⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was aggressively hilarious and perhaps the best example of dry, rude British humor I‘ve ever read.
Knightley had me looking up vocab words, laughing often, and slowly falling in love with these characters.
For something that started as Hermione/Draco fanfic, this still felt like a realized world, unique magic system, and fully new characters.
I cannot wait for book 2 😍

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was a fun, quick book, and I enjoyed the Hunger Games-esque competition - the addition of them living in the house together was a fun touch, though I did expect the tension of that to last longer.
The last half I read very quickly, and I‘m glad the second book is out, so I don‘t have to wait too long to see what happens next!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My hopes were very high for this book, and it absolutely did not disappoint.
Magical, fantastical, romantic, and so cozy, I loved every minute. I bought the hardcopy, but I exclusively listened to the audiobook because MacLaren is one of my favorite readers.
This book has a lot to say about what makes us valuable or worthy and how important our found families are, and it was such a pocket of peace. I highly recommend it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I think fiction set during The Troubles is fascinating, &I learned a lot in this book, but it is a hard one to rate and review - it never really takes its foot off the gas. By that I don‘t mean that it‘s plot heavy, because it really isn‘t, but there just is not a lot of rest or relief for our characters. You do get a bittersweet, mildly hopeful ending, so you can picture Maeve building a wonderful life, but it was pretty bleak overall.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was exactly what I was looking for right now.
Full up of so much yearning & tension, most memorably as they were typesetting (not a euphemism), I was swooning at my desk.
Some spice, a supportive family, women pushing beyond their small boxes…what more could you need?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I didn‘t love this as much as the first book but it was still a joy to be back with Emily & Wendell as they traipsed around Europe & Faerie.
The audiobook again was a highlight as well as some cameos from book 1 (I‘m looking at you, Poe). Looking forward to book 3!

⭐️⭐️⭐️
I wanted to quit this book throughout the whole first half - and if I wasn‘t reading it with other people, I would have - but it definitely got better at the 50% mark & then I really enjoyed it until the end.
So, I don‘t know, I guess 3 stars 😅🤷🏻‍♀️

September #BookSpin!

@TheAromaofBooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well, it took me 19 days, but I loved every minute! This was such an incredible continuation of the series, and it set us up for what is going to have to be a crazy culmination in book 5.
There were genuine laughs and genuine tears. Always so glad to be in the Cosmere.

This is a collection of essays, sermons, & talks that Rohr gave in 1990.
My book group picked this before we really understood what it was, so part of this is just on unmet expectations and not as much what is talked about. I generally agree with Rohr's ideas and genuinely enjoyed the exegetical sermon moments we got, but I wish there had been more of that & more cohesion overall.
Also the quote on the front is completely misleading 👎

⭐️⭐️⭐️ In a weird-for-me twist, the romance was actually my least favorite part of this. I thought Jensen did a great job creating the setting, bringing in & fleshing out the Norse gods & culture, and giving readers an easy way to understand all the people & connections.
The romance felt very fast, which doesn‘t usually bother me, and forced, so I didn‘t connect with it as much.
I‘m glad I finally read this & I‘ll definitely read book two!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I don‘t know why it took me so long to read this book,so I am very glad that the library chose it for our book club, because I absolutely loved it! It is kind of slow moving, but it always had my attention. A lot of that has to do with the writing, but also the audiobook narrator was fantastic.So, I don‘t know why it took me so long to read it, but I‘m glad that it did because the next two are already out, and I can‘t wait to read them!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Like almost always with a Beth O‘Leary book this ended up being different from what I anticipated.
And, like almost always with a Beth O‘Leary book, I loved it.
She is excellent at setting up crazy situations that then lead to you learning about & loving the characters and seeing them as real people.

August #BookSpin List!

@TheAromaofBooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was pretty middle of the road for me: I‘m not mad I read it, but I wouldn‘t read it again.
I chose this wholly for the beautiful cover - and I do feel like that captures the feel of the book, but it felt a little disjointed throughout, especially the middle section.
A (mostly) cozy read, but not my favorite.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the acknowledgments, Durst says she wanted to write a book that felt like drinking hot chocolate and then says, “We‘ve all been through a lot over the past few years. This book is my gift to anyone who wants to escape and sink into a world filled with kindness and enchantment.”
And those two ideas really show exactly what she‘s done here. I loved every cozy page of this and am looking forward to reading more from this author!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I saw so many reviews describe this book as hard to get into or having so much info dumping about the subject matter and the time period, but I did not experience any of that!
I was drawn in right from the start, and I enjoyed the whole thing. I really liked the two main characters plus all the side characters that are pulled into Matti & Luca‘s story, and I think this could be my favorite book by Marske so far.

“Matti laid his fingers on the polished edge of the bar‘s wooden surface and forced himself to stop counting sheep.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

Overall, this was good work, and if the time period or subject matter is interesting to you, then I think this is a great one to read.
There was not a lot of information about specific patients because so much from the facility was either destroyed or never really kept in the first place, so this was mostly a look at the facility itself and the people who worked there, some of whom are still alive and who Hylton was able to interview herself.

“Waking was floating to the surface of a soft world of water, not what Kai had expected.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved this duology. I am such a fan of Rebecca Ross‘s writing, and I thought it was the best use of multiple POVs that I‘ve read in a while.
I think I‘ll remember the characters and the magic for a while, but I may remember the isle forever.
Really just lovely books.

⭐️⭐️
I wanted to love this one. And honestly for the first half(ish) I really did - I laughed out loud so much, I loved all the humorist & travelogue pieces, and he is an excellent audiobook narrator.
But he is SO heavy handed with SO MUCH politics - all of which I agreed with but it just kept feeling out of place & in the wrong tone compared to the start of the book. So by the end I was so annoyed with it, I was just waiting for it to end.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had so many full-smile moments while reading this book. From the relationship between the main characters, yes, but also the family & friend relationships highlighted, too. I think Borison did a great job fleshing out all the people & all the connections.
This is my first of hers I‘ve read, but it‘s making me want to go back to her other work. And I‘ll definitely read Jackson‘s book when it‘s out next winter 🥰

July #bookspin list!
@TheAromaofBooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I really liked this - a slow burn of a book that settled around you so completely, and by the end it felt fully real while still being fully fantastical.
Ross is so creative, her magic unique, her characters realistic, and her sense of place - which is really what excels here - wholly realized.
Looking forward to book 2!

I enjoyed this! Set 20 years after the big battle against a big evil, the book series you would usually read, this looks at how the heroes are holding things together and, spoiler alert, they aren‘t. Evil is moving again, but they are 20 years older & trying to figure out what to do in a “fight” without the clear purpose of their past. You get flashbacks to understand the main characters and also The Nine, who are the original group of heroes.

“It was safest to cross the ocean at night, when the moon and stars shone on the water.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had to come back to this one after reading Guillory‘s newest since the main characters there were side characters here :)
I enjoyed this one more on the reread than I originally did when I read it 3 years ago, and I‘ve just really liked being back in her words again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I don‘t remember the last time I had my heart squeezed this hard.
Graphic novels are such a beautiful medium, & this was expertly done.

“His story had not begun in a tavern, but Alf had ended up in one anyway.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

I have been reading contemporary romance for 5 years now (hey, one good thing from spring 2020 🫠) and Jasmine Guillory‘s books have been there with me from the beginning. Reading this felt like returning to a conversation with a friend who I trust to take me on a banter-filled, snack-laden, spicy journey through the ups and downs of relationships. Guillory‘s first queer romance, this was exactly what I wanted right now. She‘s a must-read for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Solomon is one of my favorite romance authors, and I really enjoyed her newest book!
I‘ve spent some time in Amsterdam, and this was such a love letter to that city, where Solomon now lives, too.
I didn‘t love the final conflict, even though I knew it was coming, but I did like the second chance romance & the marriage of convenience tropes.
Definitely one I‘d recommend for a spicy romance read!

