oof, they never do learn. Listened to this one pretty quickly, and even tho there are many heavy moments, it felt more so like a thriller, one of those which keep you interested and not just completely bummed out when the heavy bits hit.

Seventies political fiction down in Mexico, based on a real horror story that was widespread in South America at the time. I listened to this one in one weekend, it was engaging and felt so real. Having notes from the author at the end was such a treat, bc the whole book was rly well researched, and I appreciated more details on the real world events!

Gotta be a bit harsh here… bc I love fantasy and there are so many amazing books out there!! Honestly, my whole fam hyped up this book, and I went thru it fairly quickly, considering it is lonnng. It didn‘t rly spike my interest enough that I wanna read the whole series, tho. The world building was kinda underwhelming! Also, plot lines were predictable and, lastly, there was way too much romancing for me.

Ok, so THIS teenage story I can get behind! Not that it is revolutionaryly different than everything out there, but the bar for basic representation is still pretty low. Having a black queer teen get her happy ending felt pretty good! If high school low key drama is your thing, this is a solid pick!

Don‘t get me wrong, bc this was a pretty good, easy, teenage read. Buuuuut, I grabbed 2 high school books at the same time (this one was on hold for a while!), and what happened was I liked the other one better -review to come :) this was a breezy coming of age story, I just don‘t feel like I‘m missing anything very exciting or new, so 🤷🏽‍♀️

So so bc there were elements that I liked, but overall, this was a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting to love it, the plot was so promising, as were the first few pages… but goooooddddd it got so slow. Then rushed. It was a bit confusing at places, and I dno, it started to feel like a hassle each time I came back to it. But I did it! It‘s done.

The vast majority of this book was good. Some plot bits are missing, some bits are predictable, but it is engaging and at least the first half is whoa worthy. Would watch whatever Netflix puts out.

Super intense book. I liked the depictions of food and culture and mom/daughter dynamics. I got this as a “skip the line” copy from my library (It‘s been on hold forever and still had 6 weeks to go!!!), anyways, I had to finish it in 7 days and boy was I desperate for a break. It‘s a piece you need some time to digest. Still, really heartfelt and interesting.

Very relatable camping description! Well, to one point at least. This was pretty good, got me in the mood for horror/mystery so imma ride this wave now! I‘m excited!

❤️‍🔥🔥❤️‍🔥🔥❤️‍🔥🔥 ugh I‘m sad this is over!

This was wildly good. If you‘re into fantasy this one‘s worth it. Can‘t wait to read the second one, which I immediately purchased upon finishing it. I dno if the series is finished tho… but it‘s so good I don‘t even care. Gotta keep going!

This was beautifully written, with a gripping plot to boot. Full of wisdom and culture and nature and mystery and love. I hope that many people read this one and get interested in learning more abt native peoples, as I did.

Some books just feel, I dno, kinda relatable? But it also read a bit young, and a lot of the time I just wanted to grab the protagonist and shake her. I had a hard time sticking with it, and after a few tries, I‘m letting this one go. It‘s def not horrible tho, it was pretty contemporary and prob good for teen readers

Pretty dark and heavy, but there are some brilliant moments there! Due is such an amazing writer. I particularly liked the intro by her in this 2021 edition.

This was SO GOOD!! An extra thanks to @Chelleo who sent me this one in this year #BlitsySwap ✌🏽 this book got me out of a slump so I‘m super happy AAAND as a bonus, the sequel is abt to drop!!! I can‘t wait :)

Meh. This is the first S King book I‘ve read in full and I wish I could go back in time and start somewhere else. Not bad enough for me to bail but…. Meh.

I love this sm. Yknow how often times you get all this social and economic critique in the sci-fi and fantasy genres? Now we‘re mainstreamly getting those vibes from horror/thrillers and I am here for it!!! Ps. If you liked this book do yourself a favor and watch “Bad Hair” (on Hulu and other sites maybe). So good.

Promising-ish plot, but at abt 30% I couldn‘t deal with the animal cruelty/negligence described here. To me, it was unnecessary. Yeah you can make someone work in a serious or depressing field to make a point, but it‘s like saying she was a social worker and then describing all the horrible shit that happens to kids out there. Is it relevant to this story? Plus, I do work with animals and the way she talked abt it just didn‘t ring accurate to me.

Whoa this was wild. There were moments of laughter but like…maybe nervous laughter? It was good. Really good. But also really heavy. I loved the bits of trivia and random information in there, and felt crushed by the experiences and themes so openly described and discussed. Beautifully written.

