Man...if I could have dinner with any author...Neil Gaiman's would have to be one I'd consider.

In typical Gaiman fashion, it's a long game story with some creepy and weird paranormal characters and plot. I think this would've been a fantastic book for me when I was younger so I could've associated with the main character more.

I love the family he finds and creates. Not everyone is born and raised in a situation with such a devoted support system build into your blood family so you make your own.

I knew Mr. Frost was involved and I feel like that was the beauty of this book. It's something I could see kids finding scary but I could see adults enjoying it and having the ability to foresee things a paragraph before they happen.

I really want to get my hands on the graphic novel version now. The full cast audiobook was fantastic!

This was a cool book! The racism and sexism aside (it's a result of the time period), it was cool! I kept thinking "someone climbed out the window and onto the train roof" but I was totally wrong! I loved the setting and the range of characters.

This book honestly just made me rage. I wanna ride a moose down to the US while drinking maple syrup and burn the White House down again. It's honestly heartbreaking and mind boggling some of the issues...like healthcare. I can't understand it!
Made me feel REALLY good about Canada though. We ain't perfect but we have a lot more of our country together in comparison.

This book was alright. I'm not normally a fan of contemporary paranormals but this was interesting. There's a murder mystery twist to it. I found the dead best friend's evaluation of anorexia really fascinating. I'm glad I didn't buy it but glad I read it.

3.5/5 stars

Oh poor Charlotte, girl gets saddled with the shittiest time ever to take over.

I'm super curious to see how thing work out for Charlotte + Jack + Jack's brother. I love me a good love triangle with brothers...when it's done well!

There's lots of alternative history-steampunk-scifi vibes with almost a Peter Pan twist. Really neat concept that just needs more world building. Sadly, that part was pretty weak and it took away from the book. For example there were words like "ship" thrown around but explanation really. this has the potential to be an incredible cool setting.

The politics and contrast of the world in the catacombs and New York was really cool. I love seeing independent women thrust into patriarchal and hierarchal societies. It reminds me of Diana in the Wonder Woman film. I'll definitely be picking up the sequel when I get a chance.

So I guess this is kind of a win-win for me. I don't have another series to start following (cause that's just getting out of hand).

Firstly, the hardcover copy of this book is beautifully designed. The cover, the spine, the end pages, the title page is all so physically appealing to look at and have on your bookshelf.

The plot of this book is fine and the cast is wonderfully diverse but the execution: yikesssss. The pace is just atrocious. It's slow. Not slow in the beginning and then fast at the end. It's just slow and I don't know how you make an alien invasion slow but this did.

I definitely came away confused that the Nahx could...I guess, understand English but couldn't speak? That was never really explained...and can they speak all languages on Earth since they invaded everywhere or what? Somehow, the main girl is able to completely (and almost immediately) understand the majority of the Nahx sign language? That is something that should've taken time to learn and it been addressed but it really wasn't. There were just a lot of things like this that should have been explained and it left big gaps and detached me from getting absorbed in this world by it being ignored.

The writing is choppy and there was no character or relationship development. I just didn't care about any of the characters. A main character does die (which happens in every dystopian book) and my reaction was "ugh, I was super tired of that person! finally!" when I know the death was supposed to be heartbreaking. The relationships are all romantic and none particularly scream "healthy relationship." In an alien invasion where everyone survives only by depending on each other...I want friendships! Not creepy romantic relationships that come off as super unhealthy.

I wanted to like this book--so badly! It's set in Alberta, Canada where I live and written by a Canadian author but I am not impressed by the writing. The fact that this isn't a debut is also mind-boggling to me.

3.5/5 ⭐
This book was alright but the main issue is the pacing of this book. I really enjoy historical fiction but it was even getting a little tedious to me at the end.

There's a lot of focus on a relationship between an automaton brother and sister as well as the main present day characters relationship with her deceased grandpa. I loved getting to visit all the different times and places and cultures. I liked the chapter POV switching and I found it pretty well coordinated so the previous historical chapter explained characters actions or feelings going on in the present time chapter.

sadly, the book really struggles with pacing.

3.75 out of 5 stars

huh...that is not what I was expecting from this book. I picked it up mostly because of the cover and seeing it flagged somewhere as historical fiction and Scotland which is my wheelhouse. Throughout the read, some parts reminded me of Stalking Jack the Ripper/Nevernight/Throne of Glass/ACOTAR/An Enchantment of Ravens for different reasons. I will say I had a massive squeal when someone used the term "sassenach."

While there are some parts of the book that were historical fiction, it is predominately a book about faeries. I feel like that has been done a lot but the placement of it in Scotland gave me feelings/thoughts of folklore in our world rather than going to a whole new world--which I loved and made it a little different for me.

I wish the main character would have brought up her inventions and science more since it felt a little random with the whole plot or placed in there for convenience but was left really underdeveloped. I really liked her "rebelling" against the gender norms of the 1800s in Scotland but I think more of the inventions would've really let that part of her shine and differ her from the rest of YA fantasy with faeries.

I liked the existence of the romances and who they were with but I do wish they would've been a little bit less insta-lovey where she stays in love but just switches from scene to scene with who she is in love with.

I'll definitely be reading the sequel but I don't know how far down on my TBR list is.

This book was cute and I would absolutely suggest it to anyone wanting to show kids about what you can do with technology for the good of others! There are some amazing ways that we could be using technology to help people rather than to fight or troll online.

I was disappointed that there was no actual code in the text because I think that would've made such an impact for the better! Seeing the coding would've absolutely made this book a 5/5 stars for me. I also wish there would've been more information given about other competition submissions and maybe used real life apps and betas. There's no shortage of that available.

I found the friendship drama very juvenile for me at 25 but it would definitely be something relateable for the target audience.

But overall, still a solid book! I really hope we get more books with female characters interacting with coding and technology.

3.75/5

This book was alright. I enjoyed the first 1/4--not too crazy about the middle half--enjoyed the last 1/4. The story has potential and I really did enjoy the characters. The ending got me really curious about where the sequel is going to go. I kept imagining the Oregon Trail and saw people dying of dysentery.

My real struggle was the writing. I wanted to throw a thesaurus​ at the author everytime there was a scene with dialogue. Her writing is so repetitive and annoying and I got really frustrated with:

"Jefferson said "...."
So and so said "...."
Jefferson said ".....""

USE A LITTLE BIT MORE CREATIVE SENTENCE STRUCTURE! COME ON! THIS IS A PUBLISHED WORK!