39th of 42 children, with countless half-siblings to boot, Ruth Wariner grew up in a polygamous Mormon enclave in Mexico. Confronting the horribly difficult aspects of her formative years, this is a brave and hard book to read. You want to throttle Ruth's mother who didn't protect Ruth or her siblings from Lane, Ruth's step-father and expected her unconditional support and help. What shines through the darkness is Ruth's tenacity, and her true love for her family and mother, despite all.

Man this book is depressing. That said, it is uplifting in the sense that despite it all, Ruth is living a life she wants, and was able to get out. I was really touched by her credit to her grandparents, who she lived with for a brief time when she was young as being the example she could look to that she could get out.

A fun dip back into the world of the Shadowhunters, this time exploring a mystery briefly introduced in [b:City of Heavenly Fire|8755785|City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6)|Cassandra Clare|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389748702s/8755785.jpg|13629068]. Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn are five years older, and have been basically raising the brood of Blackthorn children we met at the LA Institute during Sebastian's war against the Shadowhunters. They are now parabatai, are forbidden from falling in love (see where this is going?), and are also forbidden from investigating or working with the Fae. Too bad they don't listen to any of it.

While quite long (a bit overlong in my opinion), this was really fun. It is your typical Clare-fare; lots of steamy will they or won't they, throbbing loins, deception, and good old battles. I enjoyed the majority of the new characters, and look forward to seeing how this whole parabatai thing plays out. At least it isn't incest this time.

SPOILERS ahead.

Spoiler

I have to say, I was super happy Julian and Emma already slept together and that wasn't drawn out for a million pages. We already know that the rest of the trilogy will be a series of pining and lies to keep them apart, and I am interested to see how things go with Julian's brother Mark and Emma and their plan to "fake" fall in love but maybe not really fake? My biggest annoyance was the Annabel Lee plot line, as it felt it was a bit of a stretch, but okay. It was also fun to see our old favorites reappear, but I must have missed when Alec and Magnus adopted a kid (actually two). Must have been in the short stories?

A charming tale set in a small bookstore on Alice Island, its owner A.J. Fikry, and the people who come in and out of his life. Interspersed with alternating POVs and Fikry's own book reviews, this is a perfect (and short) novel for literary lovers.

A fun, gory return to Central Wisconsin and the revivers. I really need to go back and re-read the previous volumes, as I was a little lost with who murdered who, and who certain people are, but I still look forward to every subsequent volume.

Imagine a future where everyone values their privacy, and live multiple secret lives complete with masks. Facebook, smart phones, social media, and the internet are relics of the past, and people are no longer interested in erecting digital monuments to their selves.

Revolving around a P.I. and a murder case, I thoroughly enjoyed this take on future society. BKV's writing sparkles as per usual, and I really enjoyed the art. The physical format of the book was a bit unwieldy, but since this was meant to be a digital comic, I can forgive that easily.

I've been a fan of this series since [b:The Winner's Curse|16069030|The Winner's Curse (The Winner's Trilogy, #1)|Marie Rutkoski|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1377023523s/16069030.jpg|21861552] and adore the interplay and fraught tension between the desires and needs of Arin and Kestrel and their respective people. I was really excited for the series finale, and while it was a worthy finale, I did not love it for personal reasons

Spoiler

as I am not a fan of the "memory-loss trope" and I was overwhelmed with battle details that I didn't really care about

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However, Marie Rutkoski is a lovely wordsmith, and I really did care what happened to these two in the end. I will give this a re-read soon.

On the surface, the story of a terrible deed committed by a group of friends, but really so much more. Tartt does an excellent job of making you think the story is about "the thing" but really the story is about the players who did "the thing" and how terrible they truly all are.

I think the first Tartt you read will be your favorite Tartt, so for me [b:The Goldfinch|17333223|The Goldfinch|Donna Tartt|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1451554970s/17333223.jpg|24065147] will forever hold that sacred space, but this was truly amazing. So dense, rich, and sumptuous. I had to look up words and ideas, and I loved how she wasn't afraid to throw Greek phrases at you with no translation. Bravo.

The flap copy for this book totally undersold how absolutely terrible both Kyle and Alison are and what an evil, witty, and darkly humorous ride the reader is in for.

Basically a story of two soulmates NOT being together after they both decide to honor their paths in life rather than risk it for love. The story plops the reader down into the drama about a year and 1/2 after their final break up. Kyle and Alison have a few interactions, but we mainly spend time in their respective heads as they fumble through life.

I didn't like either one of them, but I really enjoyed getting to know their characters.