I really wanted to give this book 4 stars. There were so many things in this book that I really liked. At the end of the day, however, this book is just not a 4-star book for me. It is the second book I've read by Liane Moriarty and I will read more, but I prefer Big Little Lies to this book, hands down.

What I liked:

1. Writing style. Liane Moriarty has a way of crafting a story that is slow-paced yet still gripping. I wouldn't classify her books (at least not the two I've read) as thrillers; they are more like domestic mysteries that revolve around families and their secrets. That isn't to say that there isn't a build up of real tension, because there is. But the build up is very gradual.

2. Characters. Moriarty writes flawed characters very well. I love the witty, dry humor found in the inner monologues of many of her characters. These are not very likable people. Even when I empathized with their respective situations, I still didn't really like them. I wouldn't be friends with any of them in real life. But I still cared about what was going to happen with them.

3. Quirky narration. There are several times throughout the book where the narrator tells us what could've happened to these characters if they'd made different decisions. The epilogue is entirely comprised of secrets different characters were hiding and how one decision could've resulted in many drastic differences. I found it interesting and quirky, but also bittersweet.

What I didn't like:

1. Pacing/repetition. I know I said that I don't mind the slow-paced writing style, and I don't. That being said, this book did feel like it dragged on longer than necessary. I kept having to remind myself that it was taking place over the course of one week because it was so drawn out. There was also a very repetitive nature to some of the inner monologues, to the point that I didn't really care anymore about their stress and trauma, which I doubt was the author's goal. These are really awful situations these women are in, but pretty much every day is full of them rehashing the same thoughts and arguments in their own heads.

2.The ending. I did like the epilogue, but the actual ending to the book felt very anti-climactic.

No one ends up happy. Tess takes back the husband who had an emotional (if not physical) affair with her own cousin; Cecilia stays with John-Paul, even though she says she hates him for what he did; and Rachel just decides to let the man she thinks murdered her daughter (even though it wasn't really his fault) live his life after trying to kill another man who she falsely accused. Also, I felt really bad for Connor. Not only did he struggle for years with the guilt of Janie's death, but then he has to deal with the guilt of Polly's accident as well. Also, he deserved better than wishy-washy Tara. I'm glad the epilogue lets us know that eventually he gets a happily ever after.

3. Tara. I honestly don't feel like she was a necessary part of the story. Connor could've been introduced in some other way, but Tara's integration with the main narrative is shaky at best. She has one or two scenes with Cecilia and one with Rachel. Her whole story is completely separate from theirs and I honestly didn't feel that bad for her.

Yes, it was shitty of her husband and cousin to start a relationship with each other (that supposedly never got to actually sleeping together, but it doesn't matter. Still cheating.) but as we learn more about her dysfunctional relationship with her cousin it totally made sense that something like that could happen. The fact that she admits that she liked having Felicity around because it made her feel slender and beautiful made me pretty angry. She's kind of a terrible person. Not that Matt was any great prize either. They kind of deserve each other after all is said and done. They're both shitty people. And then to find out in the epilogue that her second child is possibly Connor's but they just ignore it made me even more angry. So she just didn't tell Connor that it's possible she's pregnant with his kid? She's a real piece of work.

At the end of the day, I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I felt like it could've been 50 pages shorter and cut out Tara's story entirely and it would've been a stronger novel for it.

2.5 stars. I have a lot of feelings about this book. This is the fourth book I've read from Kristin Hannah. I enjoyed it and appreciate all of the work she did in writing it, but I was left feeling a little underwhelmed by it.

What I liked:

1. Exploration of PTSD and grief. I've had people very close to me struggle with PTSD that was specifically caused by being in active combat situations. It was obvious to me that Kristin Hannah did more than just a cursory google search on the topic before she wrote this book. There were so many moments in this book that were personally impactful to me. It was disturbing and uncomfortable but I appreciated it.

2. Working military mother. I liked that it's the woman in the family who is the military parent. The fact that she flies helicopters as her job is also very cool.

3. Setting. The book is set in the Seattle/Puget Sound area, which is where I live. It's always fun to read books that take place somewhere you've lived or spent a lot of time, as long as it's done well. Since the author also lives in this area, it was done very well.

4. The murder trial. I really liked this subplot and how it forced Michael to see that even if he doesn't necessarily agree with everything the military does, he can still appreciate that the men and women serving are putting everything on the line. I liked that it also showed a very real look at what is broken in our system as far as veterans coming home without the proper resources to re-integrate into their lives and society around them.


What I didn't like:

1. Jolene and Mike's marriage and reconciliation. I don't think the book was helped with the marital strife between Jolene and Mike. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have introduced problems in the relationship. Having one parent continually absent the way Mike was in the beginning and Jolene was in the second half would be hard on even the most devoted couple. But to have Mike go from 'I don't love you anymore' to being completely devoted to her again without working through any of their issues didn't seem realistic to me. I liked that he realized how much Jolene did to keep things running smoothly and started appreciating her more, but I think having him experience such a 180 even before she was hurt just didn't ring true.
After her accident, he helps her through the aftermath of her trauma and they end up finding their way back to one another, but it didn't feel like it actually took much work as far as their actual relationship went. I guess you could say that they realized what was actually important, but he was wanting her back even before her accident brought them back together.

2. Rushed ending. This kind of ties into the previous complaint because I felt like Mike and Jolene needed more time to really move forward. Jolene spent 95% of the second half of the book in the throes of grief and PTSD. She was not in any shape to actually work on anything other than trying to get better. But then her bratty daughter runs away and all of the sudden she's better? I know that's not what we are supposed to believe, and the character does start going to therapy, but the abrupt change in Jolene's attitude was unbelievable. And apparently she was able to abuse alcohol and prescription drugs for weeks with no withdrawal or other adverse affects. I wish the book was about 50 pages longer and we could have seen a more gradual healing for Jolene, and also for her marriage.

3. Betsy. What a brat. I know that teenage girls can be obnoxious, but this selfish little $%# takes the cake. She had zero depth. She was just a one-note spoiled brat whose mother let her get away with whatever she wanted.

4. Jolene's characterization. I think I understand what the author was trying to do with Jolene. She wanted to show the drastic difference between before-deployment Jolene and after-deployment Jolene. But the way she went about it was to make Jolene a super upbeat, Pollyanna type character.
Every situation that would arise would have her spouting out some sort of cliched platitude about 'finding the silver lining' or 'looking on the bright side of life' or some other overused, saccharine nonsense. Then after her accident she is the exact opposite. I think we could've seen the difference even if the author had just made her a normal person, without all the Pollyanna-isms.

Other odds and ends:

1. Why can't Betsy be in the house by herself? She's twelve. I was watching other people's children overnight at that age. But her dad gets home late one night and she's run away and thrown a major tizzy fit. Also, she isn't old enough to be in the house by herself after school, but earlier in the book when Mike wasn't there Jolene went out for a super-early-morning jog?? Okey dokey.

2. Apparently at one point Michael was 'literally at the end of his rope.' Yes, I understand that it's supposedly acceptable to use literally like this nowadays, but I literally despise when people say literally when they mean figuratively. And yes, it is very nitpicky.

All in all, while I appreciate all of the research that she put into this story, I ultimately feel like it just wasn't all that compelling.

3.5 stars
I had no idea what this book was about when I bought it. I saw the cover and the high ratings and just decided to go for it. I'm glad I did, even though I'm not quite as enthralled with it as everyone else seems to be. For the first 70% of this book I thought it would be a 4-star read, but the ending dragged it down for me.

What I liked:

1. Pacing. For the most part, the pacing in this book really works. It's fast-paced and full of action. I listened to the first 60-70% of this book in one sitting. I do feel like the last quarter or so suffers a bit, but I'll talk about that in a minute.

2. Catarina (for the first half or so). Even though she has a bit of 'special snowflake-ness' because of her inability to use the same tech as everyone else, I liked how it plays out in the first part of this book. She has to rely on the very little tech she has to navigate the world around her. The rest is her instinct and intelligence.

3. The post-apocalyptic element. Although it's not exactly the most unique concept (there are several moments I was reminded of the Razorland trilogy by Ann Aguirre), I found the hydra plague itself not only unique, but disturbing. The idea that people trying to live in the world are forced to kill and eat people who are suffering from the plague so they themselves can gain a temporary immunity is...gross.

