Another series that is losing a bit of steam for me. I probably should have reviewed the previous two trades, as I sort of forgot where the characters left off but even so, I found this arc dragging. Not as fun as the first two.

I do love a good P&P retelling, and I neither loved nor truly loathed this latest attempt. I found various parts of the story refreshing

hello hate sex

and enjoyed the moments when Liz and Darcy were on page together, but other parts I found myself skimming or skipping entirely. More Liz and Darcy PLEASE. Most of the characters are portrayed as fairly awful people with not much to redeem them (see Mrs. Bennett), which I found to not be in the true spirit of P&P, and the last chapter in Mary's voice was wholly out of place.

I listened to this as part of my work's 2016 Staff Book Bingo contest for "book with a red cover!"

A charming, if predictable, tale of a librarian who loses her job due to budget cuts but finds a new career and love in the Highlands of Scotland.

Luckily for Nina, she finds a lot of help and goodwill on her journey to becoming a mobile van driving bookseller (which got a bit old), but overall this was a fun, quick read with one of the best paragraph descriptions of Scotland I have recently read.

I have to complain a bit about the title and the cover of this novel. There is NO bookshop on the corner - the bookshop is a van - and the picture on the ARC I received is of a classic bookshop window. I think something a bit more clever could be used to help really sell the story.

SO MUCH KISSING, and a main character who is sort of annoying but you kind of like her anyway, even thought you kind of hate her because she's classically down on herself but has two super hot men who think she's the only woman in the world. Whatevs, I still had fun reading it. Armentrout does a good job of building a world full of demons and gargoyles while maintaining a fairly light and breezy tone despite other dark elements (murder, soul sucking, etc). Urban Fantasy Light? I don't know. More kissing.

Fortunately the love triangle gets wrapped up fairly quickly at the beginning of the tale, so we can spend more time with the smooching and less with the angst. However, the ultimate resolution to the overarching issue (defeating the Lillin) came from lots of luck and dues ex machina. Oh well, that isn't why I read this. Still fun, and super sexy.

The premise intrigued me - how would I feel if a childhood love became a famous author after telling my story (even a fictionalized version of it)? However, the drama promised in the description fell fairly flat in execution. The reader is made to "read" the fictionalized story of the main character's childhood, a childhood traumatized her so much she didn't tell her long term boyfriend most of the story. The reader is also made to feel this is building up to an explosive confrontation between the Emmiline and Jace, but no, not really. Just finish the book he tells her, that will make it all clear. Right.

Not for me.

A character study of two 30-something best friends in NYC who struggle internally with their friendship. With essentially no plot and a writing style that is fairly free-form and stream of conscious, I enjoyed it enough to finish but think those looking for the next "it book" as pushed by the advertising will be disappointed.

Also, while I found some of the insights the author brought forward on female friendship intriguing and truthful, it is annoyingly written by a man which I couldn't seem to forget while I read.

After a secret somebody completes an obscure song lyric Lily wrote on her Chemistry class desk, they begin exchanging secret letters. Not sure who this person may be, Lily still begins to form a crush on her pen pal.

Very cute, almost too cute, but still an enjoyable and quick YA read. I figured out who the secret pen pal was right away, but it didn't lessen the story.

Recommended to me by a trusted friend, and she steered me right! Thankfully, I've remained "spoiler-free" on this novel, so I was able to be swept away by the creepy atmosphere, the beautiful (yet sinister imagery), and the odd characters. You immediately get a sense that something is not quite right with Maxim, his household, and the legacy of Rebecca, and the payoff at the end is simply fantastic.

Basically, the "Gone Girl" of the 1930s and a perfect summer read.