i didn’t grow up with britney’s music (sheltered christian kids, where you at?! 🙋🏼‍♀️) but it’s impossible to not know her hits and the headlines that have marked her story over the years. i knew loosely about the abusive dynamics with her parents and the intensity of her conservatorship, but truly, reading this made me so sad for what she has endured at the hands of people who should have loved, cared, and supported her. the trauma and grief throughout her life is deep, and i cannot imagine how hard it had to have been to be so trapped in your own life with so little control because of the manipulation of your parents and other powerful people. 

i’m glad she told her story — this feels like a book where the goal was just to get the things out there after so long of holding them back, and while the writing style is a bit elementary and the chapters felt a bit hollow at times or gaps almost lost me, i didn’t expect brilliance in that regard. (tbh, with celeb memoirs and ghostwriters and such, i rarely do!)

all told, it was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me — i liked it, and i empathize more deeply with her after reading it, and i’m glad she’s free to live life on her own terms now.

the way i FLEW through this book!!! we love a sweet, shy, sensitive king! we love characters with real depth! we love one night stands that TOTALLY foreshadow falling in love! we love summer camp settings! so much goodness in this gem— hannah grace is a new fave for me and i can’t waaaait to keep reading more from her. (henry next PLZZZZZ)

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH I HAVE TO SCREAM ABOUT IT

i don’t know what @hannahgraceauthor put in these pages but holy moly, i want a million more love stories like this one!!! what a gloriously GOOOOD book, with the steamiest spice and the best cast of characters (HOCKEY PLAYERS FOREVER AND EVER AMEN) and the funniest humor and just all around most amazing romance… gahhhhh i truly can’t find words for all the things i loved but i was squealing and FEELING THINGS and smiling so dang hard while reading that my face hurt, if that tells you anything.

it just made sense to read this one on halloween (while i listened to my neighbor sing “lover” to himself, loudly, BADLY, over and over and over… 🫨) but tbh it was not a good read 🫢

i wanted to love it, and it had good bones (fake dating! sapphic love! love potions! magical witches!), but the plot was so slow and felt so forced? i just really couldn’t get into it and felt like the characters really never clicked or had chemistry (lol) so sadly, it was a ⭐️⭐️ read for me.

thanks to @berkleypub for sending me this one!

our october #alltheradreadsbookclub pick was a fun and twisty one! 😵‍💫 the characters were all kind of the worst but i was absolutely HOOKED and could NOT put it down (literally finished it in 24 hours and was legitimately annoyed i had to stop reading because i got sleepy).

the pacing was perfect, the twists were juuuust right, and the ending has me already putting book #2 on hold at the library to see what happens next!

i’ve read two horror books by harrison now and i have to say, i don’t think i get it. i expected horror to be terrifying, or gruesome, or tightly wound with anticipation and dread and fear, or something out of nightmares… and this was just a story about a werewolf? that wasn’t very intense or even that exciting? i was so confused by this one like i was by black sheep, and i don’t know if it’s me or these books?!??

thanks to @berkleypub for sending me this copy so i could give it a whirl!

it’s bizarre how a book from your childhood can stick with you so much that you remember the details of the disturbing illustrations and the specific names of the characters and how your fourth grade class named the pet parakeet petey in honor of the bird in the book… and also how scary it was when you thought the professor was about to kidnap and murder the kids?!?? 😵

i for SURE had an egypt-fascination era as a kid (anyone else?!) — there was a cleopatra halloween costume, a hieroglyphics book i tried to learn how to write from, even a chicken mummification extra credit project that went horribly wrong in the backyard at one point… 🤢

but about the book, it definitely had a dark tone to it and some heavy/somber themes, and probably wouldn’t be one i’d readily share with kiddos now, but it’s an award winner and a classic, so what do i know!

i'm a sucker for a shakespeare retelling (maybe it's the shakespeare class i took in school and all the deep dives i did into his plays?!) and was THRILLED that chloe wrote another one, this one spinning off of the taming of the shrew. i LOOOOOVED the first wilmot sisters book and read it recently, so i jumped right into this one, but it makes me sad to say it took a while for me to get in the groove with this one! the second half was wonderful, but it had a slow start and didn't hook me right away, and it didn't end up being the five star favorite i was hoping it would be. i'm still sticking with a solid four stars, and i truly enjoyed it, but it didn't blow me away like i anticipated it would. i just love a katerina story and wanted a liiiiiittle more from this one!