Ruth Ware writes good stories and comes up with pretty engaging plots. But I dno, this was a bit long, and I was so sick of the main character towards the end. Ugh she was the worst, so whiny. The very end got me interested, but that feeling just didn‘t start early enough (and it didn‘t rly last either)

Meh? I‘m not a crime novel kinda person… sometimes I enjoy a thriller but this did not do much for me.

Super cute ☺️ It‘s a nice lil rom com that addresses themes from depression to fatphobia and still manages to be light and funny.

Got this one as a skip the line at my library, and it started off well. It just didn‘t quite pick up as I expected. It wasn‘t bad, by any means, and I listened to it in one day (to its detriment, prob, bc by the end I was just kinda tired)

Neal Shusterman always delivers. I dno why his name is shown twice on the cover tho? Anyways.. Good YA plot, good characters and good lil twists and stuff to think abt

Cute! Nice lil twist at the end as well ✨💕

Ooooofffft. The fantasy was great, as were the characters and their chemistry. It was a pretty steamy romance which is not what I usually go for but I regret NOTHING.

So frustrating. I‘m not even going with a bail, tho I did not finish it. It deserves a 👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽 so so so long, nothing ever happens, there‘s very little ambiance, and ooft, I did get to the twist at the end and at that point I did not care. Yikes.

I fucking hate it here. The system doesn‘t work, there is no reforming it.
I thought this book would be personally more triggering. It was beautifully written and while it was intense, it absolutely made one of her points clear: moving thru things can be better than forgetting. Chanel‘s journey is amazing, totally accessible and hopeful. She did mention wanting to make us see the positive. And we do. But still, it left me bitter and angry and sad.

Neat lil audiobook free on the audible plus catalog. Short and eerie, I wish there was more to it! Bonus points for non obnoxious #QUILTBANG content 💗

wow wow wow I‘m ecstatic to have these gifts from this Black History Month swap and to keep celebrating black excellency all year long 💗 thanks to @Chelleo !! I‘m so excited to read these books, I‘m obsessed with sending post cards (tho I‘m tempted to keep these on my wall) and…THAT CANDY!!! It was gone within 10 min of me seeing them. I‘ll def be placing an order for more (haven‘t looked it up yet but if you like candy their name is Chamoda‘s)

Right on time, got my package for the #Blitsy swap!!! Thank you sm for making sure I got these lovely pieces @Chelleo i almost couldn‘t open them bc the wrapping paper was so gorgeous!! I‘ll make an additional post reporting all the Black magic that‘s inside 👀✨

This was decent. Lots of the lesbian angst that is present in lots of gay relationships, spesh considering the timeline of this book is kinda long! I dno, I enjoyed the writing but some moments were pretty cringe to me. Good single steamy bit tho, if you‘re into that sorta thing in your romance novels!

I was fairly invested in the story, but now that it‘s over this book almost feels like a so-so. I think maybe bc this is not rly my genre. Serial killer-detective-victim plots are always a bit repetitive to me, tho I will say this was well written and well thought out, which many aren‘t. If crime novels are your thing, defo go for it.

Very mixed feelings on this one, brace yourself and I‘ll try to explain. Most people prob came for Elizabeth Báthory (the real life historical serial killer and all around sadistic basket case), and stayed for Anna (the nice girl). I came for the love story. Legit. Felt like reading some sapphic book, picked this up thinking it was abt vampires (big lol).
Continues ⬇️⬇️⬇️

On the younger side of YA, but super cute and pretty poignant on some themes. I love me a reality show book, so this was a 🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽

This bitch! 🤦🏽‍♀️ lol oh Billie.
Slow start, decent middle, kinda meh ending. Not bad overall, but not mind blowing either.

I had a slow start w this one, but once you get to know the characters it takes off. Rly good atmospheric horror moments, altho not enough imo. Lots of flirtatious scenes which I loved. it gives you all the right feels when you‘ve grown up queer and kinda confused - but the story is not abt being queer or coming out or whatever. Rly rly good. Coulda been two books- or could have a sequel (tho this is wishful thinking). I‘ll prob re-read it ❤️‍🔥

Boy am I glad to be done with this one. I tried reading a while back, gave up, tried recently, nearly gave up again… until I read some of the (raving) reviews - something abt a plot twist. Curiosity got the best of me. And yeah, ok, it was good. Now that the books over, I can appreciate the story and ponder on some of the themes, which are interesting. But ooooft I didn‘t quite enjoy the style, and I sure as heck did not enjoy the protagonist.

