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★★★★★ Eerie and atmospheric, it never quite answers your questions, but in the best way possible Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★★★ "It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more." WHY DOES JK ROWLING THINK IT'S OKAY TO DO THIS TO ME? I loved this one. These books seriously just keep getting better and better. It had some strong Chamber of Secrets vibes (my immovable number one favorite book), what with the mysterious and sinister book of uncertain ownership, the trips into Hot Tom Riddle's past (which was pretty much the sole reason I even decided to read the books in the first place), and the Draco antics, which had been sorely lacking. Also, I only watched the movies of these last few books like twice each, a long time ago, so honestly, I can barely remember anything (except for all the big stuff, somewhat unfortunately), so I'm pretty nervous, guys. Like, I really don't want anyone to die but I KNOW WHO DIES ALREADY Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★☆☆☆ I received this eARC from Orca Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Obligatory Summary This is a difficult book to summarize because, honestly, I don't really know what happened. Basically, take that one movie about a girl who loves surfing but gets bitten by a shark and losses an arm but learns to surf again, and merge it with a fever dream version of Aqua Marine, and you'll still not have what happened. This book makes no sense. I'll give you what I did understand, though. So, Ash saves Clayton from dying in the prologue and in the first chapter they're suddenly casually declaring their love. Ash is a hardcore swimmer who breaks a world record and gets swept up in her mother's dream of stardom. Then she suffers a devastating accident that changes her life forever. Clayton...draws, I guess? He has a sassy chain-smoking Finnish grandma and that's about all I can really say. The Writing (and Worldbuilding?)...

★★★★☆ Can I just say that Kippa is too good for this world? If the little fox dies in this series, I'm rioting. This is basically just the hardcore, sweary, bloody version of Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi tbh Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★☆☆ I received this eARC from Charlesbridge Teen on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way. Obligatory Summary Naya Garth is a Talmiran, and like all good Talmirans, she despises the undead—walking corpses and wraiths—who live freely in neighboring Ceramor. Years ago the Mad King tried to use an army of undead to win a deadly war, and ever since he was taken down, the Powers have controlled Ceramor with the Treaty of Lith Lor. When Naya goes to Ceramor with her merchant father and mysteriously dies, the last thing she expected was to become a wraith and a spy for Talmir. Posing as a necromancer's servant, Naya must learn to navigate the world of politics and aether while her loyalties are tested by the helpful and kind wraith Corten who represents everything she's been trained to hate but makes her feel alive after death. The Writing and Worldbuilding This book suffered from an ex...

★★★☆☆ This is sort of hard to review. On one hand, I read it in basically one sitting, but it is fairly short so that doesn't mean much. I liked the mystery element, but found the actual ending to be... stupid? Like, Extras ending level of stupid ~it was all just a misunderstanding!~ kind of stupid that frankly pisses me off. The world was pretty cool (until the literal big reveal) and idk something about Cal just screamed "I'M A SELF INSERT CHARACTER FOR SCOTT WESTERFELD" I mean, they're both Texans in New York, they're both boys for one thing, and I've never met Scott Westerfeld, but I've read a crap ton of his books, and after a while, the author's personality bleeds through. Cal's a self insert character if I ever read one, and that's pretty disappointing because I wanted more normal guys as YA protagonists. Also, he was half assertive cool guy, half nerdy loser, and that's an annoying combination. Lace was really a...

★★★★☆ Honestly. I don't have too much to say about this. I watched all the movies first and really enjoyed them. I feel like they (at least in the case of the first one) pretty accurately represented the books (at least the atmosphere and most plot points), so I don't really have any new feelings. In some ways, I think I might actually prefer the movie. The writing style was alright; very easy to read, but a little too simple for my tastes, but I suppose it's perfect for a reluctant reader. The world is definitely the best part. I was always pretty confused about the explanations in the movies about why the Maze even exists in the first place, and the book definitely did a much better job there. Character-wise, I'm fairly neutral. I liked Thomas but feel that he's also fairly generic. I'm pretty sick and tired of female protagonists, so it was nice to read about a boy for once, in a story that I'm sure was great for young male readers, who ar...

