Here’s a little more about our partner: Join NOVL Nation for YA exclusive sneak peeks, monthly book box giveaways, the NOVLtea talk show, and access to FREE advance copies! Brought to you by @LittleBrownYR and home to Twilight, Kingdom of the Wicked, The Inheritance Games, Folk of the Air, and your other favorite book boyfriends, @thenovl is a community of YA fans who like their worlds fantastic, their points of view diverse, and their love triangles spicy. Simply fill out the form and subscribe to The NOVL for your chance to win! Like the rest of the Nintendo-loving world, right now, I’m playing Animal Crossing, relishing in the new update and expansion pack. In update 2.0, you can travel to new islands, make new furniture, and visit the new coffee shop, where I finally got to catch up with my first-ever Animal Crossing friend, Rover. The expansion Happy Home Designer: Island Paradise takes the cake for me. There’s a slew of new villagers to meet, who are each looking for you to design their new vacation homes. So far, I’ve designed a home with “rocks only please” decor and a home for a fruit-obsessed squirrel. Garth Nix’s latest novel follows Sabriel’s parents as they meet and fall in love. We learn more about the mysterious Abhorsen who we met in Sabriel’s story, and discover her father had a full and complete life before Sabriel even entered the picture. Tercial inherits the office of Abhorsen, a position that is tasked with helping the kingdom defend itself from necromancers, which means the Abhorsen often find themselves fighting slews of different kinds of zombie-like creatures. Billie Fulford-Brown performs Terciel and Elinor, creating the perfect sinister feel to a book filled with the undead. Being the super nerd I am, I actually found that another player in Animal Crossing designed entire outfits, walkways, and diamonds of protection used in the Old Kingdom that you can use to decorate your island. Naturally, I spent the next several days in a robe like Tercial and Sabriel, running from villager to villager and completing various quests. I am happy to report no undead walked the shores of my island or attacked Tom Nook during my patrol. You Had Me at Hola focuses on Jasmine, a soap opera star who’s finally been given her big break and cast as the lead in a new TV series. When she meets Ashton, her new co-star, he ends up accidentally pouring coffee all over her white, apparently very see-through-when-wet blouse. You can see where this is going from here. A Lot Like Adiós follows Jasmine’s cousin Michelle, who’s reconnecting with her childhood best friend Gabe, who she had been very much in love with. But their friendship had ended terribly, making her doubt her ability to work things out with him. They end up working together, and, once again, they radiate chemistry. Seraphine Valentine performs both audiobooks, perfectly capturing the drama and romance that fills each of the stories. While Animal Crossing contains zero romance (unless you count two llamas that are so in love, they make you take their wedding photos again every June), I still felt inspired to assess my friendships on my island. A large part of Animal Crossing gameplay involves choosing and inviting animals to live on your island with you. But after that, you need to get to know them, and you don’t always get along. So I made the hard decision and asked a bear named Stitches to please leave. He took it well, but he still sadly packed up his belongings, cleaned his house, and wished the island goodbye. I adore the new Animal Crossing update, and couldn’t have been happier listening to these fun, escapist sort of stories while I played. Now I have a brand new garden and some new villagers. I’m ready for whatever this wild game and my ever-exciting audiobook life has in store for me next.
