This is the second book I've read by this author...and I have a feeling it will be the last, at least for awhile. There were just so many things that rubbed me the wrong way with this one that the few bright spots just don't stand out.

Things I didn't like:
1. Way too many characters. There are so many characters introduced in this little book (less than 230 pages) that it was impossible to keep them straight. None of them were fleshed out at all, and most of them were mentioned in passing and then never heard from throughout the rest of the story until the very end.
2. Using mental illness and grief as a plot device. This was really poorly done with all the characters, but especially the Grandmother. In the early part of the book, she is shown in two or three scenes being completely unhinged, paranoid that her family and the government is trying to poison her, kill her, etc. Each time this happens we are told about how her grandma has had a rough time since her grandfather passed and that she stopped taking her meds. Then, about half way through the book, she miraculously has no more manic episodes. She's still quirky and says inappropriate things, but she appears perfectly lucid. I was thinking we would get a scene or even just a line saying that she's back on her meds...but nope.
Also, what are the odds that Lucas and Natalie would be in the same psych hospital and then end up running in the same circles in Savannah? I mean, it's not a HUGE city, but there are well over 100,000 people living there...just saying...not very realistic.
3. Nat was unsympathetic. I'm sorry, but the synopsis of this book makes it sound like the big reveal is going to be that Caleb assaulted her in some way. Now, I'm not saying he is just a great guy who doesn't deserve any blame, she is responsible for her own actions. She made the decision that led to her breakdown. Also, the way she just ignored the risks of the side effect of her meds really annoyed me. If it'd been once, maybe...but over and over again? What an idiot.
4. The pacing. This story flew by, but not in a good way. It felt like the author was unable of taking her time with anything, letting moments breathe or have weight. As I said previously, the sheer volume of characters made it impossible to keep anyone straight. I needed more. More description, more backstory. More agency.
5. The romance. I actually didn't hate Lucas. I liked that he was just this young guy working his butt off to take care of his baby sister and grieving father. I liked the IDEA of Lucas and Natalie. But I don't feel like we really got to know him all THAT well. I also feel like their infatuation with each other kind of came out of nowhere. They had what...maybe two meaningful conversations before they started rubbing all over each other?
6. The friendships. Actually, the inauthentic friendships and romance circle right on back to the breakneck pacing in this book. There was no development of the characters. She literally meets them and two pages later they're buddies, hanging out getting drunk together...I just didn't buy the friendship.
7. Writing inconsistencies. There were several instances where Natalie would assert something that she'd previously denied.
One example: earlier in the book, grandma wants David to fix up her old car so Natalie will have something to drive and Natalie thinks, "As much as I want a car of my own, I dread the idea of driving grandma's Jetta. I know she'll be expecting me to take her to Lord knows where."
Then at the end of the book, she says, "I've been lusting after this car all summer. Even if it is a beat up four-door hatchback."
There are other instances as well. It kind of felt like the author forgot what she wrote...should've been caught in editing.
8. Homosexuality used as plot device/character depth. The only thing...literally, the only thing, we know about David is that he's gay and he hasn't told his parents. At the end, when grandma outs him (wacky grandma alert!) the parents are just like, "Yeah, no biggie, we already knew that." When earlier in the book Natalie's mother made a huge deal out of the possibility that he may be gay. Which is another instance of inconsistent writing.
9. The ending. Again...comes back to the pacing. The ending is very abrupt. So many different things are going on that are just tied up in a matter of a couple pages. It felt like one of those 80s or 90s sitcoms where no matter how crazy things got, everything worked itself out at the end of 22 minutes.

Things I liked:

1. Midsummer Night's Dream references

2. Lucas, although I needed to know more about him.

Man, I guess I really disliked this. When I look back on this book and the companion book, Dreaming of Antigone, I really had most of the same issues with that book that I do with this one, but this one just took it to the next level.

This book was okay. I enjoyed the second half over the first, which dragged quite a bit for me. I felt like a lot of that could've been cut out to tighten up the story and the pacing.

I liked the friendships in this book, and really appreciated the family dynamics. I liked how Alice's Aunt and Uncle were very present in her life and how they treated her as a daughter. The contrast between that dynamic and Teddy's was compelling. I also really liked Leo as a character. His role was to pretty much say what the reader was thinking with no apologies.

