I ADORED this book. I could start it over and read it again immediately. The stakes are so low but the characters have so much heart that it doesn’t matter. It’s cozy and loving and heartfelt and peaceful and I just want to live in this little world. Beautiful writing. I highly highly recommend. 

This was surprisingly bad. Stan Lee’s entire life told in tiny, single page glimpses pulled from videos, interviews, and other biographies. All of the highs and lows of his career condensed into a few sentences of dialogue. The art was uninspired and the whole book felt flippant and poorly executed. I would hate to have all of my worst moments presented in this format, and it does absolutely no work to try to give context to many of the major moments in Stan Lee’s personal and work life. 
Very disappointing and I do not recommend. 
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. 

After winning a 6 week trip around the world on a radio show (that still happens?), a magazine writer must take someone along that is randomly selected from her contacts. The mystery man is someone she met on one drunken night and never spoke to again, yet he agrees to go on this vacation with her…

A rough start, but this book really grew on me. I didn’t love the premise, but I love travel stories, and enemies to lovers. I felt that a lot of the voicing and especially dialogues between the characters was inconsistent. Jack seemed overly antagonistic from the start but never acted that way again. There was a heavy plot point on a past abortion and doxxing, and it was handled okay. I just never really felt the stakes were quite high enough. 
I did love the short chapters and I wish there had been more details on travel adventures, rather than skipping over entire weeks in certain cities. A lot of the story is told to you rather than letting us bear witness. The romance is super slow burn but I didn’t mind it, other than it just felt like

they both woke up one day and decided to let bygones be bygones and be together.

Overall an enjoyable, lighthearted summer romance with a smidgeon of spice. 

Stella North is a teenage pilot representing Britain in a race across Europe in the late 1930s. Quickly after the race begins, she witnesses what appears to be a murder in the sky…
I love Wein’s other historical fiction novels and this was no exception. The story was gripping and thrilling and kept you guessing. I wish the tension and excitement in the last quarter of the book existed earlier on, because I felt like it took a while for the story to take off (see what I did there). 
Highly recommend! 

Still enjoying brand new day much more than I thought, but many of these issues were still pretty forgettable.

This was a 2 star book until about 70% of the way through. The voice was all over the place, and it read like very poorly written soccer fanfic. The descriptions of the gameplay and practices were the best part, and I enjoyed learning more about women’s soccer. I just couldn’t get past the lack of character background early on, and the fact that it was mostly dialogue and action, without any basic foundation for the characters. 
I did really appreciate the trans, pan, bi, and general queer representation throughout, and wish the rest of the book had been strong enough to support it. 

I wanted to like this more than I did, but I think I’ve realized regency-era romances just aren’t my thing. The burn is too slow and the plot is too non-existent. The best part about this book is the audiobook narrator because I got to hear all of the Spanish in her beautiful accent. Other than that, this was decidedly ‘meh.’

Thrash is a lonely, plus-sized (but not ashamed of it) teenager struggling to connect with her career ambitious mother after the death of her mum. In addition, she’s eagerly waiting for her ‘knack’ - a sign that she has the abilities of a witch like both of her moms.
When her power does arrive, her mother’s superficial desires for Thrash become clear, and she takes off cross-country with a new group of friends who each have something to prove. Along the way they learn to trust each other and discover that the gifts bestowed to witches aren’t what they seem. 

I was pleasantly surprised by this fun, road trip-driven story once I got into it. However, I constantly felt like something was missing, and I realized by the end it was a deeper world-building experience. There’s so much going on in this United States/Salem witch inspired universe, but more time needed to be spent building out the country, the government, and the sentiment toward witches. For example, at one point it’s mentioned that 80% of people aren’t witches, but every single person we meet in the story has magic (save 1 or 2). There was a tight focus on what was happening with the girls (with a slightly confusing POV switch here and there), but then we’d get tiny glimpses of the rest of the country and how it functioned. It left me wanting to know more about the native/indigenous people, about each state’s individual laws, about how little things work with and without magic. 
Overall, a really enjoyable book! I’m intrigued to see if there are sequels planned! 

Another beautiful Emily Henry story. This one featuring a couple who had been together for years before breaking up, and are hiding it from their mutual friends on an annual trip they all take together. 
This wasn’t a 5 star read to me because I am always annoyed by lack of communication being a pivotal plot device. It’s not miscommunication, it’s just 30-year-olds who are best friends but don’t talk to each other. 
Other than that, I loved the main characters. Harriet is me - all of the tension and pressure that she has created for herself affecting her relationships. And Wyn is just darling - a tad unrealistic, but darling. 
All of the lighthearted fun and joy in the happy place were my favorite bits, and I could have read much more of that story. The ending wasn’t my favorite of her books, but I still adore her writing and will happily read everything she publishes. 

A fun and light addition to the Percy Jackson megaverse.