Amanda

I’ve long been a fan of Viola Davis’ work and learning her journey to getting where she is now has absolutely changed the way I view her performances. That’s a good thing, btw! Her perspective and willingness to really understand herself and the world around her is highly respectable and inspiring.

I’m not sure I did much blinking in the course of reading this. I couldn’t put it down because I kept wanting to know what happens next. The beginning 15% was a tad dull and I wasn’t sure where we were going with this story. Some bits were predictable. I feel like it was overall believable and frustrating at times. It certainly felt like watching a reality show.

The social media hype over this book got me to stray from my end of year TBR (shocker, I know), and it was time well spent! It seemed appropriately hyped to me and felt plenty adventurous. I found myself really wanting to know what happens next.

The depictions of OCD and anxiety were done decently and added tension to the story. At times I was thinking I could really relate to the anxiety. The world overall is basic for fantasy- basic magic, devils, ghosts, etc. Very simple and easy to wrap my head around. Not a lot of exposition either.

I got Kingdom of the Wicked crossed with Caraval vibes from this book so if you liked one or both of those, this will be a fun read!

It was really interesting to hear about the early years of Alex and Edward van Halen and the beginnings of the band and tells us a lot about people who just wanted to make great music and be creative. Alex reminds us- it was a VERY different time! Alex told us the story in a very straight path, chronological order. Easy to read and understand. There was clearly a lot of focus on family and their connection throughout their years.

I had a lot of fun with this book and think it’s appropriately hyped! Lots happened throughout and things start off quickly. The world is simple and has the classic details you would expect for fantasy where we have dragons, kings, queens, castles, etc. The cadre in this book were extremely likable and had great banter.

The writing felt a tad bit amateur at times, but nothing significant. It was noticeable enough that I kept having “huh?” moments. Enjoyed it either way and looking forward to the next book!

I read this book on audio and will definitely need to go back and read on a physical format. Puzzle examples don’t lend well to audio, however the author did a great job keeping the audio engaging.

I enjoyed the perspective that Jacobs shared. It was highly thought provoking, offering different perspectives of solving puzzles. I tend to gravitate towards puzzles and love working on them so the content matter was engaging for me. It was interesting to hear about puzzles not being just logic based but also requiring creativity and ingenuity!

I really wanted to like this book, but it was quite flat. I would’ve enjoyed it more if the story was just Liam and Cory’s relationship. All this extra bouncing around with his kids felt like an odd way to tell Liam’s story. It didn’t give us enough time to understand Liam and Cory, but their story was the center of it all.

It’s a quick read, so I couldn’t help but finish it. Predictable. I would have liked a little more time with the side characters- Sam, Tommy, Jack. The main characters were just frustrating. Why are they making these same decisions year after year?!

I enjoyed the premise of the story where all these characters, hundreds of years apart, are connected by a single story, written many years ago, nearly lost to time.

The pacing felt very uneven, with about the beginning 40% feeling extremely slow and dragged on. Each character’s stories were unique and but not necessarily interesting. There was a theme of loss of childhood throughout each characters’ backgrounds which makes sense why the interwoven story of a paradise so appealing to each character.

Konstance’s was most interesting to me. What she learned really ties all the story lines together. Omeir & Anna’s stories seemed very isolated from the others and detracted from how each character was linked with the another. Maybe I missed something. 🤷‍♀️

I couldn’t decide whether I liked the book overall. Felt quite average and felt much of it could have been pared down without much impact to the overall story.

This was a very lighthearted and quick read, letting us spend a little more time with Scarlett and Tella. Although it’s very Tella-centric. I thought it was adorable although I would recommend that Tella unread that little book she read (and make sure no one else reads it)! There was some awful advice in there.

The holiday setting kept it magical but didn’t really play a big role in the story. The illustrations were fantastic and set the mood well!

$3CR3T $@NT@ and The Same Backwards as Forward were my favorites in this collection. The rest were good too and I loved getting to know more about the characters! Pacing was great despite all the stories being different. The only thing I found annoying was the first person POV changes not being clear early on but not a big deal.

This was oddly more thought provoking than I anticipated. There were lots of relevant-to-life concepts about knowledge, acquiring it, and using it. The fiction got a little too philosophically real at times. 🤣

The first 50% felt terribly slow. The early setting was simple and easy to understand. Normally, yes, the early exposition in fantasy makes sense, but not so much here. There’s dust and books- not difficult to wrap your head around.

The POV changes right as things are getting interesting in one POV were also jarring. It felt like watching an episode with a cliffhanger at the end- “but wait, there’s more!” That formula works well for visual media but was annoying to read.

Ironically, but very relevant- having a lot of knowledge didn’t seem to do anyone much good. Also, I really want a Mechanism.

Slow, slow start followed by an engaging ending, just like book 1. I’m pretty much just reading the story for Wendell and Shadow at this point so I’m looking forward to the next part of the story in book 3. I only hope the entirety of book 3 will be written more like the ending bit of book 2 than the beginning. Please, no more slow starts. 🥲

This was an adorable, lighthearted read that was amusing at times. I relate well to characters who are not very socially inclined but seem to have been taken under the wing of an extrovert.

There was a bit of adventure in the second half, but overall a delightfully easy read! I’m looking forward to the next books to see what other journeys Emily finds herself on!