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Read 2/1-2/2

Four Stars

I enjoyed Hafsah Faizal's previous duology The Sands of Arawiya and I have been eagerly anticipating A Tempest of Tea since its announcement several years ago. I always feel a little trepidation when books are compared to Six of Crows, it just became so popular that any book with even a hint of a heist had Six of Crows slapped on as a comp title. A Tempest of Tea really delivered in the right ways for me. There's a heist, there's a lovable but morally gray crew, and there's some fun twists throughout the way. Add in some vampires and I'm fully sold on the concept of this book!

Arthie was a great protagonist. She is the owner of a tea shop that is often on the wrong side of the law due to nature of the tea she sells. Arthie is a lot of fun, she's highly intelligent and always have a trick up her sleeve. One of the first few scenes of the book where we see her outwitting the people ransacking her shop was so tense and I adored seeing her smarts shine through so early on. I also enjoyed slowly discovering her secrets throughout the book, although I do feel there was a twist that felt quite easy to spot early on. I really enjoyed Jin, Arthie's adoptive brother. He's a charmer and I loved all his interactions with another major character, Flick. Flick's storyline was maybe my favorite of the main characters. I really enjoyed her growth throughout the book. Rounding out the our heist crew are Matteo and Laith. I have opinions on both but they're quite spoilery so I'll have to simply stop at they exist you'll have to form your own opinions about them.

While the majority of this was very fast paced there were a few moments where I felt the flow of the story got a little odd and moments that dragged despite the action that was happening. I was also just not into Arthie's romance in this book. I felt like it occurred way too quickly and did not feel organic at all. While I wouldn't classify this currently as having a love triangle because one of the character's interest did not read as anything more than lightly flirty for most of the book, I do think at the end there are two characters who seem to be set up as potentially both being love interests for Arthie in the next book. In contrast I was 100% here for every interaction between Jin and Flick and I do honestly think the book would have read much better if they were the only characters displaying romantic feelings, at least in this installment. Part of that is because Jin and Flick are shown to have a history that Arthie simply did not have with the characters set up to be her partner. I would have needed more time and slower development to even start to believe in Arthie's romance.

All in all this was a great read and I had lots of fun. I cannot wait for the second book!

#booklr #review #book review #a tempest of tea #reading #tometalk #4 stars

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Read 8/13-8/16

Four Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I'm so happy vampires have been getting a resurgence the past few years. I've loved reading vampire novels since I was a young preteen who definitely shouldn't have been in the paranormal romance section of the bookstore but had a mother who was happy to let me read whatever interested me. This book was everything vampire books should be. It's dark and gothic, with amazing moments of political intrigue, and queer as hell. I really enjoyed how the story unfolded, while there are certainly moments that are not the most shocking it's because Chupeco laid the clues out for us to discover and work out along the way. Remy was a great main character. I really enjoyed being in his head as he struggled with his loyalties and personal desires. I also really loved Xiaodan and Zidan. They are the epitome of grumpy/sunshine and their interactions were always so cute but their interactions with Remy were just pure gold. I think a lot of people will struggle with the world building with this and I've read a few reviews that mention it. The setting feels Victorian-esque. with horses and buggy's and a lack of electricity but there's also a strong medical science presence with recent developments of analyzing DNA from blood samples and genetic modification. It's not something that particularly bothered me but I can see how it would frustrate others. I think based on how vampires have plagued the human population it makes sense why medical science would receive more attention than other disciplines. It's even seen very early on in the book when Remy describes the medicine he and other Reapers must take in order to remain strong enough to fight vampires. Another aspect of the world I'm endlessly fascinated by is all the different vampire courts and I hope we get to see more of them and how they differ from each other in the next book. I can't wait to hold this chunky book in my hands, luckily the release date isn't too far away!

#booklr #review #book review #silver under nightfall #reading #tometalk #4 stars

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Read 7/20-7/20

Five Stars

It's very important to take the authors warning about the books potential triggers seriously because they happen quite early in the book. The main character is sexually assaulted in chapter 2 and it is graphic. He then attempts suicide for the first time in chapter 3 and for a second time at the end of chapter 9 into chapter 10. The second attempt is from another characters point of view so while it is still shocking and upsetting it didn't read as raw to me as the first attempt did but your reading may differ. Throughout the book the sexual assault is referenced as well as the suicide attempts and suicide ideation. There is also a significant animal death in chapter 14.

