The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
I really wanted to like this one more than I did because I loved the first book (and everything else I’ve read from this author). But this book really doubled down on two things I hate: love triangles involving siblings and bad boys who refuse to call the protagonist anything other than an annoying nickname.
In addition, I felt like the mystery/puzzle aspect was kind of convoluted and hard to follow. I wasn’t always sure what was happening even when the characters were making it seem like the next step was obvious. Not sure if there will be another book after this, but if there is, I’d be pretty on the fence about continuing. 3.5/5
Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano
I liked the first book quite a bit but this one didn’t live up to it. Everything was just SO messy. And while I think that was the point, it was just too much for me. Absolutely nothing went right for Finlay and Vero. Also, part of what I liked about the first book was Finlay juggling being a mom with everything that was going on, but in this book the kids are mostly with other characters off-screen.
Overall, this book was fine for me. I’ll continue with the series and I’ll admit that the twist at the end got me. But I could’ve done with just a little less mess. 3/5
Manu by Kelly Fernandez (ARC)
Kind of confusing at times. I had a hard time telling characters apart, but that could be because my ARC wasn’t finished color-wise. 3/5
On a Night Like This by Lindsey Felk
I’m a little surprised with how much I enjoyed this one? I found Fran to be a very easy character to root for. I wanted so badly for her to get out of her situation with Stew and to do well at this new job! The Crystal Ball sounded insane and I don’t even want to know if the super rich of the world actually have events like that. Also, I was glad for the Below Deck reference because as soon as she got on that yacht I thought “this is like Below Deck”.
Anyway, long story short if you enjoy these British romances featuring 30-something women (Mhairi McFarlane, Giovanna Fletcher, Beth O’Leary) then you’ll like this one too. 4/5
How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur
This book was delightful! If you’re a fan of The Good Place or Modern Love by Aziz Ansari, I’d recommend giving this one a read. And I’d ESPECIALLY recommend the audiobook as it features cameos from the cast of The Good Place and it’s just nice listening to Michael Schur narrate.
This book gives a good overview of several top philosophers and I felt like I came away with a pretty good, basic understanding and of ethics and moral philosophy. It honestly would be pretty interesting to rewatch The Good Place with this new background. Schur tackles some touchy subjects and is pretty obvious about his stance on them (in the context of ethics) so readers with opposing viewpoints may take issues with that.
Overall, I found this book to be very informational while having a liberal dose of humor and some fun anecdotes from Schur’s career. 4/5
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All
Mexican Gothic
The Lion’s Den
I’d heard so much buzz about this book before I picked it up for a book club. Even with all the buzz, though, I really didn’t know what to expect. This book ended up being a little more detective-y than I had anticipated. It was almost as if Theo was conducting some kind of criminal investigation. I wished he’d stayed in his lane a little bit more and that there was more to the interactions between him and Alicia. The author did a good job of making virtually every single male character suspect. Perhaps because of that, I actually didn’t love Theo as a character and especially as a narrator. In the end, I understand why the story was told the way it was, but I’m not sure how I feel about the whole “twist”. 3.5/5
After reading this, you’re getting a big “NOPE” from me re: living in Alaska. Throughout this book I had a really uneasy feeling. Part of it was the tension involved with Leni’s dad, but I honestly think a big part of it was the setting itself. I was surprised at how far the author took the plot. The story kind of just keeps going beyond when I would expect it to conclude. I’m not totally sure how I felt about the ending. Parts of it felt a little too clean to me and I would have liked a bit more open endedness. I also had a big question about what happened with Leni’s grandparents, but maybe that’s just me. 4/5
The Holdout
Beach Read
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
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
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
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
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
What's She Reading? 