I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did! I thought I had grown out of YA vampire novels, but this one proved me wrong. This is exactly how you do a YA vampire novel. There's revenge, feminism, some gay action, emotional sacrifices, and modern issues vampires might come across (like where to live and how to make money when you're 16 forever).

I really liked the main character, Holly. I found her growth refreshing and I liked how strong she became. I also enjoyed Rose and Ida, who became her two companions from different time periods. I wasn't a fan of Stacey at first, but she grew on me as her friendship with Holly was explored and rekindled. But I really liked Parker. I was worried she was going to come across as the whiney girl who really, like really, wants to be a vampire, but she was different. I liked her spunk and her openness. 

I thought it was written well, and I really loved the story. 

This was, indeed...really good, actually. The cover and title immediately caught my attention, but I was invested from page 1. 

The writing...oh my goodness the writing is so well done. The book is in written in first-person perspective, our main character Maggie. It's descriptive and quirky and full of character. I'm definitely keeping an eye out for any other books this author has written or will write.

For anyone who has gone through a hard break-up, the story of Maggie's will make you feel not as alone. You'll relate to her, and maybe you'll even say "wow, at least I never got to THAT point of crazy," and maybe you'll even feel better.

It's laugh-out-loud funny and insightful and so relatable. 5 stars, easy.

I will preface this with the fact that I am not the target audience. I read this because I didn’t read it as a child, and it definitely would have been better if I read it when I was one. 

It was certainly adventurous, and it was shown through the eyes of a child. The awful aunts were awful because they were mean and of course they were also ugly (that’s how you can tell if someone is the villain). Everything was hyperbolic, and for a kid, that is probably great. As an adult, it was hard to push through. 

I didn’t feel like James had any personality. He was the only one who could come up with ideas to save them from certain death many times, but that was about it. The creatures in the Peach had more personality than he did, in my opinion. 

I read this years after reading We Were Liars, so I probably didn’t get or remember any little references in this book to events that happened in WWL. But I still enjoyed this one. I’m a fan of the way E. Lockhart writes in capturing inner thoughts and feelings of characters in a very grey way. 

I don’t think I was too engrossed with the plot of this one. It felt like everything happened at the very end in the last 5th of the book. It has a good progression and pacing for this, though. I would have just liked something a little more substantial earlier on plot-wise to really invest in, but that’s a personal preference for me. 

I didn’t mind the characters too much. I didn’t necessarily find them lovable, but that’s not a bad thing. I couldn’t find much to relate, too, though. 

Overall, not bad. If you liked WWL, you’d probably like this one. I wouldn’t say it’s better, but it’s a good addition to the world. 

Wow this was so well done. A powerful story about grief, balancing the past with the future, forgiveness, race, and being true to yourself. 

Mama Lettie’s character was the most impressive to me because she grew both on me and as a person. I definitely hated her at the beginning, but found myself extremely sad once

she died

. 

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the random third person narratives that showed the past, but I ended up eventually accepting them. I liked the differentiation and peek at past truths. 

I had chills at the end of the book when the last chapter spoke of monuments. 

Overall, very well done. 

I didn’t think I would give this 5 stars but wow was this amazing. All the characters were written with so much depth. I loved how the “pov” changed so fluidly between characters to show how much their lives connected. They were interwoven so well. 

I don’t usually like time jumps that much, but I LOVED it here. They were so fluid as well, too. 

And I did not think I was going to cry at the end, but I did??? The writing was so wonderful and concise but said so much. 

I don’t usually read poetry, but this was so timely and relevant and lovely. What a great recap of the awful time that was summer 2020. 

A very quick read that is touching and powerful. 

I happened to read this in the wee hours of the morning, so I was extremely tired, but it didn’t hold my attention. It was pretty fast-paced and I believe a kid who loves fantasy and fantasy creatures as an introduction from the “normal world” would really like this book and series. It just didn’t do it for me. I didn’t feel like the characters developed at all and we weren’t given a lot of answers. 

This was such a cute middle grade graphic novel!! I loved this fantasy world full of moths, the moon, friendship, and found family. A very quick read, even though it feels like a think book. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and glow effortlessly. 

I came into reading this about a year after reading the series, so I enjoyed this quite a bit! I knew going into it that it was a prequel, and while you could definitely read this first before the other ones, it’s kind of fun to read it in release order. There’s something about going backwards and making connections as to why characters are the way they are. 

I also love how this fuled Pipa’s crime obsession. It was a fun little extra story that I as fun to try to solve along the way!