Lauren

Unfortunately, the Circus Rose was not for me. In its defense, I may never have come across it if it wasn’t one of the books I could pick to read for my master’s course on YA literature, but I really thought I would love it.

There were some interesting things in this book. I enjoyed the inclusion single parent representation, found family, bisexual representation, polyamory representation, difficult child/parent relationships, and the exploration of how siblings (particularly twins) are their own, individual people. Many YA readers can related to one or more of those things. While it did not work for me, I can still appreciate one POV being in prose while the other with told in verse. I think poetry readers may get more out of that mechanic. Speaking of mechanics, I also liked how one of the daughters wanted to be center stage, while the other was interested in mechanics.

All that to be said, I just didn’t love it. In the very first pages we are told that Rose and Ivory are twins from different fathers. We know at this time that their mother is NOT in a poly relationship with two men. She is dating two men, but they are uninvolved with each other. Now, is it totally possible for someone to have two eggs drop in a cycle? Yes. In theory, if that person self with two separate people during ovulation, could one sperm from each person fertilize one of the two eggs and both eggs implant? Also yes. However, the third line of the first chapter states that she simply slept with them in the same month. Sure, the daughters likely did not get details, but it just seems incredibly unlikely and misleading. If you’re going to include this in a YA novel, I need magic to explain it or the author to explain how this anomaly happened.

I also found the beginning terribly boring. It was repetitive (both girl’s POVs mentioned the same things - like that Bear could unlock their own cage) and the first few chapters felt like lazy world building. We get a recap of the first 15-16 years of their lives, but we aren’t really there. I would have perfected just jump into the story or give us their last in flashbacks. This way of writing made it impossible for me to really care because I felt so disconnected. (I have nowhere to put this, but there is a line about how one of the girls could fit into a spot that a girl of 15 could never fit into….she was 14. Many girls that are 14 and 15 are similar is shape and size, so why include this???)

Even when the true events of the book kicked off, I just didn’t care. I felt no sense of urgency and never really had reason to care. I am so sure there is an audience for this book, but unfortunately it wasn’t me.

On the Same Page is a friends to lovers romance between Riley, an every day kind of girl trying to launch a news project to reel in younger viewership, and Gianna, a larger than life, successful influencer and owner of a lingerie company. It flips back and forth between their college days from Gianna’s POV and present day from Riley’s POV.

There was nothing wrong with this book. It was cute, the over all prose was good, and I was actually really enjoying it early on. However, unfortunately, I did run into a few issues. The largest is that it dragged on and on. This book could have easily lost 100+ pages and the story would have stayed the same. I don’t mind a thick book, but there needs to be a reason for it and there was no reason for the length of this book.

The next issue I ran into was an odd continuity error. In all honesty, it doesn’t matter and I’m not even that pressed about it, but I am still confused. In the college timeline Gianna claims hers friends did not reach out after something occurs, but one of them had in the previous college chapter (for the wrong reasons, but I digress). I’m just confused if I had the timeline wrong or if this was an editing error. It’s minor, but it stuck out so it’s worth mentioning (again - I could totally be the dumb one here).

I also found the third act break up to be ridiculous. I won’t spoil it, but I will say it made no sense. It felt like conflict for the sake of conflict. I didn’t get it.

Lastly, I understand the reason for it, but we could have chilled it on how constantly the main characters wanted to sleep with each other. I don’t mind a little spice in my books (I’m not a HUGE spice fan, but it’s fine here and there), but it felt like the only thing on Riley’s mind for chapters at a time. Like I get it, girl. I’m so glad you want her, but I’m good. You made your point.

All that to be said, this ain’t a bad book and I would be willing to try another book by the author in the future. I liked the characters overall, and I really would have loved to see more of Riley at work. I was actually really interested in that part of her character and we saw shockingly little of it.

It is worth noting that I did not realize this was a spinoff of another book by the author the author until after I started it, but since these are stand alone romances, I don’t think it would have much bearing on this review. I may try that book in the future, however.

