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How to Read a Book by Monica Wood My rating: 4 of 5 stars I put off reading this book many many times, not sure why. But I am so glad I finally read it. It was beautiful. It's about grief, it's about mistakes we make and how we can forgive ourselves and others. It's truly beautiful. View all my reviews

The Wedding Vow by Dandy Smith My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars fast, fun mystery, for me. I had read this type of twist before and yet still didn't see it coming! View all my reviews

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins My rating: 4 of 5 stars It was fun to revisit the Hunger Games universe. I thought I would dislike this one but I actually really enjoyed it and felt like a full circle moment. View all my reviews

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars I love Emily Henry but this one didn't keep my interest as much as I would have liked. I still loved the dialogue and the characters and I will read all of Henry's books for as long as she publishes. View all my reviews

Overdue by Stephanie Perkins My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book has everything I love: librarians, libraries, book stores, books! Sunshine and grumpy love. It's sweet and joyful and I love that all the secondary characters are fleshed out, lovely and memorable. I love that the cat is too! If you love books as much as I do, it will be hard not to love this book! My favorite part was how she knew whether each of her dates had a library card or not! :) :) with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

Of Flame and Fury by Mikayla Bridge My rating: 4 of 5 stars I know everyone is looking for their next romantasy read and I think they will find Of Flame and Fury scratches that itch in the best way possible. Strong, female lead, palpable chemistry and constant bickering, evil, rich geniuses and phoenixes! What more can you ask for?! Oh and creative, crazy races! I really loved every moment I spent with this story, I loved the main characters, I loved the secondary characters, I loved the phoenix, Savita. I loved the creativity. I loved the pacing. I know everyone will enjoy this one. with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a really unique read, for me. I kept trying to figure out where it was going and I totally could not guess. Especially the last third of the book really takes it up a notch. I really enjoyed the dual-timeline of when these friends first got together to do the research and the current day dinner party. I liked how each of them seemed a bit off and yet not enough not to feel 3-dimensional. I felt like there were enough clues spread throughout to keep me interested and yet not so much that I guessed what was going to happen. These stories always require a bunch of suspension of disbelief which is not a problem for me. It was entertaining and kept my interest, that's all I care about truly. with gratitude to netgalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

The Devil's Advocate by Steve Cavanagh My rating: 5 of 5 stars Steve Cavanagh and Eddie Flynn can do no wrong in my book. I love these novels and really enjoy reading the court scenes, reading the secondary characters, and the crazy crazy plots Cavanagh comes up with. This was one of the hardest to read with all the strong racism and radicalism especially with the author's note in the end and I thought about putting it down several times. But I made my way all the way to the end and Cavanagh's books never disappoint. with gratitude to netgalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review View all my reviews

A Family Matter by Claire Lynch My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the story of a family where the mom falls in love with another woman and in the 1980s, in their community and in the eyes of the law, that's not acceptable. So Dawn has to make hard choices. Terrible choices. And her husband also makes terrible choices. Choices that hurt them and their beautiful daughter. This quiet, short booked packed a lot in. I loved the quiet writing even if the topic was devastating. I didn't think the characters were developed enough for me to feel like I was empathizing. I wanted to follow along more, I wanted to root for them all even though they were caught in a terrible situation. But I felt like I was watching it all from a distance. I was terrified to read how much of the law was anti-LGBTQ only 40 years ago and it's terrifying what can happen to families if this becomes true again. with gratitude to netgalley and Scribner for an advanced copy ...

If You Love It, Let It Kill You by Hannah Pittard My rating: 3 of 5 stars If you've read Pittard's previous book, this one will not come as a major surprise. It has a similar choppy style where the story is shared in bits and pieces and also the story won't be a surprise to you because it's the same plot her previous book was about. Obviously it's the next phase but, to me, it felt mostly repetitive and there was noting revelatory in it. I like her writing style and enjoy reading it but I did not really enjoy this mesh of real life/fiction and the characters/life she shared. I felt nothing was as deeply explored as I would have liked. with gratitude to netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews

The Satisfaction Café by Kathy Wang My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a quiet, lovely book that started out with focusing on family and wealth and what it meant to enter a family as a third wife when your husband already has grown children. And there were bits that made me mad when she didn't stand up for herself and bit that made me feel devastated. But then the book moved to being about community, creating your own community and the loneliness so many of us carry in so many ways and how we can help each other and how most of us just need to talk to someone. It was a warm and surprising book and I really enjoyed my time with it. with gratitude to netgalley and Scribner for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews