r.bookish

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about the violent season by sara walters. i gave this book 3/5 stars. first off, thank you so much netgalley and sourcefire books for an arc of this book! this is going to be an honest review and isn’t going to be changed by the publisher and/or the author.

trigger warning- suicide, death, death of a parent, toxic relationship, drinking, drug use, drug abuse, blood, fire, fire injury.

i think the biggest thing about this book was that i honestly found this book to be something that wasn’t groundbreaking or anything. like, i feel like most of this book was just so boring and i feel like nothing really happened in here. and i feel like it was just kind of annoying with this plot that had nothing really happening. and i mean, i wish there was just more plot in this book.

but, i do feel like if someone went through some of the same things that wyatt went through, i feel like this book would have been more impactful and something that more people might like. like, i feel like it would have been something/someone that you could see yourself in, but i feel like for me, i didn’t really see myself in her anyway, which i guess just took it all away for me.

and i feel like there was some plot about this ‘november sickness.’ and it was brought up over and over again, and i feel like in the book it never was really answered and i feel like they talked about it a couple times, but they never brought it up since then, which i think was just kind of annoying and i feel like they should have had this plot throughout the whole book or to have them not really talk about it so much.

granted, i did kind of like that they ‘solved’ the murder of her mom. like, i’d personally use the word ‘solved’ loosely, since i feel like as the murder mystery plot was the one of the main things in this book, i feel like we got zero plot with them actually trying to find the killer, and i feel like it really just fell into their laps. and i mean, who did it was so obvious if you actually read the book, so that kind of annoyed me.

and i feel like they kept bring up the november sickness and the murder of her mom again and again, but they never really had a plot in the book. like, i feel like they should have created a better plot around it, caused with the sickness, it was brought up when it was convenient to the book, which wasn’t to often. and then the murder of her mother, she would be doing something random and then be like ‘oh yeah my mom’s dead, she was murdered lmao.’ and after awhile it just got to be on my nerves and i feel like it should have been dealt with better. and not just have it be some side plot to everything that is going on in her very boring life.

and since they kept going on and on and on about the bloody past and how this town is haunted, i honestly wish, as a whole, that this book was bloodier and that it kind of got to be a bit spookier. like, i think if they really wanted to sell this murder town plot line, they should have made it gorier and have it be more bloodier and kind of set it up like a slasher novel, and maybe made the town to be more dark, since overall, the town wasn’t that bad, or at least in my opinion.

anyway, that is all for today! this is honestly a shorter review, but i feel like nothing happened in this book and that there wasn’t enough to talk about in a full review. but, i honestly think this book had some good parts, but for the most part, i didn’t really like it.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about as good as dead by holly jackson. i gave this book 5/5 stars. i honestly really loved this book so much and i honestly cried so much with this book, which i never do. and i honestly think this was such an amazing way to end a series, but still so sad. and there is going to be slight spoilers in this review for this book and the other books in the series.

trigger warnings- stalking, murder, death, kidnapping, blood, violence, drug use, gore, mental illness, addiction, drug abuse, panic attacks / disorder, fire, confinement, rape, sexual assault, sexual assault, grief, injury, animal death, vomit, gun violence, misogyny.

i honestly think the best part of this book was that we got to see the series kind of go full circle. like, i think there is a lot of YA mystery series that don’t end organic or end in away that will be satisficing, so i honestly really loved that in this book / series that it was such a full circle moment and that it was just so cool. and that this series did it and that we got to see this series go full circle and that it went in that direction.

and i also really liked the whole mental health journey with these books. like, i honestly really liked that in book one we did get to see pip at her best, and then as the series went on, we got to see her kind of going through this journey in book 2 and then in book 3 she is her worst and that she is kind of a mess. so, i honestly really liked that we did get to her an honest portray off it all, and i feel like it just to see that and that they didn’t make pip be this amazing and still has it all together, because i feel like with what she went through, it wouldn’t make sense.

and i also really liked with how she dealt with her PTSD and how she dealt with everything happening now. and i really think she handled it as well as she possibly could in the situation she is in. so, i honestly really liked that about her, and also how she kind of turned morally grey, like i think it was just so cool and i think it was just cool to see her kind of become and bad guy and to see all of that happen, i honestly really happy that she became morally grey and became this badass character by the end of this book / series, since it was just so cool.

but, i honestly feel like this is the type of book that will follow you around for a very long time. like, for me, i feel like that this book was just so amazing and the things that happen and the lessons that get told in this book were just so amazing and i honestly love this book so much. like, i feel like that it was just so cool and just so amazing to read about all of this and to read about everything pip went through and how much she was struggling. in my mind, this is the best book i’ve ever read, and by far the best book of the year because all of that.

and i think another cool thing about this book is how everything ties together. like, with this book, it really makes your question everything about the other books and if the events and the outcomes were actually true, which i think is honestly so cool. and i mean, it honestly was so cool to see how everything wrapped together and to see how everything kind of connected in this really crazy way. and it honestly was so cool, and the way that jackson’s mind connected everything, was just so cool, but also kind of scary.

