Orginally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.

I very rarely give out five stars, but Breadcrumbs earns every single one of them. A novel that straddles that strange time between childhood and the start of the journey toward adulthood, it was so delightful to read Hazel's journey. The juxtaposition of reality versus the fantastical journey Hazel takes is wonderful, and there are so many themes woven along the way; what friendship is and how it changes, how adulthood can change us, and that the cold, stark reality of being alone is something that will always be there. How you deal with it is what matters. I haven't been struck this hard by a book since I read [b:A Monster Calls|8621462|A Monster Calls|Patrick Ness|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331787035s/8621462.jpg|13492114]. Something about translating adult emotions and matters for middle-grade readers without being condescending produces some amazing work out of authors. I love it.

Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.

There are many words I can describe If I Stay as, but ouch pretty much covers it.

Following seventeen-year-old Mia as she watches life unfold after a horrible car crash that kills her family and leaves her in a coma, If I Stay is a novel that makes you question life and relationships. What connects us to those we love? What would we give to be with them? What would it take to leave them? Mia goes through all this and more, as she watches her loved ones gather in support for her, and the novel is broken up by Mia remembering her connections to them, the ways she loved them and they loved her. It’s wonderful and heartbreaking, and by the time Mia made her choice to stay or leave, I was in constant tears and with her all the way.

"Someday, Locke Lamora," he said, "someday you're going to fuck up so magnificently, so ambitiously, so overwhelmingly that the sky will light up and the moons will spin and the gods themselves will shit comets with glee. And I just hope I'm still around to see it."

"Oh please," said Locke. "It'll never happen."

I'm so torn with this. On one hand, Locke Lamora is an extremely enjoyable character to follow, and his adventures end up being so entertaining as the plot rolls along. On the other hand, it takes for-fucking-ever for the plot to appear, and there are tons upon tons of interludes that involve world building. This is a pretty damn great world that Scott Lynch has built, but was most of it necessary? I like slow build up. Hell, The Wire is one of my favorite TV shows. But this book could have been a good 200 pages shorter.

Still, this earns four stars, and at least I know what I'll be going into when I eventually get to the next book.

Marking this as finished even though we only read about half of it for class, but I'll definitely be diving back in at a later date. Really interesting debate on the matter (hehe) of the soul and immortality.

I might have to go back and re-read [b:Soulless|6381205|Soulless (Parasol Protectorate, #1)|Gail Carriger|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1314020848s/6381205.jpg|6569140], because none of the books Gail Carriger has written after that series - despite being set in the same universe - have sat well with me. (The school one is in the same universe, right? I DNF'd that too.)

Have I moved past them? Are the new ones not living up to the Parasol Protectorate? Is Dama truly a terrible nickname? Is Rue just an unforgivable a-hole that I can't find myself liking because she doesn't have half the charm her mother had?

All these questions and more answered if I ever come back to this book in the future and actually finish reading it!*



* Which is probably be never, if I'm being honest.