Pre-Quarantine Mini-Reviews

I had a bunch of books that I read before all of this crazy stuff started happening, but I just never got around to posting my reviews. Well, here they are now! Better late than never, right?

Lucky Caller by Emma Mills

I was so excited to get my hands on this book! Over the summer I became a full Emma Mills convert and this book didn’t disappoint! Her characters are always so fun (if a little too witty and clever to be realistic). I liked the sister element of this book a lot and even wished there had been a bit more. I was also jazzed to see some IUPUI representation (that’s where I got my online MLS degree–go Jags!). There were some plot elements that I could have predicted from a mile away and others that I thought were a bit of a stretch, but overall I really liked this book. I thought it had a good message about the transitional times in your life and the people you might meet there. 4/5

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The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

I’ve been meaning to read some Ruth Ware for a while and the premise of this book really drew me in. The atmosphere in this book was pretty well done. Reading this book, I just felt cold because Hal is cold like the whole time. Overall, I thought this book was alright, but I had some issues with Hal and some inconsistencies that I felt ran throughout the whole book. First, Hal. She mentally berates herself over and over again for not acting appropriately. For example, she’s so mad at herself for acting surprised to learn that Ezra and Maud were twins, but she made it clear that she didn’t even know that she had uncles so…obviously she wouldn’t know that Ezra and Maud were twins–relax Hal, you’re fine. Then the inconsistencies. Hal makes a big deal about telling Ezra to call her Hal, but earlier in the book Mitzi had already called her that? Just one example. In the end, I can appreciate some of the smaller things that were scattered throughout the book, but I feel like a lot of the time Hal is just being dumb. I think she could have figured out more than she did before she did. At this point, I might try another Ruth Ware book, but if that one doesn’t impress me either, I might be giving up on her. 3.5/5

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Sword & Pen by Rachel Caine

This series! I absolutely love it and this was such a great conclusion. The stakes are HIGH in this book for every single character and I’m amazed that Caine is able to pull that off without things feeling exaggerated. She also does a great job of recapping important plot points from the previous books without feeling info-dumpy which is so common in series books. The characters continue to be the characters that we all know and love. I especially enjoyed Dario in this book–his relationship with Khalila adds another layer to his character which I think is needed. Their relationship feels so sweet and genuine to me. Something I love about this series as a whole, is that I think each character feels realistically developed. It would be really interesting to go back to the beginning and compare who they were in book one to this last book. Overall, I love this series and everyone should read it. 4.5/5

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We Are the Wildcats by Siobhan Vivian [ARC 3/31]

This book was such a disappointment. I was hoping to get an awesome girl power/friendship story but instead we get a story about an adult man playing questionable mind games with teenage girls. No thanks. The whole book just kind of made me feel mad the entire time. And I also couldn’t get over the math for Coach’s age. The girls think he’s about 26, but this is his 7th year coaching (not to mention he played field hockey in and after college for at least a little bit). How did he have time for all of that? Also, that would mean he was hired to be the Varsity Field Hockey coach when he was like…19 or 20? Just a couple years older than the girls he’s coaching? I have a hard time believing a high school would EVER make a hiring decision like that. But anyway, I’m getting off-track…it’s just something I was dwelling on pretty much the whole book. I just didn’t think this book was very good. What was the point? What am I supposed to take away? So, so disappointing. 2/5

Meet Me At Midnight by Jessica Pennington [ARC 4/7]

This book surprised me! It’s a pretty fun summer time romance book–perfect for a beach day. I thought the main characters Sidney and Asher had great chemistry even if their interactions felt a little cringe at times (though maybe I just felt that way because I’m not a teenager anymore). There were a few times that the author refused to go along with widely accepted tropes for this type of book, and I really appreciated that. I don’t want to give any spoilers or anything, so I won’t go into specifics. But sometimes authors almost…fabricate drama? I never really felt like that happened in this book. I was super into the first two thirds, but then the last third was a bit less enjoyable (which kept it from being a four star read for me). Throughout, I really liked our two main characters, but towards the end they both made decisions and acted in ways that made me like them a little less. Overall, I would definitely recommend this as a summer read! 3.5/5

Preorder: Hardcover | Kindle

Note: ARCs were received free from NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews.