Tw: drug addiction/recovery, some violence.

Why don't more people talk about these books? They're freaking amazing. 🙌🏻

I honestly can't write a coherent review right now, because even almost a half hour later I'm hung up on that ending. (School might have something to do with it too.)

Let's see. The short version is that this book is full of realistic, dynamic characters, a twisty story, double agents, and spies. On top of all that, there's no romance, even after two complete books. This book is everything I could've hoped for in a sequel, and so far this series is absolutely a hidden gem. 😁

Read this. You won't regret it. (Well, read the first book first.)

(This has been one of Liv's Lazy Reviews™.)

3.5 stars

Tw: mention of self-harm and suicide attempts

I definitely didn't get what I expected while reading this book. I was hoping for a wonderful, engaging, magical story that did my favorite fairytale justice, and, well... I didn't get that. 😶

I loved the writing and the characters, and I especially enjoyed the sister relationship. But while the Beast was a complex character, I didn't really care for him..? I also couldn't bring myself to care about their romance, because it honestly seemed so shallow. 🤷🏼‍♀️

The synopsis had me expecting a lot of magic, and there wasn't. I would've loved to see so much more of that magical second world explained. There were so many stories Yeva told Beast, and a lot of things left unexplained or only skimmed over. I feel this was particularly accurate with the Firebird.

And on that note, much of the second half was confusing. Not a whole lot of things made sense, and sometimes Yeva was just so impulsive and senseless. Please stop, take a deep breath, and tell me what the flip is going on.

Other things:
- Where was the plot? This story was fairly repetitive and uneventful, despite all of its potential. It probably could've been cut down.
- So. Slow.
- In the acknowledgements Meagan said this took place in medieval Russia... but I never would've guessed? Maybe I missed something, but as far as I know there was no reference to any sort of Russian culture beyond the Firebird story.
- Lena and Asenka deserved more page time.
- Doe-Eyes is my favorite character and an absolute sweetheart. I'd like to adopt her, please. She would be so spoiled and warm and loved. ❤️ (Yes, my favorite character is the dog. Can you blame me?)

While I was critical of this book, I did enjoy it. It was a good retelling, and from what I know of the original BATB story, one of the most accurate. But I also found it to be a letdown in a few different ways.

This book was amazing and I loved it 28x more than I expected to. New favorite contemporary. Go read it.

Things featured in this book:
- Chinese bisexual mc
- cross-dressing
- a cappella
- high school for the arts
- amazing friends
- a hint of romance
- music
- rivalry
- questioning sexuality and gender roles
- disability
- financial struggles
- parent expectations

There's probably more, but this is being written at 7 am when I need to get ready for school and am 92% too tired to function properly.

So, basically: read this book. It's up there with AATFK, Simon vs, Upside, THUG, and Queens of Geek, if that tells you anything. It's wonderful and fluffy while simultaneously being deep and oh so relatable. I need to read Riley's previous book and also anything else she writes. ❤️

And can there be another book about Jordan and the Sharps? Please? 🙌🏻

Find my in-depth review on Heir of Glitter.

(Go me for reading a 1,005 page book! XD)

I already knew what happened for the most part, but I loved revisiting the first three books from Daemon's POV and learning small details I never knew when reading from Kat's. He's honestly one of the best male leads I've ever read, and I would love to read the other two books from his POV. His love for Kat is swoon-worthy, and reading the end of Opal from his POV absolutely broke my heart. IT WILL BE OKAY DAEMON I PROMISE. Ahem. I'm sad I'm really done with the Lux series now, but I know I'll buy them and eventually reread them. Favorites for sure.

TW: rape, abuse

I read this in about half an hour. It was my first poetry collection, and to be quite honest, I was underwhelmed by this book. I agree that it's empowering and I do like some of the messages, but I didn't think it was anything special.

"if you were born with
the weakness to fall
you were born with
the strength to rise"

"if the hurt comes
so will the happiness"

3.5 stars

"Anyone can betray anyone."

Combine pieces of The Hunger Games, a dash of The Selection, and sprinkle in some superpowers, and you've got the gist of this book. Similar to THG, it featured classism and a rebellion with a goal of defeating a tyrant. Like TS, it had many girls competing for a prince's hand. But to set itself apart, this story had political intrigue, ulterior motives, a revenge plot, and wasn't focused on romance or teen angst. The romance was there, in a somewhat irritating love square, but ultimately a minor piece in this dystopian puzzle.

Okay, lame summary over.

I'll be the first to admit, this book isn't the most original. It has unique elements, but underneath that is a plethora of reused tropes. I can see why people say you love it or you hate it. However, I'm more in the middle. I enjoyed it, found it surprisingly good and much better than I expected. But it never really gripped me, and the end didn't have the impact on me that it seemed to have on many other readers. This might've had something to do with the fact that I managed to be somewhat spoiled regarding the shocking betrayal everyone hints at.

I liked Mare, but I didn't find her to be anything special. Excluding the fact that she was totally a special snowflake, with mutated abilities no one had heard of. The other characters didn't matter much to me, if I'm being honest. Cal and Maven were alright. Mare's family, while present, were alright. Kilorn was kind of annoying. The king was a jerk and I absolutely despised the queen and Evangeline. Oops.

One thing I didn't like was Mare and Evangeline's relationship. If you can call it that. Evangeline was bitter from the start and I immediately caught on to her self-righteous attitude. It got old quickly, mainly because I've seen it many times in the past. Of course, a rivalry formed. They were always against each other. Why can't girls in YA be friends? I would've loved to see Mare and Evangeline team up to go against the new antagonists revealed in the final chapters. The ending would've been cooler that way, but no. They were pitted against each other. *sigh*

Let's see, what else? Oh! I liked Norta, though I feel like I wasn't told very much about it. And the Red and Silver concept was interesting. I haven't heard of anything like that before. At least, I don't think I have.

I think that's about all I've got to say. This was a good book but nothing more. The ending did intrigue me, though, so I hope to read the sequel eventually! 😊

4.5 stars

This was an unexpectedly good book.

I liked:
- Nemesis, my sweet, vicious, synthetic fav. She was thrust into a confusing world while still learning emotions and humanity, and omg she could not catch a break. I want to give her a hug.

- Deadly, the hybrid dog beast that stole my heart. I love that he allowed Nemesis to adopt him, and save him from the fighting ring. His death was legit one of the saddest parts of the book.

- all the scheming. There was so much of it! Nemesis was plotting to kill the Emperor, Tyrus was pretending to be mad so he could overthrow the Emperor, and Cygna was trying to either kill or manipulate everyone.

I wasn’t a fan of:
- the slower pace. It felt like there wasn’t much of anything going on unless a grand scheme was either in progress or being revealed. I like slower books sometimes, but this one just didn’t work for me.

- Sidonia’s petulant attitude. I’m sorry, but grow up.

- Sidonia’s first “death.” What was the point of that? To spark Nemesis’ vengeance and make her play into Tyrus’ hands? Essentially, she died, wasn’t actually dead, came to the Chrysanthemum, was the focal point of Nemesis’ worry, and then died for real. I just didn’t see the point of that. Oops.

Overall, I did have some problems with this book, but I did enjoy it, far more than I expected to. I’ll definitely be reading the sequel!

Tw: self-harm, some gore

After ADSOM and TSS, I had high expectations for this book. And, if I’m being honest, it took a few chapters for me to get into the story. I thought about marking it as dnf. I’m so glad I didn’t; this book was a delight. An addictive, morally ambiguous delight.

School aside, I sped through this. The short chapters and alternating time periods made it really easy to read, and the story was really unique.

In most cases, I don’t like anti-heroes, and morally grey characters are a hit or miss for me. That being said, I loved Victor, Mitch, and Sydney. They were a very contrary but fitting group, and between their antics, wit, and quirky personalities, I couldn’t not love them. I liked Eli and Serena as characters, but for the most part they were way too misguided and just not my kind of people. Oh, and Dol is probably my favorite character. I always love the dog. 😁

Also, if I had to pick a favorite human character, I’d probably go with Sydney. She’s only a few years younger than me, and I saw a lot of myself in her. Mitch was cool too.

I really liked how this book explored science and morality. It’s kind of hard to go into detail without spoilers, but I will say this. I’m not by any means a scientific or philosophical person, but while reading I not only understood, but was intrigued by the concepts within.

The ending was fairly open, but executed really well. I’m curious what happened to everyone, and I can’t wait for the sequel to come out next fall!

4.5 stars

I’ve been wanting to read this since it came out, and when I got it from the library a few weeks ago Erika really, really wanted me to start it. I finally decided to pick it up, because I was curious, and I thought she’d spontaneously combust if I didn’t. 😂

Well, thank you, Erika, for making me read this amazing book. 😍

This was seriously amazing. It was a great fluffy story that also explored family, friendship, and finding yourself. I loved the balance of light and deep, and the story itself. Even though many contemporaries can bleed together, this one stood out.

I loved all of the characters. At times I thought Anise was a bit too self-centered and Emery had the attitude of a sixteen-year-old rather than a twelve-year old, but otherwise they were all awesome. Anise, her friends, her dad, Aunt Jackie, Emery, the twins, Austin... oh, and Lincoln. Sweet Lincoln. How do you not love him? He was confident enough to make me laugh, but not so much to be annoying. He was definitely my favorite, although like I said, everyone else was good too.

I loved that this book shone light on a different kind of athleticism. Anise and Lincoln weren’t on varsity school teams; she was a surfer and he was a skateboarder, respectively. I’ve said for a while now and wished for characters with more unique hobbies, and then this comes along. One more reason to love it.

I also loved that this took place mainly in Nebraska. I’ve lived in the Midwest my whole life, and this is the first book I’ve read (other than Rainbow Rowell’s) that was set so close to home. Although I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of anything as cool as a fossil museum or a hidden river nearby. Maybe I need to explore more.

The best part of this, hands down, was Anise and Lincoln’s slow-burn romance. I loved it, loved them, so freaking much. They complemented each other so well, and were the absolute cutest. I hope they find a way to stay happily together, because even if it’s off-page I just don’t think I could handle knowing they’re apart. Couples like them are the reason I’m such a hopeless romantic. ❤️

The last thing I’ve got to say is that this is a diverse read. Lincoln is black and disabled, and two of the girls in Anise’s friend group are happily out and together.

So, if it wasn’t already obvious, I really enjoyed this book. It was such a fun read, also with its share of feels and some deeper subjects, and I know I’ll read more of Laura’s work in the future. Especially if any of these characters are in it.

Recommended for fans of Sarah Dessen and Stephanie Perkins!