Jerry Cooke

2.75⭐️ - Twisted timelines and motives come together to create a fascinating concept, but a muddle of perspectives. I really wanted to love this book, but on the whole found it underwhelming.

At the core, it's a whodunit, a mystery of somebody shot dead in a room that is locked from the inside. Odette, a young graduate researcher finds the body and it leads her on a determined path to find out the who and the why of it all. It's also a story of mental health and the way it can be weaponised to keep people out of roles, as Ruby finds out as she begins to explore the history of her grandmother, Bee, who was one of the founding scientists who discovered time travel.

There's many threads, duplicities, and complex relationships here. With past and future selves, children older than their parents, etc. it can get confusing at times keeping track of which version of a character you're dealing with. This is by design and part of the nature of time travel, I guess. It's possible I wasn't in the right brain space for it, but it just left me a bit unfulfilled.

5⭐️ - as beautiful as it is heartbreaking, this book had me utterly hooked!

Marin lived for many years with her grandfather and yet always felt alone. Alone apart from Mabel. When life takes Mabel away to college and Marin's events cause Mabel to escape to her New York weeks earlier than planned, she ends up cutting off all ties to her old life. Until the winter break, when Mabel - tired of never hearing back - comes back into Marin's life and opens doors that had been left closed for months.

The themes of loss and longing in this story are so powerful and the way that flashbacks and asides are used to explore the events prior to Marin running away make it all the more moving. This is a story about love, but not just romantic; it's the love of found family, the kindness of strangers, and the warmth in the dark cold that can come from understanding another person.

Utterly beautiful, profoundly moving, this is a book I'll remember for a long time.

3.25⭐️

This was an interesting exploration on the effects of pressure to be the best, particularly in minority communities. I really enjoyed the level of diversity and representation, but as a protagonist Grace's internal dialogue was a little hard to read at times. The combination of third person perspective and multiple flashbacks, it was somewhat difficult to keep track of as well.

Specially related to the audiobook, while the narrator brought some of the prose like language to life well, an almost complete lack of variation better character voices made it a real challenge to keep track of who was taking.

That said, the relationship between Grace and Yuki was rewarding to see at times, as well as the bonds of friendship with the secondary characters. The topics of conversation brought up in Yuki's radio show were interesting

4.5⭐️ - Bridgerton meets Back to the Future, in a fascinating and queer take on time travel romance!

Audrey has lost her creative spark and with a looming deadline to submit an updated portfolio to RISD, she's in a spiral of panic and self doubt. When a magic coin sends her back into regency England, she must learn to navigate the confusing time period and complicated feelings.

A major focus of the story was the way in which a modern woman would be shocked by how restrictive it was in that time period and how, likewise, a woman from the 1800s would be fascinated by all the possibilities open to her in the future. The romance here is really slow burn and super cute and I adored seeing them learning about each other's worlds.

4.25⭐️ This was a really sweet story, with Ophelia (who had always been labeled as boy crazy by her friends and family) experiencing a queer awakening. Facing her own self image, the fears of judgement by her Latino family, and the dynamics of her friend group.

It's very much a YA coming of age story rather than strictly a sapphic romance, but it was really affirming with good representation of straight passing queer relationships, asexuality, and how family history can inform understanding from parents.

4⭐️ - A lot of steam in the kitchen with this one, a spicy dish that leaves you wanting more!

Amy's restaurant is on the down turn, with the popularity of her former TV contestant head chef Sophie slipping after she called off her engagement. As the two work together to try and avert potential closure, they're forced to confront not just their attraction towards each other, but also their fears and desires.

This is a sweet story, with Sophie being newly out as bi and Amy being the experiences lesbian who is afraid of serious commitment. It deals a lot with the issue of assuming what's best for somebody and shows healing and growth of past stuff that creates boundaries in communication.

It had as much spice as one of the raunchier Hazelwood books, with some wipe downs of kitchen surfaces definitely required!

4.25⭐️ - A hot and steamy small town sapphic romance with a super sunny and offish grumpy couple that find themselves living together on short notice. This was really fun and I loved the community and conversations that took place, with good boundary setting against controlling parents. Lots of spice and some inappropriate use of a tattoo table

This was cute and I grew to like Piper more than I thought I would, considering the airhead LA party girl she is initially portrayed as.

The relationships that form within the town outside of the main romance are, to me, more touching - the bonds (both of blood and of community) being lovely to see.

A phenomenal journey into a world with complex magic and subterfuge aplenty!

I can't believe I put this off for so long, because it's absolutely as fantastic as I've heard!

Brynn as a protagonist is multilayered, self-assured, and powerful. Her push back and determination is the perfect foil to Acker's cockiness and it makes the banter all that more satisfying. With a vicious animal companion, mysterious magic powers, and a suspicious dagger with a deep history. she's all you could hope for in a protagonist.

The world building is fantastic and I particularly love the concept of a banished-to-sea people who make a home amongst a grove of trees that grow in the water. The description of strings of lights and colours immediately had me feeling love of the locations.

I'm intensely impatient for the next book now!

A phenomenal journey into a world with complex magic and subterfuge aplenty!

I can't believe I put this off for so long, because it's absolutely as fantastic as I've heard!

Brynn as a protagonist is multilayered, self-assured, and powerful. Her push back and determination is the perfect foil to Acker's cockiness and it makes the banter all that more satisfying. With a vicious animal companion, mysterious magic powers, and a suspicious dagger with a deep history. she's all you could hope for in a protagonist.

The world building is fantastic and I particularly love the concept of a banished-to-sea people who make a home amongst a grove of trees that grow in the water. The description of strings of lights and colours immediately had me feeling love of the locations.

I'm intensely impatient for the next book now!