michelle zauner is a talented writer. for anyone who has ever gone through grief, she has a way of taking you right back there, which is a very difficult experience for the reader but a wonderful demonstration of zauner’s abilities. i loved the tidbits about her relationship and how peter was always there for her. also, i think this book has an iconic first sentence. i liked pretty much everything about it except for the essay “dark matter.” it just didnt feel as impactful as the others to me. 

this was a very strong memoir! kenan is a surprisingly good writer, and he has lots of wisdom and stories to share. i appreciated a lot of his thoughts on spirituality, politics, and social issues, but it made me uncomfortable how he centered social justice so much yet continuously praised dave chapelle with no caveats. that facet of this book was definitely my least favorite part. 

this is just the loveliest and most heartwarming story ever! the characters didn’t quite feel like they were written just for me as much as the characters from the previous book, but this is still such a delightful read! i will say, there was a brief description of animal cruelty/animal death toward the end of the book that i found pretty upsetting, as well as quite a few other triggers that other readers should keep in mind. 

to be honest i read this for the cover. which is adorable. i hope jamie lilac keeps the same cover designer for future releases. because of the cute cover, i went into this blind. the only thing it said on the cover was that it’s fake dating, but it wasn’t even fake dating, which i probably would have enjoyed a lot more. i wish i would have known its a she’s all that retelling because i hate she’s all that. since there were a few differences, i decided to stick with it to see what happened, but i decided that my pet peeves weren’t worth sticking around for. i like a historical that is written more contemporarily, but this read exactly like a contemporary, and it just wasnt for me because of my preferences as a reader. like i wanted at least some historical elements present in the dialogue, social norms, interactions, etc. like they reference zippers multiple times when the zipper wasn’t invented yet!!! it just kinda drove me crazy, but the writing itself wasnt bad. i would read a contemporary from jamie lilac if she wrote one. i would recommend this if you like historical vibes but dont enjoy the writing style of most historicals, but it wasnt for me

i am cat sebastian’s biggest fan. i just adore her writing and her characters. jack and oliver were perfect!! a grump with a heart of gold and a sunshine with some inner sadness! how adorable! this was also surprisingly spicier than i expected 

this was fine. i just didnt like the female characters very much. i didnt care about sam or flor, and daisy got on my nerves so much that idk how ruby is going to make me like her. steph also wasn’t my fav bc i felt like she wanted to psychoanalyze ppl so bad, but she didnt actually care about their emotions. like, she just wanted to force everyone to tell her everything about them without considering that they might not want to. the male characters were nice, tho. pak was a cutie, juth was a sweetie, and i liked o’jek’s character development 

i almost dnf because, even though the writing was supposed to be charming, i didn’t really vibe w it. i liked the romance though. 

i love lydia lloyd! her writing is such a fresh voice in the historical romance genre. i loved the supporting cast, the supporting cast's relationships, and all of the plot points! she put kind of a unique spin on the "brother's best friend" trope. the spice was also so fun, which is especially notable for a trad pub historical romance. i will say, i didnt feel the majority of their chemistry/emotional connection until like 75% in, and before that point, their connection was based mostly on lust and off-page past encounters. by the end, though, I did feel like I knew the characters well and felt that they were good together. the characters' relationships with their parents were very emotionally compelling, too. overall, I didn't love this as much as the first of Lloyd's books, but I still really enjoyed it and would recommend. 

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc!

i felt like the writing of this was very objective, which i appreciated. i also thought it was a good length for a presidential biography. it was long enough to be detailed but not too long that it was a super slog to get through. the writing is also solid and not too dry. not exciting by any means, but it didnt make me want to go to sleep. my biggest gripe was with the choice of which information was presented. i think there were some more interesting angles that the author could have brought up.