GOD THIS BOOK!!! restored my faith in the bright fall series. It’s not that I hated Astrid’s book, it’s just that it didn’t give me the same warm fuzzy feelings Delilah’s did. And this book!! This book gave me those feelings and then some! Iris was one of my favorite characters from the beginning of these stories so I was so happy to see her getting her own book. I loved watching her grow and mature along side her friends who gentle nudged her into that growth. And Stevie!!! Stevie was just perfect for her. Their fake dating was some of the best fake dating I’ve ever read I could literally gush about this book all day! It was sexy, sweet and full of love!

“My hobbies include listening to murder stories, having casual lesbian sex, and telling my mom interesting facts about space.”

Enid is OBSESSED with space. She can and will tell you any fact about space she thinks will interest you. She has in irrational fear of bald men but she would never tell you that. When she’s not serial dating she’s listening to her favorite true crime podcast on repeat. Enid is in the processes of trying to create a bond with her two half sisters. Their father died recently and the girls took it as an opportunity to join in on each others lives. While this is all happening Enid finds herself in her first serious relationship, well ever. She begins to feel paranoid and like she’s being watch. She starts to wonder how she can care for others while knowing she has a parasite living in her that makes her a bad person.

This book is filed with so much heart and warmth that Austin is known for. The effortlessly quirky humor that captured my heart with her first book, puts my heart in an absolute chokehold in this book. She touches on everything from depression to the autism spectrum to trauma and does so in such a touching warm manner. Every main character she writes, I see myself in. I am the anxious girl constantly fearing death. I am the anxious girl filled with constant paranoia. She writes such relatable human characters that radiate such warmth. Dare I say she is my new favorite author?

Thank you so much Arita books for this arc I will absolutely be running to my local bookstore on January 30th to get my copy of this book!

I bought this book on its pub day, but pushed off reading it thinking it would be too triggering or too relatable. I appreciate the honesty and admire her for opening up about the abuse she suffered from her mother and from herself at the whim of her mother, however I do feel it fell a little flat? I never truly understood why the book was named what it was until the final chapter when she FULLY opens up about everything her mom did to her that wasn’t acting or body related. I understand growth isn’t liner it’s a spiral and looks different for everyone along with grief. I am not trying to diminish anything about her and her extremely difficult story. I too come from a not so great mother daughter dynamic that I once saw as great; so I understand how hard it is to discuss the trauma within a dynamic like that. I understand how hard it is to come to terms with the trauma you carry from childhood and seeing how it impacts your adult life so I know it’s hard to be that vulnerable. however I wish she spoke more on her feelings towards her moms death deeper than just in the final chapter of the book.

am I alone in this?

that was sooooooo cute

4 short campy glorious horror stories and I ate them alllll up honey! the first story was prob my least fav because I didn’t get it as much as I got the other 3? I love Rachel’s writing so much.

This book is the warmest, coziest, most charming book I’ve read in a long time! It’s got heart, magic, humor. After Sadie’s life goes awry; losing her job, apartment and boyfriend all at once dubbing it her “awful year” she jumps at the chance for a redo. Living on her little brother’s best friend Jacobs couch isn’t the life she envisioned for herself. So when a fortune teller offers her a way to relive that year, with caution, Sadie who doubts magic obliges. When Sadie arrives back at Jacob’s the two share a New Year’s Eve midnight kiss, just for Sadie to magically wake up a year in the past. While redoing her “awful year” Sadie finally sees the signs that she was never the problem and starts to wonder if now she is for asking for a second chance.

I immediately fell in love with this book! The pop culture references, the quick wit, the characters dynamics with each other. I love the way each emotion felt in the book is compared to some type of pastry making technique. But this book tackles a lot more than just love lost and dream jobs. It tackles work place harassment and the inequality women face in the world and how to stand up against it. It shows the importance of chosen family and finding your safe place in the world. It’s very rare I get this feeling from a book, like I’m right at home in the pages. I feel like I’m in these pages with my friends. I feel like I am eating pastries over americanos with them at higher grounds. This book gave me all the warm gooey feelings I needed right now! And the ending….THAT ENDING!!! I couldn’t recommend it more.


Thank you Hachette Audio and netgalley for this audio arc in exchange for an honest review! And be on the look out for this book at your local book stores December 4!

“There is no secret, Tom, or else there are hundreds of them, and none of them interesting enough for you. The secret is that we’re a family, we’re just an ordinary family, with ordinary unhappiness like yours.”

I like many others was not expecting this to be Nolan’s sophomore novel. I was a lover of Acts of Desperation and the emotions she was able to pack into that story. Somehow Ordinary Human Failings packs more of a punch. Telling the story of the Green family, a family painted as bad apples. The Irish immigrant family tried to start their life over in London, but darkness seems to cloud overhead wherever they go. In comes Tom, a reporter with big ambitions, who stumbles across what he thinks is the story of a lifetime. A child is dead and all signs point to one of the Green’s bad apples. This story is so much more than just a crime drama or a mystery.

I am a lover of in-depth character studies and the way Nolan manages to paint this families history from all different angles and points of view showing the reader who they really are. How human they really are. We learn from each point of view the familial trauma that has gotten the family where it is today. Grief, addiction, depression, wage gaps and lack of opportunity. We see the depth of human nature. The complexity of nature vs nurture. It’s raw it’s visceral you feel like you’ve sat with these characters and gotten to know them as you read. Nolan knows how to write troubled people so well, people who have been hurt and broken and just want a way to continue living. I loved Carmel and how her mind worked realizing the flaws in her mothering. I do think Tom’s character wasn’t necessary, but I do understand the point he made of journalism and I enjoyed the way Nolan wrote him. I could go on about this book and Nolan’s writing in general, but I won’t. Pick up one of her books and see for yourself.

Ordinary Human Failings is out in the US Feb 5th. Thank you Netgalley and little brown and company for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is so silly and soft yet strong and ferocious I need a sequel please I’m not done with these witches!!!

The first time I read this book I read it for the cult storyline. I remember my key take aways being female friendship and found family. I quickly learned in my second reading that it is so much more than that.

In the town of peaches drought has taken over what once was a haven for lush crops. Lacey May lives there with her alcoholic mother desperately following a charismatic cult leader looking for answers. There is no reason for doubt or distrust of their leader, but then one day Lacey May’s life shifts forever. Running away with a man she barely knows her mother leaves Lacy May alone and shattered. We quickly learn what the leaders true intentions for the town of peaches really is and Lacey May sets out determined to find her mother. No matter the cost.

Godshot is a feminist tale going all the way back to the original sin in its messaging. This book turns men’s desires on its head, proving that women can yearn all on their own and for themselves. Men aren’t needed. Girlhood and womanhood are put on display in a way both for and against the patriarchy. We learn how women put on an armor of beauty for protection and how that protection often backfires.

We learn how girls and women become so resilient. It displays the mother daughter relationship on such an intimate level that isn’t often portrayed in media. It shows the harm of trauma cycles and what happens when they’re not broken. It shows what happens when family is complaint in abuse. We see what happens when one has to mother themselves in order to heal. And what exactly motherhood is.

Godshot is a story about class and privilege. Showing us how poverty life is in food, beverage, education and healthcare.

All of that to say, it’s so much more than just a book about a cult and female friendship and me and my mommy issues are so happy it exists. Thank you @chelseabieker