My favorite quoted review from the dust jacket is: "If The Hate You Give makes you uncomfortable, that's because it should." - Christian Science Monitor

As a white reader, this book made me uncomfortable, but not in a bad way.

Starr's courage, even though she doesn't like acknowledging that she's brave, is inspiring. She stands up for what she believes in, despite the consequences that may follow her. Thomas teaches her readers what it means to be brave and to stand up to injustices, while allowing people of other cultures to peek into the live of a black teenager. She teaches her readers what goes on behind closed doors and closed communities. All human beings need to read this book to fully understand what goes on and why we should care.

The writing was flawless. Mechanically and grammatically speaking, it was spot on. The characterization was beautiful. At the end of the book, I felt as though I know these people. There are dozens of characters in this book and I was able to keep track of each and every one of them. Each character has his or her own story and personality, which adds to the authenticity of the book. The setting was well developed and vivid. The houses, the streets, the stores, the suburbs... I was able to picture everything so clearly. The plot stands out and it's easy to break down. It has a clear arc and the ending was well written.

There's not much else to say about this beautiful book, except to read it.

You'll need tissues.

After scouring the Internet for books that circulated around New Year's, I met Oona. Not only is her birthday on New Year's, but she is catapulted to a new year of her life at the stroke of midnight every January first. As the title suggests, she has to live her life (since the age of nineteen) out of order. Her first leap was into the body of her fifty-one year old self.

There are so many twists and turns to this book. It's not a thriller, but the plot twists are just as shocking. This is a contemporary novel with time travel elements, which I typically do not enjoy. Time travel books make me feel stupid and they give me anxiety. This book was not the exception, but I found that I enjoyed the hell out of it despite the stupidity and anxious feelings.

Some people might see these twists coming, but I was completely off base.

Spoiler

Kenzi is Oona's son. I seriously thought he was going to turn into her long-term husband or something. I honestly thought he was the love interest that withstands the other love interests. I felt extremely dirty when I came to that twist.

In addition, Oona made me cry. This is not an easy thing to do. I was sobbing for the last few chapters of this book. Okay, sobbing the last chapter of the book.

Spoiler

I love how we don't find out why this is happening to her. It's left open ended because (in my opinion) there are some things that just happen and there's no explanation for it. Even something as crazy as this... just happens.

Oona taught me a lot. This book made me think and appreciate life. Kenzi said something toward the end of the novel about how he wishes he could live his life the way Oona does, out of order. He says that she must appreciate life more and take less for granted because she never knows where she's going to end up. She also has the unique gift of spending time with loved ones after they die when she leaps back to previous years.

I would love to leap to a previous year to spend time with some loved ones that I lost. Even though Oona's life isn't easy and she's swimming upstream, fighting with trends and explanations on why she knows things she shouldn't know yet, she sees the world in a different way.

Kenzi has a point, I think.

Anyway, this is a great book and I highly recommend it. It's a lot deeper than I was expecting.

A fairly average contemporary romance. Hallie is an event planner and Chris is a famous astronaut; their careers and the meet cute are the most interesting parts of this novel. I loved reading about Hallie's job (it might be on my radar now for careers to consider) and the bits about Chris's life as an astronaut were really interesting.

Also, their beginning is adorable. This is the reason I picked up the book in the first place. The premise is that Hallie stumbled upon a series of video diaries that Chris records, addressing his girlfriend when he's out in space on a mission. She binges all of them and then sends him a video back, apologizing for invading his privacy.

Chris's assistant (I think) sends this video to him and asks what she should do. He's naturally pissed and tells his assistant to send an email back, pretending that the email bounced. Instead of stopping, Hallie decided to use these bouncing emails as a way for her to record her own video diaries.

Through her personal stories via her diaries, Chris gets to know Hallie. They fall for each other via each other's video diaries, which they have no clue the other has seen. Adorable.

It goes downhill from there. I began to lose interest quickly after their meet cute. Their chemistry is cute, but it turns into a run of the mill romance with the same tropes and the same third act conflict.

Also, the amount of space jokes was cringy.

Coming in at 228 pages, I binged this book in a day with the help of the audiobook.

This is a beautiful story that left me heavy. We have a crew of three marine biologists who are boarding a submarine for a research trip for three weeks. As they descend, the submarine shuts down and they start sinking without power.

The story is told from from two timelines. Leah tells us how it was on the ship under the sea and Miri tells us the story of Leah’s recovery after she surfaced months later.

Leah didn’t come back the same and I’m not just talking about mental health here.

Spoiler

The Centre, the company that sent her down there, are extremely fishy (no pun intended) and there’s hints at foul play, even though nothing is ever confirmed.

I really felt for Miri because she had to watch her wife deteriorate before her eyes. She physically turns into water. How did she not freak out when Leah’s eye popped??

It was just very sad, but sweet that Leah wasn’t willing to give in before spending as much time as she could with Miri. Like. Arrow to the fucking heart.

Also. Who the fuck was calling them?? Am I dumb? Did I not pick up on that?

Overall, this book is going to stick with me for a while. I’m grateful that I read it.

As a huge fan of The Charm Offensive, I preordered this book and waited until December to read it. Kiss Her Once for Me is obviously a holiday rom-com, so I wasn’t expecting much. Typically, I’m not a fan of holiday romantic comedies because they all recycle the same tropes, drape some mistletoe over them, and call it a day!

This is why I was a little disappointed to see that Cochrun’s second book was doomed to reside in this genre, but I was surprised. I absolutely loved this book and it became one of my favorite books of the year.

The tropes are not my favorite: fake engagement with a dash of miscommunication. The fake dating/engagement trope is overused and, frankly, lacking in originality. There isn’t a lot of wiggle room to make it your own. Miscommunication is one of my least favorite tropes, period. I hate this trope because… just fucking talk to each other. It’s not that complicated.

However, Cochrun did a beautiful job with these. The miscommunication makes sense and is completely relatable. The fake engagement has a wonderful twist because Ellie (the main character) doesn’t fall for the guy she’s fake-engaged to; she falls for his sister instead.

Ellie is the most relatable character I’ve ever stumbled upon. She’s demisexual (I’m asexual), bisexual (also me), a huge Taylor Swift fan (I am also known to slip her birthday into casual conversation), and a creative individual who suffers from generalized anxiety disorder (instead of drawing, I write with a side of panic). To top off the sundae, we both let fear control our lives. We even have the same fucking character arc. Oh, and she’s a Gilmore Girls fan (Oy with the poodles already).

Even without Ellie, I would’ve loved this novel for its beauty. The way it’s told is gorgeous. We’re given these transcripts of this webcomic that Ellie writes, which tells us the story of Last Christmas. I prefer these over flashbacks. In addition, Kiss Her Once For Me goes deeper than just being a holiday romance. It’s a novel about taking risks, embracing change, and standing up for yourself. Taking what you want.

Anyway, I adored this book and I think anyone who loves the romance genre will, too.

By far one of my favorite books of the year. This book it home in so many different ways and the ending had me all giddy. This would be a great spooky season book to reach for if you're feeling like you need a lighthearted romance.

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