Becky

This was my first time re-visiting this series since high school and I was really charmed by it all over again! I can't wait to see how the rest of the re-read goes, but it felt nice being back in the "Fruits Basket" world for a little while.

I read this for work as a resource for HR/DEI. I was hoping to find a resource that decentralized US/ UK notions of DEI and learn from that perspective. And while those topics are present in the book, I think it worked best as a memoir and case study of learning and building a policy case. Worth reading, but possibly mis-marketed.

Really charming and lovely, funny and sweet story about believing in yourself and finding home. A little formulaic and the very end was a little disappointing, but definitely a book I’ll be buying for little libraries and classrooms and a series I’ll be finishing.

This book felt like a time capsule, with its reliance on discussions and fears around the HPV vaccine. It also felt a little disjointed and its focus a little loose. I felt like the author was trying to say something about the way we police teenage sexuality but lost that plot in her investigation of crime and group fear/ psychosis events. Overall, the book was definitely readable but I don’t think it’s the authors strongest.

Not my cup of tea. Everything felt repetitive and strongly telegraphed. Nothing happened between pages 51 to 541 that couldn't be guessed in the first fifty pages. I had a hard time liking the main character or finding a unique personality in any of the supporting characters. Just...not for me, but I'm happy for folks who like it and happy I checked it out to see what the hype was about.

*Quick Note on Review Below: I haven't read any other books in this series.

This is an easy, sweet read presented in an easy, almost conversational style. I can see immediately how these stories connect with readers, and how easy it was for these books to find an audience. In this style, somewhat in the plot, and in the message, it reminded me a lot of "The Five People You Meet in Heaven".

Which leads me to some quick critiques: even though some of the stories carried an impact, I thought the moral was a little obvious and a little repetitive. Between the repetitive moral and the frequently repeated character and plot points from previous novels, the overall feeling was that, in a short book, even some of the stories, details, and whole pages were skippable. For this reason, I don't think any of the remaining books in this series are for me.

That being said, I did enjoy reading this book, was emotionally effected (affected?) at parts, and I would be interested in reading other books by this author outside of this series when the opportunity arises.