This was a sweet Regency romance with a central mystery (though I did guess the twist early on). I loved the complicated sister relationship and wanted more of that on the page! The chemistry between the protagonist and her romantic interest was immediate and palpable.  I did wish the good vs. evil conflict was more nuanced rather than everything feeling so dramatically stark/inevitable. This also felt very isolated from the real world to me: Ginny only interacts with like five people and her household staff the whole time. It would've been really nice to have more balls and societal connections for my personal taste. Still, I'm mainly just asking for more time in this world with this characters...because this was really fun!

I think this is my favorite Henry book so far, mainly because it feels like I might remember some of these character's names. I was interested in both timelines, though I wished we got more of Jodi's perspective. The forced proximity made the connection between the romantic leads feel somewhat unearned to me, yet I still was cheering for their happiness and honesty by the end.

This was a fun music industry contemporary Little Mermaid retelling, though many of the core elements of the Little Mermaid story were so distorted or missing entirely that it felt more inspired than actually like a retelling. You could definitely feel the chemistry between Ariel and Eric, but it stayed as a sweet, clean romance with hints of more off-page, which was really nice. I would've liked more depth in the immigrant stories and the side characters.

In this contemporary Beauty & the Beast retelling, Isabelle works in publishing in New York and goes to California to convince Beau, who is late on turning in his seven-figure memoir manuscript, to actually write his story. Somewhat cheesy, always clean even though they live together, this was a quick fun romance. I wished we got to see more depth in the relationship between Izzy and her dad, since that is a core part of the actual Beauty & the Beast story. Some references were cute and clever, while others more forced: he literally calls his housekeeper/assistant "Kettle?" Overall, I enjoyed this a lot.

This was a cool concept with exciting Vietnamese mythological elements, but I really wanted more time with the fantastical side. Some of the contemporary situations felt convenient or unrealistic, even for this genre: "Oh, a magic vision just ended? Better study for my quiz." The character development was off for me; I think the flat character arcs with reincarnation made the conflicts feel somewhat stale/inevitable. Such a great idea for a book though!

This is such a fun YA superhero story - light, fast-paced, with some entertaining twists. Great on a reread too! My only minor note: I wish the Epics felt more like a real threat - so many feel so far away, which means the stakes don't always feel completely earned. Still, I definitely recommend this series for quick, clean fun in an interesting reimagining of our world.

This book was easy to read and follow, but I wished there was more concrete data; it focused a lot on Kaplan's name-dropping experiences. For a book that says it's about "the science of luck," it felt more like circular thinking. 

This had the perfect mood for a gothic YA 12 Dancing Princesses retelling. However, with SO much death, the only nod to grief is the decision to get over it because they can't spend their whole lives grieving - which, while practical, does dilute the horror and impact of the actual deaths. There were interesting elements in the worldbuilding, but for me, at least, it felt like a lot thrown in to see if it stuck without enough development on any of it. I also felt like the triplets were drawn lazily - they don't even get their own caskets, really? I mean, at least let them have their own colors or something! Overall, even though the vibe was perfect and I flew through this, I don't feel like I can give it four stars based mainly on my own biases.

I admit I requested this book before knowing it was the fifth in a series, and though the missing knowledge of characters does make the epilogue's reveal fall flat, this was enjoyable enough on its own, with a fairly contained story. I bet if I read the other books, I would find the looming threat of organizations like "the Faction" less distant. This almost felt like a lighter spy version of Jane Eyre without the fires or age gap. I liked that they both had secrets rather than there being a power imbalance. A clean Regency romance with intrigue to keep the pages turning quickly!

This is a cool concept, though sometimes the examples felt too extreme; I didn't find the method of counting as universally applicable as the authors did. Obviously outdated in terms of the realities of today's world, this still was worth the read.