What I didn't like:

1. The ending. I felt like the last quarter of the book should've been the first part of the next book. It just felt too anti-climactic to me. For the first 70% of the book,

we are on a journey with Catarina and Cole to find a vaccine for the plague and make sure it gets distributed to everyone. Then, Catarina learns that in order to save everyone, she must sacrifice herself. Now, it was obvious that she would be fine, because this book is in first person from her perspective. So that in and of itself was a little anti-climactic. But anyway, after the vaccine is distributed, there's still another hundred or so pages (I listened to the audio book so I'm unsure exactly how long the ending is.) of the book, and it felt like it went on too long, even though we learned a lot of information in the scene between Catarina and Lachlan. I felt like it should've ended with the wrath at Sunnyvale and then learning Lachlan is actually alive. The scene between Lachlan and Catarina would've had more impact for me if it wasn't tacked on to the ending of this book, which was focusing on ending the plague for the first 70% of the story.

2. The sci-fi element. To be clear, I didn't hate the sci-fi element. I really like the idea of a post-apocalyptic world where technology is such a huge factor in people's lives still. However, I felt like some of the explanations for different things lacked clarity. As the story went on and we learned

about all of the atrocities that Lachlan perpetrated in the name of science,

the explanations get more and more convoluted and I found myself losing interest because it didn't seem remotely plausible.

3. Dax. I felt like Dax's character was written in a very inconsistent way. This impression may also be the fault of the voice actor, who would play him as flirty and devil-may-care one moment and completely normal the next.

Then we're supposed to believe that he didn't really care about Catarina. He was just interested in getting closer to Lachlan to be a part of his research. Then we're supposed to believe he really does care about her.

WHICH IS IT?! I wish the author had fleshed his character out a little more, because for me he totally fell flat. I didn't see why Catarina would've ever been interested in him in the first place.

Other odds and ends:

1. Maybe this was explained and I just missed it. Anyway, at the beginning of the book, atarina is asked by Novak to be with her on her broadcast. Who is watching this broadcast? This world has been wrecked. People have trouble finding food and medicine, but we're supposed to believe they have access to a television? Or is it that the broadcasts are sent to people's panels? In any case, I don't think it was adequately explained.

2. Up until the very end I kept thinking that this book could've been a stand alone. Maybe that's why I didn't like the last part of the book, because it created the need for more books. I wish it had just been a stand alone novel. I'm not sure if I will feel compelled to pick up the next book.

3. The audio book actor. I am totally stumped as to how this actor was cast to narrate this or any audio book. First of all, she uses the same monotonous voice for each character. So many times I was unsure of who was talking in a conversation because everyone sounded the same. Secondly, she mispronounces words; capillaries, saline, azure were three I noticed. Apparently the actor is British, but the book takes place in America with American characters, so you would think whoever was directing this audio book would've corrected her. Also, I had no idea the character's name was Leoben. If you're listening to the book that voice actor says what sounds like 'Logan' or 'Loban', when I'm pretty sure it should be 'lay-oh-ben'. I probably won't listen to another audiobook narrated by this actor. I don't take off stars or anything for it, but it did affect my enjoyment level, especially as the book went on.

I liked this take on a illness-induced post-apocalyptic book. I think people who like those kind of books may really enjoy this, as long as you also enjoy sci-fi/tech talk in books.

“I couldn’t quite believe how much I seriously loved Aled Last, even if it wasn’t in the ideal way that would make it socially acceptable for us to live together until we die.”

I love this book. I’m not sure if I can write a coherent review right now because I have a lot of feelings about this book and they are fresh. But here goes.

What I liked:

1. The characters. They are wonderful, flawed, complex, messy people. I loved them.

2. The friendships. More than the characters on their own, I loved the friendships in this book. I love that the two main characters, a boy and a girl, are not romantic in any way, shape, or form. I love that they still love each other deeply. At one point Aled tells Frances that he is “platonically in love” with her. It’s probably my favorite friendship I’ve ever read. I also like how Frances becomes better friends with Raine as she allows herself to just be true to herself.