The story follows a young girl who buys her best friend (and crush, naturally) a winning powerball ticket and the fallout from all of that. I felt like Teddy's actions after coming into that money was actually very authentic. I don't know many 18 year olds who WOULDN'T blow through at least some of that money. His character frustrated me in parts, for the same reason he was frustrating to Alice. But honestly, I found myself getting more annoyed with Alice at her passivity in her interactions with Teddy. She would get upset because he's acting like a kid who just won the lottery (because that's exactly what he IS) but then just brush it aside and try to appease him. This happened over and over again. They are supposed to be best friends since childhood. I just don't buy that she wouldn't call him out of his nonsense.

Also, there is a slight, minuscule, barely worth mentioning hint of a love triangle which is completely unnecessary. The other 'love interest' has only three or four scenes in the book, before he quietly takes himself out of the equation when he sees he's not going to get the girl. And honestly? I kind of preferred him to Teddy, at least in that point of the book. It really didn't need to be there at all.

All in all, I didn't feel like this book needed to be over 400 pages long. I felt like the same story could've been told in about 100 less pages. That being said, I did enjoy enough of this book and was able to get through it quickly, after the first 100 pages...

Wow. This book was amazing.

So, I don't read a lot of non-fiction or memoirs. It's just not what I normally gravitate toward. However, I've been wanting to dip my toes into more of these and I really like Trevor Noah. I've of course seen him on the Daily Show, and also several stand-up specials he's done where he speaks relatively openly about his upbringing.

This book expands on that in an incredibly candid way. We learn about the history of South Africa and the disgusting practice of institutionalized racism (Apartheid). We learn about how he was able to navigate this society where he never felt like he belonged because of the circumstance surrounding his birth. And we learn about his amazing relationship with his mother, a woman who is strict, stubborn, determined, loving, devout, and fierce in her convictions.

I loved the way he structured this book. It skips around to different time periods in his life, but it never feels choppy or confusing. There is a really steady pacing and the stories tie back into each other really nicely.

I also loved the tone of this book. There are some truly awful things described in this book. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to actually grow up like this. The fact that he is able to relate these stories in such a straightforward and candid manner while not coming off as dismissive or flippant is very compelling. The intense things are still intense. But for him, that was just the way it was, and the book's tone reflects that very well, in my opinion.

I really loved this book. I feel like I learned something and was also entertained...two of my favorite things about books.

I'm not quite sure what I feel about this book. On one hand, reading a book about a main character with no short term memory was very interesting. There was a lot of repetition in her thoughts, which makes complete sense because she has to keep learning all of the things she's forgotten over and over again. However, even knowing it's purpose, the repetition did affect the pacing of the book for me. I felt like the first and especially the second part of the story lagged a bit. I was the most interested by what happened in the third part of the book. Unfortunately, that part seemed to speed by. I would've liked a little more to that, and maybe to have an actual epilogue.
I did like the character of Flora Banks. Her determination was really compelling. There were also a couple of reveals in the book that were genuine surprises to me, which I appreciated. Of course there were aspects of her personality that were very confusing, but it makes complete sense for her character.
This was a quick read for me, but I don't know that I would say it was a 'fun' read. to be honest, the thought of being in the situations she finds herself in is pretty disturbing.
All in all, I thought this book was interesting and different.

2.5 stars.

*mild spoilers ahead*




Isla and the Happily Ever After is a fluffy, light romance, which is fine. There is nothing wrong with fluff, in theory. Unfortunately, I felt like this book at times was so surface level that I just didn't feel connected. That, coupled with a main character I frequently wanted to smack, left me a little iffy on this one.

First, I want to say that I haven't read the other two books in this series, but since they are companion novels I didn't feel like it would be a crucial thing to ensure my potential enjoyment of this installment.

Things I liked:

1. Josh is an artist - I really liked that art was an important part of the story. I loved that he wrote his story and their story, especially as a way to win her over.

2. The pacing - This book flew by for me. I do wish that Josh's return to New York had been a little later in the book, but I read this in one day.

3. Kurt - I liked Kurt's character. He is a person with high-functioning autism. As such, the way in which he relates to the world and interacts with other socially is different that others. I liked that he is honest and straight-forward with everyone, even though it ends up getting Isla into trouble.

4. The setting(s) - As someone who has never been to France or Spain, I liked that this book took us to both places and discussed some of the architectural and cultural aspects of both places

5. (SOME of) The banter between the characters - There was quite a bit of dialogue that had me rolling my eyes because it was cheesy or stupid, but there were definitely some interactions I enjoyed and thought were well-written.

Things I didn't like:

1. Insta-love - Now, some people say that this book isn't an example of insta-love because they'd known each other for three years prior. BUT, Isla literally tells him that she's been IN LOVE with him since the first time she saw him. And she also says that in the three years that they've been in the same school they've only had four different exchanges. Sorry, that's still insta-love.

