I think because I read this as an audiobook I sort of found my attention wandering at times. It's a decent fantasy with a great amount of adventure, emotion, and heart. The world has a lot of interesting aspects and lore, but I don't know if I was that invested in it. Not a bad book by any means. I loved the focus of feelings of abandonment, finding your own family, and the power of friendship and all that.

It may just have been a wrong book at the wrong time situation.

Makes for very good discussions on mental health, coping mechanisms, and boundaries. Reading the physical version, the print was a little small so it felt like I had to squint to read at certain points, but the story itself is solid. 

Had to read this for a reading challenge, so I was a bit out of my comfort zone. I think it's an interesting setup and there are definitely some stand out moments, but with the current climate I think it disheartens me too much to enjoy. Doesn't help when you read to escape only for everyone in the story to have a bad ending. It's important for sure, I can definitely see this being a book club kind of story where everyone has varying opinions, but I just kind of want to leave this one behind me.

A powerful, emotional story of a teen trying to feel comfortable in a body that that is constantly being calorie curated by herself and her mother. I liked how Valerie eventually came to her own conclusions that her actions were harming her and her mother was only reinforcing the damaging thoughts about her weight and appearance. It just took a little freedom and distance for her to reflect and to see that she is truly happier when she isn't constantly fretting about eating or how it will affect how people see her.

I don't think I appreciated as much the framing of her mother's constant speculation of her weight as "love." Even when Valerie was being honest and mentioned how she was sick, how her mother was hurting her, the mother only doubled down. Love that hurts is not love, it's control. Do I think the mother had the best intentions? Yes, Victoria made that clear, but it doesn't deny the fact that her "loving" actions and comments have a serious negative effect. I think it's entirely realistic that she doesn't change and it's up to Valerie to figure out a relationship with her that's healthy for the both of them. But I wish there was a bit more nuance to the situation.

Definitely the sort of lighter story I needed to read alongside some more dramatic, darker ones. If you love any sort of cheesy Hallmarky type venture then this will be right up your alley. The timeline is a bit wonky, as suddenly months would pass by at the drop of a hat without invoking a good sense of progression. This book relies so much on telling rather than showing, which make a lot of the achievements and character development underwhelming.

We don't see Daisy slowly become more open to Grace, we are told she's behaving better after hard work and meeting new friends. We aren't shown how successful the Apple Festival is, even though that's the main conflict in this book. It's like we're reading a Cliff Notes version of a larger story.

I think Grace's character development was the only thing that felt fairly fleshed out, even though the romance aspect started a bit too late in the story to really become investing. 

It was a cute, charming story. I don't think I would read any others in this series, I think I got my fill with this one, but it'll at least be a comfort in hard times.

It was a little slow going with this one. There was some immersive, beautiful writing at times, but the story itself didn't captivate me. Once I found out that Sheetal wasn't even technically the one in competition, instead she's meant to inspire the one who is, the whole aspect fell apart to me. It makes our lead character feel so secondary, like she's relegated to the wings of her own story. 

What an intriguing magic system! I love the card based magic and all the lore behind it. It felt so naturally ingrained in the world and heightened the vibes of the story. I'm not sure if it entirely satisfies on the gothic front, but the mood and tone are decently delivered. 

Couldn't settle into this one. I didn't really connect with the writing style and I already felt like I knew where the story was going already fifty pages in. Interesting concept but I don't think it did much to set itself apart from others like it. 

Been keeping up with this story on Webtoon and I'm so glad to finally have a physical copy of it. It translates very well to a printed format with the layout making the story very easy to follow and track the course of events. 

The art style and color pallet give off a wonderful mood of mystery and oppression that tie in well to the vibes at Lowther house. 

Very much looking forward to seeing the future of Sawyer and Kye!

Very cute, very silly, very good for those middle graders obsessed with D&D and adventures stories paired with cute animals. The sense of humor was right up my alley with terrible puns, wacky character shenanigans, and a bit of deadpan humor. 

One thing that really took me out of the third act though is Chirp's abrupt character shift into thinking Juniper was 100% for attacking her father. I know it ends up being an imposter situation, but the loss of trust to this level seems so out of nowhere. Sure, they had spats but there wasn't even any second guessing on Chirp's part. It just made the character a little more aggravating.

I also would have enjoyed having a character sheet like intro to the main characters, as I got confused with a lot of the pronouns at times.