i also really liked how much research went into this book, and how much you can really see that. like, i think it was just so cool to see this all and to see it all by the way that pip talked about it all. and i think that it honestly was just so cool and i honestly think it was so impressive to see how much it was in here. and i mean, i can’t really say how well it was done, but i feel like it was just done really well and to see how well rounded everything was just so amazing.

and i honestly really liked pip in this book. like, i feel like she was just so badass and i honestly think it was so cool about how she kept her cool through so much of this book, because i know for a fact, that i would never be able to do that. so, i think it was just really cool to see how much pip has been changing throughout this book and even how she was just so cool and i honestly think she was just so impressive and just really cool.

for ravi, i honestly really loved him in here now. like, i think it was just so cool to see how he added this humor to this book, but not even in a gross or weird way. and i think he was just so cute and i honestly really loved him in here. and also how pip thought about him, it was just so romantic and i just loved them together to much. and i think it was just really cool to see him supporting pip and his whole ‘if we go down, then we’re going down together’ mentality, which i really loved.

and for them together, i thought it was just so amazing, and i really loved how cute they were and just to see them figuring everything out, i think it was just so cool to see them figure out what they are going to do, and what they want to do moving forward. and also that they were so romantic, in this really weird way. and that they both were just so amazing about how were one person ended, the next person started, and also how their teamwork was. it was just so amazing to see them becoming this unit.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly love this book so much, and as much as i’m sad to see this series complete, i think this was the perfect way to wrap up the series and have this full circle moment. but, i do hope that jackson will come back in the future and write another novella with ravi and pip together again and to have them married and with kids or something.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about all the books that are coming out this month that i’m excited for. honestly, there isn’t to many, but there is still enough in here to talk about in a post. but, i also have one of my most anticipated releases of the year this month, so that is also really exciting.

kingdom of the cursed by kerri maniscalo. after selling her soul to become queen of the wicked, emilia travels to the seven circles with the enigmatic prince of wrath where she’s introduced to a seductive world of vice. she vows to do whatever it takes to avenge her beloved sister, vittoria, even if that means accepting the hand of the prince of pride, the king of demons. the first rule in the court of the wicked? trust no one. with back stabbing princes, luxurious palaces, mysterious party invitations, and conflicting clues about who really killed her twin, emilia finds herself more alone than ever before.

not here to be liked by michelle quach. eliza quan is the perfect candidate for the editor in chief of her school paper. that is, until ex-jock, len dimartile, decides on a whim to run against her and suddenly her vast qualifications mean squat because inexperienced len, just seems more like a leader. when eliza’s frustration spills out in a viral essay, she finds herself inspiring a feminist movement she never meant to start, caught between those who believe she’s a gender equality champion and others who think she’s simply crying misogyny.

the heartbreak bakery by ar capetta. syd, who uses no pronouns, has always dealt with big, hard to talk about things by baking. being dumped is no different, expect now syd is baking at the proud muffin, a queer bakery and community space in austin. and everyone who eats syd’s breakup brownies, breaks up. even vin and alec, who own the proud muffin. and their breakup might take the bakery down with it. being dumped is one thing, causing ripples of queer heartbreak through the community is another. but the cute boke delivery person, harley, he/they, believes syd about the magic baking. and harley believes syd’s magical baking can fix things.

bad girls never say die by jennifer mathieu. 1964, houston, texas. evie barnes is a bad girl. so are all her friends, they’re the sort who wear bold makeup, laugh to loud, and run around with boys. most of all, they protect their own against the world. so when evie is saved from the unimaginable by a good girl from the ‘right’ side of the tracks, every rule she’s always lived by is called into question. now she must redefine what it means to be a bad girl and rethink everything she knew about loyalty.

our way back to always by nina moreno. lou patterson grew up across the street from sam alvarez in the small, quirky town of port coral. they used to be inseparable, spending every holiday together, shooting silly youtube videos, and rescuing stray cats. but then middle happened, with the most disastrous and embarrassing serenade ever, and lou and sam haven’t talked in four years since. sam is the golden boy and lou is the introverted romantic. but it’s also the summer before their senior year, and life is knocking on lou’s door. with her older sister having given up a scholarship to princeton to have a baby and work at the local botanica, all of their mother’s expectations are now riding on lou’s shoulders. she’s retaking her sat’s, signed up for way to many AP classes, and her sights set on colleges with fancy names. but when she finds the bucket list she and sam wrote together as kids, before sam’s father got cancer, she’s shocked to see that she hasn’t accomplished any of it. torn between the future and her mother, sister, and younger self planned for her, lou sets out to finish the list, and in a stroke of destiny or fate, sam decides to tag along.

everything within and in between by nikki barthelmess. for ri fernandez’s entire life, she’s been told ‘we live in america and we speak english.’ raised by her strict mexican grandma, ri has never been allowed to learn spanish. what’s more, her grandma has always pushed ri away from the neighborhood they call home and towards her best friend’s world of mansions and country clubs in hopes it will bring ri home to living the ‘american dream.’ in her most private thoughts, ri has always believed that her mother, who disappeared when she was young, would accept her exactly how she is. so when ri finds a secret, unanswered letter from her mom begging for a visit, ri decides to reclaim what her grandma kept from her: her mother and a language. but nothing goes as planned, her mom isn’t who ri imagined she would be and ri is struggling to navigate the different interweaving threads of her mixed heritage that makes her who she is. nobody has any idea of who ri really is, not even ri, herself.

