Maggie
i m so glad i have book 5 sitting right in front of me because WOW i need to read the next one like.... NOW
only a 4 star tho because it did seem very boring at parts and also i listened to some of it via audio and the audiobook sucks lmao
keefe...... i don't want to talk about it....
for some reason i thought the whole series would be about andie and sal's case...
BUT AMAZING!
"she was still kissing sadie when sadie's heart stuttered to a stop"
live footage of me reading this on my kindle:
4.5 rounded up...
3.5 rounded down only because nothing can beat the ending of bad blood. this was sweet though. a nice look at each character both in the future and in the past.
this books was amazing and i flew threw it. i even teared up a little at the end!
so excited to try to teach this to my freshmen this year!!
dont mind me just casually SOBBING two years in a row because ms holly jackson KNOWS how to write a compelling mother-daughter story arc...
3.5 really but rounded down.
im not saying this is ~bad~ im just saying its definitely a product of its time.... 2013 me would have eaten this shit up... 10 years later however,, , not so much
i saved 18 of the poems in here for re-reading purposes and i do own another lang leav collection which i will definitely pick up soon.
would i recommend this? absolutely only because it is so digestable and easy/quick to read.
would i want to reread this? no.
i feel like modern day poetry or ark poetry (after rupi kaur) is a different breed, and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it makes it a throw away at best. i won't remember these poems most likely in 10 years time. do with that what you will.
2.5 rounded up but ms messenger ur on thin ice
this book SUCKED. the last sentence of this book makes me want to never read anything else ever.
but yes i will be reading the entire series
i want to hate this. i want to laugh at this. i want to scream that this book is so trashy, campy, young adult-y, and messy so that makes it BAD.
but it doesn't. it makes it GOOD.
i am full on SOBBING (ugly cry, snot and all) over the ending to this book while ribs by lorde is playing and i WILL be contacting ms. jennifer lynn barnes for all future therapy sessions....
i wish i could give this a 0 of out 5,, i really really really wish i could
there are so many questions i still have about this book, so many questions left unanswered. now, typically that in and of itself wouldn't raise alarm for a bad rating, however these questions are due to PLOT HOLES not due to there being more to the story. i know there are a couple other books in this “universe/series” but to read those to see how S. E. Green covers up these plot holes would be a waste of time. there is only so much time in a person's life. i will NOT waste a second more on this horrendous works.
all in all, this felt like a very badly written wattpad fanfiction. the only difference?? there are no lovable characters that we know and love like there are in fanficiton. the characterization is flat in every regard, the writing is like a 10 year old wrote it after watching a true crime documentary, and i would say some parts are almost too much to stomach, but it's not because its not even descriptive. i mean hell, the twist ending on the last page happened in 4 sentences. not very descriptive at all.
and what the hell was that school scene between lane and zach?? hello? 911????
DON'T READ THIS BOOK. DEAR GOD DON'T READ THIS BOOK.
im positively in love with this series, all the characters, and all the relationships.
also i was midway through a puzzle and lost track of the audiobooks progression and then the CREDITS came on and I was like GIRL!!!!
this book is so formulaic and is like a teen netflix movie come to life and i. love. it.
also had me casually ugly crying over the father daughter relationship
i need to read this because i too was a fat, nerdy, (lesbian?), journalism student when i was in high school
i couldn't stop smiling through the last 20 minutes of this audiobook
this gives hsm-vibes in the BEST way possible. it's every ounce of a good teen romcom plus a sports romance plus an enemies/rivals-to-lovers plus fake dating plus s a p p h i c.
i also love how much light quindlen decided to shed on the actual and literal grief you can feel when losing a relationship (whether it be romantic or platonic or somewhere in between).
this is the cutest romance ive read in a while. like sugary sweet fluff. yet also has a few heart-wrenching-ly real moments.
also only 7 hours on audio?? the -perfect- length for a romcom.
ms. kelly quindlen please write more books im begging you.
screaming, crying, throwing up
i don't remember whose goodreads update lead me to this book but THANK YOU
this book Shook me. shook. SHOOK. ME.
3.5 but rounded up.
i really like this don't get me wrong. but because i took like a 2-ish week break in between reading sessions it was hard to give it more than a 3.5 star rating. it just didn't pull me in like i would have wanted it to.
definitely going to read number 3, definitely going to read the rest of i s belle's blacklist and DEFINITELY going to recommend any of these books to anyone who loves queer horror!!
definitely in my top 5 books that school has led me to read,, ever,,
i laughed, i cried, i full on sobbed, it was gut-wrenching but so so so good
really excited to teach this this coming school year and experience it all over again
i can't sing this series' praises enough,, seriously though i am absolutely in freaking love with this story, the characters, the twists and turns, everything.
this book was e m o t i o n a l. like highly. i cried at least 5 seperate times and all of them were borderline ugly cries.
there's a large overpowering theme of guilt and the effect of grief not only on a regular person but an elf - someone who typically does not experience loss at all. i feel so deeply for grady, edaline, sophie, the vakers, wylie, and everyone who has had to experience losing someone they loved so deeply before. especially in a world that doesn't acknowledge that grief. i think it was done beautifully.
also keefe ????? heart eye emojis
okay i have soooo many feelings about this book!! i know this is one of grady hendrix's older books but like ??? gurl. this is not it.
it's a short read and if that's a compliment that's definitely where my compliments end for this book. after like page 120 it's just a straight gore (i'm squeamish over everything okay so i'm calling it gore when they litcherally describe finger nails being ripped off like a wet stamp) and action-fest book. character's had no development, no depth, no spice.
and to top it all off there are so! many! plot! holes! what the fuck is the white milky fluid that comes out of trinity and into carl? who the fuck is carl? why couldn't the cops find the address? but then the cops do show up at the end? what , and i cannot stress this enough, the fuck did i just read. hendrix, you owe me one.
can i give this a six stars ????
so freaking god im kind of in shook i havent read this up until this point in our lords year of 2023 10 whole years after it was published. mid-way through i ordered the next books already!!
i LOVE middle grade first and foremost but this was just. so. charming. so sweet. so heartfelt. so meaningful.
i also loved how fast paced this was. i have a goldfish pea sized brain and i lose interest QUICKLY which is why i loved how this book was 500 pages yet i read in in 5 days. like wow.
soooo much happened in those 500 pages though so im so excited (and scared) to see what happens in the NINE other books in this series. and im scared bc book 3 is like 600+ pages ....
please read this book. please talk to me about this book. im IN love.
turns out i DO like romances...
a lot.
this is essentially lesbian bridgerton but even that is a pale comparison to this beautiful book. there were not just one but TWO swoon-worthy romances in here and beth and gwen are just – gah!!! i love them!!
please read this book. please recommend me more like this as well!