"Do you know what it's like," she said, "to spend eternity embedded in every single love story-- the fleeting and the true, the trivial and the everlasting? I am elbow deep in love, working in passion the way artists work in watercolors. I feel it all."

I was so looking forward to this after reading the synopsis and seeing all the GLOWING reviews. A love story narrated by Greek gods?! A book with that premise basically has my name written all over it. So I went into this with high expectations.

It started off great! I think the plot and construction of this is so creative and original, and the first couple chapters were thrilling. I only got more excited as Aphrodite started calling in witnesses. A bunch of Greek gods sitting in a hotel room swapping stories is everything I never knew I needed. But once I started getting less gods and more humans, things shifted.

I just couldn't get invested in James and Hazel's love story. I preferred Aubrey and Colette, but even their relationship couldn't hide the fact that everything just moved so SLOWLY. I found myself waiting and waiting for more god "interruptions" and was rewarded with half a page worth of god dialogue before being thrust back into 150 pages of human story. I see a bunch of reviews boasting about the emotional impact of this book, but it just... didn't land for me. I thought the ending was a let down, both human-wise and god-wise.

There's no doubt that the writing is beautiful and the premise is refreshingly new. But I just didn't connect with this book as I hoped to. Sigh.

“He fit so perfectly into the love story I’d imagined for myself that I mistook him for the love of my life.”

Well this was just CUTE! This has definitely been a hyped up book around my bookstagram feed lately and I’ve been super excited for it. The premise sounded fun and the start of summer is always a great time for a rom-com.

I was not disappointed! The characters were great— I loved the dorkiness and charm of both January and Gus and their romance was definitely swoon-worthy. It was so adorable to see their relationship evolve after their college days (even if there were some moments when I wanted to strangle them and scream WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!!)

While it’s overall a cute, quick read, there’s absolutely some underlying darkness in the plot. Trigger warnings for death of a parent, infidelity, cults, and childhood/domestic abuse. Despite the dark undertones, I think Henry did a good job balancing it out with the silliness of the characters and the heartwarming romance. Will for sure be looking out for more books by this author in the future!

Kaufman & Kristoff books are always SO entertaining, and this one did not disappoint! And their AUDIOBOOKS. HOT DAMN, THEY’RE SO MUCH FUN. Audio is the best way to go for these authors—the full casts are INCREDIBLE, and it seriously amps up the action and the comedy so much!

I definitely enjoyed this one much more than Aurora Rising. The first book was kinda meh for me and I quickly forgot a lot of what happened. THANK GOD for the recap at the beginning of this book (such an amazing idea that I wish more authors did for series). I was able to follow along with the plot better than the first, and now I finally have a (clearer) handle on all the space politics and whatnot. This is pretty much action from the start, with a small area of downtime in the middle before the action reaches its peak and doesn’t let up until the final page (yeah, the cliffhanger is pretty rough).

My absolute fave is Tyler. OH MY GOD CAN WE LET THIS BOY REST!? He was SO funny in this book, and his narrator (Johnathan McClain) is incredible. I was dying laughing throughout all of his chapters. His camaraderie (relationship?! HINT HINT NUDGE NUDGE) with Saedii was FANTASTIC. Omg those two were so much fun and I really hope they get together in the last book

This was really great! I haven’t been reading much poetry lately because the ones I have read have fallen flat for me, but this one was really good. I think it probably helped that I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by the author, and which I would definitely recommend! There were a lot of lines that stood out to me that I wish I would’ve paused to write down, but maybe I’ll check out a physical copy someday. I have a couple other books from this author on my TBR, and I’m excited to get to them!

“Maybe part of falling in love with someone else is also falling in love with yourself.”

I really liked this a lot and it made me very happy, even with that bittersweet ending! I wasn’t sure if I was in the mood for a contemporary when I picked this up, but oh boy—I was hooked within the first few chapters. I thought the writing style was SO intriguing and creative! The chapters are super short and everything moves really quickly, and it was just what I needed. I was just able to breeze through in a few hours and now I am happy.

