It's taken me a while to find the words to review this book (5 months, in fact). This book was breathtaking, and I'm still honestly reeling from some scenes in this book. I've loved the rise of Asian mythology and authors in fantasy, and found so many great books since I've started reading more and more adult fantasy. This book, at times, hit me like The Poppy War did, and can't wait to read the next book in this series.

I was ecstatic when I was approved for the advanced copy of this book, and overjoyed when I found out Illumicrate would be putting it in their monthly box. While it took me a bit to read, even after both of these things, my eyes were constantly drawn to the bright colors of this book waiting on my shelf. Finally, after a few rounds of just barely not winning the book club bracket for my book club, it finally won, and it was time for me to read.

I read the first portion of this book with my eyes, and found myself quickly caught up in Zhu's story, in both choices she's forced to make and the path she chooses to fight for. Her tenacity and unending desire to be great could have easily come off as arrogant, but instead she's just a person who wants what the world was never going to easily give her. She's so sure of herself, of this path to greatness that she carves out for herself, piece by piece, that you can't help but be swept up by her bravery and her strength. She's not even a good person by the end, but she is a great one, and honestly? She deserves the greatness she's taken for herself.

At some point while I was reading, I found out that the audio of this book was actually narrated by one of my absolute favorite narrators, and I quickly found myself switching to see if the book was just as enchanting when read aloud. Somehow, I found myself enjoying the story even more, and the way it was brought to life through narration. The combination of expressive narration and breathtaking writing just blew me away, and in the end, this book was one of my favorite books of 2021.

I really enjoyed the additional point-of-views we had throughout the story, and the other angles it gave on both the world, the plot that was unfurling, and on Zhu's rise. It's easy to follow along blindly with Zhu's journey to greatness when she's the only voice you see it from, but adding in the additional characters changes your perspective on that rise. I loved seeing her through the eyes of someone who at first thought she was just a lowly monk, and then seeing her as so much more. I also found it extremely intriguing to see her posed as the enemy, and how her actions are perceived by someone threatened by her. It all tied together in such a strong way, and I found myself enjoying every point of view, both for the additional insight they gave into the world and for the characters themselves, as even they felt fully fleshed out, with their own desires and dreams.

Overall, I devoured this book, and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

This book took me entirely by surprise. I was a bit wary going into this, because I was worried that jealousy would take over too much of the book, and at first, that's where it seemed like the book was going. Andie was focused entirely on Ivy, her best friend, and was constantly jealous (and sometimes quite petty) to the people Ivy slept with. But slowly, it became clear that the narrative wasn't going to be about Andie winning Ivy necessarily, but about Andie starting to live for herself, and move on.

As soon as I started seeing these threads of the story come through, the book became more bearable, and I find myself getting more and more tangled up in the web of relationships and friendships Andie's found herself in. I was invested in seeing where Ivy and Dot's relationship would go, despite the sometimes negative lens we see the relationship through. I was even invested in Andie's relationship with Elizabeth, even though it was clear that it wasn't always a two-sided relationship. This book was overall full of drama, but in a good and realistic way, that aligned with the main character being in a relationship while also being unable to get over her best friend.

This book takes a turn for heartbreak somewhere at the end, with all these plot points seeming to come to a peak at the same time. There's suddenly so much going on with everyone, but I thought it was overall really well done, with no particular story taking over. This is where the title of the book really starts to make sense, and I like how the book chooses to close Ivy's love story while keeping Andie's door open for the future. Some of these final chapters were absolutely heart-wrenching, and it's hard to go into details without spoiling, but it's both really hard to read at points while still being beautiful in it depiction of certain events.

The characters in this book are all a bit of a mess in their own ways, but I loved that we got to see the full spectrum of queer emotion in this book, from joy to pain to heartbreak. There's such a diversity in the depictions of love and sex and romance in this book, and it was honestly great to see. There is also a lot of drinking and partying, with some drugs here and there, but the book isn't blind to it nor does it reward this risk-taking, without labelling the entire partying scene as 'bad'. It creates a clear divide between dancing and enjoyment when hanging out with friends and riskier activities that often come along with it, and even after bad things happen, there is still joy to be found in the music and dancing with each other. I also really like how all the characters seemed to grow as the story went on, learning to live with their own choices and the consequences of them as well as just the growth that happens when you're young (since everyone was around 17-21).

Overall, I ended up really enjoying this book (if enjoyment is even the right word... this book broke my heart), and I think it's great to see more books about all-queer casts where not everyone has to be perfect and wonderful. I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for other books by this author!

Proof you don't need a third act break up to make a good romance!!! I am obsessed

Middlegame was one of those books that you put off just because you know you’ll be obsessed with it as soon as you read it, and it wasn’t until I was approved for this ARC that I finally pushed myself to read it (and I was right, I was and am and forever will be obsessed with Roger and Dodger).

