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★★★☆☆ I'm not entirely sure how I felt about this. Let me begin by saying that I watched the movie first, several years ago, and somewhat enjoyed it but definitely wouldn't call it a favorite. The book is somewhat in a similar position, but I have to admit that for the most part, I enjoyed the movie more. "There were thousands of stories just like this one, and mostly they didn't end happily." The Writing and Worldbuilding I was not a huge fan of the weird to quote or not to quote situation with the dialogue. In the vast majority of book, there were no quotation marks and I got used to that, but then in the second part, suddenly sometimes there were quotation marks and I was honestly so confused because it was pretty inconsistent which lines of dialogue had or didn't have any. I really liked how we got more with the refugees and survivors in the second half of the book, which was mostly glossed over in the movie. Most of the actua...

★★★★★ Lots of ARCs this month! Most reads were great but I had a few flops :(  ★★★★★ (Descending from pure awesomeness to horrible awfulness) 1. All the Light We Cannot See  ~ Anthony Doerr ★★★★★ 2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ~ C.S. Lewis ★★★★★ 3. The Last Halloween, Book 1: Children ~ Abby Howard ★★★★★ 4. Sadie ~ Courtney Summers ★★★★★ 5. Darius the Great Is Not Okay ~ Adib Khorram ★★★★★ 6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ~J.K. Rowling ★★★★ 7. Hamlet ~ William Shakespeare ★★★★ 8. The Broken Vow ~ Scott Westerfeld ★★★★ 9. Thunderhead ~ Neal Shusterman ★★★ 10. How I Live Now ~ Meg Rosoff ★★★ 11. Suicide Club ~ Rachel Heng ★★★ 12. Infinite Blue ~ Darren and Simon Groth ★★ See you in September!

★★★★☆ Expanded on the world, but left just enough for me to desperately want more. I must admit, though, that I liked the atmosphere of the first book more. The very ending of this was pretty cool though. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★★★ I really liked this. The Writing and Worldbuilding I absolutely loved the writing style! It was very similar to J.M. Barrie, with fun asides and little comments throughout. Though definitely targeted at children, it is readable and enjoyable by all. I loved the themes, the pacing, the world, and the characters. It was phenomenal. The Characters Peter, Susan, and Lucy: They were all so fun and I enjoyed following them and experiencing Narnia through them. Edmund: Freaking Edmund. He was such a good character. His arc was awesome and quite deep, actually. Definitely my favorite character. the White Witch: I was surprised at just how scary she actually was. Really, she was legitimately frightening! Aslan: I was worried that he would be preachy, but honestly he was sincerely powerful and strong and just pretty darn great. Conclusion I am so happy that I read this. It was really great. Such a funny, emotional, and powerful s...

★★★★☆ Buddy read with my favorite Novelty, Nana . The movie version of this was probably the one I ignored the most, probably because nothing can beat Hot Tom Riddle and the Giant Snek. Because of this, I was much more unaware of big plot twists, so that made this book a slightly more enjoyable read in some aspects. However, I thought that I'd get some more explanation as to HP reader's adoration of Sirius, and honestly, he's exactly like he is in the movie, and I still don't care all that much about him. I loved Lupin though! Definitely my favorite new addition! I found that the plot itself was a lot more...idk, boring? (Please don't kill me, hardcore HP fans!) Nothing really happened until the 70% mark, and then an entire 50% worth of plot happened in quick succession. I found that the movie had better pacing in my opinion in that regard. Overall, I liked it, but it's definitely my least favorite entry in the series so far. Buy the book...