anyway, that is it for today! i honestly really am excited for these books, so i honestly hope i get to them soon and that i like them when i get to read them. but, hopefully they don’t let me down to much.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about all the books i want to read this month. and i honestly really can’t wait to read these books since they sound really good and i hope i like some of these books, since they have so much potential.

malibu rising by taylor jenkins reid. malibu: august, 1983. it’s the day of nina riva’s annual end of the summer party, and the anticipation is at a fever pitch. everyone wants to be around the famous rivas: nina, the talented surfer and supermodel, brothers jay and hud, one a championship surfer and the other a photographer, and their little sister, kit. together, the siblings are a source of fascination in malibu and the world over, especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, mick riva. the only person not looking forward to the party of the year is nina herself, who never really wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. and maybe hud, because it is long past time to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth. jay, who is counting the minutes until nightfall when the girl he can’t stop thinking about, will be there. and kit, with many secrets of her own, including a guest she invited without consulting anyone. and by midnight, the party will be completely out of control. by morning, the riva mansion will have gone up in flames. but, before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come bubbling to the surface.

people we meet on vacation by emily henry. poppy and alex, alex and poppy. they have nothing in common. she’s a wild child; he wears khakis. she has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. and somehow, ever since a fateful car chare home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. for most of year they lived far apart, she’s in new york and he’s in their small hometown, but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together. until, two years ago, when they ruined everything. they haven’t spoken since. poppy has everything she could ever want, but she’s stuck in a rut. when someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with alex. and so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together, lay everything on the table, make it all right, and miraculously, he agrees. now, she has a week to fix everything. if only she can get around one big truth has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship.

loveless by alice oseman. georgia has neve been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush, but as a fanfic obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day. as she starts university with her best friends, pip and jason, in a whole new town far from home, georgia’s ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare society, her ‘teenage dream’ is in sight. but, when her roommate plan wrecks havoc amongst her friends, georgia ends up in her own comedy of errors, and she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her. with new terms thrown at her, asexual, aromantic, georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever.

the sum of all kisses by julia quinn. hugh prentice has never had patience for dramatic females, and if lady sarah pleinsworth has ever been acquainted with the words shy or retiring, she’s long since tossed them out the window. besides, a reckless duel has left this brilliant mathematician with a ruined leg, and now he could never court a woman like sarah, much less dream of marrying her. sarah had never forgiven hugh for the duel he fought that nearly destroyed her family. but even if she could find a way to forgive him, it wouldn’t matter. she doesn’t care that his leg is less than perfect, it’s his personality she can’t abide. but, forced to spend a week in close company they discover that first impressions are not always reliable. and when one kiss leads to two, three, and four, the mathematician may lose count, and the lady may, for the first time, find herself speechless.

seduce me at sunrise by lisa kleypas. kev merripen has longed for the beautiful, well bred, winnifred hathaway ever since her family rescued him from the brink of death when he was just a boy. but this handsome gypsy is a man of mysterious origins, and he fears that the darkness of his past could crush delicate, luminous win. so kev refuses to submit to the temptation, and before long win is torn from him by a devastating twist of fate. then, win returns to england, only to find kev has hardened into a man who will deny love at all costs. meantime, an attractive, seductive suitor has set his sights on win. it’s now or never for kev to make his move. but first, he must confront a dangerous secret about his destiny or risk losing the only woman he has lived for.

circe by madeline miller. in the house of helious, god of the sun and mightiest of the titans, a daughter is born. but circe is a strange child, not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power, the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. threatened, zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beast and crosses oaths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the minotaur, daedalus and his doomed son, icarus, the murderous medea, and of course, wily odysseus. but there is danger, too for a woman who stands alone, and circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the olympains.

these violent delights by chloe gong. the year is 1926, and shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. a blood feud between two gangs run the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. at the heart of it all is 18 year old juliette cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the scarlet gang, a network of criminals far above the law. their only rivals in power are the white flowers, who have fought the scarlets for generations. and behind every move is their heir, roma montagov, juliette’s first love and her first betrayal. but when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. of a contagion, a madness. of a monster in the shadows. as the deaths stack up, juliette and roma must set their guns, and grudges, aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.

if we were villains by ml rio. oliver marks has just served ten years in jail for a murder he may or may not have committed. on the day he’s released, he’s greeted by the man who put him in prison. detective colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happen a decade ago. as one of the seven young actors studying shakespeare at an elite arts college, oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. but when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the play spills dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. the rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.

ace of spades by Faridah Abike iyimide. welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways and the students are never less than perfect, until now. because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students’ dark secrets to light. talented musician devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can’t escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. and head girl chiamaka isn’t afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has to paid for power. someone is out to get both of them, someone who holds all the aces and they are playing way more than a stupid high school game.

