For about the first half, I wasn’t really sold. It was lacking the depth that Casey McQuiston’s adult novels have (and not because it’s YA, plenty young adult books have good depth and wonderful characters) but as I kept reading it just got more complex and multidimensional. Personally I couldn’t relate to having to deal with an oppressive religious environment or livingin the depth south, but it was very interesting to read about. I do wish we got more of the friendships in the story, and Chloe’s love for theater, because honestly those were the best scenes. Though, it does makes sense for the plot, considering how much trying to find Shara takes over her life. Also I’m a sucker for epilogues, but again, so much of this book was about anticipation for the future that having an epilogue that kind of resolved that might not have worked. 

It reminded me of House of Leaves, but then again, so does everything. In this case especially because of the setting and the unreliable narrator, as well as the "experimental/exploration" vibes of it, albeit House of Leaves really gets into it right away, while Piranesi takes a little while to make you realize "huh, something's weird here." In that way it reminds me of a classic (specifically Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne), since it doesn't really bother to get your attention at the start and only gets good if you stick with it. I admit, if you let yourself get wrapped up in the details, instead of just being swept along by the story and getting immersed, it can be a bit of a drag and tiring to read. There's kind of a slow build up of tension, and then all the sudden so many things are happening and there's almost a plot. Also, the ending was pretty quiet, but so was most of the book so I think it worked. Overall, I think this is an interesting little book that I'd like to reread sometime, as there's probably plenty of foreshadowing.

Yet another hit by the beloved Laini Taylor. I admit, it didn't have the intrigue and curiosity of the first book, but I am still freaking out about what's going to happen in the third one. I fall more and more in love with Laini Taylor's writing the more books of hers I read. I'll be so sad once this trilogy is over. 

I think the best way to describe this book is it's insightful in its own, quiet way. Definitely a coming of age story, but I think because of the characters' lifestyle and perspective not everything is relatable. Personally, I've been overly self aware for as long as I can remember, unlike Cecile who is the exact opposite, but I still could empathize with some of her struggles and laugh painfully in understanding as she thought certain things. The ending was definitely... interesting, and not quite what I expected from such a generally-lighthearted-but-melancholy-on-the-inside book, yet somehow it still worked. All in all I don't think it was bad, and I did enjoy a decent chunk of it, however if it was any longer I definitely would've dreaded reading it. Not quite for me but still decent. It only really took me this long because I had other, more interesting, things to read. 

I cannot stress how important this book is to me, to people I know and to thousands of people out there, and how many more it could become important to. I'm so glad that this exists, I can't even begin to explain the depth of my love for everything Alice Oseman does. On a personal level, I'm still figuring out the asexual aspect of my identity (so far we've got demisexual), and even though I think I know a lot more about different kinds of attraction and how to identify them than your average person, and probably more than even most queer people, it's still so validating to have something like this printed and just written out in a way that sums up all my thoughts. The main thing is that, unlike a lot of teen books, this book makes it so abundantly clear that romance isn't everything, to which I can only say PREACH. I read this mostly digitally, but I wish I had a physical copy so that I could look at it on my shelf and immediately go back to that feeling of certainty and security this wonderful book gave me. 1000000/10, a must read for anyone who has questions or is just curious about this topic.  

A very fitting, albeit bittersweet, finale to the series. It's got to be my favorite book out of the three, and I think you can definitely see the improvement in Leigh Bardugo's writing which eventually built up to Six of Crows. She said at one point that she decided to write Six of Crows in third person because she enjoyed writing the prologues and epilogues of Shadow and Bone that way, and I definitely think it's fitting. I also think that in this book Alina's voice was more distinct, and the general plot and world become more unique and less generic-YA type. I'm also happy that I can watch the show and read King of Scars now (we stan Nikolai). 

I'm so glad this exists! Personally, I've been entrenched in the LGBTQ+ community for long enough to understand most of these things, but I think it could be very helpful to the "baby gays." It's also useful to have something like this that basically sums everything up. Of course, I am biased, since I really enjoy Rowan Ellis' content on YouTube (Go check it out! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCniXurp_3xcDh923eiqGX3w), but I highly recommend this book! Also, like some of the other reviews have said, it would make a great gift to a young (or maybe even not so young) queer girl you know.

I was very excited for the representation in this book, and I will say that it was good it just didn't hit the spot for me. Only thing is, it does take more than half the book to get to what's said in the blurb (that's a first for me!), but maybe it's just the blurb that should be rewritten. I will say that even though Kat's personality was pretty far from my own, and I found her a bit difficult to relate to, I still liked her as a compelling and interesting character. Also, I really enjoyed the focus on her photography as an art, as well as how that brought Kat and her friends together. It reminded me of my friend group. Either way, I do recommend it as a book, just not a new favorite.

This was such a well-rounded and good book. I was hooked from chapter 1, as a good thriller should do, and I was not let down. Personally I had pretty high expectations, having heard about the representation, and they were more than fulfilled. It tackles so many things from different perspectives, I mean you have two main characters who are black and queer, with pretty different life circumstances. It's fascinating. Also, it's not just the representation that's good (although honestly even if it was I would probably still give it 5 stars) the emotion in the writing was conveyed so well, and the plot was interesting without being convoluted. There's a reason I finished it in three days (would've been two but I fell asleep at ~380 pages, not because it was boring but because I was extremely exhausted). To be completely honest I don't have much to say because I can't think of anything I didn't like about it. Maybe that I found Chiamaka's backstory a bit underdeveloped at first, compared to all the exposition we got with Devon, although that may just be because of their differing personalities. Anyway, highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a diverse, riveting contemporary/thriller book.