Very sweet! I don't often read AUs because I enjoy the original fantasy universe too much, but this still had all the relationships and boarding school antics that I love. Remus and Lily's friendship is the best - enjoy seeing it even more so after how close they were in ATYD.
Also every time Sirius said Beg pardon it cracked me up

Thank you to NetGalley for e-ARC

There was so much drama in this oh my word. It was messy and emotional, and we covered all kinds of relationships. I loved how close she is with her mum and her sister, and the gradual getting to know each other between her and Sarfaraz.
As romances go, I found this had a slower, steady pace - there was no rush for Maya to figure things out, or for a dramatic insta-love moment. This was a story of a girl who thought everything in her life had already been figured out, she had a steady job, had already had her adventures travelling, and now marriage was the only logical step. As the novel progressed, more and more situations arose where Maya had to consider her motivations behind her arranged marriage - was this for herself, or out of a misplaces sense of duty? 
A wonderful story overall that used a slow-burn romance to examine the Canadian-Pakistan diaspora and how people balance culture and religion!

"Love was not submission. It was not testing how far I could bend before I broke."

This was just drama filled and I loved it! It took me so long (more than a month at least) to finally pick this up after collecting it from my local library. I continue to find that I hate starting new books - I loathe getting through worldbuilding, but the second they introduced the love interest into the mix I was hooked. I know myself well - I always prefer my fantasy to be built around a romance, I get that it can take away from the genre, but I am who I am. I was so invested in their complicated relationship - and I actually almost melted at the respect they had for each other even when they were still enemies. 
For me, the biggest let down was the ending - there was no dramatic twist really, other than what had to be done in order to set up for book 2. I'm kind of hoping this will be set up as a duology rather than as a trilogy since if there's three books then book 2 will just be them hating each other (as usual for a fantasy trilogy). Will absolutely be picking up whatever comes next though, and I feel like I haven't been that excited over fantasy in a while so very happy with this one over all!

A novel written in a style I've never seen before!

I found this a fascinating exploration of various women from the end of the 1800s through to the 1900s, and how their sexualities manifested in a world where loving other women has often been dangerous. I thought it was beautifully written all the way through, and if I had a little more understanding of history I don't doubt it would have opened up the story even further. 
My personal favourite narrative perspectives were Lina Poletti and Virginia Woolfe since I had some understanding of their stories already, but I definitely need to dip into some biographical/non-fiction to learn more about all the characters who were introduced!
As well as being an ode to women and their love, I also thought this portrayed the emotional power of literature, theatre, and most of all translation, in such a poignant way. 

Flew through this so much quicker than I expected, kept a drawn out timeline for the first half to keep it right in my head, and then it wasn’t so difficult after that. 
Not fully sure on every plot detail, particularly at the end because I feel like surely we’ve got some time paradox issues??
Loved Eamon and June, would’ve taken a much longer book of the exploration of June’s relationships in 1950s Jasper

Un libro gracioso, y con un nivel perfecto de espanol para leer sin tener que buscar muchas palabras

Fun and freaky short story - enjoyed spotting how Flanagan wove it into The Fall of the House of Usher! Will be reading more Edgar Allen Poe soon I think

 This was unhinged from page 1, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone - except people who thought Lolita was fascinating as well as horrifying, rather than just horrifying.

Absolutely have to read whatever else Alissa Nutting has written, because although it made me queasy, the writing was GENIUS! 

 Will never not be impressed by a VE Schwab book!

This was the perfect standalone fantasy for me, and I loved it even more for the way I could just see this unfolding as a TV series in my head.

We had a complex protagonist with a dry sense of humour and a complicated relationship with her family, a self-centred entirely lovable sidekick (love interest?), and a whole host of mysterious immortal librarians. Anyone who's ever read any of my reviews before knows that I love books about books, so a library of the dead had my attention immediately - particularly when that library starts malfunctioning.

I read this in a day and sort of wish we'd had a duology or trilogy from it, since the universe had so much opportunity for expansion! But I also feel that VE Schwab tied up loose ends very nicely, but left enough unanswered general spookiness to keep you thinking about the book long after it was done.

Not sure what else I haven't read by VE Schwab but determined to make my way through her whole canon! 

 I feel like I did nothing but suffer through the whole of this last book.

I read book one back in February, and it was just full of my favourite tropes (magic school, academic rivals, training/studying montage etc) and so once I got my Kobo I knew this was the series I needed to finish.

Each book had it own set story, for instance all of book 2 focussed on the Apprenticeship. And book 4 was no different, only its set story was focussed on shattering my heart. For the whole of book 3 I felt like we'd been building to our dramatic turning point where all the final pieces fell into place. All of my housemates had to listen to me make my predictions as to how close I was to that moment, and then when it actually happened I wasn't prepared.

For what had originally been a series about a little magic school, the country-wide war was pretty intense, but even the final drama scenes had nothing on the intensity of the torture and interrogation chapter. I was reading that first thing in the morning, and to be perfectly honest it was not the most sensible or beneficial start to my day.

Ultimately, I was not expecting to feel so strongly about this series! I hated so many of these characters with every fibre of my being, even if I couldn't put the series down for about 3 days straight. Highly recommend if you're looking for a lesser-known fantasy series that does just about everything the mainstream ones do!