The ending just didn't feel satisfying or cathartic. It was well written but I guess it just didn't give me what I wanted.

The question, for Reese: Were married men just desperately attractive to her?

#firstlinefridays

This book was really good. It was well written and centred around a really interesting, if not particularly likeable, character. It just wasn't for me or at least not for me right now.

I, like just about everyone else, loved this! But I wept so be prepared and only read if you're in a state where you're okay being very sad.

Great book about learning who you are and loving yourself. Loved it!

Loved this, Taylor Jenkins Reid just has a way of speaking about grief and loss that gets to me.

The first time we have sex, we are both fully clothed, at our desks during working hours, bathed in blue computer light.

#firstlinefridays
@ShyBookOwl

Cute romance between two boys that is actually more about loving yourself and your body.

Not my image, I had to find one online as my copy of this book is at home.

A great short book about the pressure to conform and self-discovery and having the strength to choose what makes you happy.

This book is incredible! It is so beautifully, lyrically written. Here Caleb Azumah Nelson is an artist telling the story of two artists and it is just heart-breakingly beautiful. There is such a clear love for black art in these pages that you can't help but be awe of these artists he mentions. He gives voice to the desire to be seen but the fear of the vulnerability that comes with it. It's just beautiful.

I know this book gets mixed reviews and I can definitely see why it wouldn't work for everyone, but I really enjoyed reading it. The writing style was different from what I'm used to but I found it really interesting. I would definitely read another Sally Rooney book. I would have liked if the side characters were a bit more fleshed out but all in all a good read.

This book was amazing. 12 different perspectives. 12 distinct identities. 12 people with their own problems, their own victories, their own stories. I just loved it.

Short story about a woman who wants agency stuck in a marriage to a man who wants a statue. Miller's writing is beautiful as always and thos was a wonderful reaction to Ovid's telling of the Pygmalion myth.

This was fantastic. The scandals, the gossip and finding out the great love of Evelyn Hugo's life. Loved it!

This was amazing! A wonderful look at the female experience in South Korea with some horrifying statistics.

I loved this, it's very character driven so if you like a strong plot this is not for you but it was definitely for me. Queenie was frustratingly human, I wanted to shake her and tell her to stop but her self-destructive nature was precisely what made her so real. She makes a lot of bad decisions but she learns and grows and although it has some real low points I have found the book really hopeful. I just loved it.

This was a fantastic look at race and family and sisterhood. Twin girls run away from their small town but the decision of one of the girls to pass as white, leaving the other behind, the changes their lives forever but family is not so easy to run away from. The writing was amazing, the story important, the subject challenging, and the transgender representation great to see. This book definitely lives up to its hype!

This was a really interesting book (I mean that positively). The plot sprung from a black babysitter being accused of kidnapping the white child she was looking after and how she and her employer changed because of this incident. Some characters whole others are too stuck in their ways to see that their actions which they so firmly believe are right are in fact wrong. It was so good.

Loved this so much! It's about a girl discovering herself and how what she does to do this affects the relationships she has with the people around her and how friendship can be the most important bond in a person's life. It felt really honest and hit way harder than it should have. Fantastic read.

Solid YA Fantasy. Chosen ones trope, some romance, some trauma and a whole lot of swearing. Good to read a book with a LGBTQ+ POV.

Great book. I wouldn't say it's exactly a retelling of the myth but there are some fun references to Greek myths within the book. The relationship between Hades and Persephone develops very quickly but the book does still make you buy into it. I could done with more plot less smut but it was still a good read.

Going to be honest this didn't grip me as much as Circe did but it is still most definitely a pick. A wonderful retelling of the Iliad with a focus on the relationship between Achilles and his companion Patroclus. Their love story is told beautifully, I will definitely be giving this a reread at some point in the future.

I read so many great reviews of this so I thought I might be going in with my expectations too high but it did not disappoint. The portrayal of the goddess Circe is so heartbreakingly human and her development throughout is incredible. I really liked seeing the world and some of the Greek myths through Circe's eyes. It was an engaging perspective and I liked the way that not only did she affect the events, the events clearing affected her.

"We women are peculiar creatures. We tend not to love those who murder our families."

Loved this. It's about the aftermath of the Trojan War and its told primarily from the point of view of Briseis, one of the women captured from Troy. Retellings of the Trojan War abound but I really liked Pat Barker's take on it and the way she focused on the interactions between the Trojan women and their struggle to merely survive in a Greek world.

An amazing read! Loosely based upon beauty and the beast this is the first book in a fantastic series. A Court of Thorns and Roses introduces you to a fantastic world of magic and fae created by one of my favourite authors and I found it just as enjoyable reading it the second time.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

#lateentry #augustgrrrl
I think it's safe to say that Adelina Amouteru is one of the #badgirls.
@Cinfhen

Another late #augustgrrrl post.
I don't have any books about actual #waterfalls so here are some books with water and one about falling.
@Cinfhen

'Memory is a shifting, dishonest and false friend in any case. We cherish what does us good and bury the rest. This is how we keep ourselves safe. How we make it possible to carry on in this decaying, corrupting world.'

Although this book was short I found it to be a brilliant read. It tells the story of a young girl, Marianne, who, in the wake of her mother's death, travels alone to Denmark to try and find the father who doesn't even know she exists. But what will she find when she reaches Skagen, the place her father is supposed to be?
A great book which shows how Marianne grows as a person and discovers friendship.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

#Rightnow I'm reading with my best and oldest friend.
@Cinfhen
#augustgrrrl #dogsoflitsy #currentlyreading

It's a little late but this is what came to mind when I saw the #wildestdreams prompt for #augustgrrrl. Ronan can bring things from his dreams back to reality but is he the only one with this ability and are there consequences?
@Cinfhen

'Ah, love. That's the biggest monster of all because it's always changing and takes on different shapes. Most of the time the monster is not about the other person, as we tend to imagine: it lives inside us. It's about being too scared to trust.'

I loved this. Brilliantly written with an interesting storyline which is oddly topical considering it was written in 1985.

I've been looking for a copy of this for ages and I finally found one when shopping with @Embellembell in a used book store today. I can't wait to read it.

Loved this! It's even better than the first book! I don't know how Sarah J. Maas manages to tie up all the loose ends and then still end on a #cliffhanger. Strongly recommend.

What just happened? Seriously, what just happened? And why did I read this before the next one came out? I need to know what happens next. Such a good book but I'm going to die waiting for the next one. How could the author end it there?

Before I started reading I was a bit worried that Sinner would let down the Shiver trilogy but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a wonderful continuation of the Shiver series that focussed on two of my favourite characters, Cole and Isabel. Rather than being caught up in the werewolf side Maggie Stiefvater focussed on the characters. I strongly recommend it