So many novellas are unnecessary to the main story and I honestly do not like the trend of novella writing inside of a series. However, I’ll give this three stars for Coriane’s story alone. Farley’s read too slowly for my taste, and although I enjoyed the insights on her character, it just didn’t compare to the first section about Coriane.

This book was definitely better than the first. Tella's point of view is much more palatable than her sister's. The story was also more linear, which helped in understanding exactly what was going on without too many tangents. It did feel like this game was made entirely for Tella and I didn't care for that aspect. I did however, enjoy that there was more world building in this book and that the world of Caraval didn't just exist outside of an actual world.
Sadly this book still has plenty of that awful purple prose, those ridiculous metaphors that mean nothing and take me out of the story as I puzzle over what secrets taste like or some other nonsense. To me it shows a major weakness in writing and is the reason I dropped a star from this book. I'm glad that there were far fewer instances of this in the second book and hope that the third book might be rid of them entirely (but I'm doubtful). Over all, I feel a little gracious giving this book four stars, but I did like it better than the first (which I gave a generous three stars). But it was definitely better than the first.

This was an enjoyable read. I hope the author learned more about how to write female characters who aren't just sexy or evil in the other books of the series. We shall see. If you like high fantasy but want a realistic and contemporary world, you'll like this!

There were some slower sections to this book, but overall, it is so relevant to today. I am teaching this book concurrently to my 8th graders while we read The Diary of Anne Frank. We will discuss (among many other things, I'm sure) the effect that the camps had on each family member, on the future of this family, the parallels to Germany, and most sadly of all the parallels to today's American border internment camps. I'm going to let the students drive most of the discussion on this. Frankly, this book makes me sad, because as an adult, I recognize just how debilitating this experience was, especially for the father and how it fractured Jeanne's family across the United States. I cannot imagine having to start all over again after working so hard to build the equity I have in my home and the success I have in my career today, much less doing that as a grandparent. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston elegantly walks the line between anger and introspection, allowing the reader space to think without steering their thinking too much. Overall, this book is beautiful and covers so many themes beyond internment. I look forward to introducing my students to this book.

It's hard to let this series go. I read this book slowly, savoring every bit of the 660+ pages. Sure, some parts were a little slow, as this book gives what the title promises, but none of it was bad. Victoria Aveyard is a master of character development and even through the slower parts and the back to back battles, we get fantastic glimpses of characters and their inner workings. I didn't expect to, but I absolutely fell in love with Evangeline Samos. Iris Cygnet was the weakest of the POV characters, in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of spin-off series with her in the future, as there is a lot of unexplored territory with the Lakelands.
The ending wasn't perfect, but I felt like there couldn't be a perfect ending after everything Mare went through. It's open ended enough to let the reader decide what happens next, and for dystopias, I think that's the best way to go.

Farewell, Red Queen! It's been an amazing ride.

This was a good read with a wonderful message. If you, your kids, or your students loved Wonder, I'd point them to this book next.

Let me start by saying that I am not the target audience for this book. I'm neither YA, nor of Mexican decent.

I am very glad that this book exists. A couple of my students recommended it to me. Now I understand why so many people leave Mexico and why they still revere it even though they aren't returning to live there. I'm a ridiculously nostalgic person and I related to the descriptions of Los Ojos in the way I still think about my grandmother's house or my childhood home.

The main character, Julia, is obnoxious, abrasive, and at times riddled with anxiety. I found her to be very realistic. She also grows up, even though she's so resistant to change. I enjoyed seeing that in her. Her relationship with her family is something I believe many of my students relate strongly to and I hope they benefit from reading Julia's resolution with her mother.

This book does deal with some hard topics. Its on the shelves in my junior high library. It does have instances of strong language sprinkled throughout as well as discussions of sex and genitalia. I don't think that's a reason to shy away from this book though, because those are indeed topics that young adults discuss and wrap their heads around at this age. I'd say it's more for high school readers, grades 9+. Julia is also an atheist, so that might offend some, but she never bashes religion and has no problems exploring it.

