Okay I'm not a Taylor Swift girlie so I feel like parts of this could have been lost on me, but generally this was a sweet small town/celebrity MC romance. It wouldn't go super high up on my list, having tropes that I don't love and with some clunky writing.
Reading the acknowledgements I discovered that Kimi Freeman is still a teenager which makes having this published a great achievement - and you can see that there is definitely a lot of heart that's gone into this. Ultimately just not for me.
Thank you to NetGalley for the E-ARC 

 Books like this make me wish I was taking an English Literature degree, I would love to do an in-depth dive into the themes that track through this fascinating collection of narratives.

I read this one quite slowly, each chapter felt like it's own unique piece despite the way that they ultimately all tied in together. Personally, I preferred the older chapters - examining the role of Herne as a medieval mischief maker, even if that chapter written in Middle English was making my brain work far harder than I was expecting.

The chapters set in the future didn't work so well for me, I enjoyed some of the climate fiction aspects but I think I just felt that Herne was no longer the focus of the story? Although the message of the importance of re-wilding I do agree with, and it was so interesting to consider what might happen or what might need to be done to protect our environment in future. 

 I read this a little while ago now and I still cannot make my mind up.

When our two MCs were getting on, it was like a house on fire and I was having such a great time - the dialogue was sharp and quippy, and both of their personalities were vibrant and made for a really fast paced read. From the first few pages where Josh shows up to sleep with Ari's flatmate (with whom Ari is also sometimes sleeping, sorry Josh), I had a huge smile on my face - knowing their chemistry was going to be off the charts - something that for me is usually an easy win.

However, you know what I don't love? Characters that cannot for the life of them communicate their wants, needs, and emotions with respect for the other person. I can really respect that Ari was working through a lot, making a serious commitment to Josh was always going to be a huge challenge for her, and ultimately I loved their resolution. But so much of the back and forth in between these two was agonisingly painful - and they just continued to hurt each other over and over again. So much so, that the third act conflict felt so serious I thought we were just going to end the book without fixing things.

Overall, glad I read it - the happy moments for the two of them were so precious, particularly when they were still just best friends and NOT breaking each others' hearts. 

This read like a quiet masterpiece.

Immediately after finishing this, having cried through the last 15 pages, all I could think about was the beautiful way that all of the themes came together at the end to tell a story of life and loss. We travelled through the role of medieval women in the church, female solidarity and sisterhood, sapphic love and desire, the cycles of the seasons and the catholic calendar, power and greed and the sin of creation, followed by the moral weighting of these sins against these women's souls.

The prose was never dramatic, and by avoiding direct speech throughout, the author adds to the feeling of being another witness to the years marching onwards at the Abbey. The messages in this book were very close to my heart and I would be interested in going back with tabs to track and analyse those themes a bit more, having the hindsight now to see how well they were laid out.

Thank you to Netgalley for the audio-ARC!

This novel is a fantastic middle-grade/early YA horror that balances the awkwardness of being a teenager, the complicated ways families can be affected by addiction, and ultimately having a spooky, gothic atmosphere.

Vish is so determined that coming back from boarding school he isn't going to speak to anyone or get involved with anything, that the speed at which he is sucked into his local bookshop's macabre problems is all the more fun. We're introduced to a variety of characters who to me all seemed to be grieving someone or something in their own way - whether they felt that they'd lost a friend through betrayal or family through a tragic accident. This made the friendship and teamwork towards the end all the more sweet, and I couldn't help but be entirely enamoured with goth-girl Gisela and the way the three boys had a healthy amount of fear of her. 

The ending also felt lime perhaps it was set up for a sequel which I would definitely be interested in reading, perhaps that would offer a slightly deeper look into the exciting magic systems and explanations we were introduced to throughout this story (I never tire of when magical characters are entirely dismissive of every other magic system that has come before, trope never gets old).

This was far more intense than the description gave away. The only other book I can think of that covered unhealthy and unsafe relationships this graphically is A Little Life so you have been warned.

Based on style alone, I was very impressed with this book. The writing is smooth and lyrical with some of that removed-ness from our protagonist in a Sally Rooney-esque way. I didn't realise how close the writing had drawn me in until the very end when my time spent with Michael came to an end and I realised I was really rooting for him.

Content-wise, this was probably too much for me. Chaarani did not shy away from being very open about Michael's concerning relationships, and while that provided a stark look into aspects of Canada's queer scene, I would've appreciated some warning before hand, particularly as this was an audio-ARC.

All in all, I do believe that this will find its audience in the book-community, but perhaps just not with me!

What a fascinating book!

I found this an engaging balance between a scholar's view on such a broad topic and also an amusing introduction to big ideas for those who have never encountered them. As a linguistics student, there was a lot in here I had some knowledge or understanding of, but I found that Bellos was able to introduce a lot of theoretical/philosophical elements that had my underlining sentences going "Oh hang on I'd never considered it like that!"
There were many subjects in this that I've circled with the intention of going back and looking at in more detail - such as the first use of simultaneous translation being at the Nuremburg trials, and how translators kept having to stop because they were crying at what they heard - imagine that kind of psychological impact while doing your job, which is already considered one of the most challenging things your brain can do! Just so interesting!
If you've seen my other reviews from the last few months you'll notice that I've covered a lot of books about books/reading/libraries (I'll never get enough) and now that term is about to start again I'm seeing if i can shift some of that focus towards Non-fiction like this one, to make it benefit my uni course (alongside my romance books ofc)!

I'm truly heartbroken that this one just didn't do it for me :(

I loved The Spanish Love Deception no matter what anyone says, but in this one the cringe was more than I could stand. This is set in America (as you'd expect) but Cam was English...as was made abundantly clear through the overuse of "love", "darling" etc, not to mention his overhyped green eyes. Was I actually reading a Harry Styles football fanfic? Hard to tell. Also, maybe Elena Armas knows some particularly eloquent 9 year olds but I was not convinced by the powerful monologue our adorable 9 year old gives in support of Cam following his heart :/

As a quick read, it was easy to get through - there were no heavy, convoluted plot lines, and the third act conflict was brief and not painful (which wins quite a few points in its favour). But really, this was not my cup of tea (from an actual English girl).