3. Diverse characters. This book is full of ethnic and sexual diversity.
Frances is half Ethiopian, half white. Daniel is Korean. There are two gay characters, one bisexual characters, and one demisexual character. I liked the conversation that two of the characters have about being demisexual and what that really means. This book isn’t actually about romance for any of these characters, but their sexuality is a part of their personalities.

4. Lack of romance. I love romance. I admit it. I’m a big sucker for a good romance in a book. But I also loved that it was such a back-burnered aspect of this story. There is one couple who is an established couple and the book is not about their romance.

5. Fun nerdy stuff! Fandom!!
I love that this book is about fandom and podcasts. I’ve read Fangirl and Eliza and Her Monsters. I have to say, I think this is the best of the three of them. It explores not only the positive, but also the incredibly negative things that creators are subjected to when putting their work out for the public to see. As extreme as some of those negative comments may have seemed, I have no doubt that many creative people have seen that and worse when producing their content. This book explored the toll that kind of barrage of criticism can take on a person.

6. Frances’s mother!!! I know this should be under characters, but whatever. I loved Frances’s mother, specifically her relationship with her daughter. I just loved their dynamic and how she went all mama bear in defense of the people who were important to Frances. One of the best YA parents I’ve read in awhile.

What I didn’t like:

1. Aled and Carys’ mother felt a little moutache-twirly, one-note villain to me. The explanation is that she expects perfection from her kids, but to me she’s just a sociopath. I wanted her behavior to have some sort of complexity, but it didn’t. It was just crazy.

I was so surprised at how much I loved this book, and I will be reading more from this author in the future.

This is the fourth Jane Austen book I’ve completed (I am somewhere in the middle of Emma...I really need to get back to it 😬) and I really enjoyed it. While it isn’t my favorite Austen, I still found Austen’s wit and social commentary really fun and interesting.

I’ve seen adaptations of Northanger Abbey in the past, so I knew the gist of the story. That said, the book is such a fun and different experience from the book. For one thing, this book is satirical in nature, poking fun at the gothic genre and at the same time poking fun at society in general. There are several times Austen refers to herself and breaking the fourth wall, which I really enjoyed.

I do have a couple of minor gripes. I found the romance between Catherine and Henry a little flat. I wanted to love their interactions, but it was difficult when Henry was always teasing her (to the point of being more than a little condescending at times) and she was incredibly ignorant about everything. It just felt to me like she was a little too naive for him, and he knew it. It’s strange, because I loved them in the movie adaptation I saw. I feel like they toned down his teasing banter and it gave it more of a gentle flirting kind of feeling. Also, the scene where they reveal their true feelings to one another is glossed over with no dialogue whatsoever. Instead we are told by the author that he told her his feelings and she told him hers and it was all wonderful. I wanted a scene with them actually interacting with one another.

All that said, I liked this book a great deal and can’t wait to jump back into Emma.

2.5 stars
I really enjoyed the first book in this series. While I can readily admit that it isn't a masterpiece, I was kept intrigued and entertained by this story of inter-dimensional travel. Unfortunately, this second installment really missed the mark for me.

What I liked:

1. I did like that we got to see new dimensions. I think the world building is really a strength of these books. We don't get a super in-depth world because our characters are only spending a short amount of time in each place. But the way the author is able to create unique worlds and have them all work within one book is great.

2. In theory, I liked the revelation that just because someone is good in one universe doesn't mean that they aren't evil in another. It could've created very interesting discussions about souls and nature vs. nurture and all that. But did you notice I said, 'in theory'? There's a reason for that.

3. The cliffhanger. I was waiting for the entire book for something like this to happen. If I didn't have the third book waiting for me I'd probably put this in the 'didn't like' column.

4. Conversation about consent. There is a really sensitive subplot in this book that leads to a discussion about the nature of consent. Marguerite is taking over other versions of herself and she realizes in this book that there is a great responsibility in that and also a real chance that something she does could fundamentally change the life of the Marguerite in that universe. Of course, that calls into question the ethics of inter-dimensional travel in the first place. That is only really addressed at the very end of the book, and I would've liked to see it be a more prominent idea in the book, but maybe the third book will delve into that a little more.

