The premise of this one was quite interesting, but it just didn't quite work for me.

This book deals with a lot, and weaves in a bit of magic to do so. Mayhem comes from an abusive step-father, and the story starts right after they've escaped back to her mother's hometown. However, this hometown has secrets, and the women in her family inherit a certain type of magic that they use to protect the town. Mayhem is wrapped into this magic, and learns how to use this magic alongside hearing rumors of a serial killer in the town.

One of my friends said that this book could have benefitted from being longer, and I have to agree. There were a lot of interesting parts of the story that simply didn't get enough time to grow, especially regarding the magic. The magic of this family is wrapped in so much history, and it feels like we're given a crash course in it, rather than really seeing the depth of this history and the hold it has on this family. I feel like the ending also didn't interrogate the role of this magic and family in the town as much as it could have, and leaves the morality of vigilante justice sort of up in the air, even though this discussion is started at a few separate points. Overall, if more time had been spent here, I could've found myself really enjoying this book.

Another issue that is common with magical realism is that it often can feel sudden and jarring, rather than blending seamlessly with the story. While there were some aspects of the magic that felt like it blended well with the rest of the story, the switch to having a story with magic was very sudden, and it took me a second to catch on to what was going on. It wasn't clear at first if there was actually some sort of magic involved or if these kids were just, insanely high on drugs.

Overall, this wasn't my thing, though I do wish I had enjoyed it because the concept itself was quite interesting.

I was a bit wary going into this due to the current GR rating, but I ended up really enjoying this! While I understand how some aspects of this book could put some others off, I really enjoyed those aspects in the end.

This story is almost written as an anthology, switching between smaller stories of individual characters as the larger story slowly unravels. I feel like this style worked perfectly for what this book was trying to accomplish, and I found myself quickly invested in each new girl's story every time. While it was sometimes sad to slip back out of the girl's inner world right when things started getting interesting, it was something I got used to quickly. I liked how each story ended up building upon the other, and getting to see the different perspectives on both the boarding school experience and on the rape case that the school is going through gave a much more rounded picture of it all. We were given so many angles from many different backgrounds, and it was interesting how the same thing could be perceived so differently depending on the girl.

Overall, I felt this was a really strong debut, and it surprised me in so many ways. Anthology style books like this don't always work for me, and I haven't necessarily loved a lot of boarding school books, but the way this was done worked really well in my opinion.

This book feels like it could have been a whole lot shorter. While I really liked the lore that was slowly making its way into the story, and the stories of the numina and where that seemed to be headed, it was comparatively such a small part of the book. Instead, there's a lot of repetitive running away as they're almost caught time and time again, with characters also having really repetitive thoughts while all this was going on. Some intrigue was added to the relationship when Rone was forced to make a tough choice, but it came far too late. Most of the story overall felt quite stagnant, with the same sorts of scenes happening over and over again as the two main characters tiptoed very slowly closer to a solution, which always seemed just out of reach. It was almost tiring to read at points, because every time a little bit of progress was made, they'd be found and have to run, starting almost all over again every time. It honestly got quite frustrating.

Even then, I do see a strong basis for a series here, so I'll probably read the next book to see if the issues I had with this particular installment are less prevalent later. There's enough here I'm still interested in, so I'm still curious to see where the story goes!

Ninth House is Leigh Bardugo’s debut into adult fiction, and creates the start of her newest series. Set at Yale in a world of mysterious societies and hidden magic, Galaxy ‘Alex’ Stern is latest member of the society set to keep everyone in their place. Her past and her abilities to see the Grays, or ghosts, gives her an upper hand in a town out for her blood, all for different reasons.

I’ll be honest, a small part of me was worried that Bardugo would finally let me down, especially after the whole Aurora Rising fiasco earlier this year, but my fantasy queen pulled through once again. However, please keep in mind, Ninth House is very, very, much an adult book, and contains violence, a bit of gore, adult content, and quite a few triggers. Please research the content a little before you jump on in, and please don’t expect Grisha like storytelling and worlds.

With that said, Ninth House absolutely blew me away. On every single level, this book was absolutely fantastic, and I’ll be slowly dying waiting for the sequel. I won’t go into too much detail and keep it vague to avoid spoiling anything before release, but trust me, this was fantastic.