If I was still in high school when The Gravewood came out, I would have been all over it. Considering this is a book written for readers of that age, it does precisely what it should. While as an adult I still thoroughly enjoy reading YA stories, some of them translate better for adult readers than others, and this is a story I think is best enjoyed by readers in their teens to maybe early 20s.

All that to be said, there is a lot going for this book. It’s written well and the comments on Pennsylvania are spot on (I’ve lived here my whole life and could not agree more). While the characters clearly each had their designated role, I think that works well for YA books. I also found the twist predictable, but again, I don’t think it would have been as predictable if I was the target audience. I really enjoyed having a main character dealing with hearing loss in this environment. As a disabled person myself, I often find myself thinking I would simply die in most dystopian/sci fi/fantasy situations, so it was nice to see someone tackle what that may look like (helps that this is an own voices - the author uses hearing aids).

If you get the chance, get the audiobook from your library solely for the end of audiobook interview! From what I have seen, it is exclusive to the audiobook and honestly made me like the story more than I initially did.

I think I will pick up the conclusion to this duology solely because I do want some answers, but it won’t be a priority read when it releases.

The Red Winter unfortunately did not work for me. In theory, it should have. I love historical fiction and I love more folklore-inspired fantasy, but unfortunately, I simply could not get into this. I

First, however, the pros:

I liked the overall writing style and atmosphere. I also really liked Sarmodel and his relationship with Sebastian. In fact, their relationship was by far the strongest aspect of the story and I wish that was the focus instead.

However, that’s kind of it, which is a bummer because I’ve been really excited for this book. I really didn’t like the portrayal of women, for starters. There were not many prominent women characters, and the ones that were had their entire identities built around being mothers, wives, gold diggers, or sex crazed. And of course when women were no longer good/useful/trustworthy they were no longer young and beautiful (in fact, in one specific example a woman became repulsive and fat. Her fatness and lack of a young body is made a huge point of focus. Why is fatphobia still in my fantasy books???). Not to mention Joan of Arc (yes, THE Joan of Arc) loses all her credit in this narrative.

Additionally, the men literally constantly had boners. I would have counted the number of times it was mentioned (or they were seen palming the front of their pants) but who has the time?

I think the duel timeline was another weakness, but this may be in part due to the poorly crafted female characters and the fact that I didn’t buy into the romance at all. Additionally, while this book was folklore heavy, it was also Christianity heavy, and I can’t say I love the combination. Partially because they do not blend well together, but it also lead to weak world building, particularly with beings like Mars and Michael. If you can’t fully flesh out one, I don’t think including both is wise.

I also hated the foot notes. I can enjoy a footnote, but, they seemed more an attempt used to try to cover up the lazy world building than anything else.

I will say, the audiobook was well done. The narrators are talented and almost convinced me I liked this book more than I really did.

All the Bright Places follows two seniors in high school. Finch (aka Theo or Theodore) seems to be a boy who is quite literally trying to outrun life and its problems. Violet is still recovering from losing her sister months prior in a car accident. Despite how different the two are, and despite how tragic their lives may seem, they connect through a school project to see their state. This book is funny and relatable and heartbreaking in equal measure.

If you do not want to know about this book’s ending or themes, stop here. Honestly, if you haven’t read it, stop, read it, then come back. Okay, actually, read the trigger warnings first if you need. Some of the big ones I’ve noted include: bullying, suicidal ideation, dictions of depression, car accident, death of a child (high school aged), grief, abuse (physical/neglect), and PTSD. . . . . . . . . . . This is my second time reading All the Bright Places. The first time I read it was in around this time (summer) of 2022. I was 25 at the time and was still finding my stride in getting back into reading. I’ve always been a primarily sci-fi and fantasy reader, so I can’t say what made me pick up this book. I remember feeling the growing, impending dread as I read. This time I read it for a YA lit course for my Masters Degree. When I started it again, I thought I likely overrated it the first time. Some of the thoughts and things said early on don’t feel like they aged well, but then I remembered the intended audience and as the story unfurled, everything said and done felt viscerally real.