What I didn't like:

1. So much melodrama. I don't even know where to start. The first book also had its share of angsty nonsense, but this book was hundreds of pages of Marguerite whining about how Paul wasn't with her in every universe and how could that be because they were supposed to be destined to be together and blah, blah, blah.
Seriously, I am not sure what made her assume that she and Paul have this inter-dimensional connection and that nothing could possibly change that, but it was a ridiculous supposition in the first place. The fact that she honestly believed that in the infinite number of universes that exist that she and Paul are soulmates in every one of them is silly and naive. So when she jumps into a universe where she is intimate with someone else and another where Paul is not a good guy, it completely throws her to the point that she can't be in the same universe as him. It's beyond stupid. Sorry, not sorry.
And the number of times she says, 'My Paul' was ridiculous. I own a physical copy of this book, but I was multitasking (yay, laundry...) and listened to it on audiobook instead. Perhaps if I'd read the physical copy I wouldn't have noticed it. She says it 71 times. Every time she would jump dimensions and meet the 'new Paul' she would spend a good chunk of time comparing him to 'her' Paul. And if they weren't madly in love she would freak out and spend the next several paragraphs lamenting the fact that they weren't together. It got so freaking repetitive.

2. Pacing. Like I said, there is a lot of repetitive passages in this book. It almost seems formulaic:
a. Marguerite jumps to new world, finds Theo.
b. Must give Theo reminder to make him 'her Theo'(my Theo only appears 10 times, but it was still almost as annoying as 'my Paul')
c. Must find Paul and discover how the dynamics of their relationship are similar or different to her and 'her Paul'.
d. Proceeds to whine and complain because everything isn't exactly how she's constructed it in her mind.
e. rinse and repeat.
This definitely throws off the pacing of the novel. It didn't feel like it had to be over 400 pages long.
Also, there is a huge amount of needless exposition at the beginning of this book that is simply the author recapping the first book. I really hate it when authors do this. I know that some people don't mind because they are reading the books as they come out and may not remember parts of the first book. And if we were talking about super specific things I would even be able to understand it. But this book regurgitates the entire premise of the first book. Things people should remember even if they read the book months or even a year before. It's absolutely unnecessary, and it's another thing that made the second book's length seem inflated.

3. Marguerite. I didn't mind Marguerite in the first book. She wasn't my favorite character, but I understood why she made most of the decisions she did and I was able to get on board. This book completely ruined her character for me. She turned into an insipid, whiny idiot who didn't think things through before acting. True, she was impetuous in the first book as well, but she kind of had to be. She was flying by the seat of her pants and learning the ins and outs as she went. The plot of this book required her to use a bit more discretion and discernment, and yet she still jumped in without thinking at almost every turn.

4. Romance. The first book had a romance that I liked and a love triangle I thought actually made sense. I'm not saying it was necessary, but it also wasn't completely pointless or unbelievable. The romance was a subplot to the main action of the book, however. It wasn't the focus. This second book, unfortunately, cannot say the same. It is wholly centered around the romance between Marguerite and Paul. She agrees to do some really questionable things in order to save him. Things that could destroy the lives of people she claims to care about. Things that Paul would never sanction if he knew. But because of her epic love for him (I cannot roll my eyes hard enough) she throws all that by the wayside and agrees to help her greatest enemy sabotage her parents in several universes.
The love triangle still exists too, and we even see a world where Marguerite chose Theo -- something she can't even fathom because TRUE LOOOOOOOOOVE!!! Theo spends most of this book as an afterthought. I'm honestly not sure why he's there except to reinforce a love triangle that has become completely irrelevant.

5. Predictable twist.

When Marguerite finds out that her parents are working with Conley in the universe that is pulling all the conspiracy crap, I wasn't surprised. I expected it would happen, especially since Marguerite has spent the entire book being shocked by the people she knows being different in different universes. It was pretty obvious that it was going to happen, and was foreshadowed with very little nuance.

This is probably my least favorite Claudia Gray book to date. I have enjoyed her Defy the Worlds series and the first of this series kept me intrigued and entertained. I will finish the series and hope that this was just a common case of Second Book Slump.