they’ll never catch us by Jessica Goodman. stella and ellie steckler are only a year apart, but their different personalities make their relationship complicated. stella is single minded, driven, and she keeps to herself, cross country running is her life. than there is ellie, who is a talented runner too, but she also has friends, she has friends, goes to parties and has a life off the course. but, the sisters have one thing in common, the new girl, mila keene. both of the girls lives are upended when mila comes to town, mila was the top runner on her team back home, and they first saw her as a threat, but ellie can’t help but be drawn out by her warm, charming personality. after her best friend moved away and her boyfriend left her, ellie’s been looking for a new friend, and in a moment of weakness, she even shares her darkest secrets with mila. stella finds herself noticing the way she and mila are similar, mila is strong and smart, she is someone stella can finally connect with, and as the two get closer, stella becomes something she vowed she’d never be, distracted.

a lesson in vengeance by victoria lee. in the catskills mountains, the centuries old ivy covered campus was home, until the death of her girlfriend. now, after a year away, felicity is returning to graduate. and she even got her old room in the godwin house, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirit of the five dalloway students, who are believed to be witches. the school doesn’t talk about it, but the students do, and before her girlfriend died, felicity was drawn to the dark, and she is determined to leave that behind now, all felicity wants is to focus on her senior thesis and to graduate. but, it’s hard when dalloway’s occult history is everywhere, and when the new girl won’t let her forget. it’s ellis haley’s first year at dalloway, and she already has a following, a prodigy novelist at seventeen, ellis is a so called ‘method writer.’ and she is eccentric and brilliant, and felicity can’t shake the pull to her, and ellis asks felicity to help research the dalloway five for her second book, and felicity can’t say no.

the obsession by jesse q. sutanto. nobody knows delilah like logan does. he makes sure of it by learning everything he can through her social media and watching her through the hidden camera he has trained on her house. some might call him a stalker, but logan prefers to be called ‘romantic.’ but after logan sees delilah killer her abusive stepfather, he realizes there’s still more about her to discover, his sweet and perfect delilah isn’t so perfect after all. delilah knows she should feel guilty, but all she feels is free. she’s so over the men in her life controlling her, except logan saw what she did, and he won’t let her forget it.

the ivies by Alexa Donne. this book comes out May 25th. everyone knows the Ivies, this is one of the most loved universities in the United States. but, way more importantly, there are the Ivies. the ivies at Claflin academy are five girls with the same mission, to get into the ivy league schools, with any means necessary. they disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, and academic competitions, among many other things. they improve their odds, by decreasing the fortune of others. since hyper elite competitive college admissions are a serious business, and in some cases, they are deadly.

the gilded wolves by roshani chokshi. in 1889, the city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure- hinter and wealthy hotelier severin montagnet alarie. when the elite, ever powerful order of babel coerces him to help them on a mission severin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. to hunt down the ancient artifact the order seeks , severin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: an engineer with a debt to pay, a historian banished from his home, a dancer with a sinister past and a brother in arms if not blood.

heart bones by colleen hoover. life and a dismal last name are the only two things beyah grim’s parents ever gave her. after carving her path at all on her own, beyah is well on her way to bigger and better things, thanks to no one but herself. with only two short months separating her from the future she’s built and the past she desperately wants to leave behind, an unexpected death leaves beyah with no place to go during the interim. focused to reach out to her last resort, beyah has to spend the remainder of her summer on a peninsula in texas with a father she barely knows. beyah’s plan is to keep her head down and let the summer slip by seeminglessly, but her new neighbor samson throws a wrench in that plan. samson and beyah have nothing in common on the surface. she comes from a life of poverty and neglect; he comes from a family of wealth and privilaged. but one thing they do have in common is that they’re both drawn to sad thing. which means, they’re drawn to each other. with an almost immediate connection to intense for them to continue denying, beyah and samson agrees to stay in the shallow end of a summer fling.

the woods are always watching by stephanie perkins. best friends, neena and josie spent high school as outsiders, but at least they had each other. now, with college and two thousand mile separation looming on the horizon, they have one last chance to be together, a three day hike into the woods of the pisgah national forest. simmering tensions lead to a detour off the trail and straight into a waking nightmare, and then into something far worse. something that will test them in horrifying ways.

anyway, that is all for today! there is honestly so many books i want to read this month, and i honestly hope to read a lot of spooky this month and also next month. so, hopefully i can knock those out rather quickly and that they are actually good books.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about all of the books that i read this month. it was honestly a pretty good month for me, but i do wish that i did read a bit more, since i feel like there are so many books i still want to read this year, but, i still think i did read a good amount of books.

excuse me while i ugly cry by joya goffney. i gave this book 3/5 stars. i honestly liked this book, but i feel like there was just some issues with this book, which just annoyed me throughout the book. like, i think my biggest issue with this book was how quinn was just so whiny and kind of annoying. and it honestly pissed me off so much. but, i still feel like a lot of this book wasn’t anything special, but i guess the romance was still kind of decent, even though it could have been improved.

the castle school by alyssa b. sheinmel. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly liked this book a lot, but i feel like there was just something missing. like, i don’t even know what it was, but i just think that there was something that should have been added. but, i did like to read this book to see all these girls with different mental health issues. but, this book is very triggering, so if you want to read it, make sure to check all of the warnings.

