Ivy

This book is a masterpiece

5 million stars

Pls write a sequel lmfao

But real talk what an incredible debut, Sarah Adler will absolutely be an insta-buy author for me in the future.

Queer rep? check.

Beautiful prose? check.

SPICE?! CHEEECK lmao

Also major props to the author for making me love a book with the miscommunication trope in it, because it was actually written/handled super well. It usually makes me wanna rip my hair out

I want to rage-toss this book through a window and pretend I never read it (5 stars)

This should legitimately be required reading. There are so many horrific things about the history of slavery that I had absolutely zero knowledge of. 

I was sitting heavy on a 3.5 rating, but tbh the saving Grace (literally, pun intended) that bumped it up to 4 stars, was Grace Cavanaugh 😂🤌🏻

What happened to Slick kinda gave me the ick (lol) bc it felt kinda idk, unnecessary? Maybe that's just me. But yeah, overall, I did enjoy this book!

It was super creepy/disturbing at times, but great at keeping my attention throughout the entire 14 hour audiobook (PS highly recommend the audio bc the narrator had the perfect accent & really brought this story to life)

It was my first Grady Hendrix read & I will definitely be reading more in the future~

3.75 rounded up

Okay it was SO cute & I was smiling like a dang fool through a lot of it but I think I'm lowkey such a romance hater overall lmao I have to be very specifically in the ~mood~ to read romance & I *was* when I first started the book, but it took me a while to get through thanks to my varied disability issues (exhaustion + pain, mainly) so by the 70% point I was kind of like, pushing myself through to the ending bc the 'mood' had passed 😂😭

Still really liked it, though! Most of the baseball stuff flew right over my head cause I'm not really a baseball girlie, but it wasn't really over the top and was still enjoyable for someone who doesn't know anything about sports.

It had pretty good ADHD/mental health rep, fun friendships, realistic conflict between characters, cute gays doin cute gay things & plenty of Trans joy ofc

(Was also a tad spicier than I was expecting lol not a bad thing, it just surprised me) 🥴

One thing that was kind of odd to me (and I'm just nitpicking here) was how dodger was just casually allowed to go everywhere with Luis. Only mentioning this because he is described as his emotional support dog - which is, legally speaking, different than a service dog.

THIS WAS SO AMAZING OMG

I LOVE I LOVE I LOVE I LOVE

NO REVIEW, ONLY SCREAMINGGG LMAO

PLS READ THIS BOOK ASAP BC AHHHH

Hiii! mini disclaimer - I did recieve this book for free because I won it in a [Goodreads] giveaway via vintage/anchor books :)

I was ecstatic when I recieved the email saying I'd won a copy of this book because it was a release I had been actively looking forward to - & thankfully I can say that it certainly did not disappoint!

The author clearly put a ton of love and raw emotion into the writing of this book & it was such a wonderful read.

Following Ro's journey of love & loss, and everything in-between as she navigates life from young age(s) to her 30s, was equal parts heartwarming & at times (ouch chapter 10) heartbreaking.

Also really adored her 'relationship' with Dolores! [a charismatic, color-changing, giant pacific octopus]

This book was one of my biggest let-downs of the year NGL (2.75 ⭐️'s)

Currently face down in a puddle of my own tears (that's it, that's the review)

It took me forever to finish this book because I pretty much plummeted into a horrible months-long reading slump, but I finally finished it and I loved it so very much 

Okay, oof, so I'm knocking a star off my original rating because I saw someone make a really good point in their review of this & it got me thinking about stuff - Adrian was an absolute d!ck & I think it should have been addressed within the story somehow, because Theo still being friends with someone like that even after the BS he pulled is kinda...icky 🫣

5 star story idea for sure I still loved the majority of the book but since Adrian was never truly reprimanded (or w/e) for his sh!tty actions, he kinda just felt like a lazy plot device thrown in there to cause discord between Dylan & Theo y'know what I mean? 

I changed my rating of this several times because I was very conflicted about how I felt about it. I eventually decided on 2.75 stars bc overall, it just left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. 
The writing was... good, but a lot of the “humour” just wasn't for me, I guess? 
There was a point in the book that I did* like, where the character was like “people are always eating & drinking in books, but no one is ever peeing” to which I was like yeah true, you right you right lol 😂
But yeah, I found myself bored, confused and moderately grossed out [maybe it's just a me thing, but MC sexualizing -AKA fantasizing about in a sexual manner- both of the hotel desk attendants, as a married woman, was just very ick for me] 
I found myself just wanting to reach the end of the book by the 75% point, but at the same time, I was too invested in her desert survival predicament to DNF it. I actually listened to the last hour and 30 mins of it on 1.75x speed, which was an experience 😅😭 (I typically don't listen to any audio books faster than 1.25x)