I almost DNFed Monday's Not Coming because it was very slow at the beginning. It seemed like Claudia was obsessed with her best friend, despite not having romantic feelings for her. That was a red flag, but as I continued listening / reading, I began to understand their relationship better.

It was still slow at the beginning and not much held my interest. However, the last half of the book flew by. Once the groundwork was laid, Jackson was able to really dive into the plot and reveal how fucked up Monday's home life was. These are things that will give you chills and make you clench your teeth.

The ending was predictable in my opinion (not the details, but the gist). Although, there was a twist that completely took me off guard; I had to rewind my audio to make sure I understood it correctly. I was not expecting to cry because of the predictability, but aspects of the ending really got me.

One of my favorite things about Jackson's writing is that she doesn't assume you're stupid as a reader. She doesn't spell things out for you, which adds depth to the novel's message.

It was okay. I liked the message and the dark feel of the writing, but I didn't like the story.

Let's start with the things I loved. Seanan's writing style and voice is amazing. I loved reading her words and the way she describes things. Dark, brooding, mysterious. The message of the story and the theme was inspiring, too. This book will teach readers to love themselves and to feel comfortable in their own skin.

Every Heart a Doorway is about these kids who visited other worlds and the way they interact with each other as they try to acclimate back to "real world" life. Each door is tailored to the individual being beaconed to it. These are people who don't feel like they fit in their real worlds because they are outcasts; these doors open for them because it offers them a real home.

Imagine being sent out of your real home and having to acclimate back to the shitty world you left behind. This book is about embracing your real self and returning home, where you can be comfortable with you are.

Plus, I loved that our main character is asexual and that we have a trans character, as well.

However, her characterization was okay. I'm not a fan of shorter books and I think I realized why. There's not a lot of room to "properly" build characters. I didn't connect with any of them, so when the twisty ending happened... I wasn't impressed or surprised. I was indifferent.

I will not be continuing the series, but I loved certain aspects.

The Dating Plan brings light to the fake fiancé trope. We meet Daisy’s frenzied self right off the bat in the first chapter as she dodges her ex boss and her ex boyfriend making out in the bathroom while she tries to sneak pads out of the dispenser.

Daisy is an amazing character and is completely relatable for readers whose superpower is organization and creating to do lists. I related to her on a personal level throughout this read and it made the book very enjoyable.

I also enjoyed Liam, who is Daisy’s fake fiancé. Some people are classifying this book as an enemies to lovers and I disagree. At the very beginning, Daisy loathe Liam, but since we see things from her perspective, we know that she doesn’t really loath him as much as she lets on.

My favorite part of a romance book is the build and The Dating Plan has an adorable one. I was laughing at their banter and adored watching their relationship develop. The reason I rated this three stars was because it completely lost me in the last third of the book.

There’s always that romantic shift where something goes terribly wrong and this one was so predictable and eye-roll worthy that I almost DNFed. The resolution was also incredibly cheesy and I just couldn’t get into it anymore. It was a struggle to finish.

I’m glad that I have notes to drive this review home because I can see this one getting ramble-y and fan-girly. I knew that I would fall in love with this book, but I had no idea how invested I would become. Sure, I expected a Gothic fantasy romance story that involved magic, but this was something else.

Multiple Genres
Down Comes the Night crosses genres beautifully. The primary genre is fantasy because there’s magic in a war torn world and the main premise is to bring peace across the nation. I have to say that the magic system is brilliant. There are different types of magic. For example, the main female character is a healer while the main male character kills people with eye contact.

Then there’s the romance component, which I could argue is an enemies-to-lovers romance. The main male character, Hal, is this viscous war criminal who can kill you just by looking you in the eye and Wren hates him with a burning passion. When the plot forces them to be near each other, they form this romantic connection. The plot does this by forcing her to heal him.

There are some pretty adorable scenes because of this healing process.

Atmosphere
The feel of this book is probably my favorite part. I love the dark, creepy vibes of the mansion and the snow. It’s just a great winter read, despite reading it in the middle of a false spring.

In addition tot he wonderful atmosphere, Saft writes some very relatable scenes.

