I’m trying to review this for what it is & the intended audience

The author successfully made it sound like a high teenager’s journal, the references they would find clever. It was a nice stroll down memory lane of being a juvenile delinquent & Hunter S Thompson-ing around high school 

I understand this is the 1st in the series but I was wholly unsatisfied with the conclusion of this book.

Another thriller about the insidious world of momfluencers. The writing is witty & funny, starts off with Chiara is excited to make mom friends at a retreat aimed at growing your social media brand & fostering coMOMunity, but she doesn’t fit it in & it ends with a bang. The humor stays & turns into a campy slasher as our hero (of sorts) takes on moms of all forms from the #tradwife to the #BossMom.

This book is deeply unserious, a hilarious ride.

Very enjoyable. The set up at first seemed pretty generic but the characterization of the 3 estranged sisters & their trauma responses to their abusive upbringing & subsequent murder of their parents kept it interesting. Nice & twisty. 

Very quickly realized this is aggressively not for me.

Book 2 of ACOTAR Werewolves was pretty good. We start in fake-Rhys’s castle & meet all his broken friends while the FMC gets irked at fake-Tamlin for treating her like a damsel. 

Did I race through it? Yes. Did I love the endless hurt/comfort scenes? Of course.

But there’s too much extra politics & side characters. & 1 character that has all the info & spits it all out at convenient times. The dialog is not good.

Still def reading the next book.

“That’s quite the life of leisure that you are leading. Tell me, do you have any injuries or ailments? Just looking at you, you seem to be in good health.”

“No, nothing particularly wrong with me at all. Of course, my spirit is completely burned out.”

📚

I liked the idea more than I enjoyed the book itself. Set in post WWII Japan, originally published in 1948. Easy read, odd characters, something seems lost in translation, & ending ran too long

Dina hosts a (not so peaceful) peace summit at the inn.

Honestly this series is so odd. I like Dina. Andrews always do a good job with their FMCs (not pushovers, but not bristly for no reason, never the sole powerful female, never a Mary Sue, like actual people but with powers) I’m not 1000% sold on it exactly but I’m left pretty curious. The chef made this one for me.

Kemmerer’s books are just a nice big hug for me. I knew this was in the same world as the Cursebreaker series but didn’t realize it’s essentially a continuation (so def read that first). But I was very happy to be back there. The plotting, the secrets, the relationships, the miscommunications, the sheer wholesomeness is just perfect.

Magical school with young teens set in Nigeria drawing from  African myths. It was neat, the characters were well done & felt very distinct in their voices & actions. I liked the magic system & what not but 1 thing perturbed me: the MC is albino & she gets offended saying that ppl always think albinos have powers or something like they are not human… but then she does have a special subset of powers bc she’s albino… anyway, it was good tho

“We worshipped gods of our choosing. Satan. Christ. America. Celebrities. Capitalism. Clean living. The New England Patriots. La Croix.”

The main character; Vesper, was great. The overall metaphor & message isn’t particularly striking, 1/2 the plot seemed to be nonsense that was inconsequential to the main theme & resolution. But Harrison’s mix of horror & humor is impeccable.