2. The intensity of their relationship - This is kind of connected to the insta-love, but I thought their relationship progressed incredibly quickly. They went from 0-100 in about ten pages...and even their love scenes were like that. Now, I understand that I am not the target demographic for this book, being a woman in my 30s. But I do remember being 18. I was with the boy who is now my husband. And we had fun...but I don't remember it being so intense that it crossed over into obsessed territory, and this book does. They literally throw themselves at each other. It's a little much.

3. Isla - I know this is going to piss people off, but Isla annoyed the crap out of me. Here is this wealthy, privileged girl in a fancy boarding school with a bunch of other fancy privileged people. She's dating the boy she's been obsessing over for three years, and yet she can't get over the fact that he had a long-term girlfriend and other friends before they started dating. She also had a boyfriend, but apparently that's different? Her low self-esteem was maddening. Also, the way she treats Kurt is awful. At the beginning she seems like an amazing friend, but the second Josh gives her the time of day, she begins to treat him the way she's accused others of doing in the past.
I also thought she was a major hypocrite with Josh. She tells him very matter-of-factly that she had sex with the boyfriend she had the year before and that the French (she's half French) had a much different view on sex than Puritanical Americans. Then she gets all prudish about the fact that Josh and his ex-gf were also intimate. And then, she breaks up with him for zero reason, all stemming from her wild insecurities. She later mentions to her sister that she didn't think she was deserving of love, but that doesn't ring true for me. There is no textual evidence that she has ever gone without love. Her parents seem fairly accessible, considering they live in a different country. She's just annoying and immature and I wanna smack her.

4. The break-up - This felt like such a plot-device to me. Everything is going along and she's totally obsessed and crazy-in-love and then she makes up some stupid thing to pick a fight about and breaks up with him...why? To create tension and drama? I'm still not sure, because literally two pages later she's admitting it was stupid. And it was. Very stupid. Like I said, it felt like a plot device that the author used for the sole purpose of keeping them apart instead of being organically woven into the story.

5. This is nitpicky, but the whole 'broken-door' thing was stupid. He wanted to make it possible for his gf to go in and out of his room so he kicked it until it wouldn't latch properly? And Kurt and Isla switched keys and sometimes got locked out of their own rooms? If you wanted to leave someone a way into your room, why wouldn't you just put a piece of tape over that part of the door? Like I said, just a little annoyance that didn't actually affect my enjoyment of the story.

So, like I said, I was all over the place on this one. There were definitely times I thought they were cute, and for the most part I enjoyed my time reading this book, which is why I bumped my rating up to 3 instead of down to 2.

3.5 stars

Trigger warnings: drug use, drug overdose, sexual assault

I liked this book, even if I wasn't completely blown away by it. I wish it had been a little longer, to be honest. It was a lot of intense material in a relatively short book, and I don't know that I was ever able to fully connect with the story or characters.

That being said, I loved all the Greek mythology stuff and also the poetry. I guess I just wish that the stuff with Antigone had been more organically woven into the story.

I liked Andria and Alex, but I did feel like her switch from 'I hate this boy because he made my sister an addict' to 'I could see myself falling in love with this boy' was a little jarring. I wish there had been a little more to their relationship.

It looks like Natalie gets her own story, which I will read. I liked her character in this book and I'm interested to read her story.

So, here's the thing. I am NOT the target audience for this book. As a grown woman in my mid 30s, a story about a teenage couple on their last night together before going off to separate schools shouldn't leave much of an impact on me. But for some reason, this book really affected me.

Maybe it's because this could've been my own story. I had a high school sweetheart too. But we ended up going to the same college, staying together, and getting married. There was never a conversation about possibly breaking up. So in reading this story and thinking about what might have been, I really felt connected to the characters and their struggles.

What I liked:
1. The characters: I really liked Clare and Aidan. I especially like that he is the more outwardly emotional one and she is the common-sense, let's-make-a-list one. I liked their interactions, their banter, and their friendship. I also enjoyed their friends, although they weren't a huge part of the story.

2. The story's structure: This book takes place during the course of one night. Each chapter takes place in a differebt place that means something in their relationship, and each is time-stamped so you see when all of these things are occurring. To me, it adds to the kind of bittersweet feeling because as each chapter goes by and they revisit all of these memories, the time they have together grows shorter and shorter.

3. The ending: I'm not going to say too much about this, but I felt like the ending was done really well. It was sweet, sad, and realistic.

4. I could see the story playing out in my mind. I could totally see this turned into a movie one day.

Things I didn't like:
1. This is really nit-picky, and I totally get why the author didn't do this...but I wished we could've had more in the second prologue...even though it was actually super sweet and perfect...the romantic in me wanted more. So really, this isn't something I 'didn't like', but I did want more.

