Just put it down and never picked it up again. 

Holy SHIT! 

This book was, for lack of a better word, amazing! It surpassed my expectations and I am OBSESSED! 

I don’t know how we went from a first book that was about a 2.75 star book for me to a book three that’s almost a complete 5 stars! The only reason I can’t go for a full five is because Queen Malina’s POV just irked me and felt like it really ruined the flow of things for me. 

If you’ve read books one and two and are hesitant about book three because you’re not sure if the character development is coming, well don’t hesitate. This book DELIVERS. We get to watch Auren fucking explode! It’s worth the wait. It’s amazing. I was SCREAMING. 

Also that’s slow burn romance we’ve been being drip fed well… boy does it finally BURN! Rip is so freaking sexy and he worships the ground Auren walks on. I can’t wait to see how they grow as a pair now. 

I love the found family vibes. There are so many possibilities for the next two books I have no idea what to expect anymore! 

The first two books I saw most of the plot twists coming but in this one I was surprised and SHOOK by the end. I’m so glad I already downloaded book 4!

I liked this book in the beginning but slowly I became really irritated with the characters. Their relationship is insanely toxic for reasons that just mind boggle me. I had more patience when they were in high school but that patients fizzled as they got older and their characters seemed to only spiral. 

I wanted to like this book and maybe I’ll pick it up again. But I can just feel that opening ending meant for “interpretation” approaching and I’m not sure it would satisfied me lol.

At first this book didn’t seem much better than the first other than the fact that there was less Midas and less rape threats. 

It was definitely slow paced, slow burn, and not much happened exactly. Where book one seems to have a lot of action, this one seemed to be a lot of well… waiting. 

I wouldn’t have minded so much if I didn’t fine Auren to be so frustrating most of that time as well. I understand her Stockholm Syndrome, but she can be really DAFT sometimes. I feel like it was used to push the plot often which was annoying. 

I did really love all the new characters we got though. Keg, Lu, Judd, Heigel (?). I love the way she can make people like her reluctantly. 

I was disappointed by the other “saddles” and how much they shunned her despite all her kindness. I don’t like Rissa. I think there is a lot of internalized sexism. All these other female characters hate Auren even though it’s Midas they should hate. Ugh it’s disgusting and infuriating to read. 

I could not stand the switches to the alt Queen’s POV either. I found it very disruptive and boring. I want to sympathize with her but her hatred for Auren and the way she treated the peasants was disgusting as well. 

However, I’m still hooked. That ending caught me so off guard I don’t know how I didn’t realize it was coming! I thought this was going the love triangle route but DAMNN IM SHOOKETH. 

Overall I have high hopes for Auren’s character now that she’s had a break through and hopefully this slow burn can do some real burning in book THREE!!

This book is HEAVY. It’s honestly emotionally taxing and I wasn’t expecting it. 

I was deeply d saddened by the themes of the book and it made it difficult to get through at certain parts. It’s violent. Mostly towards women. 

However, I was gripped from page one. 

I liked three characters in this book. The MC, Auren, I liked Sail (my baby boy) and Digby. By the end I liked Rissa too. 

Mostly I hate everyone tho lol. 

However! I love the turn this book took at the end! I can’t believe I didn’t guess it earlier! Auren is the one who can turn things to hold and not Midas!  I’m ecstatic! 

I’m also excited to see some real romance bloom between our girl and a man who turkey respects her and loves her for HER.

9/9 EDIT: thinking about it, I need to lower my rating I think this book compared to the others was just not good. The violent themes toward women didn’t sit well with me, and compared to my other 3 star ratings it just doesn’t compare. I’m sorry. 

I am rating this book with my whole heart! 

I’m obsessed with this book. It could be because of nostalgia. I am, a Gallagher Girl, and have been since I was about 12. That series ignited by love for reading and writing in a way I’m incredibly lucky to have experienced. 

This book was very reminiscent of the Gallagher Series. Ally Carter’s writing is so funny and flirty and easy to slip back into. It’s a great escape. 

I loved Zoe’s character. She was hilarious. She was badass. She was quirky. And while on the run for her life and planning to save her sister, she just crushed it! 

I loved Sawyer too. He was so Zach coded it was fabulous. He called her sweat heart, baby, love, ugh SWOON. 

I loved the twists! I was not exactly surprised, but it was riveting and nail biting and FUN! 

While I loved the veiled references to “spy school” I was so hoping for a real life cameo from one of our beloved original gang. In my head Sawyer was probably in their class or a bit behind them in school haha

This book is a face paced, high speed chase, and high stakes romcom. There is no spice, just some sexy promises and fade to black. 

If you loved the OG series you have to check out Ally’s breakout into Adult romcom! 

I can’t wait for Alex’s enemies to lovers story coming next ;) 

Agh man. 

I try. I really do. I keep trying “dark romance” and while this one was definitely not the worst I read (promises and pomegranates) it definitely walked that line I don’t like. 

I keep trying to find the perfect mafia romance that’s has the dark dangerous setting, high stakes, and morally grey man. I love the touch her a die vibes even. But I don’t want the that theme to mean he treats the mc abusively. This man is soooo toxic. More emotionally that physically but dude. 

I was kind of hoping that this book would end Callum and Bianca’s story and that the next book would be about Tatum and Romero because I love them a lot. 

Poor Tatum, I cried for her. I hope that man gets his karma. I’m sure he will.  

Overall, if Callum was a bit less toxic I could have enjoyed this one a bit more.

The spice was crazy high. 