I really fell into this story. I immediately connected with Velasin and felt his emotions so deeply. There are so many lines from him that just really hit me and I wanted to write down and save for later. I've been thinking more and more lately about annotating books and this is definitely one, on reflection, that I wish I had made the attempt at least. I love a smart character and one who just knows how to play the political game and once Velasin arrives in Qi-Katai we really got to see him come alive in this way. Caethari read like a himbo and you know, I'm not mad about it. Just let the man follow his smart husband around and do his best to protect him. The side characters are equally great I really enjoyed Velasin's best friend Markel, who uses others prejudices against his mutism to spy for Velasin. Caethari's ex-lover and friend, Liran, was another standout. He was a scene stealer in all the scenes that he was in and I enjoyed the energy he brought to the book.

I also found that I really enjoyed the world this is set in. The book is primarily set in the country of Khyte, particularly the city, Qi-Katai, where Caethari's family acts as the lords of the town. I loved the acceptance of Khyte for both gender and sexual identity. There are third gender characters, trans characters, gay characters, lesbian characters, the list goes on. Their inheritance laws were also so interesting to me. One character discusses them fairly early in the book but I loved how it wasn't the basic eldest child gets everything. Also, as the book is about Velasin and Caethari's marriage there were some fun wedding traditions that made for great scenes. Particularly a certain ceremony that is had to welcome the new partnership into the community.

I do think the weakest part of this story was the mystery element. Yes, going along with Velasin and Caethari as they tried to figure it out was entertaining but I had an inkling of who was behind everything about a third of the way into the story. I also would have preferred a better reveal than what we got. Especially considering comments made about the character's intelligence.  I was much more interested in watching Velasin learn to trust himself and figure out his place in his new world. His personal character journey was very well done. The relationship that develops between Velasin and Caethari was so incredibly sweet it may give others a toothache but it was just what I was looking for.

#booklr #review #book review #a strange and stubborn endurance #foz meadows #reading #tometalk #5 stars

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Wow long time no see, I’ve struggled a bit with writing reviews and have found it’s easier to just rate and move on to the next book. But I will try to be more active in reviewing. One will follow this in just a bit! 

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Read 10/7-10/8

Four Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit my feelings on this book are a bit all over the place. I originally requested it because I was intrigued by the synopsis. Curses, an eccentric love interest, a woman trying to earn a living for herself in a man's world. Then I kept getting distracted by other books until I finally realized that the release date for this was creeping up on me. Then it became a little bit like a school assignment where I felt like I had to read it and so was less than excited about the potential story. However, this book quickly changed my mind! I loved Andromeda and her no nonsense way of approaching her work. She had limited options but she was determined and driven to do the impossible and finish a job 10 others had failed to do before her. Setting her against Magnus, for whom eccentric is a bit to kind of a word, was brilliant. I'll admit I fell for Magnus much quicker than Andromeda. He's just so ridiculous it's impossible not to love him.

I also deeply loved the setting of a cursed castle. It made this book the perfect spooky October read! All of the different manifestations of the curse were wonderful and I loved how they spanned the gambit of seemingly harmless to absolutely terrifying. The Librarian was a personal favorite, I love a figure who leaves threatening notes circles in books for one to find. I found the juxtaposition of the very English run household in the Ethiopian landscape truly interesting. Seeing Magnus's English employees who live with the consequences of the Evil Eye and the curse spurn the debtera amulets as superstitious nonsense was maddening.

Early on in the book I had fallen so in love with the characters and was so intrigued where the story was going I was convinced this was going to be a 5 star read. However, around the 60% mark some things started happening in the story that felt really unnecessary and kind of disappointed me from where we had been. There are also some reveals that just raised a lot more questions for me based on information we were given at the very beginning of the story. To be as vague as possible most of these revelations and issues come from moments relating to Saba in the last third of the story. That said there were still plenty of great moments in the later part of the book. I loved that we got to really dive into Andromeda's complex relationship with Jember. He was such a prominent figure hanging over Andromeda's head for the first half of the book I was so excited when I realized we were actually going to get to meet him and see their relationship in action. All in all this was a very good read, perfect for October, I will be picking up a physical copy to put on my shelves when it releases in a week and a half!