“Bone-weary after a long day of work, she often felt euphoric crawling into bed. Like she was the only person left in the world to watch the dawn sprawl out over the fray miles of hoar-frosted hills.”


Down Comes the Night, Allison Saft
This is exactly how I feel after a long night of writing. She captures feeling and emotion so well in her writing that it gives me chills.

As a side note, this young adult novel can get a bit gorey for my taste. Since Wren is a healer, she is a master in the human body. She knows more medical terminology than I could keep up with and some of the scenes are very descriptive when she’s healing. I don’t mind it, but Saft had me covering my mouth quite a few times just because I wasn’t expecting it to go there.

Plot
The plot is deceptively simple. We have missing soldiers in a war torn world, where everyone is pointing fingers at each other. Wren is a compassionate healer and wants to find the soldiers, regaining her position in the Queen’s Guard. Finding soldiers and proving herself makes for a weak plot, but it’s not. Down Comes the Night is truly about the journey and character development. There’s so much more to the plot than meets the eye.

Overall
This is a terrific book that combines fantasy with romance on an equal playing field. Usually fantasy-romance books lean one way or the other, but Down Comes the Night balances both genres beautifully. There’s a unique magic system, beautiful and atmospheric writing, and a ghastly mansion to explore. What’s not to love?

The narrator was the best part of this book. (I read audio and physical from the library.)

I was really excited for this because it’s a rom-com about writing and incorporates art school life. As a writer, a rom-com addict, and a graduate of an art school, I was seriously excited for Happily Ever Afters.

It’s not like it was a waste of time, though—I didn’t DNF it. My favorite aspect of this book was Sam. He’s the main character’s friend-to-maybe-lover and I was rooting for him the whole time. He’s this sweet kid who bakes. He has a great sense of humor, he’s a loyal friend, and unapologetically himself.

Then we have Tessa. She’s a romance writer who lost her spark to Imposter Syndrome when she was admitted to this prestigious art school. She spends the entire book trying to get her spark back by creating her own happily ever after with a boy who is... well, a douche bag.

A douche bag who is also taken by another douche bag. She went after someone else’s boyfriend. This is the type of thing that I hate in romance novels. Cheating or encouraging someone to cheat. I don’t care how horrible the other person is—don’t fucking cheat.

She makes some really poor decisions, which left me gaping and shaking my head. Romance books are supposed to make you feel swoony and happy. I was angry and irritated throughout most of it because of the choices she was making.

The worst part was the ending. I figured that the ending was going to work out the way it did, but it lacked the romance spark I was craving. It ends with a mic-drop instead of a romantic scene. It didn’t make me feel giddy at all. It left my mouth dry and I was very unimpressed.

Again, there were some solid parts that I loved. Tessa’s best friend, for example. Tessa moves to this new town, leaving her old life behind... including her best friend. They maintain a solid long distance friendship, with the bumps that any novel demands. I loved the relationship she has with Caroline because it shows teens that it’s possible to keep up a friendship after moving.

Okay. I’m done ranting. I was not impressed by this one, but it is full of food and has a few characters that are just... *chef’s kiss*.

Elatsoe was a terrific read. It's unlike anything I've ever read before, being speculative fiction featuring the ability to wake the dead.

In this fantasy world, we meet Ellie who has the ability to wake the spirits of deceased animals. In doing this, she summons them to her side to help protect her, to keep her company, and to help her through various situations.

The main plot involves her cousin, Trevor, being murdered and finding out who killed him. The story starts with a dream she has, where Trevor begs her to watch out for his family because a man he named murdered him. He did not die in a simple car crash.

Ellie makes it her personal responsibility to investigate. This decision leads to encounters with vampires, dark spirits, and trips to the underworld. Elatsoe also features an asexual main character, although the asexuality is casually dropped. This is not a story to read to learn more about asexuality.

Either way, it's a beautifully written story and I can't wait to read more from this author.

This is one of those five star reads where you just stare into space after completing it, not knowing what to say or do with yourself. I wish I could gush about this book and talk about all of these insightful happenings, but I'm finding myself doing what I hate in book reviews.

