Karissa

I loved this book. I felt like it was well researched and impeccably written. I had very little knowledge of Circe outside of the Odyssey (which portrays her as this horrid monster) and reading this book really rounded her out and made me look at her in a completely different view. This is definitely one that I would reread in the future and have been recommending to all of my friends.

This book...... Oh this book. I knew what I was getting into to a degree in reading a romance book. I mean, I know how romance books typically go and I watch Hallmark movies, so I'm no stranger to the cheesy, the regular drama, and the melodrama. So, I went into this knowing that it was going to be just a cheesy, feel-good type read. And it was. I was excited to have an interracial pairing, to have the lead male be half-Vietnamese, for the lead girl to be on the spectrum. And I was fine with it being over the top. Until about 80% of the book when I was over it. I was over all the back and forth, back and forth and all the melodramatic internal monologues and the lack of communication. Just.... oh. my. lord. The last two hours of the audiobook was just me sitting on my couch rolling my eyes and yelling JUST C O M M U N I C A T E, DAMN IT. It was a 4 star read up until that point and then with all of it continuing literally until the last 30 minutes of the book, I had to drop it down to 3.

..... that being said, I'm complete trash and will still read The Bride Test.

3.5 Stars

The Last Romantics is a book about love. It focuses on one family, The Skinners, made up of Renee, Caroline, Joe, and Fiona and their mother, affectionately called Noni. We're told much of the story through Fiona's perspective as the lives of the Skinners are unraveled by their father's death and their mother's 3-year depression, and how the family attempts to stitch themselves back up again.

I want to start off by saying that adult contemporary is not normally my jam. I read this book as it was the Barnes and Noble Book Club pick for the month and I run the event every month at my store, and it was the first book that I've annotated probably since my high school years. I found myself engaged, reacting to the story, making predictions, etc. So, it wasn't an unenjoyable read in the slightest and it was a good book, but it just wasn't my favorite.

What kept this from being a 5-star book, or even a 4-star book, was that the climax was kind of a let down. There's all this build up for for 250 pages for something concerning one of the siblings (not going to say it out of respect for keeping spoilers out of my review) and then once it happened it was... a major let down. There were other elements as well that were not really explained and felt kind of out of place– such as Fiona working with a Climate Change organization and then the situation with Luna just felt so... incomplete?

I listened to this title via audiobook and just... the way it was written felt like I was unfolding a story, not necessarily listening to the gruesome acts of a serial murderer and rapist. I loved the way that Michelle McNamara wove facts of the different attacks with her own personal narrative. I only wish that she had been alive to see the GSK put away for good.

Edie Kits is an early 20-something college student just trying to pass French so she can go to Paris in the summer and study abroad in the Fall. That is her goal: Paris, Paris, Paris. Her French professor, Mr. Clément, and the cute TA, Wes Hudson, make it achieving this goal hard enough without the added complication of her disability. Edie Kits has central auditory processing disorder (CAPD); messages get jumbled up or completely distorted, especially in noisy environments where she can't focus. You know what also makes it hard for her to focus? Wes Hudson. Between her growing infatuation for him and struggling to pass French 102, will she ever make it to Paris?

I wanted to like this book. I really did. It is a #OwnVoices novel for a disability that 1. doesn't have a lot of visibility in fiction and 2. doesn't have a lot of visibility in the real world either. I was also looking forward to a cute, fluffy romance, especially considering my past few reads this month. Unfortunately, by 30 pages in, I wasn't feeling it and by 60, I was ready to DNF this book. However, since the ebook was only 160 pages, I figured I might as well finish it. By 111, I just started skimming the pages to get the gist of what was going on and to find out how it ended.

I thought the concept was cute and like I said, I was excited to read it. It wasn't a /bad/ book, in my opinion, but it was not the book for me. However... it just....... annoyed me more than anything and that is incredibly disappointing. Edie was whiny and the hot, then cold, then lukewarm, then tundra aspect of her relationship with Hudson was just ridiculous. At many points in the book it felt like she was overreacting and because she wanted to be upset, or wanted to find some... flaw in Hudson to be like “See! Paris,” she would twist things to be offended. All of the characters, even Edie, were quite flat and one dimensional and I really just didn't understand Hudson. One moment he was all “I can't do this; you can't have it both ways,” and then quite literally in the same breath said, “Let's overanalyze this later and kiss for now.” It made no sense. His reactions– their entire relationship– did not make sense to me, at all. And part of me thought that maybe things that he was doing– the constant apologizing, the biting at his nail beds, the bouncing knees– were pointing to an anxiety disorder and that would maybe explain things, but.... no, that was never even suggested. Edie was just as bad; she wanted to say she wasn't leading the boy on, that he knew what he was getting into, but just as often as she was like, “Nooooo, Paris. None of this,” her actions contradicted her words and she continued to pursue a relationship with him– even if she didn't want to admit to herself that it was a relationship (if you're not in a relationship with someone and you're sure that they know that they're “just your tutor,” then why do you feel the need to preemptively break up with them, hm?)