The world and magic system were fantastically designed and extremely unique, as well as an integral part of the story. Every single detail you’re given matters, there’s no extraneous information or holes in the world building. You’re never lost or confused unless you’re meant to be, as Leigh crafts the world in such a strong and clear way. Additionally, there’s so much intrigue and mystery lurking underneath each aspect of this setting and system, meaning you want to learn more about almost everything you’re introduced to. It creates such a great reading experience, as you’re never bored with what you’re getting.

The story itself is also super intriguing, and while I’m normally able to semi guess what’s going to happen and stay a step ahead of the story, Leigh was constantly subverting my expectations. It made for such a fun read, even alongside all the darkness, as you’re constantly being kept on your toes as a reader. The plot just also fit itself very well into the world and characters and made for one concrete whole rather than characters thrown into a plot thrown in a world.

On characters, I absolutely loved how real and raw they felt. None of them are perfect people, all have their flaws (some larger than others), and most of the characters don’t fit into the simple distinctions of good or bad. Ninth House explores the grey in morality in almost all of the characters, some toeing the line more than others. Alex as a narrator was also fantastic, I loved her way of thinking and how she interacted with the story, and while she wasn’t a ‘good’ character per say, she was a real one. Her personality and motivations were entirely hinged on how she saw the world and how it had treated her, and this grew as she learned more about magic/more about those around her and as she grew as a person. I don’t think I’ve ever read a character that read so realistically.

I will definitely be recommending Ninth House to everyone (with caution to the ratings/triggers etc), because this is such a great read on all levels. It’s beautifully crafted in terms of story arcs, world-building, and writing while also still just being an entertaining and intriguing read. I cannot wait to see more of this world.

Unfortunately the issues I had in the first book only worsened in this one. I feel like I really could've enjoyed this series if it just had overall been more condensed, because even in this shorter second book, it felt like comparatively little actually happened. This is only worsened by how repetitive the thoughts of each POV feel at times, where it basically boils down to the same feelings described in a bunch of different ways.

I also just can't fully get on board with the romance anymore because the dynamic just feels too unbalanced for me. I do like that a lot of this book was Sandis trying to find more agency, but Rone didn't really get much better in terms of secrets and lies. I just feel like the power is too unfairly shifted in Rone's favor, and he's aware of this fact and uses it. It's not necessarily villainous, but his redemption is soured by some acts he still commits in this book, and I just couldn't do it anymore.

Again, I really do like the lore that this world is built on, but it's either the fact that we only get sprinkles of it here and there or the way these sprinkles are delivered that just don't fully work for me, and have the impact it should have.

Overall, this series just wasn't for me. The industrial setting and lore usually would have been quite interesting, but the story itself just couldn't hold my interest. I don't think I'll be reading the final book.

Ahhh I really loved this. This is one of the two wolf books I was hyped for this summer, and it blew me away.

You can definitely tell this is a debut in some ways, but the largest part was the repetition in the narration. We often got the same string of thoughts multiple times, which led to some banter feeling repetitive. It was also common that Évike would take the reader through a specific train of thought, only to then start a conversation about those thoughts. It led to the reader sometimes reading the same thing twice, in short succession. While this overall didn't take away from the reading experience too much for me, it was still something I certainly noticed.

Besides that though, I was in love with the story, it's world, and the characters. The two main characters have the dynamic of Nina and Matthias in Six of Crows, and I loved that. It meant their journey was full of banter as they slowly started to warm to each other, while also forcing both characters to reckon with their own cultures and upbringing, and how that informs their opinions and feelings about each other. It meant there was a lot of room for personal growth outside the specific plot, and I just grew to love Évike and Gáspár more and more.

I also loved the folklore that backed most of this story, and the reverence with which these stories are told shows a love and care for them on the part of the author. This had to be my favorite part of the book, even beyond the dynamic between the two main characters, and I loved reading the story that seemed to accompany each new scene in the plot. It was so tightly woven together in that sense, where Évike seemed to carry a story for each new thing that she and Gáspár faced. It made this novel overall feel richer and deeper, a story within a world of even more stories.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book, and it was one of my favorite reads in April/May. I can't wait to see what Reid writes next!

