This is the first Rizzoli and Isles book I actually didn't like and I'm so sad about it. It just felt....off. Not her usual absorbing read. The mystery was good enough but part of what makes this series so good for me is all the personal drama and developments that happen for Jane and Maura. This book was just the same family drama for Jane and the same Daniel drama for Maura. No movement forward whatsoever there. Gerritsen also usually has some larger theme at work with the mystery exploring the meaning of evil and other big ideas and that was a bit flimsy in this as well. She did cover the complexity of unreliable witness testimony and false memories, but could have done a lot more with it. And finally, where was Anthony Sansone!!!???? This is a case he would have absolutely been on top of because of the religious symbolism. I dunno. It was just a swing and a miss. Lots of potential but not on par with the rest of her books. 

Sally Rooney does toxic relationships so well.

DNF 30%. This will be last Ali Hazelwood. I think her writing is sloppy and her characters are vapid.

DNF 30%. The relationship was so basic and boring. Wanted more figure skating. V. bored.

Well....this was really bad. Let me list some of the chapter titles for you: "Trauma Does Not Exist," "People Fabricate Anger," "Unhappiness is Something You Choose for Yourself," "All Problems are Interpersonal Relationship Problems" and so on. Those are not tongue-in-cheek chapter titles. Those are actual claims this book makes. I kept reading it thinking there would be a twist or something that would fix the fact that these claims have no basis in current research on psychology or even biology but no...it just doubled down on this kind of thinking. I also did not understand the subtitle of it being a specifically Japanese tradition. The underpinning philosophy is (outdated) Adlerian psychology (which is American, I think?) and Greek philosophy. Was it the story telling structure that made it Japanese? I honestly have no idea. Anyway, this was terrible and not based in facts. I think it actually does more harm than good. Don't read it. IMHO. 

I enjoyed this more than I did the first book in the series. The teenage angst was delightful. The plot and world building were more substantive. Character development could be better but it does what it needs to do for a YA romantasy.

Isolated setting. Themes of mental illness, and grief. The main character is visually impaired (disability rep). I thought it was entertainingly creepy and there good twists and turns. 

I was on board with this book until I absolutely wasn't. This man had the audacity to compare children with ADHD to zoo animals. WTF.

Schitt's Creek but make it horror. Loved it.

edge of your seat action and a jaw-dropping twist at the end. ugh, the last volume is going to gut me, I just know it.