Delilah Bard has acquired a ship (but not yet her own), and is exploring her burgeoning magical powers with its Captain in the world of Red London, while Kell and Rhys try to live despite their now life and death connection. Also on the horizon is a huge magical battle, where all of our players will be drawn, and a dark force is rising again in White London...

This book was fun, but not as great for me as the first book. I fear I forgot a lot of details since I've read the first book so long ago, so maybe my fault. Also, I felt that there was so much build up to this magical fest, and I've read a very similar tale in [a:Samantha Shannon|5830526|Samantha Shannon|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1450373891p2/5830526.jpg]'s [b:The Mime Order|17901125|The Mime Order (The Bone Season, #2)|Samantha Shannon|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1421696237s/17901125.jpg|25076284]. The actual cliffhanger/mystery was very minimal, which was slightly irksome.

That said, I love this world, and I can't wait to read the next book.

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.

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?

Three teens starting their senior year in a small Tennessee town come to terms with what it means to be a friend, becoming an adult, and proving you are your own person, despite your family or circumstances.

This is very much a character study of Dill, Lydia, and Travis. I struggled a bit to find the "why" of the story, but I enjoyed the three narrators, and grew fond of the characters. It felt authentic and very different from my normal YA reading choices.

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

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

.

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.

Hermione, cheer captain, senior, and all-around hardworking go-getter, is raped during summer cheer camp. She doesn't really remember what happened as she was given a drugged drink, but this is the story of how she reclaims her life.

For me, the story was very clinical. Everything progressed very smoothly and naturally, which I am sure happens sometimes, but unfortunately for a lot of others is not the case.

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.

I'm not an Archie aficionado by any means, but I'm aware of the cultural zeitgeist. That said, I found this re-vamp enchanting and timely. Fiona Staples knocked it out of the park with the illustrations (see panels detailing Archie's failed attempts at jobs, specifically the ice-cream shop). I mean, really, look at that cover. Archie is a fox!

This is my first time with Mark Waid, and the text is lovely. It has the old Archie feel, the Betty/Veronica drama, and good ol' Jughead, but again makes it feel like this gang was born in this generation.

Great for adults and teens as Waid keeps the spirit of Riverdale.