Again, I just thought that the way this book was constructed was super cool. There’s really no time wasted with the way Yoon introduces us to both characters; I enjoyed both POVs, and there were multiple times I laughed out loud (mostly at Daniel). He’s such a goofball. I really liked how we’re introduced to each of their families and the roles they played in the book. It was so fun to have so many different storylines intertwining simultaneously. It was super hard to put this down (which I only did once) because it’s so cool to see the way everything connects with each new chapter.

I’m glad Yoon didn’t shy away from the bittersweetness of the ending. It was more realistic and enjoyable to see how Natasha and Daniel’s lives played out with the cards they were dealt. In the end, I would probably rate this more of a 4.5ish, just because there were some parts of the romance that seemed far-fetched and a bit too cheesy for my taste, but I get that it was necessary for the overarching themes of the book. I’m really glad I picked this up, and I’ll definitely look for more from this author in the future!

“Ziran belonged to the Alaharis. As long as there was breath in Karina‘s lungs, it always would.
Anyone who tried to take this city from her would soon discover that the Kestrel’s daughter had talons of her own.”

4.5 stars!! YAY. I’m so happy I loved this one! It’s been on my TBR for months and I’ve definitely been anticipating it. The synopsis just sounded right up my alley!

I loved both Malik and Karina! It was easy to root for both of them separately and together. I enjoyed exploring both of their respective relationships to their families and seeing them deal with devastating losses. I’ll admit that the beginning is a tad slow. It wasn’t until about 25% in that I really started to not be able to put it down. I thought it was fun to see how Malik and Karina’s paths intertwined and I was constantly unaware of what they would do next. The second half is definitely the best part— the plot twists occur almost consecutively and it’s a whirlwind of emotions.

The ending slows down a tiny bit but it takes the time to set up some interesting ideas and alliances for book 2. I’m super excited to see where it goes!

Acevedo’s audiobooks are so quick and easy to listen to and I love how she narrates. She hits on a lot of different topics throughout this book, such as sexual harassment, infidelity, immigration, death of a parent, and pregnancy. I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as The Poet X, but both of the characters in this were really interesting and I loved seeing how their paths crossed. Both deal with a myriad of problems separately, but it was also great to see how they bonded through these experiences and how it makes their relationship stronger. Will definitely be checking out Acevedo’s other books!

I was really looking forward to this one and though I didn’t love it as much as I was hoping, it was still really enjoyable and also very relevant to the issues plaguing today’s society. I thought the premise of having mythical creatures interwoven into modern day was really cool and I loved the fantastical elements of it. I especially loved Gargy!

However, this book was really slow at times and it all seems to revolve around the siren trial, but it’s doesn’t really go into depth about it. It’s more of the event that kicks off the book and then we follow more storylines that pertain directly to the two main characters own lives. That being said, I still enjoyed the overall book and also thought the ending was nice. I loved the two twists, one which I suspected and the other I was completely shocked by! Overall, a fun and creative book with relevant messages.

”But I’m here today to tell you that the journey forward always seems impossible. Anything we set out to do in life looks impossible at first, and yet we must keep going, listening only to the small voice inside that tells us to press on, to keep reaching and prove them all wrong.”

This book was really powerful and moving. I’ll admit that I had a bit of trouble towards the beginning getting into the story and the magical aspect, but once I got to the middle I just zoomed through the rest in one sitting. This is a really touching story about so many wonderful things: friendship, family, positivity, feminism, forgiveness and community. It’s also interspersed with so many dark and evil things: addiction, rape, molestation, depression, and suicide. But despite all of the darkness, Brown demonstrates the ways that light can truly be victorious.

I loved reading about Echo’s journey— there are many obstacles and truly awful things that happen that make her ending even more uplifting. I especially loved her relationship to her brothers, her friendship with Elena, Jessie and Davante, and also her relationship with Mr and Mrs Delaney. All of them were written in such a great way and they all brought something different to the table. In the end though, this book seems to be focused most on Echo’s fraught and loving connection to her mother. Their growth throughout the book was amazing and really heartwarming to see the strength of care and forgiveness.

Overall, this is just a really beautiful book. There’s so many powerful messages within, most importantly about finding the light in the darkness. I would definitely recommend it, though please make sure to read up about trigger warnings beforehand! I’ve listed most of them (I hope) below.

Trigger warnings: death, suicide, sexual abuse (rape, molestation), addiction/overdose, violence