Pages

Friday, June 3, 2016

Review and Giveaway: The Long Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes


The Long Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble The Book Depository
Series: #2 in the The Fixer series
Release date: June 7th, 2016
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Length: 368 pages
Source: ARC from the publisher
Rating:  *sucker punch gasp* *PROLONGED SOBSCREAM*



Tess Kendrick, teen fixer extraordinaire, returns in a pulse-pounding thriller about a deadly conspiracy at the heart of Washington.

For Tess Kendrick, a junior at the elite Hardwicke School in Washington D.C., fixing runs in the family. But Tess has another legacy, too, one that involves power and the making of political dynasties. When Tess is asked to run a classmate's campaign for student council, she agrees. But when the candidates are children of politicians, even a high school election can involve life-shattering secrets.

Meanwhile, Tess's guardian has also taken on an impossible case, as a terrorist attack calls into doubt who can--and cannot--be trusted on Capitol Hill. Tess knows better than most that power is currency in D.C., but she's about to discover first-hand that power always comes with a price.

Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben and Ally Carter, the second book in this thrilling series will leave readers breathless.


Fun bonus: today's visual entertainment will be provided by screenshots of my reading liveblog to Lizzy and Shae, aka the evil people who told me to read this book and then laughed at me while I sobbed over it. Spoilers redacted.



Ho. Ly. Shit.


So this book...well, it's kind of a HUGE JERK, but in sort of the best way? It's hard to describe. I will be minimal on the spoilers for book one and will say absolutely NOTHING about the plot of book 2 in this review, because honestly, the best part of The Long Game is the way JLB...well...plays the long game. It's one of the most classic, high octane, truly RIPPING YA thrillers I've ever read.



Not a single punch is pulled, and not a single line of tension is let go. Everything is tightened as the plot notches up, and up, and up, and just when you think the most ADJKHFSDLS thing possible has happened, the plot explodes. And then it explodes again. And then it inches you in the FACE. And then it grabs your soul and rips it out of your chest and then runs away with it and you're like DUDE, I WAS USING THAT, but the book doesn't care, because Washington, DC is burning.



Wow. I bet you all really want to read this now, don't you?



Anyway, the gist: Tess Kendrick, who is smarter and cooler than you will ever be, is a student at an elite DC prep school. She has a COMPLICATED FAMILY, to say the least, but Tess is focused and grim and smart and cannot let a problem go past without wanting to solve it. That's how she became her high school's "fixer", because she gets shit DONE. Also she has a team of awesome friends, some of which are cute boys, which...well. YAY FOR CUTE BOYS. I love that whole pack of nerds. Squad goals, except this squad could legit ruin your life. They go toe to toe with DC big shots and WIN.



Basically, if you thought The Fixer was intense, The Long Game is Simba in the Shadowlands, laughing in the face of danger. The stakes are magnified on a political level AND a personal level. Because it's not just, like, the fate of the nation that's up in the air...oh no. JLB is going for our hearts. I swear to you, I have not known such exquisite agony in quite a long time. LIKE I WAS JUST REALLY STRESSED OUT THE WHOLE TIME I HAVE ULCERS



As a thriller, this book is obviously going to be a twisty turny plot-twisty menace, but like...you are not prepared. You're not. You're just not.



This book is a lot less Fixer-y than the first book and blossoms into a full blown political thriller. (If you automatically yawn at the sight of the word "political", I assure you there is nothing snooze-inducing about it. Scream-inducing, yes. Will it make you nauseated with nerves? Absolutely. Will you bite off all you fingernails and cry because you're so worried about all your precious smol children, as the youths of today would say? Good chance.)



I honestly don't know how to review this book. Every time I think about it I moan and clutch my chest and let out faint little whimper sounds, and then I think that I will go FULL TESS KENDRICK on the world if they do not get me a book three. Because you guys. You guyssss. Ship stuff. Squad stuff. SO MANY REASONS I NEED A BOOK THREE. I AM RUINED.



So ends a very professional, coherent review. Please just read this series so I don't have to coolly threaten anyone, like a Kendrick? I am really not that bad ass.



And now the fun part: the GIVEAWAY! This is international (provided The Book Depository ships to your location) so have at it, gents. Also if you haven't read The Fixer yet and want to win a copy of that instead, that's totally fine.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

9 comments:

  1. Yay, I'm so glad for this giveaway! I read the fixer and really enjoyed it. I also read the Naturals series by Jennifer (which I really liked), and I recently hosted a giveaway on my blog of All In (book 3 of the naturals series).
    I actually love plot twists... (:

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is so incredibly accurate. Only I was on a plane. Casually crying next to strangers. Like a totally normal person.

    THIS BOOK IS CRUEL AND HOW DID SHE AND GIVE ME BOOK THREE IMMEDIATELY SO I CAN CHECK ON MY PRECIOUS BABIES.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I looooved The Fixer, it was such an amazing unexpected surprise. and seeing your flails (and everyone else's flails over the ARCs out in the wild) has me even more excited. I mostly skipped your review because I'm afraid but plan to revisit this after I've read it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this review so much! Obviously I must read this series ASAP now!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes! This review is epic. I mean how could you not want to read it with that crazy play by play while reading it??

    ReplyDelete
  6. Absolutely loved The Fixer, and have been waiting so anxiously for the sequel! If only it weren't going to leave me hanging … But of course I'm reading it as soon as I get my hands on it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I haven't read The Fixer, or really very many thrillers at all, but this review has me so interested with the cute boys, the tension throughout and I think most appealing thing to me is that there are twists that you can't see coming, it's just never as fun when I figure out what's going to happen before it happens.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm in the middle of The Fixer right now and OMG THINGS ARE HAPPENING! I can already tell by how capslocky your reaction is to the sequel that I need to read faster!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm in the middle of The Fixer right now and OMG THINGS ARE HAPPENING! I can already tell by how capslocky your reaction is to the sequel that I need to read faster!!

    ReplyDelete

Note: comments on posts older than 90 days are automatically moderated, so they won't show up here immediately. Thanks for commenting! :)