There was some useful information in here, but the way it was written was so hard to get through that it made it difficult to focus on anything of interest. I also feel like a lot of the information in here is just... painfully obvious. If you have been a manager, or have ever had a manager, then you probably already know the vast majority of what’s in here

*heavy sigh*

This is truly one of my favourite series to ever exist

I don’t think I can leave a proper review, these books always seem to leave me at a loss for words. Plus considering this is the 5th book, I’ve pretty much said everything I could possibly say about these books

Ugh

I love this series so much

U g h

I absolutely ADORED THIS AND LET ME TELL YOU WHY

REPRESENTATION OF PARENTS THAT TECHNICALLY ARENT ABUSIVE BUT ARE STILL REALLY SHITTY

REPRESENTATION OF A GOOD ASS FATHER FIGURE WHO GENUINELY CARES FOR THE PERSON IN HIS CARE

REPRESENTATION OF PLUS SIZED WOMEN WHERE HER SIZE IS COMPLETELY A NON ISSUE

A FANTASTIC DISCUSSION OF GENDER ROLES AND BEING GIVEN THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE WHO YOU WANT TO BE

A REALLY COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO SISTERS WHO WANT TO LOVE EACH OTHER BUT WERE NEVER TAUGHT HOW

AND THE BEST PART

NORMALIZED. HOMOSEXUAL. CHARACTERS. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

I’m honestly so happy with this book, and this series as a whole. It’s so wonderful ahhh everyone read it!! Giving it 4 stars because, and I think I said this with the first book, it would have been so much better if it were longer. I would love to really dig into this world an the relationships, especially with Dr. Bleak. Tbh he’s probably my favourite character but he barely got any screen time :( other than that, 10/10 would recommend

Second read: October 17 2020
5/5 stars
Rereading my favourite series for my birthday, since COVID isn't allowing me to have any plans lmfao

Loved this one even more than the first time! This series is so close to my heart, it's like Seanan McGuire witnessed my childhood and all the whimsical dreams I had and wrote them into a book <3

First read: October 18th 2017
3.5/5 stars

Every Heart a Doorway was both magical and tragic; it warmed my heart while at the same time broke it. All of the main characters were so real and relatable, I love all of them. My one complaint for this book was that I wish it were longer. I could have happily read 400 pages with these characters. I found the ending to be a bit rushed, and the plot twist didn't have as much impact as it could have if it were longer. But regardless I still loved it. The different worlds fascinated me, makes me wonder if maybe these doorways really do exists lol

Second read: October 17 2020
I wish there was a way for me to explain exactly what this book, and the world it contains, means to me. The Goblin Market is my home, it always will be. It breaks my heart knowing that I won't ever find my door, but at least I have this book to give me a glimpse at a life I can only ever dream about

First read: January 9th 2019

Hey so uhhhhhh can I get about 27 more books in this series? I could read these forever, this series is hands down one of my all time favourites

I really loved this story! Lundy is a super interesting character and I loved discovering the Goblin Market with her. The Archivist was probably my favourite character, even though we didn’t learn too much about her. As with the rest of these books, the only thing I would say could be better would be to have it longer; the worlds and characters this author writes are so beautiful and I truly think they would benefit from being explored more

Review to come!

2.5⭐️

Review to come!

3.5⭐️

First of all, thank you so much to Matthew for sending this my way!

This is a collection of poetry written while healing from a breakup with a long-term partner. It’s honest, raw, emotional, and Matthew definitely doesn’t hold back. This felt like reading someone’s diary, all their deepest thoughts and emotions, which I appreciated. I find a lot of poetry (that I read, at least) tends to try and be more general so as to appeal to a larger audience, which can make it hard to connect to. So I really like that Matthew was clear with the fact that he was writing about a specific event in his life, and that this book was mostly about one person.

With that said, that is also where my one main issue with this collection came in. This book is split into 4 parts. In Acts 1 and 2, I assume those were written shortly after the breakup when the strongest emotion he was feeling was anger. And let me preface by saying feeling that anger is completely valid, and I think the healthiest thing you can do is to allow yourself to fully feel whatever emotions you need to feel. So this is not to say that I don’t think he should have been angry. However, the level of anger in the first two acts were filled with aggression as well, and knowing that all this aggression was directed at one specific person made me a little uncomfortable at times. For context on my part, I have never been broken up with before, I’ve only ever been the one to do the breaking up. So while reading this, I wasn’t able to connect with all the emotions he was feeling, so I couldn’t really understand why that amount of aggression was necessary. Being that I have been in the shoes of his ex before, I found myself imaging how I would feel if one of my exes had written this about me, and it was not a comfortable thought to have. Personally, I don’t think it’s ever appropriate to tell someone that their actions made you want to commit suicide. It is of course a valid thing to feel, and I feel deeply for Matthew for having gone through that, as I also struggle with severe mental health issues. But this is the one time where I wish he hadn’t specified that this book was about one person, because in my opinion it’s not fair to put that on their shoulders.

But moving onto the positives, which there are a lot more of!

I love how vivid Matthew is able to paint his emotions. I’m also someone who feels everything so deeply, and I think it’s a beautiful thing (although painful at times). Matthew does not seem afraid to bare his soul and lay everything out in the open. Even though this book is open for anyone to read, the way it’s written makes it feel like a privilege to be allowed to see all these vulnerable parts of Matthew. It is not an easy thing to do, but Matthew managed to do it so beautifully, so I applaud him for that.

I especially loved the format he chose for this book, the four acts. It was a really easy way to track his journey, and better understand where he was emotionally throughout the course of this book. Acts three and four were my favourites, where he was still angry and sad, but the aggression was gone and he was starting to process his emotions and begin healing. He began to understand himself better, learned things about his own personality and the way that he feels things, and most importantly he begins to learn how to process his emotions in a healthier way. It was really interesting to witness this process, as it’s one that we all go through but rarely pay attention to the growth in the moment. We usually only see the ways in which we’ve grown when it’s hindsight; we look back and think “wow I’ve really changed since then.” But Matthew seemed able to capture his growth in the moments they were happening, as was very evident in the way his writing changed in the second half of the book, and that was fascinating to read.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and I’m looking forward to getting to his next collection. Thank you again to Matthew for sending me these, it’s very much appreciated!