I am very proud of the author for writing a book that sheds light on her own disability, one that we don't hear or see in the real world or fiction that often. And like I said, it's not a -bad- book and I'm sure that there are many with tastes different than mine that might love this book. However, I just... really did not like it.

Thunderhead picks up where Scythe left off (... obviously, that's what sequels do, Karissa -.-). Rowan Damisch is wanted by the scythedom and Citra Terranova has to adjust to her new life as Scythe Anastasia. But could Neal Shusterman leave the plot as simple as that? The answer is no, no he could not.

Holy cow, this book was a RIDE. There were twists and turns and several moments where my mouth just fell open. Sadly, I was reading alone, on my couch, because I totally wanted to look around and be like, “did ya'll just read what I just read???” Shusterman throws characters at you left and right in this book, but it all somehow works without feeling like a complete overload. I don't feel like anyone was added that didn't need to be added. I loved the progression of this book and much like Scythe, it was a casual build and then at the end you had to hold on tight. I'm looking forward to book 3 (because there -has- to be a book 3, despite there not being a release date or anything for it yet) and how newbie Greyson Tolliver will play into the new world that Shusterman has now left us with.

Max and Carys have found themselves in a bit of a predicament. They're spiraling through space, together but alone otherwise, with only 90 minutes of oxygen left. How in the world, no pun intended, did they end up in this predicament? This book is told in a mixture of present day space dilemma and flashbacks into Max and Carys' relationship and how they got from point A to point Holy Crap We're in Mortal Peril.

I did not want to put this book down. I found Katie Khan's writing pretty engrossing and once I started, it was very hard to stop at just 50 pages every day because of my book club. There were parts where the conversation between the two main characters didn't really make sense and there were definitely scenes were I wanted to slap them both, but it was very much a character driven book and how two worlds, essentially, collided– what with Max being a staunch utopian and Carys having been raised outside of Europia's utopian society until her late teens– and the conflicts and developments that can occur because of that.

I... just.. the ending though.... that ending...

I read this book as an audiobook and holy crap once I started listening to it, I couldn't put it down. It was a short book– about 4 hours if I remember correctly– as it's told completely in verse. But holy crap, this book. The things Xiomara goes through, the things her brother goes through... my heart ached for them. I want more of Xiomara's story. I felt like at the end she was finally coming into her own and though a sequel isn't necessary, I loved this main character and this book so much that I would gladly read more about where her life goes from there.

Kate escaped and August stayed. Each are fighting monsters both within and without. The war between the humans and the monsters has come to a head now that Callum Harker has died and becoming increasingly more dangerous with each passing day with Sloane at the helm. With a new, more dangerous and destructive monster on the rise, Kate returns to Verity, but will she, August, and the FTF be able to defeat it or will this new monster spell the end for Humanity.

I wondered if I would like this book as much as I liked the first one and I loved it. I loved August's character arc and the growth he made from the beginning to the end. The first book I felt was really Kate focused whereas this one was definitely more focused on August. I was not prepared for the ending though. 💔

Pretty good intro to the main series. I wish the cruelty of scion was more apparent. Like obviously you know they are bad but I really wanted to see the awfulness of them played out. It was just kinda thrown out there about people being executed on tv? (Idr very well) while she and Eliza hung out. Like I feel like it could have been more impactful if paige was to actually have been present at an execution or at least reacting to it being on the screen. But I get it. That wasn't the project of the book. I just wanted a little more.

I really liked this book. The beginning was quite confusing for me in terms of the actual fantasy world, but I understood it a little more the more I read. Arlo and his friends were such likable characters and despite it having some typical tropes (a chosen one who is attacked by an unnamed enemy), I really felt like John August was able to breathe a new life into that trope and make it feel new and refreshing regardless. The cliffhanger at the end makes me look forward to the second book, which I already have a hold on at the library. I definitely recommend this one for people who are looking for a good, middle-grade paranormal/magical fantasy.

In this second installment of the Charlotte Holmes series, Charlotte and Jamie are off in London and then traipse about Europe in order to find out what happened to Charlotte's uncle, Leander. Along the way, they discover secrets about their friends, their families, and even about themselves.

I did not like this one as much as I liked the first one. Don't get me wrong, this was an alright book. I enjoyed listening to it on my daily drives. As a young adult book, it was fine. As a mystery, it was confusing in parts, but overall it was alright. The thing that made me like this one less than its predecessor is the relationship between Jamie and Charlotte. As many have pointed out below, their relationship and the angsty romance between them was too much in this one. What I liked most about the first one is that yes, there was hints of romance between the two lead characters, but the main focus was on the plot and the mystery. It almost felt like, in parts, the romance and the relationship was the most important thing and the mystery and the story was second priority.

They were not lying when they described this book as Guardians of the Galaxy meets the Breakfast Club. I /loved/ this book. I think I was 50 pages in or so when I decided right then and there that I needed a Kal standalone. I think he's my favorite of the bunch, simply because, if we're comparing the crew to the Guardians, he's the Drax 100% and he's just perfect. I'm really looking forward to rereading this book once it is released and having the final copy in my hands. I'm also really looking forward to seeing where the series goes from here and what kind of shenanigans the group with get into.