I used to read historical romances all the time. I haven't read one in awhile because they all started to kind of mesh together for me. Often times I would read a book and it would feel like I'd already read it before.

This is my first Tessa Dare book. I've heard a lot about her in the past couple of years, but hadn't been in a historical romance mood before now.

I ended up really enjoying this book. It gave me major Beauty and the Beast vibes, which I'm assuming was intentional. Ash was physically and emotionally damaged and I liked that we got to see his vulnerability to Emma. I liked that Emma isn't some meek, complacent woman. She is strong and stands up for the things she wants and believes.

I was afraid that this was going to devolve into the type of book where miscommunication and misunderstandings drive the narrative. There were a few times throughout the book when it could've gone this way, but it didn't. When one character took something the wrong way, it was usually addressed by the other character and they were able to talk through it. I really appreciated that, because nothing is more frustrating to me that a book that revolves around a miscommunication that could be easily solved if the two people would just talk to one another.

I ultimately really enjoyed reading about these characters and the way they get to know each other, trust each other, and ultimately fall in love with one another. Their conversations and banter often had me grinning and even laughing out loud a couple of times. Also, the sexy-time scenes are pretty steamy.

I do think the ending was rushed. There is a subplot introduced at the beginning of this book that could've caused the characters real trouble that is kind of glossed over at the end and nobody seems to really care.

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely pick up more Tessa Dare in the future.

I am so mixed on my feelings for this book. On one hand, I liked the camping/hiking aspect where a group of young people are thrown together and have to find a way to navigate the world around them working as a team. On the other hand, that was about the only thing I did like.

I will say that I felt engaged in the story as I was reading. I wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters and if Ingrid would ever get her act together. And there are some very important and intense issues tackled in this story. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like the execution lived up to the potential.

Trigger warnings: Suicide, sexual assault, depression

What I liked:

1. As I said, I liked that this book was set in the wilderness as a camp/expedition for at-risk youth. I read The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord last year and loved the setting.

2. It was a fast read. I actually listened to the majority of this on an airplane as an audiobook, and it flew by (no pun intended).

What I didn't like:

1. Dual timelines. I have read a lot of books with dual timelines recently, and this one just doesn't do it very well, in my opinion. It often felt like the author would use the timeline switch as a way to create false tension in whichever timeline the book was currently following, which is something that comes off as manipulative to me. Also, it doesn't work. All it actually accomplishes is to create a clunky pacing. I get why the author wanted to craft the story the way she did, but I really disliked most of the past timeline. I felt like the information could've been disseminated in another way. I would've preferred if the focus had been primarily on her journey with the other teens.

2. One-note characters. There are several side characters who show up throughout this book, but I'm not sure if I could tell you about most of them, and I just read the book over the last two days. Many of them are reduced to stereotypes and caricatures. There is the boy whose conservative parents would disown him if he embraced his sexuality and sent him to the camp to 'get rid of the gay'. There is the Asian girl whose parents are strict to the point of abusive in their demanding ways. There is the bad boy who has a heart of gold and is just misunderstood. There are several other characters as well, and not a one of them is well-developed. Our protagonist also has a best friend I know nothing about.

3. Inconsistent characterization. There is a character in this book that is written as a joke for a good portion of the book. About half-way through the book he turns on a dime and becomes completely different. There is no real hint of this up until the point where he snaps. And it's never really explained. The 'bad boy' is crude and harasses our main character with sexual comments and taking pride in making her feel uncomfortable, then he switches and we're supposed to get all gooey over him...nope. No thanks.

4. Ingrid's mother. I get that this woman is sick. She suffers from depression, and depression is not logical. That being said, even when her mother is 'well', she is a terrible mother. She tells her daughter that she isn't musically talented when that isn't true, because she can't handle her own emotions about her failed music career. She forces her young daughter to lie to her new husband about her past. She strikes me as incredibly narcissistic and manipulative. I know many people will feel like I'm being too harsh on a character who obviously suffers from mental illness, but I don't think all of her behavior is attributable to her depression.