#booklr #review #book review #within these wicked walls #wtww #netgalley #reading #tometalk #4 stars

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Read 7/26-7/26

Five Stars

"Redemption story, they said? There will be no redemption. It is not me who is wrong. It's everyone else."

This book has no faults. It's depiction of female rage is so utterly perfect. I love Zetian so much, she is so driven and utterly relentless in her quest. We love a boss bitch (and so do Yizhi and Shimin!) Yizhi was such a sweet boy and I loved how devoted he was to Zetian. There's something hidden about him though, I really hope we get to delve deeper into his character in the second book. Shimin is Yizhi's opposite in someways. He's rough and a killer but inside he has strong morals and is really a big softy. I really loved the discussion surrounding addiction in relation to his character, it was especially well done.

The war machine Chrysalises the pilots and concubines power were extraordinarily interesting. Though I wasn't a big follower of the show, they reminded me a bit of Digimon creatures. Each Chrysalis has a basic standard form but with more energy from the pilot and concubine they can transform to an ascended form, which is larger and more powerful. If the pilot and concubine are a balanced match they may even achieve the heroic form which always ends up looking like a humanoid warrior with the specific Chrysalis's features. The animal form to humanoid form evolution are what reminded me most of Digimon.

This book was a wild ride. I literally could not put it down and read it in a single day. The characters were compelling, the action scenes kept the book moving at a fast pace, and the ending blew me away. I have so many questions now and I need the next book in my hands! Please preorder this book you will not regret it! Not to mention that cover will look gorgeous on every bookshelf.

#booklr #review #book review #iron widow #NetGalley #xiran jay zhao #reading #tometalk #5 stars

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Read 7/1-7/2

Three Stars

I'm a little baffled on how I feel about this book. For a while I really thought this might be a five star from me. I was really loving the characters and the idea behind the coin toss was super interesting. Stevie had the high potential to be a manic pixie dream girl and thankfully she never turned into that stereotype. She's an average girl who has been moved around a lot because of her father's job. There were some really interesting sections about her conflicting feelings toward her father as the reason she constantly has to start her life over but is also seeking his approval for the one thing she really loves, music. I also really loved the discussion revolving around the various "best friends" she's had throughout each move and how quickly the relationships sour and turn into out of sight out of mind. I didn't have nearly as many moves as Stevie but I did leave the town I grew up in and moved half way around the country right before I started high school. It is hard to keep in touch across time zones and physical distance and the people who you thought you'd be close to forever quickly turn into acquaintances. Drew and Shane were great characters as well. I really enjoyed their relationship, though I could have used a few more scenes exploring their friendship. The primary focus was really each boy's relationship with Stevie and the close friendship really fell by the wayside. Drew is our classic brooding musician who's popular because his father is big in the music industry. He's got a rough relationship with his father since like Stevie, his father is often absent and at the start of the novel Drew's parents are estranged. Shane is described as a chubby music prodigy. He's sweet as can be but is pretty insecure about himself, especially when he compares himself to Drew.

There are a couple of things I could have done without. I really disliked how Shane was constantly moaning that he was in the friend zone with Stevie. It's just such a garbage concept and the fact that he was clearly the author's favored choice in the flip rubbed me the wrong way. I'm not quite sure why a character who only prefers Stevie as girlfriend rather than a girl who is a friend is better than a boy who just got caught up in a misunderstanding. However, there was this one issue that really started to bother me and the more I thought about it the madder I got. Drew's father is famous for discovering Bruce Springsteen. Now as far as I could tell this book is set in the current year or very close to it. At one point it's mentioned that Drew's father is sixty-five. Now I'm not a huge Bruce Springsteen fan but as the book mentions it's a little impossible to live in New Jersey without having a vague idea about Springsteen's career. So a quick Googling said that Springsteen got his record deal in 1972, that would mean that Drew's father was sixteen when he "discovered" Springsteen. It's just such a ridiculous thing that just kept bothering me more and more. It would have been so easy to have his father discover some fake celebrity so this kind of issue wouldn't crop up.

Ultimately there are some really beautiful moments in this book. Music is such a big theme throughout and I loved how that wove it's way throughout the story. One of my favorite lines is Stevie comparing the boys to types of songs on an album and how those songs and therefore the boys make her feel. There's also great discussions about fathers. Stevie and Drew both have famous father's who are largely absent from their lives and Shane's father died when he was a preteen. I just really struggled to get over some of my issues with this book even though the one that bothers me the most is probably me being pedantic.