This is the first book by this author I've read, and I think I'll definitely keep my eye out for other books by her.

Wow. I cannot believe that this was a debut novel. For such a short book, this one sure packs a punch. I wasn't sure at first what to think about it. As I got further and further into the story and the lives of these characters got more and more messy, it was difficult to even keep reading. But I did, and I don't regret it for a second.

The story takes place primarily in the late 70s, although there are flashbacks and entire chapters that take place as far back as the 1950s. It follows the story of the Lee family, and coping with the death of one of their three children. (This is not a spoiler...it's in the synopsis. The first sentence of the book is: 'Lydia is dead.')

This is a story about love, equality, regret, and forgiveness. The parents are really difficult to connect with. Lydia was their favorite child, and it wasn't a secret to anyone in the family. Their relationship with their other two kids was disinterested at best, and neglectful at worst. There is so much dysfunction within the dynamics of this family that it was truly difficult to read, especially as characters continued to make the same terrible choices over and over again. But at the end of the day, it felt authentic.

I also liked the discussion of race in this book. The author is of Chinese descent, and I don't feel like we have many stories with Asian-American protagonists, especially not in that point in time.

If I had to find something to critique, it would be that I was occasionally confused in the structure. There are several characters in this book, and it is told in 3rd person. I don't have a problem with this most of the time, but there were occasions where one paragraph would switch between several of the characters POVs. Also, there were countless flashbacks to different events and conversations, and at times I would be unsure of what point in time I was reading about. Again, this is a relatively nitpicky thing, but I did want to mention it.

This story is at times heartbreaking, at other times infuriating. But I really ended up appreciating it, especially as a mom. I do think that it is an important book to read for any parent. Of course, as a parent we want the absolute best for our kids, but at what point does it become overwhelming?

I will definitely pick up more from Celeste Ng in the future.

I really enjoyed Aguirre's Razorland Seies. This didn't feel like it was written by the same author.

Things I didn't like:
1. The pacing: this book just dragged on for me. Not much really happened, to be honest. And many of the scenes started becoming repetitive. And I could've designed a drinking game taking a shot every time Edie mentioned how pretty she was, her revenge, wondering if she could trust Kian, etc. Also, there were times at the end of chapters where someone would do or say something that would stay unresolved and not even mentioned again. It was weird. It was like the author was trying to create a sense of tension but then there was no payoff.

2. The romance: lukewarm at best. Again, this was very drawn out and repetitive. First off, there is a definite insta-love aspect to this story. Also, its unnecessarily angsty. First they'll be all over each other, then she'll distrust him. Then they're all over each other, then he ignores her...and back and forth. Also, there are all these crazy dangerous things threatening Edie and in the middle of it her biggest worry is if Kian likes her...

3. The plot: to be honest, I'm still not quite sure what I just read. The story of her wanting to get revenge on people who mistreated her wasn't told very well, and the more paranormal plot lines felt very muddled and not fleshed out.

4. Anti-climactic revelations: without getting too spoilery, there were several times throughout this story where something would be revealed that should be a huge WTF moment that just fell completely flat. A few of them were because the foreshadowing had been completely unsubtle, which made the reveals predictable. Others fell flat because they just weren't given the weight they deserved. Crazy things would happen and it would feel like it was just being glossed over to get on to the next thing.
The same thing would happen when Edie would confide in people...they just kind of accepted all the crazy stuff she told them.

5. Lack of communication: This was one of the more annoying things for me. So, Edie has all of these crazy things after her. She 'forgets' to tell Kian...the guy who is supposed to be protecting her...seriously? But it gets better. So Kian, through some sort of magic power or something that isn't actually ever explained, can watch everything that happens to Edie...and he does watch her...except for the things that she forgets to tell him...seriously? Can we say plot device? He admits to essentially spying on her for years, and the couple of times it would have been beneficial to be spying on her he inconveniently wasn't? And she inconveniently forgets to tell him...

6. The ending: it felt very anti-climactic, because it was so predictable, and it didn't make me feel excited for what was in store in the series. At the same time, it felt like absolutely nothing was resolved whatsoever, and not enough was adequately explained to make me feel like I understood anything.

Honestly, I could go on. I won't though, because I think you get the point.


What I liked:
1. Some of the side characters: I don't feel like any of the side characters were outstanding, but I did like Vi, Jen, and Davina

I'm pretty bummed that this book missed the mark for me. I don't think I will continue with the series, but I will still seek out more by Aguirre in the future.