I read this for my Young Adult Literature class and I really enjoyed it! It's very entertaining with its three storylines that seamlessly flow together as the story progresses and an ending that I didn't see coming while also talking about important topics such as racism, feeling "othered" by those around you, immigration, stereotypes, bullying, and self-acceptance. I would absolutely re-read this and would love to put it in my future classroom one day!

This was sooo good! It is a memoir of the author's experience being a mixed-black girl raised by her adoptive white family. It is told through a mixture of all sorts of things including documents, letters, transcripts, and general ponderings about life and adoption. It is also partly fictionalized in order to explore the question of what life would be like had the author been raised by her birth family vs her adoptive family and includes things like wormholes, time travel, parallel versions of herself and her loved ones, and alternate realities. It is hands down the most unique memoir I have ever read! It was so smartly done and beautifully written, and I can already tell it is a book I will be thinking about for a while to come and one that I will be rereading!

I highly recommend everyone pick this up, especially if you love quick reads that are beautifully written and a little strange (in a good way)!

Giving this 4 stars for now but I feel that it has the potential to be 5 stars upon rereading and thinking about it for a while!

 

 After thinking about my rating for a few days I have decided on 3 stars because I have almost no thoughts about this book and haven't thought about it at all after finishing. I think it was an enjoyable read and had some exciting moments and twists, but it was missing that special something that the other Grishaverse books had. Maybe it was because it was a continuation of another series and not a new series that stands on its own, maybe it was because it didn't really feel like it had a main character, or maybe it was because it followed two separate stories that never ended up converging. I can't quite put my finger on it but those are a few thoughts that have been floating around in my head as to why it didn't hit me in the same way as previous Grishaverse books. I originally gave Shadow and Bone 3 stars too but it still had that re-readable quality to it and I have now reread it at least 3 times. King of Scars, on the other hand, I don't really see myself rereading. It was fun to be back in the world of course and to follow characters that I love but I see it as a one-time read just for the sake of seeing what happens after the events of the previous books. A little disappointed but that's okay! I'll just keep rereading Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows! 

 I'm not going to give this one a rating but I read it for my Young Adult Literature class and I found it to be a very moving and thought-provoking poem that is worthy of analysis and lengthy discussion. I think it speaks to the fact that we can still have hope for the future of our country while also acknowledging the places where it falls short and needs to do better. It is a call to action to make changes that leave future generations with a country that is better than the one we have currently and to act with courage when faced with hardships. It is very powerful and I would love to read more of her work. 

Overall, this was an entertaining enough book with quick writing but was, unfortunately, a little underwhelming and forgettable, especially compared to Daisy Jones and Evelyn Hugo. The writing was a lot more simplistic than I expected, and some sentences were awkward and even unnecessary at times. I did enjoy the concept of two alternate timelines and the conversations that were had about fate and making choices, but a lot of what happened was very predictable and some sections that showed up in both timelines became quite repetitive. I think this might be good to pick up if you're looking for an easy read that you'll get through quickly, but I wouldn't say it is anything profound or reread-worthy.

4-23-17: Wow wow wow I'm feeling so many emotions right now. I'm so sad it's over I want it to go in forever. I'm so thankful that there are two other books in the series, otherwise I don't know what I would do. This book was beyond amazing. It definitely lived up to all of its hype. I can't wait to see what happens next!!

UPDATE 10-11-18: This is my second time reading this book and it was still just as amazing. This book will always have my heart.

Update 2/16/23: just finished my third read and my first time listening to the audiobook. I listened to it on my way to and from school since I’ve been going back and forth so much this semester. It was a lot of fun to relive the story again and I’m excited to continue with the series!

At first I was nervous to reread this book because I was scared I wouldn’t love it as much as I remembered it, but that is not what happened at all. It was just as beautiful as I remembered it. The writing is so raw and it really just hits you in the gut. I don’t usually cry while reading, but this book always gets to me. And the characters themselves are a whole other thing. Liesel and Max will always hold a special place in my heart. And of course Hans Hubermann. This book will forever be so special to me and if you haven’t read it yet you really really need to. It truly is a book that will stay with you forever.

After being dead set against reading any Stephen King novels for years I decided to give Carrie a try because the premise intrigued me, but I should have just stuck to my instincts not to read anything by him. There wasn't anything inherently terrible about Carrie, I just never found myself wanting to pick it up to read more of it. I got about halfway through (which took me way too long for a 200-page book) and then took a month-long break to read some other things and now that some time has passed my interest in finishing it has dwindled to nothing. I looked up a summary of the ending and that was all I really needed. 

There were also some writing choices that I didn't vibe with like some of the language that was used and these interjections that would be placed in the middle of sentences that I think were supposed to be a character's inner thoughts or inner monologue but they would throw me off because they would completely interrupt the sentence I was reading. It just felt very jarring and I would have preferred it if they weren't in there at all or at least came after a sentence was over instead of being placed directly in the middle of one.

Will I pick up any more of King's books? Probably not but you never know. 

Original review:
"I have absolutely no interest in being someone's muse. I am not a muse. I am the somebody. End of fucking story."

I read this twice in a row and I really did not expect to cry the second time since I didn’t cry the first but... I definitely did. I fell in love with everything about this story. I was so invested in everyone’s lives, especially Daisy. But I love them all. The way Taylor Jenkins Reid writes her characters so realistic, raw, organic, and flawed, it’s like something I’ve never read before. A book about a fictional rock band might sound boring to some but it’s about so much more than that. As I said, I read this book twice, once on audio and once physically. I definitely recommend doing both since the audiobook is fully casted and you pick up on new things the second time you read it. I do have to say I think I may have connected to the book more physically because that’s my preferred reading format, but the audiobook adds so much emersion to the story. Whichever way you choose, just please read this book. Thank you. That is all. I’ll go back to crying now.

UPDATE 2/10/23: I just finished my third read of this book and lemme tell you the ending made me sob😭😭 this book just reminded me why I love reading so much which was much needed🥹 okay bye back to crying now 

I read this for my Educational Psychology class and found it really compelling! As an aspiring teacher, it provided a lot of insight into what could be happening in my students' lives outside of the classroom and how I can show them support and guidance while they are in my room.