14 ways to die by vincent ralph. i gave this book 2/5 stars. i think the biggest issue with this book was that it was just so unbelievable. like, i think that for one, i don’t know how nobody would step in and try to save her, since shit was going down. but, also how she did literally no sleuthing, since i feel like everything that she did just fell into her lap, which was just so annoying.

when you get the chance by Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson. i gave this book 3/5 stars. this was honestly a decent book, but i feel like it was kind of a mess at some points of it, but it did really flow overall. but, it also was a cute queer love story, which i think was still kind of cool.

on the way to the wedding by Julia Quinn. i gave this book 4/5 stars. this book was honestly really good, and i honestly really liked this book. but, i do wish we got to see more of gregory’s feelings towards lucy, since he kind of started out liking hermione. but this book was so crazy and i honestly really liked seeing them in the end, since it was just so all over the place, and not like the other bridgerton endings.

on the way to the wedding: ending 2 by julia quinn. i gave this book 3/5 stars. i honestly wished i liked this book more. like, i feel like it could have been so cool and so cute, and that it could have been such a fun and cute ending to this series, as a whole. but, i feel like this book was way to sad and depressing, and it shouldn’t have ended like this.

the box in the woods by maureen johnson. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly liked this book, but i feel like it was just much more different from the rest of the series, which i still think was cool but i wish it had a similar vibe to those. but, i still think that this series is still really good. but, i do wish that there was something more to it.

violet in bloom by Julia Quinn. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly wish that we got a full length novel for this, instead of a novella. but, i do think it was so cool to see all the bridgerton’s as adults and kids in the end of it all. but, i do think that this was a really good book, as a whole.

isn’t it bromantic by lyssa kay adams. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly really liked this book and i honestly really liked to see them married and to see them be this cute little romance. but, i do wish we got to see more about their past and just to see them be a little more romantic between them. but, i still think it was so cool and i honestly really like the cheese man plot.

how we fall apart by katie zhao. i gave this book 3/5 stars. i think this is a good book, and it definitely had potential, but i feel like this is a knockoff of one of us is lying, which i honestly didn’t care for. and i also think that the ending was just not believable and i think that it was just to easy and it honestly didn’t make sense. and i do wish we got to see more of the group together so we can learn their dynamic more.

a night like this by julia quinn. i gave this book 4/5 stars. this was so good and i honestly really liked it. and i feel like this was kind of a different version of an offer from a gentleman. and i did honestly like seeing the ending of this book and seeing them all together. but, i also really liked to see the romance.

it happened one summer by tessa bailey. i gave this book 4/5 stars. this was a really good book and i honestly really liked to see them all figure out their place in life, and just to see them all learning about everything. and i honestly think it was just such a fun book and that i think it was just so cool to see everyone doing everything. but, also the names in the sex scenes lowkey were so weird and i didn’t like it.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly liked a lot of these books, but i do think that some of these books could have been better. but, i think it was still some decent books in here, but i do think some of them could have been better.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about all the books i hauled this month. honestly, there aren’t to many book, but i still think that there is still enough that i can still talk about it, and there is quite a few of arcs, which i honestly hope i like since i’ve been pretty much of a miss with some of them, so hopefully these are better.

a lesson in vengeance by victoria lee. in the catskills mountains, the centuries old ivy covered campus was home, until the death of her girlfriend. now, after a year away, felicity is returning to graduate. and she even got her old room in the godwin house, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirit of the five dalloway students, who are believed to be witches. the school doesn’t talk about it, but the students do, and before her girlfriend died, felicity was drawn to the dark, and she is determined to leave that behind now, all felicity wants is to focus on her senior thesis and to graduate. but, it’s hard when dalloway’s occult history is everywhere, and when the new girl won’t let her forget. it’s ellis haley’s first year at dalloway, and she already has a following, a prodigy novelist at seventeen, ellis is a so called ‘method writer.’ and she is eccentric and brilliant, and felicity can’t shake the pull to her, and ellis asks felicity to help research the dalloway five for her second book, and felicity can’t say no.

float by kate merchant. waverly lyons has been caught in the middle of her parents’ divorce for as long as she can remember. this summer, the battle rages over who she’ll spend her vacation with, and when waverly’s options are shut down, it’s bye bye Fairbanks, Alaska and hello Holden, Florida to stay with her aunt. coming form the tundra of the nor6th, the beach culture isn’t exactly waverly’s forte. the sun may just be her mortal enemy and her vibe is decidedly not chill. so, here comes blake, the super hot boy next door, charming and sweet and he welcomes waverly into his circle. for the first time in her life, waverly has friends, a social life, and soon enough feelings for Blake. as the two grow closer, waverly’s fortunes begin to look up, but every summer must come to an end, and letting go is hardest when you’ve finally found where you belong.

