There was a lot in this book that I liked and related to. Rademacher presented teaching in an unflinching way, while also showing the heart it takes to be a good teacher. 

This was what I wanted The Secret History to be. It has a lot of similarities but I’ll admit I liked this one better. Everyone was a terrible, out at least horribly complicated, person, and the way the story unraveled worked really well. I enjoyed this!

This is the kind of romance book I love—one that has intense chemistry and leads who you understand and root for, while the real world still exists around them. Sure, I wanted to scream at Alexis several times, but it was out of love. Daniel was amazing, and the town around them was pure magic (maybe literally?). Even though I saw how it would end pretty early on, I still cried when I got to the end. Just beautiful and magical all around. 

I forgot how hard it is to like Remy. She’s one of Dessen’s protagonist that’s difficult and complicated. I totally understand her, but I still get really frustrated with her. But, the story is good! Dexter is almost “manic-pixie dream boy” for me, but he’s still great. 

I mostly liked this book. The overall idea was fun (although I didn’t realize this was the 4th in a series of rom-coms featuring dogs, but that’s ok), but most of my issue came from the main characters. Both of them were so obsessed with their romantic lives and what was wrong with them to make their previous relationships fail. Charlotte says multiple times that she loves herself, but expresses so much self-hate it was infuriating. These insecurities were portrayed pretty realistically, though, and the friends to lovers worked pretty well. I may go back and check out the other books in the series!

I liked the message of this book, but I just had a problem with the main character. I can't stand narrators who lie all of the time, or think that telling a simple lie won't have consequences. The overall idea behind this book I really liked, I just waned a bit more from the main character. 

This book is beautifully filled with rage and grief and sadness. Poetry isn’t normally my thing, but this is a collection I can see myself coming 
 back to again and again. 

Some people in other reviews discussed the mix of serious issues and romance as a detriment, but I found that the infusion of Armenian culture was my favorite part of this book. I liked the love interest, the food, the conflicts. I just didn’t like the main character. I wanted to like her, but the more bad decisions she made make me just not enjoy her as much. That doesn’t mean she didn’t feel real, because she did, it was just hard to read as she kept making those decisions. 

This was really enjoyable! It was a bit over the top at times, but Alexander was able to convey deep emotions in the language and format that was used. It was a really interesting story, with a cool mix of music and grief and family.