Between Shades of Grey is a beautiful and impactful story. I enjoy books and movies that take place during the Second World War. This has to be one of the best I've read. I think one of the things I appreciated most was that it opened my eyes to a part of history I really didn't know much about. We all know that Stalin was a ruthless dictator whose policies led to the death of millions of innocents, but to get such an intimate accounting was very compelling.

2.5-2.75

I really wish Goodreads would upgrade their rating system. This book is a solid 2.5-2.75 for me, but I couldn't quite put it up to a 3 star...

I haven't read many YA mysteries. This one was interesting, especially since it was loosely based on a real case from the 90s (something the author mentions in her acknowledgments).

I liked the concept of the story, and the execution was decent. I had my theories about what could be the big twist (because let's face it...there is always a twist) and while I had certain elements right, it wasn't until closer to the end that everything became clear.

The chapters chronicling Sarah's life were more impactful to me than any of the stuff with Nico's POV. I honestly didn't really connect with her character at all. I get that she is very guarded, especially where Sarah is concerned, considering their previous relationship. But she just fell a little flat to me. Because of that, certain plot points just didn't have the emotional impact I would've liked.

My next biggest critique would probably be that I didn't feel like things were fleshed out enough. Events and people were mentioned and then not brought up again. I'm not sure why it was important to the story to bring up all the people Nico spoke to at the parties and school if there wasn't going to be any payoff later in the story. Also, I wish that we'd had a scene or two between Sarah and Paula before she disappeared...some sort of flashback or something. We are told that they had this tumultuous relationship based on competition. It would've been nice to see some more interaction.

However, understanding that this story was ultimately about the relationship between Nico and Sarah makes those side characters relatively unimportant.

All in all, I appreciated that this wasn't a typical YA book. It read like a movie to me. I could picture everything quite clearly. I would be interested to check out more of the author's works in the future.

I started this book, and then got the feeling I was about to jump into a cheating book, which I was really uncomfortable with, so I put the book down for a couple of weeks. However, I saw a couple of reviews from people whose opinions I trust and decided to give this a second chance. I'm very glad I did. This book was surprising and unique.

So I really enjoyed Ridge and Sydney and their relationship. It struck me as very authentic. Being a musical person myself, I liked that music was a huge connection for them and a catalyst of their entire relationship.

I liked that Ridge was Deaf. I haven't read many books with a Deaf protagonist. I liked that they showed the different ways he was able to communicate with people and that his lack of hearing didn't define him.

I liked Sydney as well. She's flawed and kind of a mess through a good chunk of the book. I really like her friendship with Warren.

Speaking of Warren, I would read an entire novel just about him. I didn't get that much from Bridgette's character, because she was very minimal in the actual text, but I want to read the novella about them to learn about their relationship.

I love that there is a soundtrack for this book. That is something I haven't seen before. I love how Colleen Hoover books always have some sort of hook hat isn't gimmicky but sets itself apart from other new adult books.

So now about the cheating. As I said previously, I wasn't a big fan of the idea of a book that condoned cheating. From the moment we meet his girlfriend and she's portrayed as such a nice, wonderful, caring person I knew that there would have to be some sort of cheating element because they weren't going to make her the typical 'big bad wolf' type of scapegoat character. And technically, Ridge does betray Maggie when he kisses Sydney, and also throughout the rest of the book. There is definitely an emotional kind of affair going on between Ridge and Sydney even though they're both trying to maintain their distance from each other and not betray Maggie.

However, with all of that said, I do appreciate the way that Colleen Hoover wrote this story. I like that their actions with each other are not condoned. They know what they did is wrong they talk about it and they try to maintain a friendship and working relationship that doesn't cross the line, while still being honest with each other.

When Maggie finds out that he has these feelings for Sydney, her reaction is more mature than I think most people in their 20s would display. Actually, as nice and smart and loving as Maggie is, I did feel like her character was actually a little bit of a Mary Sue. We are told by Ridge and by Warren and even by Sydney over and over and over again how perfect she is and how she's the best person in the world and how she's gorgeous and how she's just the most perfect creature on the planet... it felt a little like Colleen Hoover was trying so hard to not make Maggie the villain that she overdid it a little bit and I wish that Maggie had been quite so vanilla.