This felt like such an interesting premise…Reading it, I don‘t even think it coulda been better executed per se, but I guess there‘s not a ton of places it can go. So it‘s more of a book about the ride, yknow? It wasn‘t bad, by any means, but it wasn‘t great either. I really love Shustermans books, so this def left me with so-so vibes. But not to say others won‘t enjoy this one!

Whoa. This was eerily good. Think Bly Manor, with Turn of the Screw, with a bit of crime feel in there… to me it ended a bit abruptly, and even when there was 20 min left on my audio I kept thinking “HOWS THIS GONNA END SO SOON”?! But it‘s prob for the best, quit while you‘re ahead, right? Recommend it for fans of mild horror and suspense 🤘🏽

This book been on my list for a while, so I named it in honor of my #BlitsySwap post! Here‘s my package, sent yesterday and arriving this Tuesday :)) thank so much @Chelleo for organizing this swap in celebration of Black History Month! #BHMS

I myself am a bit late on my Black author works this February, but am very excited to plan ahead and get some awesome works in the mail - let‘s plan to celebrate black folks all year long 💕

What a great lil palate cleanser! It went nowhere I expected, based on the blurb, and in a good way! I thought this‘d be a get-to-know-yourself mildly romantic, touristy story. It was not. Not introspective, nor lovey-dovey, nor cheesy. It sucks that it‘s an “only from audible” audiobook, as I‘m trying to phase out of the platform…but I did get it for free with my bare bones subscription, so maybe people will benefit from the rec :))

Good, we‘ll written, all the feels type of book. This was so sad. Even the happy, funny bits were crushingly sad to me. It made me gloomy and thoughtful, not in a bad way, but not in a great way either. I don‘t think I was in the perfect state of mind for a book like this, but I still enjoyed it. Would read/listen again (but it‘ll be hard to pick it back up bc I‘m sure that when I think of this story, I‘ll mainly remember the sad sad vibes.)

This was a bit lukewarm. Had so much potential and some bits were ok, but generally… it was kinda cheesy and while I don‘t wanna judge anyone, the main characters feelings just didn‘t make sense to me, they were inexplicably all over the place. I prob overhyped it bc it had been on my library hold for a long time. At least it was short and easy, so no harm done 🤷🏽‍♀️

So. Close. I wanted to like this, and I tried to finish it, but eventually I just ran outta patience. The plot sounded interesting and I liked the elements of 80s/90s scary movies and such… but bottom line is: I don‘t like Grady Hendrix. It‘s decided, I‘m not gonna try his books anymore, it‘s not for me.

This was ok, not Moriartys finest work but it‘ll engage you enough to finish it. The mystery plot, altho it did make me gasp at a couple twists, was secondary, and only mildly interesting. A lot of the book was just character studies, notes on their thoughts, random bits of insights on every-day people, several not even really related to the story. Between the plot and the accent (audiobooker here), it kept me interested enough 🤷🏽‍♀️

I adore this universe so much. I don‘t necessarily wanna live in it, but I looove finding little differences and similarities with our world. I could read 100 books set here, connected or not. Chambers has such a beautiful writing style, and a wonderful way to describe her characters, you rly notice the complexity of each!
It dives into so many relevant issues like gender, war, ableism…It makes them accessible and helps you rly consider the sides.

I‘ve waited a while to get this one (between library holds and other books, the timing was never right) so maybe I hyped it to be something it‘s not. It has plenty of gore, but not a ton of ambiance or frights. There‘s also a lot A LOT to unpack in terms of social issues, white supremacy, patriarchy… They were so present in the plot, but never rly “discussed”, so mostly these moments felt gratuitous and flippant. I think this was my main issue ⬇️

I‘m torn on this one. I‘d say that for 80% of the ride, it was pretty…meh. Predictable plot, tiresome characters, weak dialogue. But, since I‘ve been on a wee bit of a slump, and every (straight) rom-com I‘ve read recently felt similar, I just kept pushing thru. At the end, I found myself getting excited for the story, and for me it finished on a positive note, leaving me in high spirits. Overall, it coulda been much shorter, but hey, I‘ll take it

A quickie that i almost forgot to post! Great little refresher on what it means to be a feminist, and how seemingly little actions and sayings can have a huge impact on people still developing their sense of the world. Here‘s to making our community better in 2022 and on ♥️