★★★★★ I received this ARC from Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion in any way. OH MY GOSH I always forget fear is a conquerable thing but I learn it over and over again and that, I guess, is better than never learning it. Obligatory Summary Sadie is a thriller. A very intense thriller. Told in two perspectives—Sadie herself, and West McCray, the host of a radio podcast series—this book chronicles the missing person and murder investigations of two sisters, Sadie and Mattie. As Sadie travels from city to city in search of the man who killed her sister, West is close on her trail, hunting her down and unraveling the case. Dark secrets are revealed, and you never know what's going to happen next. And it begins, as so many stories do, with a dead girl. The Writing I was a HUGE fan of the writing. It was deeply personal and extremely atmospheric. I felt a part of the mystery, and lost myself ...

★★★★☆ The only Shakespeare plays I had read before this were Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, Macbeth being my favorite. Having now read Hamlet, I can honestly say that Macbeth is still my favorite. Let's discuss. So, Hamlet himself is an emo icon, and also a misogynist, who basically goes crazy, murders someone, and essentially ruins everything. The ending came a little too quickly for me, tbh. There wasn't enough time to really develop any other characters. It was pretty quotable, though. Really, it gave me more Romeo and Juliet feels than Macbeth feels. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★☆☆ Okay, so similar to Scythe, I don't really know what to think about this. So here's what improved, I guess: The worldbuilding got WAY better. Basically everything that should have been established in the first book but wasn't was explained (and sometimes even introduced) in this one. A million times better. I liked the Thunderhead Thoughts™ for the most part, but they did tend to seem unnecessary a lot of the time, and I would have liked a bit more consistency. The plot definitely improved, and was generally more exciting throughout, though it slumped hardcore in the middle, and had some more issues I'll discuss in the cons section. The climax was fantastic, though! I thoroughly enjoyed it! Very intense and very gripping. Greyson, a new addition, was a great character who I generally enjoyed. And here's the issues: New headcanon: Everyone is actually a bot. Or a terrible actor in a badly written play. This is the only way I will ...

★★★★★ I received this ARC from Dial Books via BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion in any way. "It's okay not to be okay." Okay, so this was strangely really relevant to my entire life. And to my family reunion vacation I was on as I read this. Creepy. Thing number one: Darius is a Fractional Persian who doesn't speak Farsi and goes to Iran for the first time. I'm half Chilean, have never been to Chile, and don't speak Spanish. Thing number two: Darius struggles with depression and friendships. My entire life I've had friend issues, and recently (last night actually), I was even talking to my sister and her husband about this very topic. Thing number three: Darius has a grandfather who he cannot really connect to who is terminally ill. While not my grandfather, and not someone I never met in person (I actually grew up going to his house every summer), my mom's brother in law is grandfa...

★★★☆☆ I received this ARC from Henry Holt and Company in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way. I don't know if I really like this book or not. I definitely don't hate it, but I can't say I particularly liked it. Let's discuss. Obligatory Summary Lea Kirino is a high society lifer on the path to immortality and success when a ghost from her past in the form of her long lost father shows up and ruins her chances. He disappeared 80 years ago when she was a child, and now seems to have a lot of secrets, one of which is the Suicide Club, a secret underground organization of influential people who believe in living life to the fullest and dying when and how they choose. As Lea learns to accept her past, she must figure out where her allegiances lie—with her father and the antisanct Suicide Club, or with the Ministry and all it's mundane regulations. On the other side of this story, we have ...

★★★★★ All your life you wait, and then it finally comes, and are you ready? This book is unique in a way that means a lot to me. Not only does it showcase the horrors of World War II through the life of Marie-Laure; the awful destruction, cruelty of the Nazis, and the terrible way memories change people. It also shows the war from the other side; from the side of Werner, a Nazi soldier, who is a hero in his own right, and a deeply sympathetic character. This storyline is what I will primarily focus on in this review because it is deeply personal to me. My uncle was a man not dissimilar to Volkheimer, Werner's friend and comrade in the war. He was tall, strong, passionate, and kind, liked by all who met him. He was unfortunate enough to be those things in a time of great social turmoil and political upheaval. He was a supersoldier in Chile during the dictatorship of Pinochet, and because of the things he did, he changed. He still lives, but he is a shell of his former...