I really enjoyed the ending, even though I wish there was just a little more of their story after the fact. Maybe looking at a few months down the road or a year down the road. That would've been nice but that's just me being selfish and wanting to see more of the relationship

At the end of the day, I really did enjoy this book I enjoyed the romance. I enjoyed that Ridge and Sydney, despite their communication barriers, were able to really be honest with each other and honest with themselves.

3.5-3.75 stars

This is a fun, light read. I flew right through it. This definitely gave me a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy feeling. I laughed out loud several times.

I enjoyed the structure of the story, in which each chapter covered one day. I thought this would bother me because some of the chapters were very long (the first was 60 pages) but as I said earlier, this story flies by, so I didn't even notice that.

The characters were fun and quirky and I liked the dynamic of the band with each other and with Bennett.

The ending was a little unrealistic, which may sound ridiculous in a story about alien abduction, but I know that I'd been missing for a week and my parents thought I'd been abducted, there's no way I would've been allowed to run off to prom, especially not with the suspected kidnapper.

One more thing I really liked was that Bennett and Sophie don't end up staying together. That, unlike the silly race to the prom sequence, was 100% realistic to me. Not many couples who start dating in high school stay together forever, and them transitioning into a friendly relationship was a nice deviation from the typical YA contemporary novel.

All in all I would recommend this for anyone wanting a light, fun, quirky read.

So this book ended up really surprising me. I waited to read this book for awhile, because there was just so much hype around it and I want to let that settle down before I picked it up in case it didn't live up to my expectations.

And I have to be honest: I wasn't super obsessed with the first 150 pages or so. The writing is very poetic and metaphorical, which is beautiful to read, but can be difficult to follow at times when you are trying to get immersed into a world and connect with the characters.

I also had trouble with how long the chapters were. It alternates between Jude and Noah's perspectives, and I found myself getting a little bored. The pacing was just a little slow for me.

Once I got further into the story, however, I found myself really invested in it. The way Jandy Nelson wove both perspectives/time periods together was really nice. And her flowery writing grew on me and I didn't have any trouble following the story.

I liked both of the main characters, but I definitely preferred Jude. She's quirky, determined, and sometimes exasperating. I like her romance with Oscar. I felt like this book did the whole 'fates love' thing better than 'The Sun in Also a Star'. Even though it was a little insta-lovey, it was also given time to progress.

I liked Noah as well, more in the future timeline than the past. I had a lot of issues with his perspective because I kept reading him as much older than he was supposed to be. Nelson's writing in his voice is incredibly poetic and metaphorical and his thoughts just do not sound like the thoughts of a 13 year old boy. I also didn't really like that he is so incredibly judgmental of everyone but we are supposed to sympathize with him because he's being bullied. I wish I could've gotten a couple of pages from his perspective in the future timeline, maybe his reunion with Brian.

I liked the interaction between Noah and Jude quite a bit. All of their games -- Who would you save?, divvying up the world, etc. -- I just wish there had been more scenes of them together.

This family was pretty dysfunctional, to be honest. Jude and Noah are very reactionary people who do horrible, destructive things to each other. Their mother and father clearly don't belong together, and their relationships with their children are not super healthy either. It seems like their mother is putting all of her hopes and dreams of being a successful artist on her kids, who just want her approval. And their father is mostly absent.

All in all, I did not love this book as much as other people did. But I did think it was really solid and the last half was excellent. There were several times in this book where I would be reading and then realize I had a big stupid grin on my face because it was so good.

4.5 stars. This book was tragic, yet beautiful. The fact that the basis for Sepetys' novels comes from real historical events makes it all the more tragic. The way she paints such an unflinchingly blunt picture of the atrocities suffered by so many is just amazing.

The characters are interesting, complex, and very flawed. Some of the character reveals truly surprised me, although when the true nature of their character is revealed, all of those little twists are completely authentic to who they are. I am speaking specifically of Alfred, but all four of our main characters have their secrets.

The only critique I have is that there are some pacing issues for me. The story is told through four different character's perspectives in first-person narration. Also, one the whole, the chapters are very brief. Some as small as one sentence. This creates a little choppiness in terms of the flow of the narrative. I wonder if this novel would've benefitted from being told in 3rd-person. We still could've had all the characters perspectives without jumping back and forth so much.