This book was amazing and perfect and dark and tantalizing. You need to read it.

I'm sorry that this book review is going to be one of those, "it was good and I highly recommend it," but that's what it is.

I can't divulge too much of the plot line without spoiling the whole damn thing, but trust me it's worth a read.

One thing that I can comment on is the asexuality rep, which is golden (in my asexual opinion). Not only was the word "asexual" never whispered in the pages of this novel, but Strickland used the golden rule of not telling beautifully. She never defined asexuality, but she showed us how Kamai views sex and made it abundantly clear that she's ace.

Kamai's ace-ness was also woven into the plot in a subtle way. This story was not about coming out or coming to terms with her asexuality (as a main plot, anyway). Her asexuality was a characterization arc rather than a storyline, which I absolutely loved.

I felt seen by this novel and I couldn't be more appreciative of A.M. Strickland's writing for that.

That's all. Read this book. You won't regret it.

The first chapter destroyed me. I was warned early on that the first chapter hits home with asexual people because many of us have had this experience. The story opens up with a breakup scene, where Alice’s girlfriend leaves her because she’s asexual.

Personally, I wasn’t expecting this chapter to destroy me because I had never been broken up with because of my asexuality. However, I had this conversation with an ex. Verbatim. I didn’t know I was ace at the time, but he my lack of sexual attraction was apparent, and it hit his pride.

After the first chapter, I feel like the book kind of slid downhill slowly for me. Yes, her asexuality was very relatable and that’s the whole reason I wanted to read it. So, good on Kann for bringing us an asexual character. However, the plot itself was dull.

Alice meets Takumi in the library she works at and he’s the most adorable character. Takumi was the shining light of this novel because Alice got on my nerves sometimes. I don’t want non-ace people thinking that all ace people are like Alice.

She’s obsessed with cute things, which isn’t a bad thing. However, the way Kann describes this obsession is annoying. She has a Cutie Code, which she uses to rate how cute things and people are. She says the word cute way too often. Alice is sweet, but she’s kind of annoying.

Takumi on the other hand is a wholesome as hell character and I loved him from the first sentence. Feenie is a great character as well, being Alice’s best friend who adores fighting. The side characters, in my opinion, were more fleshed out than Alice’s character.

Another thing that drove me up the wall was the use of parentheses. There are phrases wrapped in parentheses on each page and it was very distracting to read. Honestly, the way Let’s Talk About Love was written kind of reminds me of Wattpad or fanfiction; I’m not sure it was ready for traditional publication.

Or maybe I’m just being picky because this is young adult fiction, and I am no longer a young adult. There’s a sliding scale of writing styles aimed at this audience, and I enjoy literature from one side of the scale. Maybe this book is just on the opposite side.

Either way, this book has great asexuality representation and an okay plot with terrific side characters. If you like young adult romance, you may like this book.

Lock Every Door is a masterpiece. My rating system is pretty standard. The higher the emotional impact or the desire to scream (positively) about a book, the higher the star count. I wish I could give this book ten stars.

This is my second Riley Sager read, the first being Home Before Dark. I'm going to have to purchase all of his books from now on. His writing is fantastic and got me into thrillers. If you're new to the genre, I highly suggest picking up Lock Every Door.

It's heart-wrenching, page-turning, and you'll spend hours on the couch without realizing they've passed. Lock Every Door had me gasping out loud, covering my mouth, and sincerely had me shocked throughout most of the novel.

There was one part of the book that I saw coming a mile away (no spoilers), but I'm willing to forgive it because the book was so well done. I'm a sucker for good endings to thrillers and holy shit... this one will not disappoint.

Sager almost lost me with one plot point toward the end. I was around fifty pages away from being done and something happened that had me iffy on finishing it. I'm glad I did, though, because that small part of the book was quickly swept under the rug and replaced with something much more sinister.

I did cry at the end of this book. Although, it wasn't because of the plot itself. There was one line in the epilogue regarding George (if you know, you know). That got me. What ends up happening to him got me.

I'm a notorious hater of epilogues, but Sager got it right.

Thank you for writing such a great book.