the other family by wendy corsi staub. it’s the perfect home for the perfect family: the pretty nora howell, her handsome husband, and their two teenage daughters, and a loveable dog. and as california transplants themselves for a fresh start in brooklyn, they expected to live in a shoebox, but the brownstone has a huge kitchen, lots of light, and a backyard. the catch: its pervious resident were victims of a grisly triple homicide that remains unsolved. soon, peculiar things start to happen, the pug is nosing around like a bloodhound. nora unearths a long hidden rusty box in the flowerbed, and the oldest daughter, stacey, is obsessed with the family murdered in their house, pokes into the bloody past and becomes convinced that a stanger is watching the house, and watching them.

alone out here by riley redgate. the year is 2072, soon a volcanic eruption will trigger catastrophic devastation, and the only way out is up. while the world’s leaders, scientists, and engineers oversee the frantic production of a space fleet meant to save humankind, their children are brought in for a weekend of touring the Lazarus, a high tech porotype spaceship. but when the apocalypse arrives months ahead of schedule. first daughter leigh chen and a handful of other teens from the tour are the only ones to escape the planet. this is the new world: a starship loaded with a catalog of human artifacts, a frozen menagerie of animal dna, and 53 terrified survivors. from the panic arises a coalition of leaders, spearheaded by the pilot’s enigmatic daughter, eli, who takes the wheel in their hunt for a habitable planet. but as isolation presses in, their uneasy peace begins to fracture. the struggle for control will mean the difference between survival and oblivion, and leigh must decide whether to stand on the side of the mission or of her own humanity.

the night shift by alex finlay. it’s new year’s eve 1999, and Y2K is expected to end in chaos: planes falling from the sky, elevators plunging to earth, world markets collapsing. a digital apocalypse, none of that happens. but, at a blockbuster video in new jersey, four teenagers working late at the store are attacked. one one inexplicably survives. police quickly identify a suspect, the boyfriend of one of the victims, who flees and is never seen again. fifteen years later, more teenage employees are attacked at an ice cream store in the same town, and again only one makes it out alive. in the aftermath of the latest crime, three lives intersect: the lone survivor of the blockbuster massacre who’s forced to relive the horrors of her tragedy, the brother of the fugitive accused, who’s convinced the police have the wrong suspect, and FBI agent, sarah keller, who must delve into the secrets of both nights, stirring up memories of teen love and lies, to uncover the truth about murders on the night shift.

we were kings by court stevens. 20 years ago, 18 year old francis quick was convicted of murdering her best friend, cora king, and sentenced to death. now the highly debated accelerated death penalty act has passed giving frankie 30 final days to live. surprising everyone, one of the king family members sets out to challenge the woefully inadequate evidence and potential innocence of frankie quick. the at first reluctant, but soon fiery, nyla and her unexpected ally, handsome country island boy, sam stack, bring frankie’s case to the international stage through her youtube channel, death daze. they step into fame and a hometown battle that someone’s still willing to kill over.

anyway, that is all for today! it was honestly a shorter haul, but i still am super excited for these books and they all sound so fun and i honestly can’t wait to read these arcs, probably next year, since that is when they are published.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about lost in the never woods by aiden thomas. i gave this book 3/5 stars. i honestly liked this book, but i feel like there just wasn’t something there, and something was just missing and i feel like there was just so much happening in this book and the mystery was just kind of a mess, which i didn’t really enjoy.

trigger warnings- child death, kidnapping, grief, death, gun violence, murder, blood, panic attacks/disorder, violence, medical content, car accident, mental illness, child abuse, confinement, alcoholism, medical trauma, alcohol, cancer, emotional abuse, gore, torture, stalking.

i do honestly like in this book that it felt like an honest book. like i feel like it was cool to see that there was so many different things that were brought in here, and that we did get to see all of this fairytale vibe but also with so much cool. but i do feel like that it was still a really good story and i liked that it wasn’t this go happy and kind of stereotypical story about peter pan.

and i feel like the retelling was done pretty well and i feel like the conflict of this book was done honestly pretty well. and i feel like the parts of this story was honestly kind of different, but also kind of the same, to the original peter pan story. and then i feel like this did have things changed from it, but it was still close enough the same, which i do think is really cool. and they did honestly cool how this story got twisted, but also a little bit of the same.

but, i do feel like this book does deal with some very heavy topics in this book. but, i do do honestly feel like that these topics that were brought up were dealt with very well. and i feel like everything that is handled with well, and they didn’t brush it aside. and i feel like it was done very well, and also that they did have humor in here, which i think was done pretty good.

one thing in this book i didn’t like was wendy’s parents. i feel like they were one of my issues with them, was how they handled everything in this book. like, one of my issues was how they were never really there, and how they were never really there for wendy after her brothers’ disappearance. and i know that everyone can deal with grief differently, but it honestly kind of annoyed me how they honestly shut down and didn’t really talk about the boys and just shut down completely. and i know that people deal with grief in different ways, but this way just rubbed me the wrong way, which made me honestly not really like it, and i wish they expanded on it more.

