The only way to describe this book is to say it's utterly and wonderfuly lovely!

Set in a world where the study of the Fae is scientific but relatively new, Emily has set about to write the first fairy encyclopedia. Visiting a new, far flung icy location to learn about the local fairy population, she finds much more than she thought she would.

This was an easy, joyous read that I'm sure I'll read again. I loved Emily's confusion (or coldness as some have described it) around other people and her obsession with faries. She's definitely a little autistic coded.  I loved Wendel too, he reminded me so much of the book version of Howl from Howl's Moving Castle.

I'm going to start the second book immediately and I'm very pleased that the third (and last) of the series came out a couple of days ago so that I can read them all at once.

A great fantasy but I felt a little lost in parts due to the flashbacks. I also found the jump between love interests very jarring.

But that bloody ending!!

A fake dating romance with a grumpy MMC.

It's a lovely, comforting romance read. The perfect book to read as a break from heavier choices. My favourite thing is the way anxiety is written about. It feels very real without being over the top. It's portrayed effortlessly though Charlotte's thoughts and descriptions of body language in a way that worked seemlessly.

The fake dating consists of a wedding and a Christmas party but I wouldn't say it's a Christmasy book overall.

What stops It from being rated higher for me is that it's a little long for a feel-good romance. It took me until about 30% in to get into the book and start caring about the characters. This is the mark when the fake dating kicks off.

A big thank you to Sloane Maddern for an ARC copy of Terms of Agreement.

I'd originally rated this four stars but the more I thought about it in the days after, the more I wasn't sure why. I'd say about 60% of it fell a little flat for me. It's not bad, just padded out so it's ⭐⭐⭐ for me.

A thought provoking portrayal of the experience of being a woman in Japan with an asexual main character. The book is written in two parts which arguably could be different books. The first part's 'egg cracking' scene completely lost me and I almost stopped reading it.

This is one of those books where the characters have endless conversations in which they monologue about unrelated stories from their past. If that's for you, you'll love it.

My biggest issue with it is that it almost minimises the experiences of womanhood into 'wants a certain body' and 'wants a baby'. There's some nuance to the story and it's wonderful how the characters are given time to sit in their emotions on these subjects. However, it felt simplified to tropes at points in a way it didn't seem to intend to. The book concludes with

Natsu having a baby regardless of her decision that it would be cruel to bring a child into the world. The ending portrays this like some great resolution, that a baby fixed it all, but surely we all know that it won't.

This said, the books focus on female bodily autonomy and its allowance of the complexities of it is wonderful and honest. I just can't say I enjoyed it or that I disliked it. It just is and I wish it had been more. It's quite slow and hard to chew at points. A middling ⭐⭐⭐ for me.

Where to begin with this book? 😅 It's about a romance between two serial killers in a romcom kind of a way. I'd heard A LOT about it from friends so maybe I was expecting too much. It promises a fun, jokey read and that's what you get.

The treatment of

David

when we first meet

him

was dogey from a

disability/ableism/using him as a bit of a slave

point of view. Weeks later and it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Not quite my thing so ⭐⭐⭐ from me.

A short and predictable read but the perfect break from some heavier books I'm currently reading. It's probably the most predictable romance novella I've ever read, to the point that if it had been a trailer for a Hallmark movies, I wouldn't have battered an eyelid. It's very trope-y without actually fully forming a single trope, meaning the story gentley passes by in an obvious but intentionally gentle way. Nothing amazing but the perfect break read so ⭐⭐⭐.

A beautifully illustrated graphic novel about an artists life and the few great loves of her life. It very different to the others I've read this year with the story being told through both blocks of text and images. I thought it was a real story throughout the majority of the book and honestly I'm a little disappointed it wasn't. The characters leap off the page and I wish I could pour over their work.

My favourite part was the descriptions of female friendship. Towards the end, you get a few pages of images showing a memory, then you turn the page to a block of text about what happened to them. Goodness, one in particular hit me right in the chest. It's not often that I have such a visceral reaction to a book.

Oh and the way the art shifts between illustrated comic and stylised paintinga of the characters art is just gorgeous.

I've had this on my radar for a while and I can't believe it's taken me so long to. I'd recommend this book to anyone.