No one should read this for the bad writing alone. I am pretty sure I chipped a tooth when Mondello wrote "her and him" instead of "she and him."

But also, don't read it because it's stupid. It's an entire book about two best friends who were in love with the same man, but you never see one reason why they loved him at all. He's so boring and self-involved.

I can't do it. Another Mondello book where all the tension happens eight years before the start of the book, so the reader is left with another asshole man who can't take no for an answer, and another twenty something woman who can't move on. No thanks.

Mondello repeatedly uses the word "Indian" to describe Native American items, and if that's not enough of a reason to skip this book, it ends with the main character giving up on her entire life for a man:

She'd always been so focused [. . . but] her big dreams had somehow faded. The only thing she longed for now was to feel Stoney's arms wrapped around her.


Absolutely.
The.
Fuck.
Not.

This time Horowitz himself is suspected of murder, and has to hire Hawthorne to find the real killer. But unsurprisingly it falls entirely flat, as did the previous two books in this series. Horowitz doesn't even tell his own wife that he has spent the night in jail, which makes me really dislike him, and you still learn nothing more about Hawthorne. My favorite scene was when a critic shreds Horowitz's writing, because I completely agreed with her. After four books, I should be invested in these characters and yet not for one second did I care whether Horowitz did in fact commit the murder. Officially giving up on any of his books.

This book taught me so much history I was unaware of, and opened my eyes to a lot of my own unconscious biases. I've been reading passages and sharing facts with everyone around me since I cracked it open.

This country has a lot of work to do.

I don't know how this ended up on my TBR because it's not in my wheelhouse at all, but it's really so precious. I loved the audio.

God I love some dark academia. This is definitely one that will need a re-read.

Spoilers for If We Were Villains and The Secret History below.

Spoiler

Yes, the comparison is obvious, but I think loving Secret History made me love this even more. Rio taps into the emotion that Tartt built, and plays upon it, like an electronic remix of a favorite old ballad. I loved that she turned it into a mystery -- all of the characters had to deal with the guilt of letting Richard die, but you also had to wonder who actually did it. Admittedly, I kept forgetting that I didn't know, because it almost didn't matter. The story was about their friendships and the guilt more than anything tangible. Rio did a great job of making you feel like everything was half a dream, as Oliver feels.

The first chapter was awkward; too many introductions too quickly. I wish we had had more time watching them interact as friends before Richard became the tyrant. It was an interesting choice; you watched them mourn him, but you were almost divorced from it because you didn't get to see him be a friend.

I loved the interactions between the characters, and the focus on Shakespeare. It was much more accessible than History's Greek obsession. I also liked that Oliver was actually part of the group, not an outsider.

I always hate stories written today set in the past, because it feels cheap, like the author is trying to avoid dealing with technology. This worked for me more than most, because Oliver being in jail for ten years means he really is out of the loop. But still. A little cheap.

Understated and lovely. I'm not sure I would have loved it if I hadn't read the Raven Boys, but I was happy to return to the world. This is darker and more new-adult than I expected. It needed more Adam.

Cute but forgettable.