*I received a free digital ARC from Wattpad Books and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

I'm settling on a low 3/2.5 stars. I wanted to really like this book. It has a great foundation and solid bones. But I feel like the editor(s) did the author a disservice by not helping this book be as great as it could have been.

I loved our main character, Sol, as well as her friends and family. I feel that Sol's relationship with her family is the strongest and best part of this book! I appreciated the storyline about Sol's mom being deported and living in Monterrey. I personally have not lived this experience, but as a reader I thought Bravo did an excellent job balancing out the emotional and mental struggles of having a loved one deported with the everyday moments of happiness and connecting that families deserve to have. I also really enjoyed Sol's friendships with Carlos and Diane. Basically, the character development is awesome!

The history club that Sol is a part of is allegedly the focal point of the narrative. However, I never fully grasped its importance. We never see the club doing anything even remotely related to history? There are a few mentions of Sol volunteering at a local museum, but...like, that's it. The club is talked about like it's a really prestigious, serious society, but we just see the members doing hazing rituals and hanging out. I didn't get how the appeal or importance of this club would motivate the characters to break the law to be initiated. The whole time I was like "How is this club even worth it?" I think there is some kind of disconnect between what the author intended and how it actually plays out in the book.

Overall, this story has a lot of potential, and I hope Bravo continues to write because I liked her voice and style. I would pick up any new work by her! :)

The Five is a fascinating, well-researched book about the lives of the five canonical victims of the infamous Jack the Ripper serial killer. Enjoying a book like this is inappropriate given the grim subject matter, but I can say that I appreciated this book and found it extremely interesting. This is not a book about Jack the Ripper. Rather, Rubenhold honors the lives of Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly by seamlessly piecing together their lives and the circumstances that eventually culminated in their lethal encounters with whoever that sick fuck was.

The lives of the victims are centered here, with little regard given to the serial killer that murdered them. Gory details of their murders are not given, which I liked, since we are so often exposed to true crime media that is salacious and sensational. (Humans have never changed imo). A critical eye is laid upon the societal expectations, assumptions, and systems of oppression that have contributed to how the murders were perceived during their time and how they're still viewed today. I felt like I got to know all five of the women highlighted in this book; I got to understand their motivations, their hopes, personal failures, and dreams. There are parts where Rubenhold goes into great detail about life in Victorian-era England/London. I live for the minute, mundane details of history and how people lived, so I was all about it, but I can see how that could be an element of this book that some readers may find boring. Overall, this is a very well-done book of research that I would recommend to anyone interested in diving deeper down into the Jack the Ripper Rabbit Hole, or learning more about the lives of working class Londoners.

**I can't bring myself to give this book five stars because of the underlying negative implications about sex workers. The author asserts the argument that four of the five women were not, in fact, sex workers. This very well may be true, it may not be true, but it definitely doesn't matter. Yes, Rubenhold aimed to humanize these five women by showing readers their personalities, lives, etc. but throughout the book I felt like the author was implying that these women were more deserving of sympathy BECAUSE they were not involved in sex work. The victims were people, and I hope that most modern readers don't need a moral justification for sympathizing with someone who is engaging in sex work to make a living. It's not the 19th century anymore.**

*I received a free digital ARC from Atria Books and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

I enjoyed this book, even though it's not my usual "type" of book that I go for. Musical Chairs is a light-hearted, fun read that follows well-off people as they navigate not-so-serious problems and let me tell you- it was exactly what I needed as a distraction. Almost all the characters are likable, the stakes are low, and the setting is tranquil. Much like a good telenovela, towards the end things got tied up WAY too quickly and conveniently in scenes that were completely unrealistic. If you're okay to just go with it, you'll enjoy the ride.

This is a really dense read, but really good. Loved all the minute detail. A vivid medieval world is thoroughly built and I’m glad I’m alive in 2018 not 618 tbh.

This is a wonderful, sparkling debut that weaves together different characters' points of view in the aftermath of a sudden, heartbreaking tragedy. The tragedy happens in the first few pages of the book, but I'm not going to reveal it because I feel like that would be a spoiler. Beanland is a great storyteller in that she addresses pain, loss, and generational trauma while ultimately telling a story about love, hope, and family. Each chapter is told from the limited perspective of a different character, and I enjoyed each POV thoroughly. According to Beanland's 'Author's Note' this work of fiction is loosely based on her own family's history, which made the whole book even more interesting for me as a reader. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and stories that you can fly through in one day (because they're so good)!

*I received a free digital ARC from Simon & Schuster and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

This book is very well done. Some reviews say this book was a bit confusing timeline-wise, but I didn’t find that to be true for me while listening to the audiobook. I had listened to CBC’s Missing & Murdered & Finding Cleo podcast, and knew basic background info about the Pickton Farm murders, so maybe that is why I didn’t personally experience that critique? Either way, this investigative true crime book does a great job highlighting the unsolved and under-reported cases of dozens of missing and murdered indigenous women who have disappeared along the Highway of Tears. The author is not First Nations, but I felt that she did a good job centering the stories of the victims and their families, and outlining the systemic racism and injustices that disproportionally effect indigenous people- indigenous women particularly. This book gives the families of the victims the space to speak and advocate for their missing and murdered loved ones, and all of the women, plus many more, deserve our attention and deserve justice.

This was a pretty good thriller. It's spooky, one or two moments where legit scary, and the plot twists are solid. I loved how the reader is balancing the line between reality and the other-worldly. Is something paranormal or demonic going on in this small town? You want to keep reading to find out! It's more of a slow burn in terms of action and plot. I kept waiting for the build up to explode in a huge plot point, but it kind of just slowly unfolds. Which is fine! It just wasn't quite what I was expecting. I did enjoy the plot twists. I felt the ending was a bit anti-climactic.

*I received free access to an audiobook from Macmillan Audio & NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*