a strong debut! excited to see what ana holguin does next. really enjoyed the romantic build up, friend group and mental health exploration. i just cannot read about journalists like this without being extremely stressed!!!!!! the ethics of it all!!!!!!

thank you to netgalley and forever for the earc!!

i love tarah's character building so much - she knows what she's doing!! deacon and larynn are not the most likeable characters on paper, but i was so fascinated by them and found them endearing immediately. what can i say, i love a fmc who's kind of mean! good for her! the flashbacks were interesting insight into their pasts without overtaking the present story. i really loved how there was no huge third act conflict within their relationship, but instead the story focused on how they handle things together, which was such a nice surprise (as someone who reads mostly romance, i was getting nervous when i hit the 90% mark and nothing had blown up). they're funny and hot and emotional and kind of mean and brash and honest and so in love!! i love them! some of the writing felt a bit clunky at times, and i wish some moments had a bit more oomph, which is why i'm not giving this 5 stars. tarah is very quickly becoming a favorite author of mine - she's so so consistent and her book playlists are amazing! onto funny feelings next :)

cute! i like the exploration of magic and the village dynamics. OBSESSED with the cloud bears. love u caz and meep and winged cats and merhorses and merbaby and tobin. i found the big plot points to be kind of boring but also i recognize that they’re important to the story and kiela’s character arc. was handled very well i think it just dragged while also getting kind of intense and i was enjoying the chill vibes!!!! and when will someone build me bookshelves because they have a crush on me!!!!!! 

i was expecting something a bit more fun after reading the synopsis, and while this book has moments, it was also really heavy and internal at times. once i figured that out, i was able to process everything a lot better. rafie is GOING THROUGH IT, and he's not a very likeable character for most of the story - although he is definitely very interesting. i liked the school mariachi plotline and characters a lot! i love rey! i think there's a lot that JGV does really well here, and the book is so colorful and alive. i struggled a bit with how much was thrown at us and the characters in the last 60 pages and the writing at times felt overly flowery. not fully committed to my star rating at this point 

tarah put something in this book (was it her heart, soul and talent? probably) because it is truly all-consuming and addicting. i found myself desperately trying to slow down and make this book last longer but was unable to stop myself from getting sucked in and ended up reading it in a day. wren and ellis are so carefully crafted and beautifully messy that this story feels like it could not be anyone else's. tarah contextualizes their story in the present with flashbacks, conversations and journal entries (as opposed to dual POV, which her latest release, the co-op, is) and it builds and builds as the road trip continues and they get closer to coming home. while the book spends a lot of time outside of spunes, the secondary characters help keep the story moving in their own ways, and i enjoyed how much of sage, fisher, sam, indy, silas and micah we got to see. (side note: book four micah and kirby? i had a delusion it would be the guy taking over starhopper last year lol.) devastating, tender, romantic, emotional, sexy, angsty, hopeful, funny and genuinely fantastic, this is a story i will be thinking about for a long time. 

skimmed the rest of this on kindle but was just not connecting with or liking the relationship. the writing is great and i loved the audio narrator though!!! just don’t think i could do another five hours of it with all the conflict i knew was coming. will definitely look into this authors next book though

star rating is NOT official. liked this one and thought it was very entertaining! the ending was doing a bit too much for me. 

didn’t like the love interest in this one as much as perfect fit (lol) but this was fun and cute! interesting to see CG’s writing grow so much between books 1 and 2.