And because I trust Seanan McGuire with my life, I just knew Seasonal Fears would further this obsession, even if I had to lose the cast I’d adored in the book before. Seasonal Fears feels both brand-new in its execution and like a variation of Middlegame in its core elements, making it the perfect follow-up. It can both entirely stand alone or be read after Middlegame, though there are a few cameos you’ll only truly enjoy if you’ve read the first book.

Seasonal magic has always been something I’ve loved in stories, with the latest favorite being The Nature of Witches, and seeing Seana McGuire build upon this base was fantastic. I love how she tied it into the world set up by Middlegame, and while there is a LOT of description therefore needed to make it all make sense, it worked for me. It also felt a bit more accessible in terms of understanding than Middlegame did, perhaps because I already had that base of knowledge of the story world, but I also just think it was a bit better described more quickly here, even if there were moments where we heard the same explanation multiple times that sometimes felt repetitive. However, I feel like this repetition was largely due to the main characters having a hard time accepting this drastic change to their world, rather than it being for the readers necessarily.

Seanan’s writing style is still one of my favorite aspects of her books (alongside these massive magic systems and worlds layered on top of our own), and this book was no different. The way the words were able to wrap around the sometimes heartbreaking truths of this story just made it hit all that much harder, while also making the book impossible to put down. And while I forced myself to just slow down and enjoy every letter of this story, I wanted nothing more than to simply devour it.

The only thing I wasn’t fully a fan of was the final ordering of the end, and I wasn’t really into the exact place where the story left off. It almost felt like we got the true ending first, a slow tapering off, and then it was followed up with a more abrupt ending, whereas often you get this the other way around. I don’t fully understand the choice to end it exactly this way, but it didn’t really hinder my enjoyment of the book overall. There were also some scenes and moments at the end that were heavily built up throughout the entire book only for them to transpire and end rather quickly, which was sometimes a bit of a let down even as I enjoyed the events themselves.

Overall though, I adored this book, though differently from Middlegame, and cannot wait to read the middle grade books that connect a bit to this world, and hopefully, more books come to this world as well too!

When the publisher offered me this ARC, I had extremely high hopes. I’ve spent a decent bit of time in the English literature side of academia, and while I’m now studying a different field, I do still very much miss it. And on top of that, we’ve got an academic rivalry going on! In the end though, while this book does deliver on a lot of what I was expecting from it, it entirely fumbled the ending, and there were also a few writing choices/quirks that kept frustrating me throughout.

For the majority of this book, the only thing that frustrated me was certain aspects of the writing style. The biggest issue I had here was the random use of Covid-19/a pandemic, with references sporadically mentioned throughout the book. It was such a rare occurrence that it was entirely unnecessary to even write the pandemic into this book’s story world, in my opinion, as the only times it was even brought up were to mention that the MC’s junior year sucked due to it, that she still carried a mask ‘just in case’, and that her dad considered it just a flu and that everyone else had overreacted. It added absolutely nothing to the plot and only served to take me out of the story, as I tried to ponder the timeline of the book and the necessity of these references. For other readers, these small lines will be enough to not even bother reading the book (fairly), as it can remind them of the traumatic events they might have experienced during the pandemic. Additionally, seeing a story world that is safely beyond the pandemic can be frustrating for readers, because we ourselves are still stuck in it. It’s better all-around to simply not even mention it if there is literally no point (and there isn’t!) to these small mentions, as a lot of us read romance to escape, not to be reminded of the struggles of our own real worlds. On top of this, there are also many moments where the writing style feels overly opinionated, which serves to push away readers that don’t agree. This might sound a bit like nitpicking, but when this genuinely caused me to put the book down and text the people around me for their opinions, I feel like it’s a valid complaint. (Some examples of these texts: ‘Do you consider Dr. Martens to be boots?? Because this author seems to not?’ and ‘Wait do people generally not like the actor for Anakin Skywalker in the prequels? Because I’d always assumed people generally liked the guy in the Star Wars fandom and yet this random love interest hates him enough to rant during an entire movie about it’). All of these are throwaway lines that add absolutely nothing to the plot or characters in any way at all but occurred frequently enough that I kept being taken out of the story. It just was not something I’d really encountered this frequently in a story like this before, and just kept frustrating me.

