I LOVED this book! It took a minute to get into for me, but once it hit it's stride I was all in. Our protagonist Lulu Saad is mean. She's mean because she's mad, and she's mad about some real stuff. She's mad about sexist double standards, and about Islamophobia and racism. She's got a spitfire sharp tongue, she screws up often, and she cares so much it hurts. I fell in love with her and delighted in her fury at the things about the world which upset me too. I loved cheering for her throughout this novel. Safi's writing is beautiful, and I was often taken in by her descriptions. While probably not a book that everyone will love, this one was exactly my jam.

I loved this book, even though (spoilers)

A powerful and thoughtful memoir which exceeded my high expectations. I found it to be a surprisingly easy read, and an unsurprisingly impactful one. I will be rereading this book many times.

New favorite book alert! Thank you Nicole, sorry reading this took me way too long. I'm definitely finishing the series soon.

This book really made me remember how unfathomable others' lives can be. A singular memoir which tells the author's story so artfully.

This is a really lovely book, and I so enjoyed spending the day enmeshed in the author's journey towards reunion with some of her birth family. As I expected, Chung writes eloquently about all her adoption gave her but also what it caused her to lose. She beautiful connects pieces of her story to her birth family, adoptive family, and her created family with her husband and children, and I never lost the arc of the story, which I find often executed far less gracefully in memoirs. I very much recommend this book, especially for lovers of memoirs or family stories, or folks looking for a personal examination of adoption.

This slim volume is basically a mini textbook about mental illness in Malaysia, and it seems very well researched and composed. Alkaf carefully combines personal anecdotes from Malaysian individuals who have struggled with mental illness, expertise from mental health professionals, facts and figures, and advice for readers into this compact package. I found it to be a great place to start learning, and Alkaf's passion for the topic was a valuable companion to reading some hard stuff.

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory was everything I hoped it would be and more! I've heard a few reactions from people who liked this novel but preferred its predecessor, The Wedding Date, but for me this book met the high expectations I had for Guillory's follow-up. And! I didn't read the blurb, as usual, so I hadn't realized that the male lead of this novel is Carlos, Drew's best friend from The Wedding Date. I already loved him from that novel, more than Drew tbh, so I was very excited when I realized he would be featured here. Nik also was a fantastic character, I'm loving reading Guillory's takes on confident capable women who struggle in the world in such honest ways. She was real, flawed, reflected parts of myself back to me, and was inspiring to boot. Nik's friendship with Courtney and Dana was so delightful, I loved reading their interactions. I also love that Guillory is building out this interconnected world, I already have hopes about future novel focuses.

I feel like I've been on such a journey with this book. I definitely didn't understand it all, but loved so much of what James did with this novel. The style and structure choices alone! But the characters were also! Wow.

This book was quite the ride and I loved reading it. Pessl weaves such a suspenseful story, full of questions unraveling slowly, and walks the reader constantly on the edge between belief in and rejection of supernatural explanations for the mysterious Cordova family and their history. I loved the use of extra materials peppered throughout the book - case notes, photographs, and news articles both in print and online. This mixed media approach enriched the reading experience, giving the reader the sense of being right alongside the investigation with Scott McGrath and his motley pair of partners, Nora and Hopper.