Reread 6/26/23 - bumping up my rating from 4 to 5 stars upon reread because it was just as dark and twisty and amazing as I remembered it. Jude is absolute perfection and so is Cardan and I’m just so obsessed with them and this world😭

I read Alicia Cook’s poetry collection ‘Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately’ years ago and enjoyed it so I wanted to pick up her newest release since I’ve been in the mood for poetry lately. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this one so much. None of the poems really stood out to me or made me feel anything in particular. I just don’t think I connected with it. Disappointing but that’s okay.

Decided on a 3 star for this book because the first half had me very entertained and I really enjoyed the whole concept of possibly being stuck in a car with a serial killer. I didn’t rate it higher because the amount of times Charlie could’ve escaped but didn’t was way too many which was kinda dumb and the second half of the story started to go in a direction that felt unrealistic to me. I definitely want to read more thrillers that take place in the car/on a road trip though!

I loved this just as much as the first book! It gave me the same whimsical feelings and had the same beautiful writing too. And it had such a good conclusion. I feel like this duology has the perfect progression arc and feels very well rounded without having too much extra info that I don't need. If you like slower paced fantasy books that have beautiful prose and vivid descriptions this series is for you! I definitely plan to pick up Laini Taylor's other series as well.

I enjoyed this book but it didn't end up being quite what I expected it to be. It started off very emotional for me and I loved the atmosphere but it slowly lost its emotion and while I was still interested to see how the story would progress, I didn't feel that extra level of connection to the characters and story that I was hoping for. 

I couldn't connect to Julie at all. I know everyone grieves differently, but some of the things she did after it had only been 2 weeks since her boyfriend of 3 years died just didn't make sense to me. I feel like she was acting as if his death had occurred much longer ago than it really did. Even some of her teachers were acting as if she didn't just experience this huge loss and it just felt a little off.

The things I liked most about this book were the concept and the writing. Also, the ending was very beautiful and definitely made me cry. I liked the way that everything wrapped up and the way that Julie patched up some of the relationships in her life. Overall, although this didn't end up being the new favorite that I hoped it would be, I am definitely interested to read anything Dustin Thao comes out with in the future and I think this was a solid debut!

This book was so messed up… 5 stars.

 This short story was just what I needed to kick off my summer reading! I was pulled into the story immediately and cared deeply about David and Carrie even though we only get limited details about them through the epistolary format. The ending was everything I could have asked for, and I wished there was more story to read when I finished!

 This book was both very entertaining and informative about what working in the healthcare system is like. I really liked Kay's conversations about how hard it can be to keep going, how the system falls short, and how much you truly have to sacrifice to be a doctor. That, combined with the diary-entry format and at times almost unbelievable patient experiences, made this book unputdownable. I'll admit a lot of jokes went over my head because they relied on British pop culture references that I didn't have a clue about or just didn't quite land with me, but I definitely laughed at times. Other portions were sad and hard to read, so I felt a whole range of emotions. Overall, I think this book is great if you're looking for a fast-paced and entertaining nonfiction that also offers important commentary on the healthcare system and what it is like to be a doctor. 

Continue reading for an incohesive dump of my thoughts on <i>They Both Die at the End</i>...

No way this dude died in the most preventable way with only two hours left in the day like wtfff

The end of this book just made me so mad. You literally had two hours left in the day so why wouldn’t you just stay in bed?? Why did you have to randomly get up at 10 pm to make a cup of tea on a stove that you knew was broken?? I feel like it doesn't make sense that Mateo, whose been cautious this entire book, would do that. He literally died in the place that he stayed in for so much of his life in order to keep himself safe which is very ironic and sad but also frustrating. 

I mean I get that the message of the book is that it’s better to take risks and fully experience life than to play it safe and protect yourself but he spent the entire day doing that already so why couldn’t he have just chilled in bed for the last two hours and fallen asleep? Ugh. 

I feel the same way about Rufus's death too. Maybe he stopped trying to be so careful about not dying because Mateo had just died, but seriously you have one hour left until the day is over and you die because you didn't look both ways before crossing the street?? I guess I thought they were going to die in a much more epic or tragic way than by doing things that were completely stupid and preventable.

I don’t know the whole Death-Cast thing seems to me like it’s the cause of a lot of people’s deaths. For a lot of deaths that they described in the book, those people wouldn’t be in those situations in the first place if they hadn’t gotten the call. I also honestly don’t understand how you die on the day they call you no matter what choices you make. I guess you have to read the book in the frame of mind that death is fated but I could never wrap my head around that. It just didn’t make sense to me that even if you stay home all day not doing anything you’ll somehow die anyway. 

To be honest I think I would rather this book be dystopian because it totally had those vibes. I knew it would be a contemporary going in but once I actually started reading about how Death Cast works and how it’s so ingrained in pretty much every part of society I wished the book was a different genre. I think I was way more interested in the actual concept of Death Cast than the story of Mateo and Rufus’s last day. I didn’t find that they had much romantic chemistry with each other and of course, it was insta-love considering they met each other on their last day alive. 

I like the overall message of the book and it did make me tear up a few times but overall I think I wanted the book to be something it wasn’t which is totally my problem and not the book’s fault. Also, because of how both of the characters died, the ending made me more frustrated than sad and heartbroken like it seemed to make everyone else.