've shared the link to my Instagram review of Love, Just In, which was my first NetGalley review of the year and my first 5 star read of the year.

I enjoyed this Camp NetGalley packet but joined too late to take place in many of the activities. Still, it was a cute idea and I look forward to participating next year.

I like a good challenge, so Camp NetGalley was appealing to me.
I do tend to participate more when you can log information/achievements online, so the printable form was not as exciting.
I also like the idea of the talent show being a book review.

So fun! I hope that NG does this every year -- it's always a great year to celebrate books!
Summer is the best time for reading for me as I'm an educator and it "fuels" me for the busy fall.
Thanks, Net Galley, for doing this!
Beth's Book-Nook Blog

This was a fun way to engage with NetGalley and I look forward to more challenges to participate in.

This was such a wonderful and fun idea! The illustrations are super cute and I loved how easy it was set out and my favourite part was the literary bingo!
Next year, we should come up with a ‘summer drink recipe’ that we could add - thoughts?

This was such a good idea. I really wish I had found it sooner so that I could have joined in. The booklet itself was well put together with clear and precise instructions, lovely eye catching graphics and the activities sounded like a blast. I wish all those who attended the talent show luck and that you all have had fun this summer.

What a fun summer reading activity! I enjoyed all the graphics included in this pack. I can’t wait to use them for summer reading fun. Thank you!!

CAMP NETGALLEY WELCOME PACKET BY WE ARE BOOKISH
#CampNetGalley

Super cute and fun!

From Bingo to Scavenger Hunt !

I really enjoyed this first trip To Camp NetGalley.

I participated on Facebook and did the about member stuff on the blog.

i would share on GoodReads but I don't see a link

The Welcome Packet was cute and fun.

The bingo motivated me to read more and I will keep going even after camp ends.

I do wish there would have been a way for NetGalley readers/reviewers/members etc to interact more.

I watched all the youtube videos and looked at Instagram.

Since I am not tech savy in the least, I wasn't able to fully participate but that's on me, not the Camp NetGalley packet.

If it comes around next year I will gladly join in again, what I was able to do was fun.


here is my talent show/review entry for a book I reviewed awhile ago, really great book.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125737316-the-art-of-falling-in-love-with-you?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=gwZnBTFcY2&rank=2

Member Review
Cover Image: The Art of Falling in Love with You
The Art of Falling in Love with You
by A. A. Jaeon
Pub Date: May 18 2023
Review by
lisa m, Reviewer
Last updated on May 23 2023
The Art of Falling in Love with You by A. A. Jaeon

#Netgalley #TheArtOfFallingInLoveWithYou

-caught in a love triangle!

Get ready for a sweet romance with some heavier topics and a love triangle with NO cheating!


We meet Lydia (Lia) Zhang in her mid twenties, who has a great life with a best friend roomate, Isabel (Isa), an art studio, teaching art classes a few times a week, and a great boyfriend, Reed, of three years.

I anticipated a light sweet story, a fluffy fun romance, but got way more than that. I thoroughly enjoyed every word.

Lia meets Connor Li who is a chef, neighbor, and teaches kids how to cook.

I liked how the characters were so well written and realistic. I liked the Asian culture. When Lia struggled with her feelings and decision making, I felt it. I really liked the open communication and honesty in this book a very strong point here.

Reed was realistic as well and I felt for both him and Lia when they brought up their parental/childhood issues.

Connor Li was just...............sweet, kind, caring, a gentleman, loveable, a cinnamon roll type of guy. Loved him.

I was totally along for the whole ride, the whole triangle, the romance.

I inhaled the story in one day and reread it the next.

I appreciated the fact that there was no cheating.

I will not spoil if she chose one or the other, or none. Y'all NEED to read this book!

I urge all readers who like stories with friendship and love, respect, love triangles and a feel good happy ending.

I must mention the cover, simply beautiful!!

Highly recommended 4 1/2*** rounded up to 5***

Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher (even though I didn't get it from there but pre ordered from amazon), for the e arc in exchange for my honest review.

posted to Netgalley, Wordpress and Amazon. com
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I think Camp NetGalley is such a fun idea to increase reading habits. I really loved the bingo board. I think more templates for social media like that will help not only get the word out, but also help with a sense of community. Templates for book reviews or favorite camp reads would be really fun.

I absolutely loved the idea of Camp NetGalley! It has been so wonderful to see everyone's posts and interactions.

I would've loved to get involved more but, as a teacher, July is just so super busy that I haven't had much chance to participate!

My list on netgalley just seems to be getting longer every month so I was happy to have a little challenge that would prompt me to read more from this list, I think it would have been great to have things like - book on netgalley the longest, new author to me, debut author, book with a specific coloured cover etc as this would have pushed me to read some that have been left unread for a while.

I also think I’d have benefitted more if I did more of the social media challenges as I think I missed a lot of these with being busy with other things

A great challenge though and please do more like this in the future!! A Christmas market inspired one for all the Christmas reads would be amazing!!!

This was a cute summer reading packet. I liked the bingo board, and think that it caters well to people who are constantly reading from NetGalley specifically. I didn't really participate in the scavenger hunt because I wasn't super focused on NetGalley's social media, but it also seemed to have NetGalley oriented, summer activities that suited the camp theme. I was mostly waiting for the toolkit to come out and was not disappointed with that at all.

This was my very first Camp Netgalley, and even though I didn't keep track of my bingo card in the first week, I did enjoy utilizing the stickers and journal as I went! I think this is such a fun community idea to get everyone reading and sharing but I found myself forgetting more often than not. I'm not sure if there is a way to send reminders to those who downloaded Camp Netgalley, or even within the packet, offering a way to opt into a notification system to post or mark your cards at the end of the day. I know there are multiple posts on Instagram being made, but I wonder if there are other ways to connect, especially for those who are trying to limit their social media time.

Thank you so much for putting this together for us. We appreciate everything you do for both authors and reviewers.

Love the idea of a summer reading style activity. Cannot wait to add this summer's galley reviews. Been reading a lot and trying to improve my score. Recommend!

I love this idea & camp theme and cannot wait to see what other events NetGalley has in the future!!

This was a cute summer reading packet. I liked the bingo board, and think that it caters well to people who are constantly reading from NetGalley specifically. I didn't really participate in the scavenger hunt because I wasn't super focused on NetGalley's social media, but it also seemed to have NetGalley oriented, summer activities that suited the camp theme. I was mostly waiting for the toolkit to come out and was not disappointed with that at all.

A cute and clever way to engage readers in a different way during the summer. It's clear that a lot of time and effort went into preparing the details of this, from the event calendar with a different task to complete each week to a bingo board aimed to expand reading activities to the opportunity to complete a talent show entry as a culmination of the experience. I was sadly too busy during this time period to participate, but enjoyed following the entries from participants on social media and hope to engage if it is offered again in the future.

This was a lot of fun and a good way to connect on social media with other reviews! Would love to see more of these events in future.