this was my christmas travel audio listen, and it was a cute little companion but overall it kind of fell flat? i sped it up a TON just waiting for the flame to catch and the story to start sparkling but it never really did, even with good bones (friends to enemies to lovers, smart students competing for scholarships in a wilderness setting, academic rivals, found family friend groups, etc). i wanted more!!!

did i know this was book #2 in a series when i read it? nope! did it matter? not really! (it’s more of the best friend’s story than a sequel story about the first book’s main couple.) it was an easy breezy love story centered on a reality show and a DNA based dating site, and i loved seeing a flirty, sex-positive female main character take the reins on what she wanted in the way society so often only wants cishet men to do! but also, her nickname being fizzy just really made me like 🤨 AND ALSO until i read the author’s note at the end and realized this had been a highly requested spinoff story from the first book, i was uneasy about two white women writing a story with a chinese american main character (i have so many feelings and thoughts about this and i don’t know how to resolve them all!!)… lots to ponder there. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️ in the end for this one! #radthreestarreads

6d

i read this in one sitting at a coffeeshop but the story did not click for me. the boss character was an absolute mess and the way he invited himself to laurel's family christmas, thus causing the need for her to fake a family, life on a farm, and essentially pretend her sisters' entire life was hers? no thanks. didn't really work as a plot device for me, and he was just so clueless and mopey the whole time! nothing about this one was believable or even cute or fun to go along with, and the "love story" had absolutely no chemistry or spark to it. i really didn't find much about this one likable at all, sadly! not a win for me.

it was @shannanwrites who put this one on my radar far too long ago but i finally listened to it and it’s a FANTASTIC read. (a great audio listen too, read by the author!) 

abdurraqib’s voice is bold and unflinching, poetic and powerful as he weaves stories of songs with events in our lives and in the world, unpacking themes of identity and belonging and so much more. i was so moved by this one and so compelled by how songs and bands and artists wove their way into the narrative of his own story, even in surprising ways (like his unexpected love for carly rae jepsen as a Black muslim man).

SO worth a read. 

I HAVE A NEW FAVORITE ROMANCE ❣️😍🙌🏼💯✨

win + bo are truly PERFECT. this one is just in a league of its own when it comes to love stories, i don’t even have words for how beautifully, tenderly, authentically, heart-explodingly it was written. it came from the realest place within @authorhannahby’s own lived experience, and it makes the story SING.

i couldn’t adore this one more. i will swoon over it forever.

the incredible nuanced tenderness and care and sensitivity around disability and limb differences… the unplanned pregnancy… the family dynamics… everything was written with such a — grace? depth? heart? i don’t even know to describe it but it’s a treasure.

would give this one a whole galaxy of stars if such a rating existed. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for one of my most favorite reads of the year (and ever, tbh) #radfivestarfaves#radofalltheradreads