Juliana

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced reader copy of The Bodyguard, a book I've been incredibly excited to read since it was announced!

I zipped through this one! A story about a Hollywood heartthrob actor and his temporary unconventional bodyguard, The Bodyguard was a captivating and really fun read!

As a queen of writing strong female protagonists, Center introduces us to Hannah, a 5 foot 6 executive protection agent (AKA: bodyguard).

4.25 stars

“You can't quantify humanity. You can't measure it—not the way you mean to. People are passionate and flawed and fallible. They make mistakes. Their memories fade. Their eyes deceive them.”

A book that kept getting better and better, If We We're Villains is beautifully written! My star rating choice went from 3.75 to 4 as I continued reading, and the ending was gripping enough to raise that to 4.25.

In the beginning, I honestly didn't love this book. The cha

The suspense was killing me! Once I really got Gone Girl, I couldn't stop reading it. To use one of my favorite bookish terms, a great deal of this book was absolutely unputdownable. I had high hopes for Gone Girl—given my love of thrillers and the book's popularity—and it did not disappoint!

Nick and Amy as narrators truly made the story. I say it all the time and I'll say it again: I love a good complex character, and Nick and Amy are certainly that. I find it far more fascinating when

3.25 stars. I want to start this review by saying I didn't outright dislike this book. In fact, there were parts of it that I enjoyed, especially the last 60 pages or so. I also liked the little twists sprinkled in. However, the story just couldn't hold my attention for more than a chapter or two and I'm not sure why. I really enjoyed Julie Clark's The Ones We Choose (check out my review from August!), which is why I had such high hopes for The Last Flight. Unfortunately, I just wasn't super motiv

I loved this book far more than I thought I would! Rock Paper Scissors has everything I look for in a psychological thriller. I was so curious to figure out what was going on that I didn't want to put the book down and, using the hints dropped throughout the story, I got to sleuthing and developing my own theories.

Feeney gives more clues and information with each chapter, slowly revealing pieces to the whole puzzle. However, the story is so well thought out that just enough information is given

“It's funny how the things you don't like are the things you miss when they're gone.”

3.25 stars. There were some things I liked about Faking Normal, but there were also aspects I disliked.

Liked:
- It covers an incredibly important topic (even though it's uncomfortable and upsetting to read about). These are some of the most important kinds of stories.
- Emphasizes that it is never your fault for being sexually assaulted.
- Bodee. He is a reminder that some people

What a great thriller! Local Woman Missing kept me hooked starting from the very first page. I especially liked the unique perspectives given with the three different narrators between chapters: Meredith in the weeks leading up to her and Delilah's disappearance, Leo—Meredith's son—11 years after the disappearance, and their next-door neighbor, Kate, whose narration takes place soon after Meredith and Delilah's disappearance.

I was so close to giving this book 5 stars. It was when everyt

3.25 stars. I couldn't decide on whether Michigan vs. The Boys should get 3 or 3.5 stars, so I settled for my first ever .25 rating. This book had me LIVID. The misogyny was so blatant that I had to step away from the story at times. I skipped ahead a bit just to make sure justice would be served because I couldn't go on without at least knowing there was a happy ending.

This was one of those “meh” books. With such a high GoodReads rating, I had very high hopes and was disappointed. I didn

Side note: Coincidentally, I finished this book exactly one year after it was published!

It's interesting how so many books that seem to be about death end up actually being about life. Dear Edward is both a tragic story about 191 plane crash casualties and the story of how the sole survivor of this crash, a twelve year boy, navigates life during the six years following.

Chapters go back and forth between the Flight and Edward's life. While I enjoyed reading the parts about Edward's

3.5 stars

You may love friends-to-lovers stories, but what about friends-to-enemies? My love for Eli and Victor continued on strong in book two of the Villains series. Not that they proved themselves to be worthy or morally just, but because they are perhaps the best kind of protagonists: misguided and flawed but believing they are working for the greater good. This complex mix always makes me find characters much more interesting and leaves me not knowing whether to root for or against them.
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What can I say, I'm a sucker for V. E. Schwab's writing. I didn't want this story to end! I loved so much about Vicious. I especially enjoyed reading about Eli and Victor, the two main characters, in college. Slowly learning more about various characters and different backstories as the story went on rather than getting everything upfront always kept the book captivating.

The main message of the book/what questions the reader is intended to be left with is incredibly clear: What defines a he

“When you ask people in town what happened to Andie Bell, they'll tell you without hesitation: ‘She was murdered by Salil Singh.' No ‘allegedly,' no ‘might have,' no ‘probably,' no ‘most likely.' He did it, they say. Sal Singh killed Andie. But I'm just not so sure.”

With all the hype surrounding this trilogy, I couldn't wait to start A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. I didn't expect to be reading it for the better half of a month.