5. Ingrid's magical recovery. I won't get too into her issues because of possible spoilers, but all of the intense things she is going through are pretty much solved in the course of a two-week wilderness expedition. Because that's how life works. Except not.

6. Awkward dialogue. There is a scene where the title of the book is said by one of the characters, and it felt cheesy and awkward to me. Many of the teens use foul language, which in theory is fine. However, it ends up sounding really cringy to me. One moment is a character telling another, "I could fuck you and drown you at the same time." Um...what?! Then the 'bad boy' is always propositioning our main character, asking her if she wants to fuck. It just sounds really awkward, especially when she was just assaulted by another character. Seriously...

Other odds and ends:

1. The ending was completely predictable for me. I thought it was going to happen slightly differently, but I was pretty sure that what happened was what was going to happen.

2. I didn't like her past-timeline love interest.

There were some other things I didn't like, but it feels at this point like I'm just piling on. I really wanted to like this book, and I almost gave it three stars. Unfortunately I just didn't find enough I liked about it to justify that rating.

I really enjoy WWII historical fiction. This is especially true when it comes to stories that center around lesser-known real events in history. Two books that come to mind are Between Shades of Grey and Salt to the Sea, both by Ruta Sepetys. They both revolve around true events that I'd never heard of, and they were both emotional and moving.

When I picked up Sarah's Key, I was expecting something similar. This is supposed to be about an event that happened in July 1942 when Parisian police rounded up thousands of Jews and sent them off on trains to Auschwitz where they were all killed. It was ordered by the Nazis, but it was actually French citizens who carried out the atrocity. It sounded like it would be a powerful and educational story.

Unfortunately, only a very small portion of the actual book took place in 1942 following the titular Sarah. Instead, we are treated to hundreds of pages following one of the most insufferable protagonists I've ever had the misfortune to read about.

If I'm being honest, even the historical part of this historical fiction didn't move me like I was wanting. Perhaps it was because it was interspersed with all of the Julia dreck. Or perhaps I would've felt more connected to the story if the 1942 sections had been in first person, or if they'd called her Sarah rather than 'the girl'. Whatever it was, I just didn't feel the emotion I usually do when I read about such tragic events.

My biggest issue with this was that it felt like the author was trying to write a chick-lit book and decided to shove in a subplot about WWII. It felt like a plot device used in order to get Julia to admit that she wasn't happy in her life and marriage, and that's a shame. This could have and should have had more impact than it did.

Julia is, as I stated previously, insufferable. Looking through other reviews, I see that I'm not alone in my estimation of this character. She spends the entire book complaining about how she is treated by everyone around her --her husband, in-laws, boss, etc. She is looked down upon by the locals as being 'the American girl'.

Her husband is a total jerk. He talks down to her constantly. It seems obvious to me that their relationship is dysfunctional, to say the least. He cheats on her and she all but catches him in the act. He tells her he didn't cheat...and she just lets it go. She doesn't call him on his bullshit. And then she's shocked to find out he never stopped cheating?! Why the heck would he stop? She was letting it happen for years because she wouldn't stand up to him.
He disregards her feelings and blows her off over and over again. And her reason for staying with him? Because he's hot and he's good in bed. She LITERALLY SAYS THIS. Every time he treats her like dog crap on the bottom of his shoe, she thinks about how attractive he is. Then she continues to complain that she's being mistreated.
When he tries to force her to get an abortion, she nearly goes along with it. And not because she wanted to, because she absolutely did not. She was going to go through with it only because she didn't want him to leave her, which he said he would do if she chose to go through with the pregnancy. I'm going to say that again because I want you to understand why I loathe this character so much. She was going to unwillingly terminate a pregnancy because her piece of garbage, philandering husband threatened to leave her if she didn't. And she was going to do it. It basically wasn't even a question for her. The only thing that stopped her was getting a call from someone who wanted to meet with her that day. That call somehow snapped her out of her idiocy and made her realize that she wanted to have the baby whether her husband wanted it or not. Just a note, some people may think from my hatred of this subplot that I am not pro-choice. Well, I am. I believe in a woman's right to choose. That is why I hated this so much. Her choice was to have a child, and he was trying to take that choice away from her and she was just going to roll over and let him so as not to rock the proverbial boat. Also, would someone who has suffered from multiple miscarriages just ignore abdominal pain in the early part of her pregnancy? It doesn't sound legit to me.

And concerning her husband, Julia remained utterly spineless. She let him call all of the shots surrounding their relationship, and when he left her for the woman he'd been cheating with for years, she was completely passive about it. Why on Earth would you stay married to a man you had such lukewarm feelings for? Oh yeah, I forgot. He's hot and good in the sack. *insert eye-roll here*

Sarah's experience during WWII is pretty much over about half way through the book, and at that point we switch exclusively to Julia's POV. I feel that was a terrible decision. As I said before, I felt like it minimized not only the events of July 16th, 1942, but it also minimized the impact the story had on me, because then I was subjected to Julia's story, which I hated.

Julia does nothing but complain. She talks about family holidays they took where everyone was having fun doing things while she was always left out. The way that she laments this is so aggravating. I just wanted to tell her to shut up and stop whining. She never asserted herself, instead choosing to complain about it later. I hated Julia.

I also hated the end of the book. She goes to New York and starts to basically cyber-stalk a guy she met twice for maybe a couple hours altogether years before. When she learns that he lives in the same city, they end up meeting and even though they're both in relationships she feels drawn to him. She tells the reader she can't stop thinking about him, even when she's with her boring boyfriend, who she has dutiful, boring sex with because: 'I feel like I have to.' Seriously, this woman is the ultimate poor-me, look-at-what-a-victim-I-am type of person and it just pissed me off.

I feel like the people who lost their lives in this terrible tragedy deserve a better tribute than this book. I really do.

So this book is only 193 pages long. It felt much longer.

I actually listened to this on audiobook. It's only a 5-hour production, and I listened to in on 2x speed, and it still felt like it took forever to get through.

A lot of people talk about the wonderful writing in this book, and at first I was in that camp. However, as I kept listening I realized that it is that kind of flowery language that exists just for the sake of sounding different. So many of the metaphors made zero sense. I wish I'd taken notes while I was listening, but I just didn't care enough to go to that trouble. Just know going into it that there will be countless silly sounding sentences that can't be described as anything other than cringy. The weirdest thing about the writing was that it would be super flowery and metaphorical one moment, and then it would turn crude and blunt the next. It just didn't work for me.

I have never been to the Ozarks. For all I know, this is a very accurate portrayal of that area and the people who live there. I have, however, lived in a small town where drugs run rampant. I have also been poor, although not as poor as the characters in this book. But I have to say, as bad as things ever got, I never met a group of people as miserable as the people in this book. Every single moment is a struggle, and everyone is looking to take advantage or hurt everyone around them. There are literally zero lighthearted moments in this book.

One thing that struck me as strange was that every time someone took drugs they would basically announce it to whoever was in the scene. Ree's uncle is the first that comes to mind, but drugs are mentioned on nearly every page. But he would come into a scene and say something like, "I've been doing crank for three days. Do you want some?" It just didn't strike me as realistic at all.

I also thought the relationship between Gail and Ree was really poorly-written. Neither of them ever provide a label for themselves as far as their sexual identity. There are descriptions in this book of their physically intimate relationship, but nothing is ever defined.

I also found myself cringing in the scenes where Gail would breastfeed her child. Not because I have any kind of issue with women breastfeeding, but because it was written as if it was a sexual thing. There was so much description of her breasts and how Ree was staring at Gail while her son sucked on her nipple and so many other things that just rubbed me the wrong way. Breastfeeding is not a sexual thing and should not be treated as such. But when we have a male author writing about two female characters who are sexually attracted to one another, everything has to be overly sexual. Oh wait, no it doesn't.

The plot of this book was really weak. I found myself so incredibly bored. We are supposed to wonder what happened to Ree's father but I found myself not caring. It was poorly written and the pacing was atrocious.

Overall, this book was a big miss for me, which I'm bummed about because I feel like it did have potential. I think I'll still watch the movie at some point, just to compare. I've seen a couple reviews where the reviewer said they preferred the movie to the book, so I want to judge for myself.