This book held up very well on a reread. I originally read it in Spanish and now I had the opportunity to reread it in English for a buddy read.  I continue to feel that it is a great introduction to those who want to delve into the identities that define the Latinx community. The name is very appropriate for the topic at hand. Ramos leaves references in the back of the book that help to further learning on the topics they discuss in this work. It made for an excellent buddy read and I still strongly recommend it for an overview.

I was happy to revisit the world of Fruits Basket, even with different characters. It's clear that a lot of the trauma that the previous generation underwent has been overcome. The story feels more slice of life than Fruits Basket did. The characters are already growing on me and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better in future installments.

I was waiting for about one year for this book to come out because I wanted to know more about Luna and Donnelly's relationship. There was a lot of time spent getting to know each character individually outside of their relationship to each other. It's been a while since I read the last book, so it was nice to have moments with Beckett, Elliot, Tom, and Xander. This is mainly a romance, but I really like the found family aspects of this series. It feels like the friendships and family relationships are just as important as the central romance. It's really what keeps me coming back to these books.

Donnelly represents the underdog in the group of bodyguards. He grew up in a poor drug ridden neighborhood and overcame his drug addiction (in a way that the rest of his family was unable to unfortunately). Due to his history, Lo doesn't exactly see Donnelly in the best light. Lo has always had a streak of jerk in him that he mostly overcame in the first series. However, there are still remnants of that attitude that show up in his interactions with Donnelly. There are reasons for him to be cautious about Donnelly dating Luna, though, so I can understand his perspective. I feel that the ending of the book established a mutual level of respect between Donnelly and Lo. I'm looking forward to seeing their relationship develop in future installments.  

This book had a reasonably scattered plot. The male lead, Scar, has a complex backstory involving illegal activities in Russia. When we meet him it is clear that he is reformed and regrets many decisions he made in the past. The same can be said for the female lead,  It felt like his backstory is told in clunky snippets throught the book. I found out via another review of this book that this is pretty much a sequel to another novel. There isn't anything in the story that made that apparent to me, though. I think it would have helped me like the story more if I had more context for what was happening. I got this book via Kindle Unlimited and there was also no suggestion there that this was a sequel to anything. There is a lot of history between the romantic interests and I wanted to see more about how they met and their relationships to the other characters. Unfortunately I didn't get that in this novel and now I can't tell if it's because those are the parts I'm missing from the previous book or not or if the story really is lacking in that department. I would say that because I'm missing some backstory here, take this review with a grain of salt. The name of the supposed prequel is Fearless, so I would recommend reading that first. Maybe it will help make this story more enjoyable

I think this was a good start to a manga series. We immediately get a feel for the optimistic main character. We quickly establish the main rivalry that will be the focus of the series as well. I loved seeing the passion the characters had for food and cooking. I'm looking forward to reading future volumes and also seeing how this story comes to life in the anime adaptation.

I read this more than a year ago and forgot to leave a review when I initially read it. Therefore, I can only give a start rating based on my memory of the impression this story left on me. I'll be rereading it in the future and actually share my thoughts on it. Therefore, take this star rating with a grain of salt.

I'm an avid Dungeons and Dragons player, so I found this novel on Kindle Unlimited and could not resist. This is a fantasy romance, emphasis on the  romance. Despite mainly being a romance, there is an underlying plot with very high stakes. The characters all have interesting stories and there is a lore that is explained reasonbly well. Themes of racism are explored within this fantasy world and the cultural differences between the three main characters are revealed through their conversations together. 

The romantic relationship develops reasonably quickly, but the pacing helps make it feel more gradual rather than rushed. There is great communication between the love interests generally, which is always appreciated. There are overarching politics that involve the main characters, so I'm interested in seeing where those plotlines go in future books.

I was happy to finally read the source material for Sherlock Holmes. I've seen many adaptations throughout my life and it's great to see where the inspiration came from. There are so many takes directors and actors have had on the same stories. My favorite novel was definitely A Study in Scarlet. I didn't find any of the other novels quite as engaging and found it a bit more difficult to sit down and read them for long periods of time. I think I'll probably fare better in that department with the short stories. I don't read a lot of mystery in general, so I think that's also partially to blame for my attention span problem. However, for anyone that likes mystery and wants to pick up a classic that has prose that is easy to understand, I would definitely recommend the Sherlock Holmes novels.

This book focuses on two characters that go from being morally grey to evil very fast. The premise of the story and the world is very interesting. It reminded me a lot of X-men where you have seemingly normal people who have super powers that are not necessarily common knowledge to the public. The way the ExtraOrdinary (the name given to these super powered people) gain their powers via interesting methods.

The story goes back and forth between the present and future. The time periods are labeled which makes it easy to keep track of when events are happening and helps avoid confusion. It is fascinating to see the characters trying to reason their morally questionable decisions at first to then gradually transition to just being evil. It was like watching a train wreck happening in slow motion, but one that you want to know more about and can't stop watching. 

The prose is not as eloquent as I have seen in this author's more recent works, but I think it suits the story well. The tone used makes the story feel creepy, almost like a horror film from the perspective of the serial killer. I appreciate how unique the story is in terms of both perspective in premise. I would not call the characters enjoyable necessarily since they are terrible people, but at the very least their journey through the events of the story are interesting and kept me wanting to continue reading. The story does well as a stand alone, but I am interested in seeing what occurs in the sequel. Would definitely recommend picking up for anyone that likes villain origin stories and the like.

Character development, we love to see it. I got everything I could have wanted in this sequel. Lila and Kell circling around each other in romantic angst, a queer relationship, a mind-controlled villain, epic magic battles...what more could I ask for? I was very satisfied with the introduction of our favorite new character, Allucard

who turns out to have a connection to our favorite Red London princes

. He is incredibly charming and any scene with him is a fun time. We get to spend a bit of time with each character exploring how the events from the previous book affected them. Kell and Rhy are having a hard time dealing with how interconnected their emotions and pain is. The king and queen start restricting Kell more causing him to feel trapped and frustrated and also creating some strain in their relationship. In turn, this affects Kell's relationship with his brother as well. Lila is at sea avoiding dealing with her emotions. Everything comes to a head when the characters are eventually reunited, albeit under unusual circumstances. 

This book felt a lot more fun with the previous installments. There were further glimpses into the versatility of the magic in Red London. Additionally, the boundaries of what was thought possible are pushed further than before. The ending was frustrating, but in the best way possible. I finished it and just wanted to continue reading. This installment felt a bit slower than the previous installment, but that's probably because I was anxiously waiting for all of the characters to reunite again. I don't think that is necessarily reflective of changes in the writing itself. I am looking forward to the final installment in this series. Will definitely be picking it up soon.