Honestly, for most of this book, I was sitting at around 3 to 4 stars rating, 4 when I was feeling nice and enjoying the banter, and a 3 when those writing quirks were just especially taking me out of the book. I was still having a genuinely nice time, seeing all these literary references (even if I was never into medieval lit myself), and watching the characters grow together despite their rivalry. But then, I hit the final 20% of this book and it just, collapsed for me. I think it’s largely due to too much going on that by the end, it was impossible to properly tie everything up in the space left. Most of the side plots suddenly felt like they had a bow stuck on top of them and all was good now (especially true for the friendship and father side plots), and the rush made some wrapping up feel more ridiculous than sweet or cute (namely the romantic plot resolution). The worst part was that all of this was happening at a funeral, the presence of which felt sudden enough on its own, and logically it did not make sense that everyone came to the funeral to wrap up all these story plots. We just kept having a resolution occur only for it to be quickly shoved aside, just so the next thing could be resolved, all the while the MC is accepting condolences? And lastly, I was just extremely frustrated with how the romantic relationship broke apart and was fixed in this last bit, and personally it relied just way too much on the MC just plain ignoring the love interest, and the love interest being, very not smart in the way he chose to do things, even if he’d seen how things had gone down similarly before.

Overall, I had really high hopes for this book, and it just didn’t end up working for me in the end. While there were aspects I enjoyed, especially the academic settings and references + having a fat MC where the focus wasn’t on her losing weight, and she loved herself as she was, they were overshadowed by, everything else. I may give another book from this author a chance in the future, but this one just wasn’t for me!

As soon as I heard about this book, I was excited. A sapphic thriller about friends revisiting their yearly summer cabin, even after the tragedy that killed their friend there last summer? Sign me up!! As soon as I was approved for this arc, I was desperate to dive in (even if it’s not quite summer yet). And I’m so glad I did!

Reading this book felt like a blur, in the best of ways. I lost track of time, of the world around me, and focused in on only on the story in front of me, of the twisted games these friends played on each other, of the secrets they kept hidden. I found myself getting increasingly absorbed into the story, obsessed even, as the story wove on and on and the weight of all these secrets became heavier and heavier.

I saw another reviewer say that this is a book where you have to trust the process and where the story will end up, and I have to fully agree. There were moments where I just had to let go and follow the book, even through my confusion as the story continued to warp around me, and that’s honestly a hard thing to do sometimes. I wanted to piece things together, but without any idea of the bigger picture, I was just lost. But in the end, I trusted the story, and I’m so glad it did. That final moment of clarity, of realization, was worth the confusion, and made better because of it even. (I’m being intentionally vague here because this is a story worth reading without spoilers, just so you can feel the full punch in the gut it brings by the end).

This is one of those books where I want to just list everything I loved, but can’t without spoiling too much and giving it all away. So I’m just going to ask you all to trust me, and give this wonderful book a shot, because it’s honestly worth the trip.

I was excited to start this book, as most of the historical fiction I've come across/read is centered more on Western history, and while I've read some books based on Russian folklore, I've read very little actually focused on historical events. However, something about this book didn't quite overall hook me or connect with me, though there are still quite a few things I enjoyed about this story.

My favorite thing about this book has to be that it centers the friendship between Anna and Evgenia, and how it follows the ups and downs of their relationship as they struggle with the big topics they fundamentally disagree on. It means that throughout this entire book, Anna and Evgenia are forced to struggle with and think about both each other's beliefs and their own, and how in the end they both do want the same thing, but believe in different sides of the country getting them there. I also just really enjoyed in general that this remains the focus of the story throughout, and no romance suddenly appears to distract from this main aspect. It's refreshing to see and also works really well in this book, as it gives readers a way to see both sides of the war and also how the two might be able to reconcile with each other, if only they took a moment to see the humanity on the other side.

This book also heavily focuses on the civil war, of course, and the tragedies that occur during it, and there are many moments where we see various characters drowning in grief. It's extremely tough to read (or listen to, in my case) at points, but the author does a superb job at writing this grief in a way that makes you truly feel it as well, even if you can't exactly relate to these levels of loss and pain. Additionally, there are many moments where the pair is being hunted down, and I honestly felt so terrified in those moments for them, my heart racing as they looked behind them as they ran. It was all very emotionally written, in a way that steals your attention and keeps it.

I think maybe my main issue is that this book overall felt quite long without much happening physically in terms of their journey. The main journey does happen mentally, for both Evgenia and Anna, as they both learn from each other and the suffering they go through, but sometimes the story seemed to almost slow or pause as these developments were occurring. There wasn't enough happening in their physical journey to match their character growth, and it almost felt like they were moving in circles while growing as people. There's something to be said about that, being stuck in a physical space while you wait for your mind to catch up, but it didn't feel intentional in that sense. It just didn't fully work for me in the end, largely due to how stagnant parts of the book felt because of it.

Overall, I did end up enjoying this, but not quite as much as I thought I would. I'm still interested in what this author writes next, and hope that the next one will work a bit better for me!