I was honestly surprised by how much I liked this. I think my enjoyment can largely be attributed to the absolutely magical bookstore that most of this story takes place in (seriously, can I go??), but I loved the rest of the book a lot too.

I wasn't really sure what I was getting into when I started this book, but this book was so much more than I could have ever expected. It's a tale laden with grief and heartbreak, but also deals with so much more than that. Amelia is stuck on a path in life she's not sure if she wants, but it's the path she created together with her best friend, who has just died tragically. This story explores Amelia's grief, her final moments of anger with her best friend, and the immense guilt she feels at not wanting the future they were planning to share together anymore. This guilt is what the book explores the most, as another character is introduced that struggles with this same mixture of guilt and grief.

My favorite part of this book had to be the lyrical writing, especially when describing the bookstore and some of Amelia's dreams/imagined scenes. Often, when books move too close to magical realism, or involve a lot of daydreaming on the part of the MC, I usually get put off if it doesn't well. It can easily feel cringy or too out-there. This book didn't have that issue at all, largely thanks to the gorgeous writing and descriptions that accompanied it, and I found myself enjoying the shared daydreams between the two main characters a lot instead. I also liked how the writing was able to carry the heavy aspects and discussions of this book, conveying the deep and tough emotions of the moment without feeling too dreary or hopeless.

Overall, I ended up really enjoying this, and will definitely be trying other books by this author!

I was honestly super excited for this book, since I loved The Worst Best Man, but this just wasn't it for me. I couldn't get into the premise, and it felt a lot more flimsy when compared to that of this series' first book.

The main issue I had with this book overall was that it never really grabbed me. It usually takes me days, if that, to finish a cute romance because of how swept up I got into it, but I found myself going days, or even a week, in between sporadic reading bursts of this book. At some point, I hit 65% and realized I still just wasn't into this story or these characters, and it just became so hard for me to finish. If this hadn't been an ARC, I probably would have DNFed it.

I think a lot of this book is probably to blame for my lack of interest. I never got behind the relationship between Solange and Dean, and while there were some cute moments, I overall just didn't feel it. The premise also felt weak overall, with so many fake dating schemes just spiraling out of control (not in a fun way). There were also a lot of odd scenes here and there that almost felt thrown in, and were either so out there I wasn't into them, or so cringy that it ruined any relationship growth that happened during it. The ending also just put the final nail in the coffin, and while I feel like it could've been a cute ending for different characters, it just didn't fit Dean and Solange and didn't properly show the growth they technically went through during this book.

While I wouldn't say this book put me off of other books Sosa might write, as I did really like Worst Best Man, I'll definitely be a bit more wary going into them.

I haven't read either of these author's other books, so I was going into this one fully based on premise. It seemed an interesting one, and I always really enjoy stories centered around competitions or 'games', as long as they're done well, of course.

This book definitely delivered. The competition remained the focal point of the story the whole way through, with all the POVs either focused on winning the competition or somehow trying to stop it. A story is always stronger when the characters are willing participants, or don't spend the entire book trying to simply escape the captivating setting they've found themselves in, and in this book, each and every character seemed invested and willing to participate, if on their own terms.

I really liked the cast of characters that this book had, even if it took me a while to like some of them. While all the POVs are fairly dominating personalities, it still ended up working together really well. I also like that the authors really stuck with the darkness of the competition and the idea of raising your kid to kill other kids later, and you could really see how that childhood impacted the characters. They were willing to kill if it meant the progression of their own goals, whatever that happened to be. The motivations of the characters themselves were also so varied that it never felt like you were reading the same thoughts and feelings over and over, as everyone had their own reasons for wanting to win and be the last one standing.

One thing I want to note is that I have been seeing this book being advertised as LGBTQ+, and while this is true in a sense, it's not a large part of the story at all. One character makes a few references to the fact that he's bi, and appreciates another guy in an aesthetic sense, but none of the relationships (past or present) in the story are queer (that we know of yet), and the character who is bi doesn't have a relationship in this book (nor seemingly even a love interest for later books). So while this is definitely not a straight cast, I wouldn't recommend it to someone specifically looking for a queer book.

In the end, I did really enjoy this, and I can't wait to see what happens after that mess of an ending. I'm certainly invested now!