but, also since wendy was once kidnapped, but then she got let go from the kidnapper and now she was back with her parents, but i honestly didn’t really like how that played out since i feel like they were so cold to her and that they never really acted like she was kidnapped for how ever long and now is reunited with her family, and they never were happy to see her or to act like they found her missing daughter. granted, her two brothers were still missing, but i just wish we got to see more of them with their parents being happy that she is now back with them.

another thing i didn’t really like was the romance. like, if you follow me for any amount of time, you know that i am a big romance fan, but i feel like in this book it was just off. like, i feel like this is one of those books that just don’t need a romance and that the romance in here just didn’t fit. and anyway, i feel like the romance was so half ass by itself, so i wish it was just wasn’t a thing in here, since i didn’t really go anywhere. and i honestly feel like the romance just took away from the story.

with that being said, i did honestly like the dynamic between the two of them. since peter was more so of the person that had magic and someone that was that safely net, but also that childhood wonder. and then wendy is the person that was more unknown and scared of growing up. and i feel like that was just kind of cool to see peter break through all of wendy’s walls when they got closer and also post kidnapping. which, i honestly really liked about this story and that their dynamic kept changing throughout the book.

and i also feel like the middle of the book dragged so much. like i feel like this book started out in a decent pace, and i feel like it happened so much and then the ending was also pretty good. granted, i feel like it did kind of move to quick and things weren’t explained all that well and it definitely should have been explained more and just expanded on what was happening, but it still was decent.

with that being said, i feel like some of this book could have been cut out, and to not have so much in the middle of the book. and i feel like that they could have completely have had these taken out, but also they could have had these same morals and the same story, and that it could have still worked out the same way. but, i do feel like they could have changed that, but i still feel like it would have been a better book and wrapped up a better way.

but, i still feel like the writing of this book was honestly so pretty and beautiful. like, i feel like they were done so well and i think it was just so cool to see how everything was described and just to see how it all kind of panned out. and i feel like with everything that was happening, the atmosphere was so good and i honestly liked it a lot.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly liked this book, and i do feel like it was such a good and cool story, and i honestly can’t wait to read more by thomas in the future and to read what he puts out, since these books are honestly so good.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about she drives me crazy by kelly quindlen. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly really liked this book, and i honestly think the premise of this book was just so good and honestly so fun and exciting to read. and i honestly hope netflix adapts this cause sadie sink and maitreyi ramakrishnan would honestly kill in this.

trigger warnings- toxic relationship, homophobia, bullying, emotional abuse, car accident, alcohol, cursing, vomit, gaslight, alcoholism, lesbophobia, outing, toxic friendship, biphobia, grief.

i think my biggest issue of this book was that we didn’t see to much of them as a couple. i feel like we got so much of them seeing each other fake dating and being enemies and just not really together together. and i wish that we got to see more of that and just seeing them being a real couple and i think it was just think that there should have been more of them together or something, and even if we got a chapter or two, i would honestly like it.

but, one thing i really liked was the characters were honestly so fun and just so messy. like, i feel like it was just so cool to see them all and that it was just so messy and fun and the characters were honestly so many characters that were honestly so amazing. and i feel like all of the characters were just so amazing, and i feel like the only bad character was the ex.

and i also feel like the writing of this book was so good too. like i feel like it was just fun and easy to read and something that honestly did not take a lot of brain power to read. and i really liked how she fleshed all of the characters out and that how they were all so well rounded. and i feel like this book was just so well rounded and just so good. and i mean, the tropes were just so good. with the fake dating, enemies to lovers, one bed trope, and they were all so good.

as for the characters, i do feel like scottie was kind of annoying. like, i found her to be kinda rude at parts, granted i do like that she has her flaws, but it got to be on my nerves after awhile. and i feel like that her as a character was all over the place. and she did yell at irene a couple times which just pissed me off cause it was so unneeded. but, i did like that we got to see her heal after her ex girlfriend, and the way she handled her ex girlfriend was honestly really good.

then for irene, i did really like her, but i feel like i couldn’t connect with her enough. like, i feel like she was such a good and cool person, but it would have been better if this book had two povs, so we could see each of them and just understand more about them. and i honestly loved how headstrong she was, but at the same time she was just so sweet. and i really liked how she didn’t take shit from anyone, which i did find to be so amazing.

with that being said, i didn’t really care about the blackmail plot, like it wasn’t the end of the world, cause it kind of died out soon. but, i feel like the whole blackmail plot was just not it when it first kind of got introduced. and i feel like when scottie kind of told irene that she had to fake date her or like give up on cheerleading, which it kind of sucked, but i didn’t really mind it at first. but, i do think it could have been fixed, to a degree, but it wasn’t the end of the world to me.

i also wish that we did get to see more tally x scottie. like, i feel like there was way to much more tell and not show. like they said over and over and over again that tally was super toxic and that they didn’t get along to well. but, they never really said why she was so toxic, besides that she moved to a different school to give her a better basketball life. and i wish that they just went more in depth about of this relationship.

