I have read books from all of these authors except one so I was very interested in checking out a book that they all wrote together and I'm glad I did! It was a quick and cute romance that put me in a wintry mood during the week before Christmas. I like that the stories were connected and the sections about the aquarium were such a pleasant surprise (coming from someone who absolutely loves aquariums.) I think teens would really enjoy reading this and I am definitely intrigued to pick up Blackout at some point too!

It was a lot of fun reading about a place that was mentioned in The Cruel Prince series. I especially got into it toward the end when the characters got more immersed in the faerie world but the story overall was really cool. I love the concept of a town where faeries and humans coexist and I really loved Hazel’s character arc too. Overall it was another solid edition to the faerie world that Holly Black has created and I can’t wait to read more.

Giving this 5 stars because this story  was a favorite of mine as a child and still holds a special place in my heart. This edition has gorgeous illustrations and is perfect to cozy up with for an hour or two to read. 

I loved this book so much🥹 it was so unique from any fantasy I’ve read before and I think it’s the perfect cozy book to pick up in the fall. I loved the descriptions of the food and the process of building the shop, and the characters were easy to love. There was a sprinkling of romance which was adorable and just the right amount of (low-stakes) action/plot. This is definitely a new favorite and now I want to read all the cozy fantasy!!

I wanted to pick up another Paula Hawkins book after loving The Girl on the Train so much when I read it in 2017, and Into the Water did not disappoint! I had such a great time reading this. It was a lot of fun trying to figure out the mystery and I was surprised by quite a few twists and turns along the way. The characters were interesting and I definitely didn't predict the ending. Overall I think this is a super solid thriller and I will be continuing to read Hawkins' work into the future!

Phew this one took me awhile to get through. I wouldn't say that I necessarily disliked this book but it just wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. This book is very much no plot just vibes. The entire thing revolves around the circus, the people who surround it, and what happens within it, and there isn't very much more to the plot than that. I did enjoy the beautiful writing, but sometimes it was too vague for me in terms of how everything works and the "rules" of the magic. I enjoyed all of these things enough to finish the book, but I don't know if this type of storytelling is for me. I'm glad I finished it because it has been sitting on my shelf for way too many years, but unfortunately I wasn't as into it as I hoped I'd be. I might still check out The Starless Sea though to see if I like that one better!

Reread 8/23/23 - I'm glad I decided to reread this outside of an academic setting. It was a fairly easy classic to get into and was just as intriguing as I remember it being. I definitely see myself continuing to reread it periodically!

Also, the last paragraph or two made me tear up unexpectantly. So good! 

This book… it gave me hope about the world after feeling utterly hopeless for so long. It gave words to feelings I’ve never been able to verbalize and has reminded me that there is still wonder in this world among all the horror. Most of all it let me know that although life often leaves me terrified and anxious and lost and powerless, at least I am not feeling it all alone.

I give The Anthropocene Reviewed 5 stars❤️

I mainly finished this because it was a quick read and it had the summer vibes that I was looking for. However, the actual romance didn't appeal to me that much. I'm definitely more team Jeremiah than Conrad, but I wasn't super invested in either of their relationships with Belly if I'm being completely honest. I saw a lot of reviews saying that Belly was annoying as a character and for a lot of the book I disagreed and gave her the benefit of the doubt because she is a 15-year-old girl so she's naturally going to act in ways that aren't very mature sometimes, but toward the end I was getting a bit tired of both her and the boys because of their constant complaining and arguing. I'm undecided if I will continue the series or not but I'm glad I gave it a shot since everyone has been talking about this series lately.

dnf @ page 169

Considering the fact that this book has been on my tbr for 6+ years, I’m very disappointed that I didn’t want to finish this one. The first 40-50% was really doing it for me. I loved the descriptions of the bookstore, I thought the main character was likable, there was an interesting mystery, and the writing made me laugh. 

It was the perfect recipe for a new favorite book. 

However, the more the book started talking about coding, technology, and Google the more I lost interest. Even those elements I was getting used to, but as soon as the twist/reveal happened my interest dropped off pretty quickly. It just wasn’t what I expected or wanted and I unfortunately lost my motivation to finish the book. 

It probably would have been a 3 star at most if I finished it so I didn’t really feel like there was a point. I’m definitely disappointed but at least I can finally get it off of my tbr!