During my first read, I wasn’t looking for the symbolism on Finch’s name. Even knowing something was coming, I had myself convinced I saw it wrong. This allowed me to ignore a lot of very difficult to read things. I knew the first time I read this that Finch’s family was not functional, but this time the neglect really stood out to me. You can’t blame Violet or Finch’s sisters for that happened, and you want to feel bad for the mom, but I do understand why Violet’s father is so angry with her. I am so angry with her. It’s complicated though, because while Finch’s bipolar is so clearly there from the start, we don’t spend much time with his mom. I don’t excuse her in anyway, but it’s hard realizing how abused she likely was from her ex, how checked out she was likely in part to that abuse and from likely being re-traumatized having to interact with her ex-husband. I would guess he has either threatened her or has a court order to see his children considering none of them seem eager to see him. She appears depressed, overwhelmed, and mentally/emotionally unavailable. She should have done better, that cannot be excused (especially not sending Violet to find her son when she clearly suspected he was dead), but I do feel for her in a way I didn’t during my first read. (His dad can go to hell - I have no empathy for him).

On the opposite side of things, I thought Violet’s parents seemed perfect on my first read. This time I can see how flawed they are. They’re doing their best, and they clearly love their daughter, but it was heartbreaking to see how desperately Violet was clinging onto her sister while they rarely (if ever) mentioned her. While I understand how protective her father felt, it was also hard seeing how he reacted to everything, particularly calling suicide selfish when, in reality, those who die by suicide tend to believe it is the opposite. I understand that this comes from a place of grief for him, but it doesn’t feel great having him take that grief out on a child. Additionally, when Violet started voicing her concerns about Finch, while her mother tried to do everything she could think of to help, her father was uninvolved. I understand he felt trauma from not hearing from Violet for a night, but it felt almost childish to be so angry at this boy as to not care. It bothers me a little that they didn’t even try to call the police. I’m a teacher, so maybe my perspective is skewed, but if I knew a kid had gone missing for weeks, only occasionally checking in with his family (clearly neglected since the mom said this was fine and didn’t think her child dealing with mental illness needed help) and had a bad relationship with his father (I’m not sure if they knew he was abusive), I would be calling CPS and the police to find this child.

Violet is a great character. She is complex and shows great growth. She starts scared and stuck, refusing to move forward from her sister’s death, surrounded by people who hardly understand her. With Finch’s help, she finds her footing again and learns how to navigate grief in the many forms it can take, and it takes many for her. I really like her and think she would be relatable to other teens dealing with such traumatic events. Her conversation with the counselor at the end is particularly impactful.

And Finch. Finch broke my heart on both reads. This time, however, I felt it deeper. On my first read there felt like he had hope. On this one, slowing down and taking my time, I could feel how hopeless he truly felt. How every time he said he wasn’t going to fall back into a depression, how he wasn’t going to run until the adrenaline kept him “awake”, how he wanted to put all his dreams into Violet, I could see it for what it was - fear. I’m not sure he ever really believed he could out run his darkness. I understand he was also manic, but it read to me like he was experiencing a mix of depression and mania (which can happen in those with bipolar). It was hard rooting for him when I knew the ending, yet I couldn’t help it.

I also feel compelled to say this is my first time reading the author’s note. I’ve only started taking time to read them this year, and it feels especially impactful. I did not realize this was Niven’s YA debut, nor that this book reflects pieces of her real life. It puts into context why this story feels so real (even if the wandering assignment may feel a little unlikely).

In short, this book hit me just as hard as it did the first time, if not harder. And yes, I did in fact ugly sob throughout the final 60 pages. Maybe I’ll come back in another 4-5 years and put myself through it again.