Seventeen year old MJ (Macca, Mackenzie Jane) Olsen-Wang is a bit of an overachiever. She is in her last year of school and is also taking some university courses to help her get into a top medical program. She is studious, organised, focused…and totally clueless as far as reading people and subtle social clues are concerned. She fancies Jason, a fellow brainiac and her project partner, but she doesn’t really know how to go about it apart from being super prepared on her science article notes.

Lovestruck is a fast and enjoyable read, especially if you are a fan of both light-hearted romance and Greek mythology.

Sixteen-year-old Kalixta is a reluctant cupid in training. Up until fairly recently, she was very passionate about matchmaking, which is only to be expected since her parents are Eros and Psyche, who have one of the most famous and touching love stories in history. Then, there came the Thunderclap- the moment when Kali realized everything is predetermined by Fates, including love. Kali accidentally gets struck by one of her own arrows and immediately falls in love with a mortal boy, an aspiring rock star Benicio.

She rebels against the whole concept of not being able to give love freely and decides to go to the Oracle to find out how she can reclaim her heart and become a master of her own destiny.

I must admit, I was first attracted to the book by its beautiful cover which fits the story really well- fun, cute, romantic. Then, I saw that there is solid world-building. It is obvious that the author spent a lot of time trying to bring the classic mythological pantheon into this contemporary YA setting. The book has it all: parent- children relationships, sibling jealousy, and, above all, the main issue of how free we are to fall and stay in love.


Kali is a typical teenager, sweet, loyal to her friends and her family, sometimes superficial, sometimes selfish, essentially kind-hearted. She is also blessed with great friends: Deya, Teresa, Cosmo, and, of course, Hector. I can only hope that after having created these characters the author is going to write a sequel focussing on their stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and North Star Editions /Flux for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

A fascinating guide into survival techniques should you get lost or marooned in some of the harshest environments on the Earth: the Sahara desert, the Rocky mountains, the Amazon, a Polar wilderness, Australian outback and the Pacific ocean. You learn about the dangers specific to each place, animals, plants (both edible and those to avoid), the weather- the book is packed with information and facts presented in small memorable chunks. I loved the selection of beautiful photos that bring the text alive.

Did you know that should you get stranded in a desert you should try to light three fires in a triangular pattern 9-18m apart? this is an internationally recognized distress signal.
How fluent are you in the cloud speak? Do you know the differnce between cirrus and nimbostratus? one brings fair weather, while the other one is a harbinger of heavy storms.

A great present for somebody with an adventurous spirit who would love to learn how to be ready for every imaginable situation but never have to use these tips in real life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.