Julia

LOVED THIS. It's been a while since I've given a 5-star review. One quote on the back of my copy includes the word "swashbuckling," and YES. Yes it is! I read the first few hundred pages in fits and starts, not because I wasn't interested, but because I managed to correctly intuit that once I hit the climax, I'd be tearing through and would be sad if I rushed too much. So much to love here - dialogue that is Princess Bride-y (I'm not sure anything has ever met that bar for me before), and something I was just thinking about: tremendous world-building that somehow never slows down the plot. Already ordered the next one.

I wish I loved this more! I liked the first in the series (Reckless) more than this one - there was much of the same energy and I like the central trio of spunky female friends, but the main romance unfurled both too quickly and too slowly? Like, it was definitely a "way too fast" logistical issue from the suspense standpoint, but then oddly slow from the romance/sexy standpoint? Now I'm feeling guilty at my criticism. I will read the third in this series, I think, because Julia's character has been the most flattened and I'd love to see it complicated (plus catching the villain!), but I'm not in a rush about it now.

Anyone who reads romance and isn't living under a rock has heard of Emily Henry, but it wasn't until I read this article (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/27/books/emily-henry-funny-story-tiktok.html) that I picked this up from my local indie bookstore. Well of course people love her! She writes great banter, does a nice job with family relationships, as well, and this felt transporting and pleasantly realistic. Will read more.

There's now a library box at my laundromat, so I picked this up and polished it off in a day. It's fine! I like my romances spicier and not so marriage-oriented, but I was suitably entertained and both the main characters are cat lovers, so who am I to complain. Plus I love a PNW author.

I wish I'd liked this more, but How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is both classic and has aged quite poorly, so this doesn't feel original enough, and then you have to spend most of the novel reading about the two main characters not being all that nice to each other! There are some good bits about female friendship, workplace assertiveness, racial identity development, etc., but I wanted to enjoy these characters more than witness them sort of torture themselves and each other.

Also cute! Less banter in this one than in Love on the Brain, just by a hair, which I appreciated. Hazelwood also writes sensitively about living with chronic illness and both asexuality and demisexuality. And still spicy, to boot. Not sure when I'll read her 3rd STEMinisty one, but I definitely will.

Cute!!!! This is a perfect spice level. Almost too bantery, but charming enough to make up for it. I always wonder how books with very era-specific markers (e.g., the protagonist has a Twitter account) will age, but that's not for me to lose sleep over! I found this in the lending library at my laundromat and snapped up another book in Hazelwood's STEMinist series as soon as I saw it, so definitely a worthwhile find.

Well THAT is a cliffhanger. I'm just so irritated at one of the main characters now that I'm not sure I'll be able to judge this book until the next one comes out. This is still like the first, though - fast-paced, and fun. I hope Yarros' popularity doesn't lead to the two main issues I sometimes see in later books in a series: overly complicated plots and not enough editing!

This book! THIS BOOK. I am feeling bereft of opportunities to rave about this, because most of my closest book buddies steer clear of anything quite this dark (it is no darker than our world actually is, but that's pretty dark). I had to pause about midway through to process it, but couldn't put it down once I resumed. It broke my heart multiple times, and then mended it.