with that being said, i did like the toxic relationship, i did like to see scottie move on from it all. like, i feel like the heeling process from it all on scottie’s end was just so good, and i feel like we never really see this in a teen novel and to never see a queer teenager get over it all. and i think this book really portrays getting over the breakup and really talks about how these toxic relationships and hoe much they damage your mental health and self esteem. and i feel like it was kind of annoying to see scottie still kind of liked that scottie would always kind of go back to tally and still think about her, and i feel like that made her development and growth over again.

and i do always kind of have this issue with adults writing teenagers cause they never do them justice and that they never really write the teenagers like teenagers. but, i feel like quindlen really wrote teenagers so well, like with these characters happiness and their arguments and their issues, i think it was just so good. and i feel like the past relationship felt real and the emotions and the fights just felt like something that could happen in real life.

and i also really liked the friendship in this book. like, i feel like it was done so well and that their friendship group was just so cool. and i honestly really liked to see these two groups kind of blend together once irene and scottie got together. and the friendship groups was just so good and they also just felt like real people and that they felt like they had real person flaws and that they did a real good job with writing teenagers.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly really liked this book and i honestly really liked the plot of this book and the characters and the romance, it was just so amazing. and i honestly cannot wait to read quindlen’s other book, since i know a lot of people like it too.

hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about an emotion of great delight by tahereh mafi. i gave this book 3/5 stars. and i honestly liked this book, but i feel like a little bit of this book was a bit of a mess and i feel like the plot was a little bit all over the place.

trigger warning- islamophobia, grief, self harm, death, toxic friendship, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, mental illness, racism, car accident, child death, panic attacks / disorder, xenophobia, religious bigotry, bullying, suicide, chronic illness, hate crime, toxic relationship, medical content.

one thing i really liked was the emotion in this book. like, i feel like you really felt the feelings of shadi and you could feel what she was going threw and all of her thoughts and how she was dealing with it all. so, i honestly really liked the emotion and i really feel like it was so powerful and i really think the emotion of this book was still so good and honestly one of mafi’s strengths.

and i also feel like the writing of this book was so beautiful, and i feel like the writing of this book was just so good and i honestly completely loved how she wrote this book and just the writing was so beautiful. and i think the writing was honestly the best part of this book, and i feel like it just so it was just so amazing and i honestly can’t wait to read the other books by this author in the future.

and i feel like with all of the emotions of this book, i do feel like it was honestly so good about how shadi dealt with the grief in this book. like, i feel like it was just so cool to see how real her emotions were and how she handled everything that she was going threw. and just that it was real and raw and it just felt like something a normal teenager would also feel, and that it wasn’t some watered down version of it all.

and surface leave, i do feel like the grief and mental health was done so well. and i feel like it was just cool to see shadi to hide her emotions and to see her kind of guard what she feels to protect the other people in her life and like i said before, it was just real and raw and just so good. and i feel like it was honestly the best part of this book.

but, i didn’t really care that this book took place only in a matter of days. i feel like a lot of this book was just so rushed and that a lot of this book felt a bit all over the place, since it took place so quickly. and they also did these flashbacks, which i don’t really mind, but i feel like a lot of it kind of contradicted itself, which was just annoying.

and i do feel like the ending of this book was also kind of a mess. like, i feel like it was a bit all over the place, and i feel like they tried to do so many different plot lines in this book, most of them not happy plots, but i feel like they never really resolved a lot of. like, i’m all here for an opened ending, but i feel like with like 10 different plots throughout this story, i just feel like they needed to resolve some of it, or at least hint to a little bit of what could happen in the future.

granted, i guess this book isn’t a mystery or like a thriller, cause i feel like if they had this whole mystery plot, it just wouldn’t work. but, i feel like that this book still just did have so much going on, they should have still wrapped it up and just tell it how it was. and also just that they needed to do something, and just fix it all up or something. and i feel like that they brought up so many questions, but they never got an answer.

and i also feel like they needed to explain what happened with the best friend more. like, it might just be me, but i feel like there was just something missing about it all. like, it might just be me, and that i forgot this part, but i feel like they never really explained to much about it, and that could have been fixed and just made it be a little something more. and that we should have got more, and maybe even shadi confronting her friend, since i feel like it needed to be done.

but, i also feel like the romance was just so bad. like, i think my main thing was that a lot of the romance kind of overshadowed the plot as a whole, and i feel like to much was happening in this book and that the romance was just the icing on the cake to make this book be more of a mess. and that they should’ve just not have this plot about it all. and i especially feel like a lot of the romance really overshadowed the plot with her friend, and that they should have picked one or another since i feel like one would just overshadow each other. but, i also feel like the romance was kind of forbidden romance trope, but i honestly want to read more of in the future.

but, i also feel like a lot of the characters in this book honestly feel kind of flat. like, i do feel like shadi was fine, and i did honesty not really care or connect with them at all. but, i honestly wished that they changed it and that they should have built these characters up and just kind of explained more about it. and if they really wanted us to feel something, i just wished we got to know more about them and just explain and not make them all feel so flat.

anyway, that is all for today! i honestly wished i liked this book, but i did kind of liked it, and i honestly can’t wait to read the other books by this author, since i do feel like i need to read shatter me, since it is such a hyped series, and i’ve only read the first book.