booklistqueen's Reviews (634)

 Adelaide's dreamy life in London is made even better when she falls hard for Rory. He might not be the perfect boyfriend, but she's fallen so hard for him that he lights up her world. When Rory's ex-girlfriend dies, Adelaide does all she can to hold him together. However, she worries she is losing herself in the process. A powerful debut exploring toxic relationships and mental health.

Adelaide was an interesting debut novel to read. I had a hard time connecting with the story at first because I desperately wanted Adelaide to just leave Rory. As an outsider, it's obvious he's an asshole who needs therapy. Yet, when you are in the relationship, it can be so hard to see the obvious. About halfway through, I was hooked as I began to learn more about both Adelaide and Rory's past relationship trauma and how that affected their current relationship. While not always a pleasant read, Adelaide was a thoughtful debut touching on intimate topics. 

 In a world ravaged by climate change, Rose takes a job as a sex worker at Camp Zero, an American building project in the northern end of Canada. However, Rose is secretly spying on the camp architect, hoping to win a place for her and her mother in one of the elite climate change survival cities. At the same time, Grant, a newly arrived college professor, realizes the camp is not at all what was promised. Meanwhile, a group of female scientists arrive at a remote research station and begin to question their orders.

I was extremely curious when, for her April book club, Jenna Bush Hager picked this feminist dystopian novel with a f*ck the patriarchy message. I love science fiction, especially dystopian fiction, however, I wasn't impressed with Camp Zero. Unfortunately, the narration is a step removed from the action, relying heavily on flashbacks. When combined with the slow plot, Camp Zero was difficult to get into. 

In the seventh and final book of the Throne of Glass series, Aelin Galathynius must use every strength she can after being captured and tortured by Queen Maeve. Meanwhile, without Aelin, Aedion and Lysandra must try to hold her kingdom together as Erawan sends his forces against Terrasen. As Rowan and his companions try to free Aelin and Dorian, Chaol and Manon set off on their own quests, the final battle for Erilea comes to an exciting conclusion in this excellent ending to an excellent series. 

 After leaving you with a massive cliffhanger, Maas spends the sixth book of the Throne of Glass series on a side quest of Chaol Westfall, former Captain of the Guard. Paralyzed by the King of Adarlan and traumatized by recent events, Chaol sets off with Nesryn to request aid in the war from the Khagan of the Southern Continent. Working with a talented healer, Chaol learns more about the Valg than they realized.

Although Tower of Dawn made Chaol more understandable and added to the greater world-building of the series, it was a let-down to go from Empire of Storms's high-action cliffhanger to Tower of Dawn's slow predictable storyline. 

In the fifth book of the Throne of Glass series, Aelin Galathynius uses every trick up her sleeve to unite the people of Erilea to fight against the looming darkness from Morath. Yet the gods have a bigger plan for Aelin, one that might require more than she is willing to give. Despite the increasingly large cast of characters, Maas was surprisingly able to focus on each character's development individually. With plenty of action and an intense ending that makes you immediately want to pick up the next book, Empire of Storms gets five stars from me. 

 Comedy writer Sally Milz has given up on finding love, channeling herself into her work writing for a television late-night live comedy show. When her average-looking male coworker starts dating a celebrity, Sally decides to write a sketch about how that would never happen for an average-looking woman. As she works on the sketch with Noah Brewster, this week's pop music host, she realizes that sparks are flying and her life is looking more and more like a romantic comedy.

Romantic Comedy is a light and cute read that started off well but fails to keep your interest. I loved the setup of Sally and Noah working together at an SNL-style sketch comedy show. However, the book takes a hard turn in the second section, with over 100 pages of pandemic email correspondence that was hard to get into. To make matters worse, once Sally and Noah meet again in person, all the tension completely disappears, making the inevitable happily-ever-after less satisfying. 

 Celaena Sartdothien has finally embraced her birthright as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before claiming her throne, Aelin must return to Rifthold one last time to face her past. Not only must Aelin rescue her cousin from execution and confront Arobynn Hamel, the King of the Assassins, but also face her former lover, Chaol, and decide if there is any way to save Prince Dorian.

With another excellent entry in the Throne of Glass series, I've been impressed with how well Maas has been able to keep the series thrilling, pushing new narratives and characters instead of just repeating the plot of the first book. 

Two years after their spouses are killed tragically, DC philanthropist Sloane Chase is ready to settle down with Senator Whit Montgomery. When Sloane needs a routine hip replacement, they hire Athena as a home health aide. Instead of getting better, Sloane gets sicker and she begins to suspect Athena might be there to replace her.

Liv Constantine's domestic thriller was a good, but not quite great, read. The narrative keeps you constantly on edge as things get worse and worse for Sloane. To the point where you honestly don't think there is any way out of it for poor Sloane. This slow-burn mystery required too much suspension of disbelief for me to fully enjoy, but did have some fun twists and turns.

When the grandmother who raised her ends up in the hospital after a fall, Jess rushes back from London to Sydney to take care of her. While going through her grandmother's house, Jess discovers a true crime book, following the suspicious deaths of a mother and her children on Christmas Eve in 1959. As any journalist would, Jess begins to look into the mystery and the surprising connections to her family's history.

I absolutely love Kate Morton's books and was thrilled to read her latest historical mystery. The book started off well, if a bit slow, wrapping you into the last day of the Turner family. Did Mrs. Turner really poison her children and herself? What happened to her missing baby? I was initially captivated by Morton's writing, but with a quarter of the story dedicated to a book within a book, Homecoming was just too long for me. By the time Morton started wrapping up the mystery, I wasn't nearly as invested as I wanted to be and just wanted the story to end. 

In the third book of the Throne of Glass series, Celaena Sardothien must explore her fire magic in order to learn more about how to defeat the Wyrdkeys. With the help of the Fae prince Rowan Whitethorn, Celaena is forced to navigate her Fae abilities while memories of her childhood arise. Meanwhile in Adarlan, Prince Dorian tries to manage his magic with the help of Sorscha, a royal nurse, and Chaol must decide his loyalties when Celaena's cousin Aedion arrives, one of the King's generals who is secretly working with the rebels. I found Heir of Fire just as thrilling as the previous book and cannot wait to see what happens in the rest of the series.