I'm not sure if it was the writing or if it was the general plot of the book, but I wasn't that into it until somewhere between 5 and 6 hours of the audiobook. I've always been a Marvel fan, but I'm not opposed to DC (was just never as into the characters aside from Teen Titans, as I was in Marvel superheroes) and I thought, ‘Hey, it's Cat Woman. I'm sure I'll love it because badass female, am I right?” And Selina was badass. I just... I don't know. Maybe it was the romance that spoiled it for me? Or the constant telling that Selina had a horrible life (as opposed to a cutaway scene or flashback or something that let us SEE the horrible life, rather than just hear her say it– there was a lot of telling in this book and I just wasn't 100% engrossed in what was going on). As a MC, Luke Fox was definitely a flat character, and kind of going along with my earlier point about the romance spoiling it for me, it was like “this woman is awful, this woman is awful, she has to be stopped” to “I'm AtTrAcTeD to Catwoman?! Should I do XYZ? Bruce would kill me! ..... but ..... ... no.” There was zero... development between them to explain why he would feel any type of romantic way about her. She could have been a well-respected foe– like, “Oh, she is awful and needs to be brought down, but man, she's powerful,” and carried that type of relationship. Romance wasn't needed and honestly I think the rest of the book suffered to hit those romantic key points. And don't even get me started on Ivy and Harley– As some other reviewers have stated, Ivy was done dirty in this book. I may have not been the biggest DC fan, but I remember the cartoons and Ivy was always a BAMF. In this book, she was..... nothing more than a poorly written platform for the plot and I feel like most of the scenes with Ivy in them were solely in there to be like “Don't forget! We have Catwoman AND Poison Ivy.” I just..... it wasn't... absolutely terrible. I've read way worse. But it's not something that I'll actually go out and buy and it's not something I'd ever re-read.

The review below contains spoilers referring to the ending of Illuminae.



BeiTech is at it again. The Lincoln failed. Hypatia is survived and are en route to Heimdall. BeiTech will not fail again. Enter Hannah Donnelly and Nik Malikov, the commander's daughter and a drug dealing mafia member. Two unlikely bedfellows forced to work together to stop BeiTech's audit team (read: Murder Force), to save themselves, Heimdall, and Hypatia. The fate of the universe is literally in their hands.... No pressure.

This book was a rollercoaster of emotions that I did not need. I laughed, I cried... I cried a lot, I had reprieve.... and then I cried some more. Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff are very good at what they do. They know exactly how to eviscerate your heart, stitch it back together, and then tear it apart some more. This book is so.... so... so good. Just as good as the first. But I think I'm gonna need to take a break before reading book three. I'm not sure my heart can handle it at the moment.

In a Utopian world where nearly all of humanity's ailments have been cured, death is the only thing that remains. To be a scythe is to play judge, jury, and executioner. To be a scythe is to be honored, respected, obeyed. But lest anyone forget, to be a scythe is to kill. Citra and Rowan are two teens, brought into scythehood by H.S. Faraday, tasked with being his apprentices for a year. When their apprenticeships have ended, they will either be welcomed into the foray of scythedom or they will return to their previous lives. Scythe by Neal Shusterman will make you question what it is to be moral, to be human, and it will leave you guessing until the very last page.

Honestly, I wasn't sure if I'd like this book once I started reading it. It was kind of slow in the beginning; this isn't a bad thing and it felt very casual, but it was definitely a book that took its time until it didn't. That being said, I wasn't hating reading it. I was actually enjoying myself. Since I was reading this as a buddy read and doing 50 pages a day, it seemed like I was getting through it pretty quickly. It was just the plot was slow to unfold and then holy cow it was like an avalanche. I honestly really liked this book. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that for the first.. 60% ish of the book, I didn't really care for the characters. I didn't hate them by any means, I just didn't have any attachment to them really.

I also didn't think that [spoiler] romance was really necessary between Citra and Rowan, but perhaps I'm no spoiled because of This Savage Song and Our Dark Duet where the leads were unwilling partners as opposed to potential lovers.

I loved this book. I listened to it as an audiobook and I highly recommend anyone interested in the book do the same. Hearing Leah's story in her own voice, thick Brooklyn accent and all, is so raw and powerful and real. It felt as if I was in a room with her and she was actually talking to me about her life. 100% recommend this book if you are interested at all in her show or in the horrible organization that is Scientology.

Simon is gay, but absolutely no one knows this fact except for “Blue,” a boy at his school that he is head over heels for that he has been corresponding with via email. This ends up posing two very key problems for Simon: 1. He has no idea who “Blue” actually is and “Blue” doesn't seem in a particular rush to make himself known to Simon in the real world and 2. He forgets to log out of the library computer. Poor Simon. If battling his teenage hormones and trying to hide his biggest secret, he had to add “being blackmail,” to his list of problems.

This book was amazing. I laughed, I cried, I cringed. This book is everything you could want in a fluffy young adult romance. Yes, there are emotional moments in this book, but at the end of the day this book is so full of feel goodness that it's definitely on my list of books to read when feeling down.