Overall, this book wasn't written for me, but I got some important knowledge from it. I believe it is certainly worth reading.

Well, that was a few hours of my life that I'll never get back.

This book was just awful. In fact, it was so awful that I have lost my ability to coherently review.

Here's what I did not like:
1. Ever - she's so incredibly selfish and this doesn't really change throughout the book. She's also obsessed with a paranormal boy. She makes Bella Swan's obsession look tame.
2. Ever's coping mechanisms - Ever has lost her entire family in an accident, but her sister does ghost back into her life fairly frequently. Despite this loss, Ever doesn't seem sad about it or truly messed up in the least (unless it's insecurities about paranormal boy). She decides drinking tons of vodka and wearing hoodies all the time is a great way to be interesting and to dull her physic abilities that she gained through her own near death experience. Not once does she mention the pain of losing her family during this part of the book.
3. All the side characters - Who are they again? It's like they're all the same person.
4. Plot - What even happened? Girl meets boy, and they fall in insta-love (seriously there is nothing in this romance that makes it romantic or believable). Boy's wife (WOAH) tries to kill girl. Girl kills wife with "the power of love". WHAAAAAAAT?
5. Half-Assed Mythology - World building requires both a world and the building of that world, not terrible one-liner explanations after the fact. See "red drink" that makes people immortal", explanation of alchemy, and the fourth chakra.
6. Ever and boy can manifest whatever they want in their own little psychic world as well as the real world. Ugh.
7. Ever can read minds. Well, everyone's mind except for boy's. What book does that sound like? Seriously. It's a god-awful rip off of Edward Cullen, except PLOT TWIST, it's the girl this time!!!

There's more, but that's all the attention span that I have left to offer this book. It had a nice premise. Girl loses her family in an accident and due to her near death experience can see auras and hear thoughts. Sounds cool, right?

Only it wasn't. Don't do it. Save yourself the trouble.

I can't bring myself to put this in my classroom library. The message in it just isn't good, the writing isn't good, and there's better stuff out there for paranormal romance. The first and second book that I found at Goodwill will be going back to Goodwill. I'm not even opening book #2.

I firmly believe this is one of the best contemporary books I have ever read. Everyone should read this book.

Angie Thomas has created a masterpiece of a character in Starr Carter. The reader sees Starr walk the line between her two worlds (her neighborhood and her private school), keeping these two halves of herself mostly separate. Then Starr's friend Kahlil is murdered by a cop and Starr has to choose safe anonymity, which feels like denying her friend, or speaking up and risking her two worlds colliding into each other.

Anyone who has ever been curious about the Black Power or Black Lives Matter movements should read this book. It isn't an explanation of either movement, but it is an excellent entryway. This book does an excellent job of showing the reasoning behind why some deal drugs and behind rioting while showing the devastating effects of both. Don't be afraid of this book. It will make you think and it will make you feel, but you'll come away better for it.

Due to the language, as a teacher, I'd put this book at 14+. I let some of my more mature 8th graders check it out. I feel more comfortable with parental permission slips for this one. I still book talk it to EVERYONE because this book is so timely and necessary to help bridge one of the larger gaps in our country.

The ending of this book gave me chills and the list of 14 young black people killed by police and "vigilante" brutality had me sobbing. You need this book. We all do.

This was a cute book. I read it not for my own enjoyment or choice, but to preview it for my students before putting it in my classroom library. I'm always trying to find diverse characters, and I feel like my romance genre books are lacking in diversity.

I enjoyed the immigrant experience in this book. I think that is the book's best quality. The way Kavita Daswani writes about India makes me feel like I am there. Then, the way she writes about leaving India makes me feel as if I have left a beloved homeland behind as well, just like the character Shalini.

The romance in this book is very soft and understated. There's nothing more than a quick kiss, so I feel very comfortable with this book in my classroom library. I look forward to recommending it when I teach about India and to my romance readers in general.