#booklr #review #book review #where it all lands #netgalley #reading #tometalk #3 stars

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Read 6/20-6/21

Four Stars

No one writes characters like Casey McQuiston. They're just the perfect level of quirky and fun. I loved this book because I loved the characters. August, who spent her childhood as a reluctant P.I. has been bouncing from school to school and major to major trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Jane, is a charming outgoing punk literally straight out of the 70s, who's found herself stuck on a subway line. There's also August's three eclectic roommates. Niko, a good physic and terrible bartender. Myla, Niko's girlfriend who makes sculptures out of things like mouse traps and tiny frog bones. Wes, lost his inheritance when he quit school to be gay and create art, now works as a tattoo artist at night and sleeps most of the day away with his dog Noodles. I also have to mention Isaiah/Annie Depresant who lives across the hall, an accountant by day and a fabulous Drag Queen by night. That's not even getting into the amazing cast of characters who work at Pancake Billy's House of Pancakes where August finds herself employed.

I loved the mystery element that wormed its way throughout the book. There's the mystery of the missing Uncle that's followed August around since before her birth and then the mystery of who Jane is and how to get her off the subway. Parts of the mysteries will not be surprising but uncovering the answers was still deeply satisfying. One of my favorite elements of the book was the bit of mixed media with missed connection posts and articles that all subtly and not so subtly feature Jane throughout the years. I will say the pacing was a bit slower than what I was hoping for. I wanted a faster read when I picked this up and there are moments where the story feels a little sluggish. That said McQuiston has now been cemented as a favorite author and I can't wait to read what they put out next.

#booklr #review #book review #one last stop #reading #tometalk #4 stars

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Read 5/25-5/29

Five Stars

I've been sitting on this trying to come up with the words to describe how much I loved this book and they're just not coming to me. So: THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD! PLEASE PREORDER IT IMMEDIATELY YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT! That's it, that's all I've really got. If you like ATLA you'll like Jade Fire Gold. There are some small cute similarities like the mentor of our exiled prince loving tea and our prince being less than enthused. There's also elemental magic but unlike in ATLA it's possible to wield more than one element, though it is rarer for someone to be able to do so.

Literally every character in this is perfect. From our protagonists, Ahn and Altan, to their supporting cast of Tang Wei, Linxi, Tai Shun, and Leiye. I just love them all so much! Ahn was perfect as a kind of dark chosen one. She has the potential to save everyone or destroy the kingdom. I enjoyed her slow discovery of her mysterious past and her struggles to understand her forbidden magic. Atlan is such a tragic hero but luckily Tang Wei keeps him from getting too caught up in his past drama. Tang Wei brought a lot of needed levity to the story and her relationship with Linxi was so sweet. Tai Shun is a precious baby who must be protected at all costs. I always love a snarky shady character and Leiye fits the bill perfectly. Honestly though we need to talk about that epilogue because my brain hasn't stopped screaming since I read it! June please tell me there's a book two! I need to know what's going to happen next!

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Read 6/5-6/5

Four Stars

I loved this book so much! I loved Pony and Georgia and I think the evolution of their relationship felt very true to real life. Including Georgia's own brief questioning of what a relationship with Pony means for her own sexuality. I saw some criticism over her questioning and I feel like it's important people recognize that ignorance plays a part in this, not maliciousness in invalidating Pony's identity. These are literal teens in Texas and it's made very clear that the community is conservative. I will say I'm upset that this book had to dead name Pony, especially because we almost got through the entire book and though there was a close call earlier it's only at the end that it happens. I just don't think it was something that was necessary to the book. I'm also a little upset by the message that Pony's friend Max kept pushing which was basically if you're not out, you're hurting the queer community. Never mind that it could be dangerous to be out and not everyone has the same circumstances.

Besides Pony and Georgia one of the best characters in this book was Pony's sister, Rocky. She was just so incredible and I loved her relationship with Pony. She was his main support system even with the thousands of miles in between them it was made explicitly clear that if he needed her she'd drop everything to help him. There was a super touching scene where things aren't going well for Pony and Rocky gathers some of her queer friends to call him and tell him that life gets better and remind him that he's not alone. I can't wait to read Tobly McSmith's next book, Act Cool, out later this year!

