This book is an absolutely beautiful story that describes the complexities of diverse and mixed identities while also narrating the effect that depression and suicide can have on not only one person's life, but those around them. Pan writes with beautiful imagery while also describing the characters feelings in terms of colors to give even more of a sensory experience. When I started this book I did not realize it was going to be in the genre of magical realism, which is something I do not read often. That being said, I really loved the parts that felt magical and would have enjoyed even more. The non-linear plot line helped readers understand the history of Leigh and the relationship she had with her parents but also there was a love story of Leigh and her friend, Axel. I felt that this aspect of the story was unnecessary and that Leigh and Axel could have had their friendship based on a mutual understanding of the feelings of being of mixed racial identities rather than one of a romantic nature. With this in mind, Pan writes a beautiful story where Leigh travels to Taiwan after the death of her mother to search for answers behind her suicide, and it is there that she realizes that sometimes answers cannot be found but relationships can be sparked or strengthened in times of trouble. Although this book is over 400 pages which is lengthy for a young adult novel, it is worth a careful read because of the beautiful story and the components of questioning and embracing one's multifaceted identity.

Okay this book was for sure a bookstagram made me do it read. This book had gotten so much hype for months before it was released early April. I knew when it was a psychological thriller that I had to read it, especially because people were comparing it to Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. I have to say the hype around this book is for good reason because I could not put it down. Whenever I was not reading it, I was thinking about when I could sneak some time to read. This book is a psychological thriller, a murder mystery, a suburban courtroom drama, and a medical narrative all in one. It takes so many aspects and packs them into less than 400 pages which I thought was incredible. Although I absolutely loved this one and will recommend it to all of my friends, I was not pleased with the ending because the author built so much up for the first 300 pages and then I felt they rushed to the end. It was definitely a fast paced book and it always kept me guessing. Overall a good read for anyone who enjoys thrillers or suspense.

Miracle Creek was my @bookofthemonth pick for April and I just got around to reading it after seeing all of the hype on bookstagram. I really did enjoy Miracle Creek, but it did not live up to all of the hype it was getting for me. Miracle Creek was a great courthouse thriller, one of the first I’ve ever read, and I definitely could not put it down. That being said, I feel like I was able to predict a lot of what happened. I liked the multiple viewpoints of the story as well, but I would get confused by all of the different details intertwining occasionally. I loved how the characters were diverse and their history with immigration was explained because it made the book a lot more well rounded and interesting to the reader.

This book brought me to my halfway point reading goal for the year and I am so glad that I can start this second half on such a great note. This book was incredible and beautiful to say the least. I did have some issues getting into the book for the first 100 pages but after that I flew through the book to follow Ben and Arthur’s romance. What I loved about this book is that there was no focus on the actual coming out aspect of the LGBT story, but only the normalization and the daily life of these characters. While reading this book, readers are only made aware that the crushes Ben and Arthur have are completely valid and normal and there is no stigma. I thought this normalization of the LGBT identity was great because representation of storylines after coming out are just as important. I thought this book was wonderful and it is one I definitely would recommend for young adults and adults alike. The only reason I did not give this book five stars is because the beginning was a bit slow while the ending was too fast so I would have enjoyed a better balance. Although this book was written by two authors, I could never tell who was writing what because it was so seamlessly executed in the best way possible.

Review #30! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Wow wow wow wow is all I can say! I am so happy I jumped back into thrillers with this read because I am absolutely amazed. I have never read anything by @sandiejones_author before but I will for sure be reading The Other Woman very soon because I am so impressed. Thrillers are my favorite genre but they can al blend together so easily, but that was not the case for The First Mistake. From the moment I began reading it I was enthralled and any spare moment I’ve had, I’ve had this book in my hand. What I absolutely loved about this read is that I was not able to predict the ending and I felt like the twists and turns the storyline took were done so well. I highly recommend this book to everyone regardless of if you like thrillers because I can see this book being a good read for everyone. Thank you so much @minotaur_books for the copy of this book, I cannot wait to read what she writes next!

You know you have it good when your good friend and you both have a @bookofthemonth subscription so you coordinate your picks so you can exchange books. I am lucky I have @allyxkvasnicka to do that with and thanks to her I was able to read Normal People! I saw the hype surrounding this book on Instagram in April and because of that I was expecting a lot from the book. That being said, it did live up to most of the hype for me I just felt it was a bit slow in some spots which made it drag on. I loved how this book took a deep dive into the relationship that Marianne and Connell have and how at different times in their lives they each needed the support of one another. I believe this book has some very important messages regarding mental health, specifically the mental health of men. The book also deals with topics of abuse so there is a lot to think about while reading this book. I gave it four stars because it was a little slow but it portrayed the themes so beautifully with great character analysis.

I have been the biggest Friends fan since before I can remember. When I was in middle school I remember watching the whole series by renting the DVDs from Netflix when it used to just be a mail DVD service. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have probably seen every episode 20+ times and I still never get bored. I was so excited when my mom gave me, “I’ll Be There For You: The One about Friends” because it was behind the scenes facts about the show and why it became such a phenomenon even 25 years later. I absolutely loved this book because it gave a great deal of information that I never knew about the friends themselves, as well as, the writers. I never knew how many pilots were not picked up during the 90’s and how Friends was not supposed to be anything special but the actors who were cast in each role made the show because of the chemistry they had. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves friends or even just wants to know little fun facts that happen in the show (for example: Phoebes twin, Ursula, was written in the show because Lisa Kudrow played a reoccurring waitress on another sitcom and they could not have her playing two parts at the same time without it being connected)

This was my first ever book by Ann Rule, but I know it won’t be my last because of how incredibly detailed she writes while also making it personal so it does not read like nonfiction but a story. I read this book with some of my closest friends as a book club choice this summer because we all have become more interested in true crime and with the Ted Bundy Tapes and the movie having come out recently, we decided to give this highly regarded book a try. We took a deep dive into this 500+ page read and split it up into sections to read over the past two months. I felt this book was a really well written nonfiction novel because although the events are true and horrendous, Ann wrote from a perspective of compassion and empathy for the victims and their families, while also recognizing her place as one of Bundy’s past friends. I will admit, this book was really tough to read because of the horrific details and events so I do not recommend reading it too late at night or if you do not enjoy dark and serious books.

I know that this book has been going around Instagram quite a bit recently after being a June @bookofthemonth pick and I very quickly fell into the trap of wanting to read it as well. A Nearly Normal Family is a crime thriller that is told from the perspectives of the father a pastor, the daughter who is the suspect of murder, and the mother who is a lawyer. I thought this book had a great premise with some interesting details such as taking place in Sweden close to Malmö and that the fact that the father was the most emotional out of the family. I found the dynamic within the family different from a lot of thrillers where it is always the woman who is paranoid and overly emotional about the situation at hand but in the case of this book, that was the fathers role. That being said, I only gave this book three stars because I felt it was slow and uneventful in comparison to many other thrillers or suspense novels I have read previously. I also was not inclined to pick this book up all of the time which to me is an indicator that this is not a book I would recommend to everyone. Also peep my beautiful @sewhappystitchhappy booksleeve! I cannot wait for her shop to open again soon

So I am going to start out this review by admitting how proud I am of myself for all of the reading I have done so far this year because this is my 32nd book of 2019 and in 2018 I only read 32 books! Before last year I loved to read but would maybe read a book a month because juggling school with a personal life could be difficult but now here I am living my best bookish life.

I am glad this was a book I read this year because it was quite a wild ride! This book is told from the perspective of a woman named Lily where she tells her plan to win back her boyfriend who wrongfully broke up with her. What’s great is that you quickly realize what great lengths Lily is willing to take to win Nate back but she also does some things that are pretty wrong and unexpected but she does them without any regrets. Lily is a funny narrator because as a reader you question everything she is doing while in her perspective it is quite justified. I also really liked the aspect of this book that took place on an airplane as crew members and pilots because I feel like I may have learned something about airplane travel. The author herself used to be a cabin crew member so I feel that she was very inspired by her own experiences while writing that aspect of the story. Overall, I recommend this book for those who like thrillers and enjoy reading from the unreliable narrators perspective.