I can't necessarily say I 'enjoyed' his book. It is a shocking, often brutal account of a horrific event. It would be more accurate to say that I appreciate this story, and that it emotionally impacted me to a great extent. After Between Shades of Grey and Salt to the Sea, I will read any book Rita Sepetys produces.

4.5 Stars

Wow. This book was pretty intense. I had no idea what to expect from this book. I went in pretty much blind.

World-building: I really enjoyed the world-building going on in this book. It was definitely very foundational in terms of the content and pacing. This world is Roman Empire-esque, and has a very complex political and social structure. However, even though there was quite of bit of exposition setting up the world, Sabaa Tahir does a wonderful job at weaving the information into an interesting narrative. It never felt 'info-dumpy' to me.

Characters: This story is told through a dual-perspective structure in first person. The two main characters are Elias, a reluctant soldier/assassin for the Empire, and Laia (pronounced Lie-uh), a girl who becomes a slave in order to gain information for a group that promises to help her imprisoned brother. I like both of these characters. Kaia is a little naive at first, but her character grows a great deal throughout the story. Elias is great as well, and his internal conflicts are very compelling. I really enjoyed their scenes together, and the potential for their relationship to progress is there. It was definitely a very slow burning thing though. Each of them also have other love interests that take up their thoughts.

Keenan, Laia's other love interest, doesn't really do anything for me. I don't think they had enough scenes together to really convince me that they really even know each other, much less love each other. I actually want to know what is going to happen in subsequent books with him and another character, who I won't name because spoilers and all.

Helene, Elias' potential love interest, I get a little more. She and Elias have known each other since they were children and they have quite a bit in common since they have both trained as assassins since that time. However, I don't really care for Helene. I get that she is a product of her upbringing and the world that she is living in, but her apathy toward oppressed people is really ugly. I was surprised to see how many people have her as their favorite character. I appreciate a few of the things she does (which again...not gonna mention because spoilers)

Plot: Again, this book is foundational in nature. In many ways, it's a very character-driven story, although there are also external plots for each character: Laia is trying to get her brother freed from prison by spying for a group that wants to rebel against the Empire, and Elias has to compete in a set of challenges in order to survive and perhaps be free.

I do think that the book starts out a little slow. It wasn't until about page 60 or so that I felt myself becoming invested in this story. But after that it was a very quick read. I didn't want to put it down.

One other thing that I wanted to say isn't really a complaint. It's more like a trigger warning. This book is marketed as a YA book. And technically, I guess it is, since the main characters are young adults. But there is quite a bit of brutality in this novel. The violence gets pretty graphic, and rape is spoken of many many times in an off-the-cuff manner that shows that it is not an uncommon occurrence. If this is something that you are sensitive to, I would not recommend this book.

However, I really enjoyed this book. I can't wait for the next in the series...I need it now.

I really enjoy this series. The first book was a solid 5 stars. The world that the author created was so atmospheric and engrossing. The characters were flawed and wonderful. This series had the potential to be one of my most favorite series of all time.
Unfortunately, I don't know if the subsequent novels quite lived up to what I wanted it to be. I felt like this last book in particular felt a little underwhelming. There were so many storylines that needed to be wrapped up and new subplots added halfway through the book that when it did wrap up it felt a little rushed.
The pacing was weird for me in this book. I felt like it was really slow for the first half to two-thirds of the book. Then everything speeds up to the end, but not in a way that was altogether satisfying, in my opinion.
I also felt like this last book just had so many different threads and characters that it kept jumping between that it didn't keep my attention. The first book was just Gansey, Ronan, Adam, Blue, and occasionally the ladies of 300 Fox Way. This book had POV's from nine additional characters that I can think of just off the top of my head, three of whom were new characters in this book (actually, two were entirely new characters. One was a very minor character previously who ended up having a huge amount to do with this book).
I wish that the core group had been working together more throughout this book. Their dynamic as a group is one of my favorite things about this series, and this book hardly explored that at all.
The ending was a little underwhelming for me as well. I think it's because after all the buildup over the last four books I just wanted something...more. I can't really explain it, but it just didn't have the emotional impact I was expecting.
All that being said, I really love Stiefvater's writing. Her structure and style is just beautiful. I love these characters and this story. I will definitely pick up her other work in the future.