Any Way the Wind Blows

An emotionally satisfying conclusion for each of the characters, even if there's not much in the way of plot here. I absolutely adore the audio for this series, read by Euan Morton, so I was happy to listen even though most of what's happening is navigating emotionally complicated romantic relationships through trauma (which is not a bad lesson for teens!). Only the most die-hard fans will make it this far, but the series does have a lot of die hard fans.

Honest - I love this series, with these characters. It's compelling and beautiful. This last book had too much kissing/time under covers/erotica/whatever for me. It's like it tried too hard to make things work out - for too many of the characters. Other than that, I enjoyed it. The closure with the Salsbury's was quite lovely. Neither the plot nor the ending went my way, but, it wasn't my book to write. The ending was fine, even if it wasn't how I hoped.

I love the first two books so so much, and this one is still good, but less so. I'm already almost through my fourth listen to book 1

I LOVED THIS SERIES BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WAS THIS BOOK???
Rainbow Rowell really said “let's all forget wayward son ever happened.” because the mention the vampires MAYBE twice and only after 300+ pages in.
THIS BOOK BARELY DOES ANYTHING FOR THE PLOT WE'VE BEEN INTRODUCED AND INSTEAD GIVES US SOMETHING ENTIRELY NEW??
I mean it was a cool plot and it made sense for the characters BUT I AM SO LOST??
It just idk wasn't what I hoped?

This is a review of the trilogy as a whole.

I've got quite a lot of thoughts about these books, and they are mixed.
I loved the lighthearted humor in Carry On, and was disappointed to find it mostly* gone in Wayward Son and Any Way the Wind Blows. The tone changed completely between books. While I do love the question what happens to the characters after their big adventure ends?, I think a humorous tone would have put a unique spin on it and continued the almost-satire of Harry Potter that Carry On was.

Simon is very unlikeable to me, and he was written to be rooted for. He was fine in Carry On and awful by the end of Any Way the Wind Blows. His character development just didn't make sense to me. I completely understand the way depression** can stall you and make a mess of everything, but once he started getting better his effort to improve was illogical. The solution is neither breaking up nor weird sexual stuff.There's also a lot of inconsistencies between the books. 1. the NowNext vampires, where did they go?2. the plot irrelevancy of Agatha, Shepard, and Niamh (I loved them all, but why are they there?)3. where were the subtle mentions of the other chosen ones in Wayward Son?The trilogy would have been so much better if these had been addressed.In conclusion:Carry On worked well as a standalone. Simon & Baz were vaguely toxic in the last two books. The plot choices were weird at best. I'm not a fan of vampires. (sorry Baz, I still love you) the whole Shepard-demon-marriage plot was hilariousbasically what I mean there is that I have anxiety, depression, and adhd. I'm a walking disaster when it comes to relationships too
*** thanks but I don't need to read that. please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no please no ple

Carry On - 4/5 stars
Wayward Son - 2.5/5 stars
Any Way the Wind Blows - 2/5 stars

Normally Rainbow Rowell books are solid 5 star books for me, but this one suffered a little from lack of plot. Or maybe too many plots?

Of course, the lovely relationship development (both Simon/Baz and Penny/Shepherd) came damn close to making up for it. Throw in some very interesting new characters and flying goats and I'm still a firm Rowell fan!

Aw, this was so great! The build on what happened with the characters in the last book was so lovely, I loved seeing them all get their act together 😂
Simon and Baz were soooooo cute in this one and I love everything that happened between the two and how they finally evolved their relationship. 
I just really enjoyed it overall tbh! The beginning was a bit rough - emotionally - and that was really hard but it led us somewhere lovely that I wouldn't want without. 
I was a bit confused about why the epilogue was what it was, but maybe that's just me. I don't think it was necessary, I guess, idk. 
But I loved all the plot points, Penny and Shep's chapters were funny, Simon and Baz had a lot of emotional ones, and Agatha's were more neutral, and she's generally my least favorite narrator, but her chapters were still interesting enough. Maybe it's just that Agatha's story seems both at a stand-still as well as being unrelated to her plot arc from the previous books. Idk. 
Overall, it was really good 😍❤️

Guys, this series makes me smile just thinking about it. Ugh.

Anyway, I'm giving this book 5 stars based solely on enjoyment. Do I think there were some drawbacks? Sure. And I'll discuss them here. But I was gushing and laughing and smiling the whole time I listened to this, and for that I give it 5 stars.

First, let's get the critcisms out of the way. The second book was hardly referenced in this book. Like, a ton of shit went down in the second book and there were no repercussions, or even really any discussion. You could almost skip the second book and go straight to this one, but you wouldn't know who Shepard is. While this can be frustrating for some people, I really didn't enjoy the second book as much, so it didn't upset me. Also, I really didn't think Agatha's chapters were necessary. While I think they were cute, they were a little more boring and didn't really add to the story as a whole. Then again, I never really liked her character, so that may just be a personal preference. Finally, I think the ending left a lot of questions unanswered and felt kind of lackluster. Like, I was loving everything and then it ended and I thought, “That's it?”

Ok, now to the positives. The rest of the book. The end.

In all seriousness, the biggest positive for me in this book, and in the whole series, is how incredible Rowell writes banter. The conversations between these characters is so heartfelt and funny and relatable that I smiled through it all. Simon's struggles throughout the book with his and Baz's relationship honestly felt so relatable and realistic. Fumbling through it is kind of what we all do in a new relationship, and love can feel very overwhelming at times. Basically, any time Baz and Simon are together, I had a huge smile on my face. I thought that Penny and Shepard were adorable and funny as well. The plot was interesting, but this is definitely a character-driven story. The plot was there to serve as a backdrop for the characters to interact on.

I love this series. It's so light and heartfelt and adorable.

TW: ableism (magical), childbirth (animal), blood, demons, homophobia, violence

[2.4] In my opinion this is undoubtedly the worst addition of the currently existing (and supposedly final) Simon Snow books. There's little to no expansion of the world, we learn nothing new about the magical world of our characters other than the fact that goats are important to the school and there are magical surgeons I guess? So much that was built up in the previous two books was just pushed to the side and it seemingly just doesn't exist. The villain, if they can even be called that, is boring and weak (both from a magical perspective and fleshed out character perspective). Additionally, we're three books deep now and I STILL don't buy into Snow and Baz's relationship? It's so one-sided and they're so clearly two entirely different people with opposing lives; please make it end, it's not destined to be!

This was the best trilogy finale I think I've ever read...
Rainbow Rowell officially owns my heart. The first book I ever read by her, I knew I was entranced, but I never knew that my trance would last this long. I feel like I grew up with the Simon Snow books. I put off reading this one for a while, not wanting the experience to be over, and fearing the end not being what I wanted it to be.
THIS WAS EVERYTHING AND BEYOND. Between subplots (which I love), the joining at the end, the new love stories, and a happy ending for all of the main characters we've grown to love, I was in love with every word.
It breaks my heart knowing I'll never read another Simon Snow book for the first time again, but many rereads are in my future.