Book Review: Cruel Elites by Margo Ryerkerk and Holly Hook!

Margo Ryerkerk has been a busy lady! She’s been putting out a lot of books lately, and is still so kindly sending me ARCs to read and review. I already posted my review for the prequel to the Nocturnal Academy series back in March, so here is the review for Book #1, Cruel Elites!

I originally reviewed this book on Goodreads in December 2019. Here’s the blurb for the book:

In a world ruled by vamps, being half fae and magicless sucks.

Surviving the summer term at Nocturna Academy taught me three things.

1. There’s no escape out of the castle.
2. I’ll be trained as a servant to the vampires or worse—a courtesan.
3. I can fight for what I want from the inside out.

In the last few months, I’ve lost my mother, my best friend, and my freedom.

I’ve done unimaginable things, but I’m not broken.

The Placement Tests are coming up, and I will crush them. I refuse to end up as a vampire’s plaything. I’ll become the 1 out of 100 fae who gets to shape her own fate.

I don’t care how hard I have to work or how improbable my chances are.

My relentlessness and desperation will pay off.

Or at least that’s what I thought.

Because between a mysterious vampire guard confusing me, my nemesis circling in on me like a viper, and a new teacher hating my guts, all my efforts seem to only make everything worse.

If I’m not careful, I won’t end up as a courtesan, but as dead meat.

Immerse yourself into a world filled with magic, danger, and romance.

If you love Richelle Mead, Jaymin Eve, and Bella Forrest, you’ll love Nocturna Academy.

Cruel Elites is a fae academy novel and the first book in the Nocturna Academy trilogy. It is highly recommended to read the prequel Wicked Nobles first, which can be found in the Academy of Magic boxed set.

Book two and three of the trilogy will be published in December 2019 and January 2020.

And the cover:

Here’s my review!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! 🙂

Cruel Elites is the first book of Margo Ryerkerk and Holly Hook’s new series, Nocturna Academy. They released a prequel for the series which I recently reviewed! I recommend reading it first, as it does give you an excellent backstory for Onyx, the main character. Anyway, Cruel Elites begins with Onyx debating what the hell she should do with herself, because she accidentally killed a fae prince named Preston. Preston had offered to help her escape Nocturna Academy over the summer, but as it turns out, he was nothing but a giant creep. Onyx only wants to get away from him, but she ends up summoning ice and killing him- despite the fact that she thought she had no magical abilities.

With that being said, Onyx resigns herself to the fact that she is pretty much stuck at Nocturna Academy. As was explained in the prequel, she was sold to the vampires by her mother and forced to attend Nocturna Academy so she could learn how to be a good little slave fae for the vampires. In the prequel, she was all about escaping, but in this book she’s a bit more conflicted. She still wants to escape, but she sometimes feels as though maybe she should just accept her fate and try to impress the vampires so she can get a better job with them.

All the classes Onyx and the other fae are taking are meant as practice for their Placement Tests so they can see what course of study they will take for the remainder of their time at the academy. Only one fae receives Independent Study, which means they can choose their own course of action. Onyx spends the entire time trying to hide her magical powers because she doesn’t want anyone knowing what she can do. No spoilers here, but in the end, Onyx does something that I saw as extremely dumb! She may have thought she was being selfless, but to me it was a little out of character and just made no sense. Let’s hope that her decision plays out well for her in the next book!

I rated Cruel Elites 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads!

P.S. I mentioned this in my prequel review, but in the prequel as well as Cruel Elites, Nocturnal Academy was actually called Nocturnal Academy before the authors changed it- so I didn’t make a type there 😉

Gaming Goodies: March 2020!

Back in March (which, considering the state of the world, seems like a lifetime ago) I got a few super sweet Gaming Goodies that I’ve been wanting to share!

First off, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I had won a drawing for an insulated tote bag from Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp! Normally I have terrible luck with stuff like that and figured there was no way I would win, but I actually did! My bag arrived in early March, and look how cute it is!

It looks just like the little bags in Pocket Camp, complete with the rumpled look of a sack lunch! It’s so cute, I won’t put any actual food or drinks in it, because I don’t want to ruin it!

Next up, a couple PS Vita games:

While out and about going to different stores (which seems like a really novel idea right now), my husband and I stopped at our local GameStop, only to realize it was actually going out of business! As a result, they had all of their stuff on clearance. Surprisingly, they had a few Vita games… so we bought all of them except one, haha! My memory is terrible and I can’t remember the three games he got, but I picked up Code Realize: Wintertide and Lumines: Electronic Symphony. They were 50% off, so we paid about $30 for 5 Vita games. What a great deal!

Next, and probably my most important purchase of March:

ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS! Yay! I was really excited for this game, but I must confess: I was definitely having second thoughts about going out and getting it. I didn’t order it online, because I figured I would just go to Target when it was released because I had the day off of work. However, shit with the coronavirus was really starting to get real, and I had a lot of anxiety about going out! After some serious internal debates, I sucked it up and went to Target, and I’m so glad I did! I went right when they opened and the store was not busy, so I was able to get what I needed and get back home.

Also, as a bonus, I got this awesome little journal!

The journal was actually a pre-order bonus from Target, but when I grabbed the game, I noticed it mentioned that you could get a journal with the game. I asked a worker there and she gladly grabbed one from behind the counter for me- I guess they had some extras from their pre-order, but you had to ask in order to get one 😉

I also picked up this ADORABLE BLOOPER OMG:

So all in all, March was a pretty good month for some gaming goodies!

Thanks for reading!

My Gaming Month in Review: April 2020!

I didn’t get a whole lot of gaming time in the month of April, mostly because I have been too damn exhausted to do anything, even if it’s something fun! Story of my life these days for some stupid reason! Anywho, here’s what I accomplished in April 2020!

Console

Nintendo Wii

I played a little bit of Animal Crossing: City Folk. I didn’t pay off anymore of my loan, but I sold some stuff and made a little more money. Hopefully I’ll be able to make another mortgage payment soon!

Nintendo Switch

Of course I played some Animal Crossing: New Horizons! I still haven’t made a First Impressions post of this game, but I do plan on it. I did a lot in the month of April: participated in a couple events, had a few more residents move in, expanded my house, etc. If I ever get that First Impressions post done, I’ll write more details on my gameplay 😉

I did manage to finish a game this month, believe it or not! I completed my gameplay of Mario Tennis Aces. I’ll write an End Game Thoughts post about it at some point, so stay tuned for more info 😉

Handheld

Nintendo Game Boy

Still plugging away at Pokémon Blue! I explored the Safari Zone, which was a HUGE pain in the ass! Pokémon tend to break out of the Safari Balls and run WAY too easily. I’m not big on luck-based shit! I managed to nab a few new Pokémon anyway, but it wasn’t really that fun. I tweaked my team a bit, and I ended the month by gathering experience while exploring Route 16!

Mobile

iPhone

Of course I played Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp on my phone! The events in April were cute, but a little too pink for my tastes. Anyway, I ended the month at level 174 with 195/198 villagers invited to my camp! I decorated the upstairs of my cabin around Tom Nook this time, so here’s what I came up with:

It was actually harder than I thought to make a theme around him for some reason! I ended up trying to mimic his store, with completely random items up for sale. And instead of working, he’s sleeping behind the cash register. I almost fall asleep at work every day, so I totally understand. 😉