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Read 6/6-6/7

Four Stars

This was such a wild ride! I was so sucked into the mystery of Aces and some of these scenes gave me serious chills. Reading this late at night was uhhh maybe not the best choice. I enjoyed nearly every second of this book and the things I didn't really like are small and more me nitpicking aspects of the story. Chiamaka and Devon were excellent narrators. I love the differing perspective each brought to the story. Chiamaka comes from a wealthy family but never fit in at school until she makes a plan to claw her way to the top in high school. Devon is a scholarship student who loves music and can't wait for the day when he can help his mother out of poverty. I loved the way each secret about the two was slowly revealed and got worse and worse and the book went on. I think if you know the premise of Get Out, on of this books comps, it is fairly easy to guess at what's going on but the journey to that discovery was still amazing.

I'm still a little confused by aspects of Terrell's character. There are some threads that were laid out and then never discussed again. I understand the purpose behind some of them and without getting too spoilery the idea is to cast suspicion on to every other character in this book including our narrators. However, I think there were some things that warranted further explanation and examination. I'm also a little on the fence on how I feel about Chiamaka's easy acknowledgement of her sexuality. On the one hand, yeah for some people there's not really any big questioning moments or worry about being anything but straight. On the other hand, in the beginning of the book Chiamaka is shocked that Devon is gay because he's Black. If she feels that way about Devon why would she not feel any kind of dilemma about her own sexuality? The epilogue was another aspect I was iffy on but because it's literally the end of the book, I can't really say much about it. All in all this was a great book, I highly enjoyed it and I look forward to reading more from Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.

#booklr #review #book review #ace of spades #reading #tometalk #4 stars

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Read 6/1-6/2

Four Stars

This was a lot of fun! I love the wedding atmosphere, I can't even discuss how many various wedding themed shows I've watched on TLC. So I was super excited for that part of this book. I also found the idea behind the main couple very cute. Quinn and Tarek have grown up together. Quinn's parents run a wedding planning business together and Tarek's parents run a catering business that often works with them. They had an interesting sort of relationship since beyond the weddings their parents were working they never interacted with each other. I loved that we had Quinn as the love cynic and Tarek as the hopeless romantic. I felt like parts of their relationship didn't hit quite right for me in the book and I think that's because I'm more of Tarek and I was ready to go all in for this relationship and Quinn wasn't there.

I did really enjoy the mental health discussions. Quinn has OCD and anxiety. Her OCD often causes her to get stuck in a "loop" which she feels compelled to perform a certain action over and over again even when she knows it's illogical. Tarek suffers from clinical depression and there's a great scene where he talks about his fear of falling back into a bad depressive episode and being unable to achieve his dreams. Speaking of Tarek, I think this may be the first book I've read with a character who suffers from eczema. Though I've heard of eczema it's not something I've really understood. For example, I had no idea that stress could cause flare ups. There was also an interesting discussion about performing and how depending on who you're with you're putting on some sort of act. It's something that really spoke to me and made me think. Small aspects of my personality and what I act like do change depending on who I'm with and how comfortable I am.

Overall this was another great Rachel Lynn Solomon book. It had some hallmarks I've come to expect from her novels like sex positivity, discussions around faith particularly Judaism, and a sweet swoon worthy love interest. While I don't think it's a new favorite it was still a really enjoyable read and I'll happily add it to my bookshelf beside Solomon's other works.

#booklr #review #book review #we can't keep meeting like this #wckmlt #reading #tometalk #4 stars

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Read 5/20-5/21

Five Stars

I don't even know where to begin with this book. I could not put it down. Harlow, Ellis, and Tommy had the perfect messy relationships that I love to read about. There's the complex relationship between twins Ellis and Tommy who don't even have much of a relationship anymore by the time the book starts. The overly codependent relationship between Ellis and Harlow. Finally, there's also the twisted antagonistic relationship between Harlow and Tommy.

I think this book is going to be polarizing. I can see how it will be incredibly easy for people to decide they don't like Harlow and don't approve of her actions. I was just so sucked into her life and her decisions while often not the greatest were especially interesting as she tried to justify them to herself. The characters were all incredibly real. They screwed up, they weren't perfect, even their best of intentions could cause unintended pain. In my opinion this book did an excellent job discussing depression and the constant struggle dealing with clinical depression can be. Medication doesn't instantly fix everything and choosing to take medication or talk to someone can be its own fight each day.

