This book was A Book. Part poetry, part prose, all scarily accurate Freud fanfic. I've read more than my fair share of Dr. Freud (aka Siggy aka Ugly Teddy Bear), and I got goosebumps reading THE WHITE HOTEL. Thomas pulls out all the stops to mimic the good doctor's reasonable writing style, and I repeatedly had to remind myself that this book is historical fiction.

Modeled after Freud's published case studies, THE WHITE HOTEL takes you on an intimate journey into one woman's experience of post WWI and WWII's Eastern Europe. I can't tell ya'll much more because almost everything is a spoiler in this book, and half the fun is distinguishing between reality and the woman's magical, hysterical reality. For those who have read Freud before, Thomas draws heavily on"Beyond the Pleasure Principle" with some pretty sweet dream analysis thrown in.

There is gender and racial diversity in the book, but, of course, since it's a) Freud fanfic and b) set during the Holocaust, nothing ends well for anybody. Thomas does his best to provide solace in the last section, but it doesn't entirely ease the grief. I wouldn't recommend the book for those already sick at heart. It's more of a "Oh, you like reading Freud? Read this!" sort of recommendation.

SOOOOOOOO I WAS FEELING NOSTALGIC OKAY.

Remember when TWILIGHT was the super "it" thing? And vampire books were popping up left and right?? And Young Adult became a separate section of bookstores and libraries??? It was a GREAT TIME. A WONDERFUL time. I TOTALLY READ SO MUCH. Buuuuuut I missed out on the adult-y vampire books because I was, ya know, 14, and I wanted to be a good girl so a vampire would bite me.

Now that I jogged your memory, zoom to the present day. I saw A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES in the library this November. Suddenly all that hype came rushing back, like some sort of tortured passion monsoon. Witches. Vampires. Careful kissing. Lesbian witches and gay demons. Yes yes YES. Harkness brought all that back for me and I thank her for that immensely.

However, I am an adult reading this adult-y book. I am a writer trying to figure out how to write. So my brain analyzed and I...I never realized what a snob I was until I read this book. Like, I knew I was a book snob, but apparently I'm also a riding and food snob. There were some details, especially the wine details, that were off and jolted me out of the story. Nobody should drink 100 year old wine (unless it's a special port). Nobody should drink 5 month old wine either. Nobody should eat fish that still tastes like the ocean. Nobody should ride a new horse with their eyes closed, without stirrups or reins. Just...no.

There were also some hilarious use of fanfic tropes, which I made me laugh when I supposed to be concerned. Diana has some witch power shenanigans that didn't make sense, and she was repeatedly applauded for taking beatings from other creatures. Matthew's anger issues did not make for a good romantic lead, and sent up some red flags about him being a potential domestic abuser. This issues like these, the writing quality varied for me. Sometimes I was very invested and impressed, but other times I was horrified.

Thus, the three stars despite nostalgia points. I'm interested in picking up the next book, and I'm recommending the series to my biologist-and-Outlander-obssessed Mom. Since there are domestic abuse elements though, I'm unsure who else should read it. I'd keep it away from the impressionable and those unwilling to be critical of stuff they love.

I read HOW TO BE AN AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE in about 24 hours for an essay, so my review is more impressions from a dream than a think piece. It tugged at my heartstrings. Every character got to be three dimensional. Dilloway expertly grappled with tough issues of discrimination, racism, and family, and she wonderfully explored the nuanced relationship of Japan and USA post WWII. The theme of mother-daughter relationships avoided cliche for the most part, and the writing style flowed beautifully. Overall, a lovely mediation on immigration and family.

FOREVER FOR A YEAR was quite the trip. I will say that I have a bad habit of disliking books about teenagers who act overly like teenagers (i.e. making very dumb choices), but that's my only caveat here. What goes on in this book speeds way past that threshold.