★★★★★ I LOVED THIS ONE! Honestly, these just keep getting better! I absolutely loved the wizard angst! But like, for real though. This kid deserves to scream for three months straight. I'll scream with him. We'll have a screaming party. I loved that Neville finally got to freaking do something, Ginny is an actual character, and Luna was there! I love Luna (hate the audiobook voice she has though...) Umbridge is the devil and I really want Voldemort to kill her because they both suck and I just want two evils to cancel each other out, ya feel me? All in all, freaking fantastic! Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★☆☆ What Really Happened in Peru ★★☆☆☆ Part of this was an actual story. The other part was absurd, unrealistic, and all over the place. The Runaway Queen ★★★☆☆ Better than the first one, but still ridiculous and unrealistic Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale ★★★★★ The best so far! I loved Edmund, and Magnus was actually a real person in this, not a ridiculous caricature. The audiobook narrator was excellent as well, so that definitely helped. The Midnight Heir ★★★☆☆ Better written than most of these are, but lacking a coherent story of any kind The Rise of the Hotel Dumort ★★★☆☆ Okay by most standards but I'm not impressed Saving Raphael Santiago ★★★★☆ I wholeheartedly agree with Raphael's analysis of Magnus. He's ridiculous, obnoxious, and annoying. Also, why is Ragnar's character literally whatever the heck Clare needs for any given story? Like, he...

★★★★★ THIS IS FREAKING GOOD THO "Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it." AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH This is without a doubt my favorite installment so far. The juxtaposition of the light, fun parts with the dark, absolutely soul-destroying parts (that made me want to die) was masterfully done, and I was left with dread for the future, but (since I already know how everything ends lol) I am also left with hope. The characters really grew into much stronger, better people (and just in time too, because STUFF IS GOING DOWN). I loved the tournament and the other schools (though I was disappointed that Neville wasn't the one who gave Harry gillyweed like he does in the movie; that felt like a missed opportunity to actually include his character in anything at all, which he hasn't had the chance to do since the first book). [Also, why didn't Viktor Krum ever get any kind of comeuppance fo...

Her eyes were like a precipice, and he, fool boy, was happy to fall. The story itself probably would be better told as a novel instead of a short story. The emotion wasn't really there but the concept was pretty neat. Read the short story here

★★★★★ "Though mountains melt and oceans burn, The gifts of love shall still return." This gave me L I F E The Writing and Worldbuilding So, basically take Beauty and the Beast but make it Rumpelstiltskin instead (and not the way Once Upon A Time did) but also make the beast super hot (and honestly an actually good and decent version of Rhysand without the rapey-ness). Give or take some Grecio-Roman and European mythology and the most clever way to successfully pull off a love triangle, and you'll have this book. IT'S FREAKING GREAT! "But it seems to me that if you break a thing, you can't complain that it's in pieces." The writing immediately drew me in and never let me go. I ADORED all the characters and was on the edge of my seat, trying to figure out the plot ahead of time. The climax was epic, the ending was fulfilling, and now I NEED MORE (WHY IS THIS NOT A SERIES?!) I really liked the world. It'...

★★★★☆ I liked this story for the most part. It was fun and enjoyable and fairly unique, with the fairies coexisting with modern society in a conceivable way. The characters were all likeable. The narrative voice was humorous. Unfortunately, the prose itself was...idk, boring? For being a book about fairies, it really wasn't very lyrical. I also found the themes to be a bit too unclear and unrelated. Why was Hazel the hero this story needed? Why did her brother have musical powers and how was that supposed to fit into the plot? After the 70% mark, when the book was supposed to be at it's peak, I found myself drifting from it. I got bored. I didn't really care anymore because I didn't have anything to care about. Sorrow's themes were sort of connected to Hazel's, and her themes weren't at all connected with the Alderking's. Overall, this is a book that tells a fun story, but not a particularly deep or profound one. Enjoyable, but lacking substa...