“Sometimes you can have the clearest memories of places you‘ve never been.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love John Green‘s nonfiction. He brings so much humanity, research, & heart to a topic so fundamentally grounded in racism & inequity.
The author reads the audiobook, and it‘s John Green, so it‘s a great listen.
There was so much new-to-me information in this book, and I‘m glad Sharon McMahon chose it for her book club.
I can‘t wait to meet with Green & hear the discussion.

June #BookSpin!
@TheAromaofBooks

“Around the turn of the nineteenth century, the Scottish tinkerer and chemist James Watt began working on a new project.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I mean, what a ride!
I did like book 1 more than this one - this had a lot of “how will they ever get out of this?!” moments and that sometimes can get a bit much for me, but I still loved the characters, loved the magic, loved the romance.
There were some twists I saw coming from the very beginning of the book, but then others that I didn‘t see coming at all, so that was a good balance, too.
This duology is one I definitely recommend!

This was truly an enemies-to-lovers story because they were both actively working against each other the whole time, and I found that tension very compelling and so different from the normal way you see that trope done of just like two people who work in an office and don‘t like each other.
I also found the magic system completely different from anything else I‘ve read.
I finished this at 11:20pm last night and immediately started the next one!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It was so fun to be back in the Cosmere after a few months away! I have about 1000 guesses about where the story is heading after this quick novel with twists & turns I was absolutely not anticipating.
Such a joy to read something so well crafted!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
And just like that, the reread is complete.
I love Nesta‘s story & her character arc is so strong. I cannot wait to see what happens next with these characters - and I look forward to being back with them again on the next reread.

Gorgeous artwork by @madschofield on Instagram 🤩

“Nothing could compete with the experience of dangling from the rigging tens of feet in the air - fresh sea air in your face - while looking across an infinite plane of shimmering blue water.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
By the end, I really liked this book, but I struggled to get a handle on the tone of this story - was it supposed to be serious, a darkly funny soap opera, some kind of crime romp, or a real look at domestic violence? In the end it was kind of all of those.
I appreciated the look I got at a culture so different from my own, & I do think the author did a good job with it, it just took me a while to really understand where we were going.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I‘ve read this book before, but it has been at least 15 years, so it was good to go into it with fresh eyes.
I think Lewis most shines in this one when he is describing the nuances of different types of love, pity, creating, etc.
It was especially interesting to read this book with my study group after reading a more modern view on Hell & the afterlife. Lots of good thoughts & good conversations.

“The women were arguing.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It‘s a beautiful little book.
On this read through, I found what it had to say about healing through creating especially moving.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️There is a reason I make myself wait 2 years before I reread these books. Because this is my 4th time reading this & I still cried & cried (& cried) through so many heart-breaking & breath-taking moments. Last time I read this one I remember finding it a bit tedious, but I didn‘t feel that way this time. Excellent wrap up to the first section of this story.
Ps.It‘s honestly shocking how many Suriel things there are in my house 🥰💀

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is my 4th time reading this book, and every time I think there‘s no way it‘s as good as I remember, that I‘ll be as affected as I was before, that the characters and the story will fill me up as much as they did.
And every time I‘m wrong.
This is still my best book. I just finished it and I wish I could start it again.

“Maybe I‘d always be broken and dark inside.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Forever a favorite.
If you haven‘t read it, please do, so we can talk about it.
Always happy to be back with the Suriel, too 💀

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was a really fun culmination of the duology, & I loved the addition of Asen‘s point of view in book 2!
This is accessible, enjoyable fantasy with witches, monsters, humor, heart, & romance.
Such a good find from the Caffeine and Legends subscription box.