Because whYYYYYYYY in the name of all that is holy did Gottfred decide to use internet-speak for the ENTIRE NOVEL. I understand preserving dialects. I do. I enjoy it, but what the heck. This book is just one long tumblr post, and yeah, that's fine if they were actually speaking over the internet, but this is everyday thought speech. This is every sentence. This is the author trying way too hard to make their book "relatable" to the target audience. Teenagers do not speak internet 24/7. They speak internet on the internet.

So the voice was a major stumbling block for me. Then the plot was rather bland. You know, it was typical heterosexual high school stuff. Gay side-characters were there for 2.5 pages, race was mentioned at the beginning, and class issues held out a little. The parents and their parental conflicts were so similar I had trouble distinguishing among them. I thought it was great that the author had such a frank discussion of sex, contraceptives, spicing up relationships etc: that's really valuable for teens to learn. I thought it was neat that Trevor was the more mature one instead of the typical selfish-guy-and-responsible-girl dynamic. Overall, however, nothing new or original happened.

I don't know. A bland heteros-forever story. I would recommend to either people who have never watched a high school drama TV show so all this is new to them, or to teens looking for a friendly way to learn about safe sex and first relationships.

While the writing style was still spectacular, I didn't go quite as gaga over VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN as I have over the 3 previous Cirque Du Freak books. The plot arc was more a haphazard heart rate monitor than a simple 5 act triangle. A lot of questions and potential conflicts were raised, but then obviously shelved for books later in the series. The bear fight pictured on the cover was indeed heart-racing, but then so were various events at Vampire Mountain, once they snuck in. Put that all together and VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN seems like an obvious in-between book, where one overarching series arc ends (Darren adjusting to being a vampire) and another begins (Darren & the Vampire Princes).

The drawbacks of the book are not enough to stop reading the series. It's still soooooooo cool and I'm still in love with the simple writing relaying complex emotional journeys. Also, Darren is still adorable. I'm a little sad there's less Ezra, but it's understandable why our favorite snake-man stays with the cirque while Darren and his Dork Vampire Dad go their family reunion. Unfortunately, I can't immediately pick up the next due to MFA shenanigans, but, just like the undead, I will return!

My feelings about HOWARDS END are complicated. On the one hand, the prose is gorgeous. I read A ROOM WITH A VIEW ages and ages ago, and I'd since forgot how brilliant a writer Forester is. His spot on and fantastical descriptions of the English countryside captivated me and made me miss being there. I thought the characters, especially the Schlegals, were feminist, engaging, and well-developed. Forester set up the characters to embody his debate of "who shall inherit England?" and they did that very well.

Maaaaaaaaaayyyybbe a little too well, though. After the first 50 pages or so, Forester's personal debate about problems of class took precedence over all plot. There were little spurts of action, but only after at least 20 pages of characters arguing and philosophizing about class. Seriously, I felt like I was in a debate club about the early 20th century UK class system, or reading one of those Renaissance books where there's a frame story to set up the author's academic essays. Then, when there was an actual plot conflict, all the characters were too busy talking to deal with it, and they all ended up looking silly. Especially Mr. Wilcox. If he's supposed to be the backbone of England, then the backbone of England is made of fools.

There were also some very strange lesbian implications between Helen and Meg, despite them being sisters. Proclamations of devotion, kissing, constant refusals to marriage proposals, moping and anger when one of them does get married, being dispassionate about real life "romances," but very passionate about each other.... It was weird.

So, yeah, I wanted to give HOWARDS END more stars, and perhaps some of my criticisms can be explained. I haven't read any classics in awhile, so maybe I'm just unused to the slower pace. If ya'll ever want to learn about early 20th c. class philosophy, this is your book.

I sometimes struggle with my assigned readings for my MFA, since they're not all my glass of champagne, but I was transfixed by TRUMPET. Brilliantly written; character voices clear and bright as winter morning; insight as piercing as Macbeth's dagger; inner and outer conflict as perfectly balanced as a strong cup of tea. Just so, so lovely.