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Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour My rating: 5 of 5 stars Loved this tender and beautiful and subtle story. I love Nina LaCour's quiet voice. View all my reviews

The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz My rating: 5 of 5 stars I love and adore Anthony Horowitz and his creative and unique stories and characters. These stories that are so meta and the characters, so memorable, each and every one of them. View all my reviews

Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie My rating: 4 of 5 stars i am not sure why i checked out this book 11 times before I finally read it. It was absolutely excellent. About connection and love and giving into both loving people and letting yourself be loved. Really wonderful. View all my reviews

You'd Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a painful book to read but it was also beautiful and real. It's hard to create YA characters that feel like teenagers and I think this book does an excellent job of it. And it captures struggles around substance abuse, parenting, dating and so much more in a raw and truthful manner. View all my reviews

Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier My rating: 4 of 5 stars I like Hiller's storytelling, even though it's always very dark and there are surprises but not twists that assume the reader is stupid. This story was no exception. You know she's not guilty but you don't know what's going on. And then there are surprises. And when you think you know them, there are new ones. I will read more of her :) View all my reviews

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren My rating: 3 of 5 stars Not my favorite of Christina Lauren books but I still enjoyed reading it. Just didn't think they did the YA voice as well as they do in their adult books. But I loved the subject and I loved the way they handled it. View all my reviews

The Go-Giver Marriage: A Little Story about the Five Secrets to Lasting Love by John David Mann My rating: 5 of 5 stars Love this. We only get to control what we do and what we give and who we choose. So let's focus on noticing the good and loving our people. View all my reviews

Marigold and Rose: A Fiction by Louise Glück My rating: 4 of 5 stars I read this in one sitting of course. Unique and beautiful. not for everyone, but i enjoyed it. View all my reviews

The Shamshine Blind by Paz Pardo My rating: 3 of 5 stars "Sunshine always made my mind and body feel more welcome in the world. Like there was plenty of space for everything." The premise of this story was fascinating to me: a blend of mystery and science fiction and alternate-history. I loved the idea of emotions being used as weapons. I loved so much about this story and I was intrigued about so many of the details around the alternate history. I liked the characters and the mystery was twisty and interesting in its own way. Alas, I think it really could have benefited from a good editor. The pacing was off, for me. Sometimes too slow and other times it was hard to understand what was happening. That made it a slog for me to get through the story and made me want to skim large swaths. I still really liked the premise and am glad I read it. with gratitude to netgalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. ...

Maureen by Rachel Joyce My rating: 4 of 5 stars I loved both of the Harold Fry novels so I was very excited to see a third one to sink my teeth into. This is a short novella and it's completely focused on Harold's wife, Maureen, who goes on a journey to visit Queenie's garden. It's tough to like Maureen because she's so negative and stuck up and wound tight and judgmental. But then, things unravel, as they are won't to do and we see that like most people Maureen is broken inside and struggling and doing the best she can and has created layers of shells to protect herself from the world. Isn't that what most of us do? Another lovely story from Joyce, this one is more like a character study. Deeply affecting and soft and kind and real as all her stories and characters are. with gratitude to netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

A Hard Day for a Hangover by Darynda Jones My rating: 5 of 5 stars When it comes to this series Darynda Jones can do no wrong in my book. I love these characters, I love the story and the crazy, funny messes they get themselves into overlayed with the serious storylines. More than anything else, I love love love the dialogue in this book. Inner and outer. I laughed out loud the whole time I was listening to this book. It's perfect on audio! Absolutely adore it and I really hope there are more of them in the series. with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen My rating: 4 of 5 stars It took me a while to read this book and I started it a few times before it stuck with me. But once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. I usually hate comparisons but this did feel a bit like Knives Out to me in that the story kept twisting and turning. But it wasn't as funny :) View all my reviews

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult My rating: 5 of 5 stars I know for a lot of people there was a major twist in this story. That wasn't the case for me because I had read books by both of these authors and I had a reasonable way to guess the twist. Putting that aside, this book was one of my favorites of this year. I know a lot of people complained that it was "all the issues" but I didn't think that way. Life is complicated, many people are experiencing a lot of these issues at once and none of these are issues for a novel, they are part of real life. Abuse, divorce, bullying, meanness, parenting struggles, and identity. All of these are way more common than we might wish they were. The relationships and experiences in this book all felt real to me and were handled with so much tenderness. I loved every single moment i spent with it. View all my reviews