The story would have benef

Reading a book by Zack Smedley is a full body experience—a heart-aching, stomach-clenching, mind-absorbing, eyes-moving-at-lightening-speed-across-the-page experience. At least it is for me, because I am so incredibly engrossed by the stories he creates. I probably said all of this in my review for his debut novel, Deposing Nathan, but it couldn't be more true. I'm speechless, yet I have so much to say.

For the first half of the book, I thought it would be a 4-star review from me. It was real

I was expecting a story about witches breaking a curse with a side of romance, but instead got a story about two hormone-crazed witches who jump on each other at every free moment (which was surprisingly frequent given they were trying to save the town from magical mayhem) and are attracted to the strangest things about one another (the fact that she wears polka dots? His elbows?) with a side plot of breaking the curse.

That being said, there are things I did like about this book, like the overall

3.5 stars. I enjoyed most of this book, but I'd say the second half was better than the first. There were plot twists thrown in that kept things interesting and the characters were never as they initially seemed. I really liked learning new things about the characters as the story progressed rather than having everything laid out about them from the beginning.

However, the first half was so disconnected from the second that I feel like I've read two different books. There are two major charact

Yet another 5 star review of The Love Hypothesis from yours truly. What a fun read! I love college settings for books (4 of my reads from this month took place at universities!), and a quirky, funny, and ambitious woman pursuing a PhD in biology made for an incredible protagonist.

While I tend find the fake dating trope pretty unoriginal at this point, it worked perfectly in The Love Hypothesis. I loved Adam. I loved Olive. I loved their relationship. I laughed out loud at parts of this book. I lo

Do you ever finish a book that you ended up loving so much that you have a physical reaction to it? Like, you put the book down and feel your heart swell, stomach drop, and stare at the wall unsure of how to proceed with the evening? That was this my experience with Deposing Nathan.

I don't know where to begin with this book. It's been a long time since I've felt this way about a young adult novel and I am blown away by how good it was. To say this was a quick read is an understatement. With

4.5 stars!

I don't know what to do now that I don't have the Palmetto State Foxes to read about. The characters truly made the story in this trilogy and I grew so attached to them. While there was a bit of a deus ex machina moment in the middle—in addition to some ridiculous plot points—the story kept me so captivated and invested. I said it about book 2 and I'll say it again: Andrew Minyard is the most fascinating and complex character I have read in a long time and I loved every scene w

The Raven King was extremely disturbing at times, cringeworthy, and had some extremely dumb aspects to it...and I couldn't put it down. This series is all about the characters for me, and I can't get enough of Neil, Kevin, and Andrew. Seriously, Andrew Minyard is my favorite part of this entire trilogy. I mean, talk about a complex character!

I hated the end of this book. In addition to it involving something you don't want to happen, it was disturbing and still doesn't make much sense to

3.5 stars

This book a bit odd and...confusing. And by confusing, I mean I had to go back and reread so many parts because it was just so unclear sometimes what the characters were referring to and what exactly was happening. This is mainly what brought it down from 4 stars to 3.5.

However, The Foxhole Court left me very eager to start book two of the trilogy! The entire first book felt more like the first half of one book rather than the entire first book of a trilogy. This is because the

I absolutely loved this book!!! It's been months since I've given 5 stars, and this story is truly deserving!

Jace escapes his abusive father in Chicago and makes the 19 hour drive to Albuquerque, where his brother, Christian, is currently living after having escaped the home himself five years prior. Jace carries barely any money, no plan, and the hope that his mother follows through on her word to escape her violent husband for good and meet up with them in New Mexico.

One of my favo

4.5 stars!

Three words I'd use to describe The Ones We Choose are fascinating, eye opening, and thought provoking.

Before each chapter, there is a small section on genetics, discussing things like DNA methylation, genetic disorders, different genetic theories, and mock cryogenic bank documents, among other things. I learned so much! I truly love the way genetics was such a big part of the book. It was a really unique aspect that made the story so distinct and interesting.

Julie

3.5 stars

I was conflicted about what to rate this book. Considering it took over 3 weeks to read, I felt that 4 stars may be too generous. There were aspects of this book I really liked and others I didn't love so much.

I loved that Darcy was a character with a lot of personality that poured through the pages. Every conversation and situation was laced with her sarcasm and witty remarks, which made her a really unique and relatable protagonist. While I sometimes felt she dove too deep i

While I enjoyed reading Love and Other Words, I didn't find much motivation to actually pick it up and read every day, resulting in me spending longer than usual to complete it.

I was disappointed to find that I was often annoyed by Elliot. He struck me as overly nosy and often had no filter. However, these flaws did make him seem more real rather than making him out to be some flawless hero that no one can relate to. I also felt that the way he acted around Macy was a little strange given it ha

4.5 stars! I kept going back and forth between 4 and 4.5 stars until finally deciding to give it that extra half star. What an incredibly twisted, disturbing, and upsetting book. That being said...I actually enjoyed it! I have seen so many reviews of Then She Was Gone that said the story was predictable. However, I definitely did not predict the sick turn it took. Some things were pretty obvious, like which character was likely involved in Ellie's disappearance, but the specifics of what would end up bein