I loved the setting, a small town being slowly swallowed by the ocean each hurricane season. The small town vibes of everyone being up in everyone else's business was perfect. I enjoyed the indifferent attitudes many of the townspeople seemed to have about the inevitable destruction of West Finch. I also loved the open ending of this book, it fit perfectly with the story.

#booklr #review #book review #the sea is salt and so am i #tsisasai #cassandra hartt #reading #tometalk #5 stars

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Read 3/29-3/30

Five Stars

This book was so brilliantly plotted and incredibly well done. Anna-Marie McLemore did that, I'm in such awe of them. Here's the thing, I was initially hesitant to read this book because I had read one of McLemore's books previously and a couple of their short stories and while I adore their writing style there's been something that stops me from loving (and sometimes even liking) what I've read. When you add in the sensitive nature of the bulk of this book, I didn't want to end up with a similar experience. I honestly could not resist the cover of this book and so I ended up picking it up. There's a dedication in the beginning of this book and an author's note at the end that explains how incredibly personal this story is for McLemore. It's something I could feel while reading the care with how they wrote the two main characters.

Ciela is a girl with magic running through her passed down from her great-grandmother, she's able to look at a person and know what pastry from her family's pastelería will help them the most. However, after the night she and a boy are assaulted at the same party she loses that magic and fears she's lost most of her identity with it. When the boy shows up at her school after the summer she realizes helping him may be the key to getting her magic back. They strike up a tentative friendship in which Ceila learns that Lock has no memory of what really happened that night and has no desire for the details Ceila carries with her. I loved Lock from the moment he pulled out crochet in the middle of class to discovering his secret night time activities to seeing him interact with his 4-year-old sister. He was a great character and he and Celia together were magic.

The magical realism in this book was especially well done. After the party Celia starts to notice pieces of the world around her turning into glass. After a piece shatters in her eye she's tried her best to secretly gather and hide the pieces in her room where they can't hurt anyone else. There's no big stretch required to see the symbolism between this a girl hiding that she was assaulted. I just found that is was so beautifully well done. There are a few other secrets scattered throughout the book and uncovering them was less about big plot twists and more like a flower slowly unfurling and showing its full bloom.

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Read 3/26-3/28

Four Stars

There wasn't really any doubt in my mind that I wouldn't enjoy this book. It's Nesta and Cassian's book and I've loved them and their chemistry from the beginning. I really enjoyed Nesta's journey in this book. Her struggles with her metal heath were shown a bit in the ACOFAS novella but we really get to dig into them here. Nesta is a stubborn bitch though so of course it takes more than 700 pages for her to work through her problems and learn some healthy coping mechanisms. I loved that part of that was her going off and making her own friends. A lot of her issues are that she cannot feel accepted by Feyre's new family and truthfully doesn't want anything to do with them. This isolation exacerbated a lot of her problems. Gwyn and Emerie were amazing additions to the cast and all of their scenes with Nesta were my favorites (especially some of those big ones at the end!) There was also a really nice mirroring in scenes with Nesta and Cassian and scenes with Nesta and Gwyn/Emerie. I just always get a kick out of stuff like that.

At the end of the day though it is a basic Sarah J Maas book so while I found it incredibly addicting there's nothing really new here and part of my high rating is really because I love these two particular characters so much. Would my rating be as high for a Lucian or Elain book, most likely not. There's also the length to consider. I love it in terms of the romance aspect. Devoting that much time to slowly moving through the stages of their relationship makes the whole thing feel so much more organic and real. However, plot wise it definitely dragged and there were long stretch where I felt like not much was happening. The main climax of the story also felt like it happened so quickly in comparison to all the pages we got through to get there. The big battle ended up not being as big as it felt it was leading up to and then was overshadowed but one more final piece of drama at the very end of the book that kind of pissed me off. I don't even know who's getting the next book but I'll still probably pick it up because at this point I'm invested and I do like the new villain who was brought in (even if we only saw them for like a page and a half.)

(Also thank goodness I was able to get the Illumicrate covers because the cover is still so unfortunate.)

