Fantastic read!! I will be recommending it to everyone!
Obviously, this isn't an easy read - not in the sense that it's difficult to read, but challenging to comprehend - as a white person. As I continue to educate myself, and how my good intentions don't always come across as great, I find myself reaching for hard-to-swallow pills. But the pills are helpful, so I continue to read these hard-to-read books. Each voice I hear is going to help, just like those pills. This book is one of those pills and Oulo is one of those voices. 

Good start, boring middle, weird end. General expectations were met, but not exceeded. 
Be wary of the kinks, they're not for everyone - otherwise, you can expect a happily ever after. 

I originally wanted to read this because some of my students recommended it, and I wanted to see what the hype was all about! And...ugh. 

Loved the setting and plot and the general creepy vibes buuuut hate the characters -- specifically Amy. Amy makes me want to smack my head against a wall, BUT then I remember that I would have loved her as a teen girl. She’s exactly the right amount of ‘not like other girls’ mixed with the plot of being a heroine that I would have devoured as a confused and childish kid.  It should be noted that my favourite character was the pet rat. 

For the actual story, the middle was quite boring what with the training and lacklustre battle scenes. I’ll admit though, emotion-based magic? Always good! The ending truly sets up the reader for a classic trilogy, what with the neverending questions and zero real answers. I think the premise might be strong enough to add the second book to my tbr but I'm not eager to read it at the moment. 

While some essays were stronger than others, I enjoyed the overall experience of listening to this collection! My favourites included Always Be Optimizing, Pure Heroines, and The Cult of Difficult Women. It was definitely the right time and place to read Trick Mirror, as many of Tolentino‘s stories stuck out to me. 

The writing itself is thought provoking and challenging, rephrasing my own thoughts into a new point of view. 

My mother is a huge fan of mysteries, specifically thrillers and horror. I’ve attempted reading her favourites a few times, but have never enjoyed them. So she recommended that I give “comfy mysteries” a shot, since I love Murder, She Wrote and Miss Marple.

The Broken Spine fits “comfy mystery” perfectly. I enjoyed reading it, even if I didn’t particularly like how they dismissed digital books. But my own opinion aside, the novel’s plot was cool and the setting was calm and the characters were chill. Comfy, all around.

I’ll probably pick up the next in the series! 

My love-hate relationship with the miscommunication trope is going to be detrimental to my health and reading habits. Additionally, my obsession with reverse harems, set in the omegaverse, keeps calling me back. 

It was beyond interesting! Listening to how much research and empathy went into creating this book was almost heartwarming, in comparison to the rather sad and dark information. It was an important look into the lives of women who were often looked-over. 

I sat down today and decided to read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. There was nothing else on my schedule, aside from a meeting after lunch, but that left me with plenty of time to tackle this book that has been hyped to the point of no return. And holy shit I'm officially joining the hype-train as well.

I laughed, I cried, I loved, and so did Evelyn. The characters all felt beyond real and the pace was beautifully set, and the plot was filled with turns that twisted my heart. I don't know if I'll ever fully recover from the writing in this book, purely because it felt like it matched my own style — I am now officially on the hunt for more Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Honestly, I didn't think it would be possible for a "TikTok" book to be this good but even the parts that I didn't like were still good. I prefer third-person, but hearing the character's voices felt intimate. I didn't agree with all of the character's decisions, but they felt flawed in the right way. 

I could go on and on, transforming each 'con' into a 'pro', but instead, I'm going to lend the book to my mother right now. She needs to read this, and maybe you do too. 

I really wanted to like this book more, simply because it felt like everyone really liked this book. And I did, I loved the concept and the settings and the prose and the curse. But good god...I did not like the characters. 

To be honest, I have never met such boring, bland leads in my entire life. The sad immortal girl got on my nerves only a few chapters in, and Henry is just...meh...in every possible way. Even the supporting cast was mediocre. Luc was honestly the best character, which is very on-brand for me. Maybe I just didn't connect with these characters, or maybe I missed something while reading?

However, the writing was beautiful (albeit slow in the beginning) and the plot made me want more (with the ending promising something a bit more entertaining from Addie) — just with different people living these same lives. 

The author walks on a balancing beam, a delicate line, as he sees both sides of the border. While the writing left a little something to be desired, I could feel the author's heart through their words.