Amanda
This is probably my favorite of the high school Betsy/Tacy books, just because the ending is so perfect.
(Read Harder 2017: #9 Read a book you've read before.)
Suffers a little for me because it doesn't have any of the supporting characters from Deep Valley that are so wonderful, but recovers due to the Betsy/Joe storyline, of course.
Anecdotal historical fluff about royal mistresses. If there's such a thing as beach-reading history, this is it.
Really interesting, and weird in the best way. I learned so much from this book about Latin American history and the 20th-century diaspora. I found Lola more compelling than Oscar. Reading in audiobook was excellent, though I probably missed more of the Spanish this way (my fault).
Cute cute cute. Much better than Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List, and probably about the same level as Nick and Norah. I liked Lily a lot. Dash not quite as much, but he was mildly annoying in a very realistic teenage-boy way.
Meh. Didn't hate it, but also didn't really buy the love triangle thing. Also was sort of irritated by the whole “only weak people need to take the green pill” motif. But maybe that's my anxiety disorder talking. Because I'm so weak and all.
Reread. Still adorable YA romance that's not too fluffy and doesn't involve supernatural beings.
Really interesting, but something about it in audio format didn't quite grab me in the way I was hoping. Not a lot of plot, but it's a memoir, so there doesn't have to be, of course - just trying to think of why it didn't quite work as audio for me. Standout parts: the section on Iran, and particularly the wedding. I also was fascinated by how Wilson writes about religion and her conversion to Islam, with a unique perspective that brings a new angle to a well-worn topic.
(Bookriot Read Harder 2016 Challenge: #13 Read a book that is set in the Middle East and #20 Read a book about religion, fiction or nonfiction)
I really liked Andi as a narrator. It's difficult to read, but depression is difficult to deal with, so I didn't have a problem with that. I didn't care for the dream sequence/hallucination/whatever toward the end; I didn't think it was really necessary for Andi's story to have this semi-mystical revelation about Malherbeau. The modern-day story was a lot more interesting to me, and I thought it lost a lot of steam when it was Andi in the 18th century, as opposed to reading/experiencing it via the diary. I'm also really tired of YA books painting medication for mental health as inherently bad - yes, it can be abused, and yes, it's not always the answer (or the entire answer). But both Andi and her mom had serious issues going on, and it bothered me to see them both apparently all better by going off their medication cold turkey.
Really enjoyed this - I haven't read much of anything set outside the US (or Europe, I suppose), and that's a huge failing on my part. I loved the modern Nigerian setting and the mythology that was used. The final confrontation with the Big Bad came on a bit abruptly for me, but this was a fun book and I'd love to read more in this universe.
Not a big fan of major psychiatric issues being cured through the power of true love, and I kind of wish the whole letter/Cyrano thing had gone on for a bit longer, but it was a perfectly fine historical.
I love Mary Roach's writing and this book was no exception. Favorite chapters were sex in space, pooping in space, and food in space.
(Read Harder 2017: #13 Read a nonfiction book about technology.)
Comics have gotten way gorier than the last time I read them. I still liked this, though I don't know all the backstory (does anyone know all the backstory?).
While normally I would ding this for being the second book in this series to have a kidnapping by a shadowy villain, at least it made more sense in this one. I really enjoyed the slow redemption of Leo that's been happening in the background of the previous books in the series and really comes to the fore here. Content warnings for sex trafficking, child sexual abuse (non-detailed, in past, side character), forced drug use.
So happy I found all of these in trade! Like I said in my review of the volume 3, this run is the reason I got into comics. Steph is one of my favorite characters, and probably my favorite non-Marvel female character. Miss her.
Love the characters, especially the dragons. I needed to reread some of the earlier books before this one, because it took me a bit to remember everyone's names and relationships. Mostly, I liked it, but the plot was a little meandering and the book felt like it just ended without a real climax or cliffhanger or anything. Fairly disappointing, especially if this is the end of the series.
Oh, Meg Cabot, I like you so much, but I did not like this book. None of the characters had any spark (except maybe Meena's next-door neighbor, who was at least amusing). If vampirism is supposed to be a metaphor for something here, it's really confused and I can't figure it out. Both of the main dudes are creepy, but in different ways. (Also, “chafing” is not a sexy word, even when describing the aftermath of, you know, sex.) I wanted to like this one, but I just couldn't.
Loved this one!!! I want a book about Louisa next. For more of their grandmother if nothing else.
2013 reread - yay, delicious fluff!
LOVED IT. Loved that even the more minor characters got some depth and layers. This book made me want to visit Paris again.
Meh. Two and a half stars, rounding up to three because it was pretty refreshingly not slut-shamey. Other than that, pretty generic YA that somehow keeps describing a boy with a bowl cut as attractive. And it's not set in the 90s.
I'm not quite sure how to review this one - there were some elements I really liked, some that I didn't, and a pretty troublesome amount of racism/othering of the Roma hero. I guess let's start there; Cam, the hero, is Roma and there is a LOT of use of slurs to refer to him, details behind cut: mostly g*psy, but also at least a few instances of things like "half-breed," since his father was Irish. No slurs from the heroine, but the narration uses the g-term and also there's quite a bit of exoticizing of his “dark” coloring and eye color (I read in print so I don't have exact quotes, but it was pretty constant throughout the book). This was published in 2007, so it's 14 years old as I write this - not ancient, but old enough to have aged poorly in this regard, at least. I'm not sure if there's a good way to write a Roma main character without veering into this weird sort of fetishization, but even if there is, this isn't it.
Okay, other things I wasn't really here for. There's a lot of possessiveness/jealousy from the hero, particularly towards the end of the book, stuff like him getting upset because she was talking to another man (an architect! Doing some work on the Hathaway estate! What a shameless hussy, right), which I absolutely hated. Benefit of the doubt, maybe it was meant to be funny, but if so, it didn't land. It was also explained as being because he's Roma, and ... again with the racism, sadly. I also didn't really love the supernatural element here, honestly. I feel like it would have been more effective to have Leo just mourning Laura and that leading to his depression/substance abuse, instead of bringing in the Roma legend and having him be literally possessed/haunted/whatever it was.
All that said, I did like a lot of this book! I liked Amelia and her determination to keep her family together and provide for her younger sisters, and I liked all the sisters (Leo was kind of an ass throughout, but there were Reasons). I enjoyed the connection to the Wallflowers series, and I thought it made sense in this case instead of being shoehorned in like “hey look, here are these characters you liked!” Lisa Kleypas is still one of my favorite historical writers, and I'm still going to read the next book in this (and probably finish the series, honestly), but I don't think this one is one of her best. Start with the Wallflowers or Ravenels series instead.
Phenomenal and a foundational work for the current era of activism around criminal justice reform and racial inequality. If some of the history or analysis here seems basic/obvious/whatever, it's because this book changed the conversation about these issues. I'm ashamed I hadn't read it until just now, especially since I'm a defense attorney and this is the environment that I work in every day. This book is crucial and so important to understanding where we are and how we got here. If possible, read the 10th anniversary edition, which has an updated foreword from the author about developments since the original publication.