#booklr #review #book review #a court of silver flames #acosf #sarah j maas #reading #tometalk #4 stars

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Read 3/7-3/11

Five Stars

I've waited a little bit after finishing The Ones We're Meant to Find hoping some coherent thoughts would find their way into my brain and it's just not happening. This book has left me speechless. It's no secret that I loved Joan' first novel, Descendant of the Crane and this book is just as good (maybe better but don't tell Hesina!) The genre is a bit different, more of dystopian sci-fi setting but there's still the classic Joan plot twists that left me screaming and some super sad scenes that brought out all of my tears.

This is primarily a book about sisters, Celia and Kasey. Cee has been stuck on an abandoned island with only an outdated robot for company. She's lost most of her memory but knows that she has a sister out in the world and is trying her best to get back to her. Kasey back home in eco-city, a floating metropolis designed to protect people from the decaying planet, has no idea what happened to her sister after a camera records her taking a boat out to sea more than three months prior. Kasey rules her life by logic and science and logic says that Celia should have died of dehydration or drowning after being missing for so long but she can't stop the hope that Celia will be found. Celia is the only one who could break through Kasey's stoicism. I loved the sisters so much, their relationship and characterization was so much more complex than the initial assumption of social butterfly and stoic loner.

Someone else said this book reminded them of a Studio Ghibli film and I could not agree more. A lot of Ghibli films focus on themes of environmentalism. In The Ones We're Meant to Find humanity has destroyed the planet, mega quakes are common occurrences, the water has become incredibly polluted, even the air is filled with toxic gas. The lucky few managed to make it to an eco-city, floating above most of the horrors that now plague the Earth. Space is tight in the eco-cities and there's simply not enough room for everyone on Earth, the governing bodies of the eco-cities have become desperate for ideas on how to save humanity. I was fascinated by all the examples of how what's currently being done to the planet can turn into these mega-disasters if nothing is done to course correct. Ghibli films also have beautiful quiet moments that let the larger story breathe. I found those same moments in this book, more so in the beginning before the twists get really crazy and start propelling the story but they were still there in a couple of scenes toward the end. This was a truly beautiful book and I cannot wait to hold the finished copy in my hands.

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[tometalk]

Read 1/22-1/23

Five Stars

Listen, this book has cemented for me that I will read every piece of writing K. Ancrum releases into the wild. I loved The Wicker King when I read it last year but for some reason had been hesitating on picking up this book. I'm not sure if there was something in the synopsis that just hadn't been vibing with me or what it was but I wasn't sure what I wanted to pick up next and grabbed this off my shelf on a whim. I knew I would love it the second I read the dedication. "This book is for all of us who looked up at the sky in wonder, and then cried when we learned how much calculus separated us from the stars."

I just love the way Ancrum writes characters so much. They feel like such real people. I recognize so many of these characters as kids I went to high school with. Not even in any concrete way just this feeling the characters give off. Ryann Bird, the narrator of this tale, is a collector of the school's misfits. She finds kids who have been having a hard time and brings them into her fold, often kicking and screaming. I loved the makeshift family they all made together. When she discovers who the new angry kid in class is she knows that she will do whatever it takes to get Alexandria to open up to her. Oh boy, was the slow burn hate to love romance pure perfection. I loved Alexandria, she was so driven and focused and unapologetically angry. The side characters were all so delightful. James, Ryann's brother was by far my favorite. His presence was such a comfort on the page. I also loved Ahmed, a bit of a worrywart but who wouldn't be with Ryann as his best friend.

This book had the greatest surprise that took me much longer to realize than it probably should have. Ahmed's parents are a poly couple which got him some shit when he was younger and is why he ended up so close to Ryann. We meet his dads when the characters go over to Ahmed's house for breakfast after a party. His father, Jack is cooking the meal while his other father gets to know Alexandria. It's not until a little later in the book when the characters are in the ruins of a burned-down warehouse and Ahmed remarks that his dads are the ones who committed arson that it finally clicked in my mind! His parents are August, Jack, and Rina from The Wicker King! It gave me so much joy to see these three happy and together. I loved their cameos in this book.

Like The Wicker King, The Weight of the Stars is composed of lots of short chapters, sometimes no more than a page. This made the book fly by and it's extremely easy to justify just one more chapter late at night when they're so short. Of course, then it's hard to stick to just one because they are so short. I loved this book to pieces, I adore the writing and the characters. I cannot wait to read more of K. Ancrum's work!

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