missyg324's Reviews (308)

What a Jewish family drama!! I like that we kept seeing new layers of Ezra throughout the story as new challenges arose for him and his family. Jonathan is definitely not the norm and so so special.

I will say that there were several times I had to rewind the audiobook because I clearly missed something, which doesn’t usually happen for me. Not sure if it was a me zoning out thing or something about the book or audio that wasn’t always grabbing my attention. 

I’ve always enjoy Jessica Goodman’s books- They keep me at the edge of my seat and trying to figure out who did it. I think I figured this one out a little earlier than some of her others, but I still enjoyed the journey. 

I mostly liked this book. I enjoyed the parts when she’s looking back on when her kids are little and how family vacation and life was then because I’m very much in that stage right now. And the relationship that Rocky has with her kids is so fun to read. And the parts about miscarriage and how she’s carried that grief with her all her life were hard and important to read. 

I rarely write down quotes from books but I loved these:
“I make a mental note to rearrange my heart to make a little more room for the changing realities.”

“And this may be the only reason we were put on this earth: to say to each other ‘I know how you feel.’ To say ‘same.’ To say ‘I know how hard it is to be a parent, a kid.’ To say ‘your shells stink and you’re sad! I’ve been there.”

I love Naya and Jake’s relationship- they lean into the silly and gave me second-hand butterflies. The friendships in this book were also so important and special, especially Naya with Aaron and Felicia. Important content warning for domestic abuse. 

This book was fine. The writing wasn’t great and it felt very heavy-handed on all themes. The use of archenemy in an enemies to lovers trope always makes me laugh because what normal person thinks they actually have one of those? Overall, I’d say to skip this one. 

Just wasn’t capturing my attention. Wasn’t too interested in what would happen. 

Adelaide feels so deeply and is so caring for everyone in her life but herself. She is so loved by everyone except the one person she’s convinced herself she loves most. I felt every emotion reading Adelaide. And strangest of all was how I could feel sad but the book still felt kind of sunshine-y? Is that a thing? What a special book!

When I started reading this book I thought it was kinda cheesy and almost put it down, but I’m really glad I didn’t. It ended up being a really sweet Tangled re-telling. Love what Ren and Edward bring out in each other. The nod to the storybook ending was a nice touch. 

Cute and a little cheesy. Expressed a lot of my feelings of frustration and disappointed of when Chanukah displays are just blue and white Christmas decor. Definitely hit you over the head with the fake dating trope- we get it, it’s fake. It also felt like it took so long to get to the stuff with her parents and then it never really felt resolved to me. A good, hallmark-y Chanukah story. Recommend.