This book was so charming and magical. 

When I first started, I found it to be a bit slow. I found Emily’s analytical nature and stiffness with the villagers to be a bit too cold and cruel. 

However, as the book progressed and Emily found herself being swept up into the life of the villagers despite her effort not to be, it got so much better. I found her awkwardness charming and endearing! Wendell of course softens her greatly and brings out her curmudgeon side in such a funny way. It’s clear they care for each other despite their constant bickering. 

The winter setting and the ice magic of the Hidden Ones makes this to perfect cozy winter read (I read it in summer lol). You really feel like you e stumbled upon the journal of Emily Wilde and are following her accounts with rapt attention. 

I loved the side characters! I don’t wanted more Poe so badly! I loved his connection with Emily. 

The romance was minimal but so so charming! I can’t wait to see Emily and Wendell’s romance progress in the next book and see how their story will go from here. I think, knowing Wendell’s goals, that things will only get more intense and fantastical in the next book! 

I just… I don’t know. 

I wanted to like this book and at parts I did. I liked that Camille seemed independent and passionate about her business. I also liked that while there was a lot of communication, Dimitri was never really violent like some mafia books. He really was mostly just a business man. 

However the amount of miscommunication in this book I just… didn’t make any sense to me. They don’t have a complete conversation until the last 10 pages. 

She assumes she killed ex in the first 10 pages. She assumes he doesn’t love her. She assumes he knows about the baby and doesn’t want it or her. She assumes he just wants her money. And while I understand being afraid of those things most of the time there isn’t much to back this up, especially if she has built that kind of connection she’s supposed to have formed with him. 

I did like the action packed in. But like… who was trying to kill her? Who was attacking her? It was clear the guy was a hit man who was hired by someone targeting the brothers but… we don’t really solve that problem of who hired him? I guess the only person who could have done it the rival Bravta but literally that’s just mentioned and brushed over. 

There is a lot of spice. I think that was the main focus and the plot was just… well yeah.

I said this was complicated for plot/character driven because it certainly did not feel like a character driven story and yet where was the plot? 

I read Happy Place in my happy place. In a cottage on the beach (sometimes on the beach itself) in Cape Cod where I've been going once a year with my family since I have been 5 years old. I saved it for this trip because I thought it seemed poetic. I'm a firm believer that reading a book in the right place, at the right time, the right moment, it can change your life. 

And while I will concede that I am often romanticize my own emotions to a fault and am a victim to my own wistful nostalgia, I think this book did that for me. I think Emily Henry does a wonderful job combing the romance genre with literary fiction. In real talk, I think what that means is she rights real romance. Romance that happens not in the pages of the book, but has probably happened to the woman you passed on the street the other day, and that couple you spotted in the corner of the coffee shop and thought "Wow, they have the real deal" without any firm grasp of what they went through to get there. Basically, romance with a big reality slap to the face. Sometimes it makes me laugh, though usually it make me cry. 

(I spent 60% if this book with tears in my eyes, and an extra 10% actually crying.)

I started this book and I loved it immediately. I loved the writing, the descriptions, the vivid imagery of the marshmallow boat seats and an artichoke-heart-hug. The writing in Emily Henry's books are beautiful and <I>cozy</I> and there are quotes everywhere that I just L O V E. 

Instantly I liked Harriet. And instantly I was in love with Wyn. Their banter, was so natural, and funny, and made me recall the few people in my life I have that kind of ease with. I loved them so much together that I was rooting for them the whole time. Desperate to find out where they went wrong because it just seemed impossible that the Harry and Wyn of the past could have somehow ended  up so far apart in the present. Usually I don't love dual timelines (I didn't know this book was dual timeline when I started), but I think it worked really well in this. It showed how things can go wrong even when you think you're doing what's right. How miscommunication often happens with the people we think we communicate with and know the best. 

About halfway through this book I started to get frustrated with Harriet. I was thinking, "Is this whole plot one massive miscommunication trope?" because that is my biggest reading ick, my pet peeve. Personally, I think I was right. But I didn't hate it. 

What was the miscommunication about? Well, without spoilers, it's being adults. I feel like Harry and Wyn grew up together to the point where they didn't know how to adapt to each other in their new lives. Harriet always runs away from an argument, this frustrated me to NO END. But Wyn also projects his own feelings onto those around him, he thinks for other people and it is so damaging. They needed to talk it out and I was waiting for them to do that the whole time (spoiler: they do). 

Mostly though I think Harry bothered me so much because she really remind me of myself. The things that bother me the most about her are the things that I feel I also need to work on and because of that I think this book effected me way more than I anticipated. 

The friendship aspect of this book added so much more emotions and life lessons as well. Cleo, Sabrina, and Harriett had this amazing friendship that works so well on the page and while it was heartbreaking to see them all wrestle with how to they could keep themselves together in each of their new lives, it was comforting to see that new beginning for them all. That there were places for each of them in their respective lives if they wanted it. 

Overall, I laughed. I cried. I couldn't stop reading. I had to put it down for a moment because I couldn't keep going. At some points it felt like I was finally passing a car wreck, after sitting in traffic for hours, and even though I know I shouldn't, I couldn't help but try and catch a glimpse of the damage. 

I feel achey and satisfied. This book, about basically a group of friends going through a 1/3rd life crisis, effected me deeply and I would recommend it to so many people without an announce of embarrassment and slightly wicked intentions knowing it will make them laugh, but mostly cry too. I hope this review makes some sense, and I hope you love it!