This was a very moving and emotional coming of age story and I found myself continually surprised by the twists the plot took throughout. 

I really enjoyed the way that poetry was interwoven into the prose of the novel and it definitely added to the emotional tone of the book. 
However, I kept getting lost and confused by the HXVX (which I felt was explained slightly too late in the book) and I sometimes felt like I only understood something a few chapters after it was supposedly revealed. Also, having 'tbh', 'def' and more as part of the narration and not dialogue or text messages or anything is something that always pulls me out of a book and lets me engage with the story less. 

The short stories were enjoyable but there was a sense that there was supposed to be a theme or some sense of cohesion (other than romance) but then there wasn't. It jumped across genres, half of the stories centred around Christmas and the others didn't, half of them surrounded characters from Rowell's other novels and the other half didn't. 

This was such a beautiful book. 

TJ Klune just has this ability to write books that are so comforting and cozy but also really emotional?? Bonus points for the philosophical debates he always brings into his fantasy novels too. 

This is a book that I think will stay with me for a very long time. The character progression and the relationships between all the characters is written so smoothly and convincingly. I can definitely see this being a book I reread over and over again when I need the comfort (or the ending again for a good cry). 

yikes it’s my first one star of the year. 

for a book about championing bisexuality and accepting yourself there’s so much biphobia in this book it was unreal. 

Gina/Gee/Georgina/GiGi/George makes a point of pointing out really harmful stereotypes around bisexuality multiple times in this book and then…. does it anyway? 

She convinces her boyfriend of seven years to make their relationship an open one, using her bisexuality to guilt-trip him, because she doesn’t want to break up with him but very much does already fancy someone else and this whole thing is an elaborate ploy so it’s not cheating if she has sex with her band mate. 

She’s an awful person to her friends constantly and seems to think this is perfectly okay as long as it fits her own agenda. At one point she literally hopes for a panic attack so her friends will simper over her and be nice to her after she’s been horrible to them. 

Good intentions, awful execution. 

this book was so well written it was so easy to forget that it wasn't ficton. 

So raw and real, emotion spills from the pages. Jenette holds nothing back in this memoir and it does get graphic so it's worth checking the trigger warnings before you read. Well worth the hype. 

this was a really accessible story of someone coming to terms with their identity and I can imagine it being really useful for younger people who are going through this themselves!

This is a book that had so many good reviews, and as a huge fan of Schitt's Creek I was really excited to read this. Spoiler: it fell a bit flat. 

I did enjoy Heisey's writing, and for a book following someone's divorce it still managed to feel very fresh and different which is something I was worried about as I think a lot of these books can feel very samey. 

Maggie was so problematic, which is something that's explored in the book, but she blames her awful treatment of her friends on the fact that she's divorced, and it takes her a long time to realise the consequences of this and do anything to fix this until almost the very end. There was a big emphasis on how unsual it was for Maggie to be divorced so young, but at times it did read like she was in her mid-40s, not 28/29 like she was supposed to be. 

Also, Jon was totally right to cut Maggie off after she was repeatedly harassing him, but I cannot forgive him stealing the cat and this really felt like something that should have been resolved in the book. In general I thought his character did a 180 with very little explanation (until later in the book almost off-handedly).

Honestly thought I was going to hate this going into the book as someone who has never watched love island etc but Sophie Gonzales' writing is so good!!

I honestly hated Jordy from the get go and every time he was in a scene I could feel my irritation pouring out of me. He was so toxic and manipulative but hid it so well that he made for the perfect rom-com villain.

Also, call me stupid but I did not expect the romance between Skye and Maya but as soon as those first hints started dropping I was sooo here for it, ditch the guy for his ex-girlfriend. power move!!

I appreciated how quickly we moved past all the internalised misogyny between all the exes and realised the problem was Jordy - again going into it I saw this as an easy rabbit hole to fall down but was so happy when it didn't!

This was such a great in break up revenge story whilst also being a wholesome romance!