Binding 13 (Boys of Tommen, #1) by Chloe Walsh Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

Y'all this book moves at the pace of a snail - I understand that it is a slow burn, but that should not mean that the plot also moves as if it is stuck in time. I kept having to push myself to sit and read this book, and considering I have had it on my TBR two and a half years ago, I would have hoped it was going to live up to expectations. I did not realize that Shannon was 15 years old in this book - it feels very odd to read about a main character who is so young, and I felt as though I could not immerse myself into the story because I was so focused on how young she was - not to mention the constant mentioning of how teeny tiny she was for her age. Yes, I understand that it is important in the story, but it was constant and mentioned no less twenty times in the first one hundred pages - it became repetitive very quickly.

Thank goodness I borrowed this from the library because I simply cannot imagine using my hard earned cash to pay to read over 600 pages of this nonsense. Shannon is literally getting tossed around like a rag doll with her horrible home life and the only person that even remotely tries to do anything is Johnny - even her brother, Joey, is very much aware of what is going on, and yet seems to think that telling her to finally fight back is enough advice to get her through the next few years until she turns eighteen. I have conflicted feelings about Joey - I can understand where he is coming from, but he seems to do the bare minimum when it comes to protecting Shannon. Obviously I know it is not his job to make sure Shannon is safe, but I would have loved a little more initiative. 

Johnny is basically obsessed with Shannon but of course rugby comes first to him, yet he cannot stay away from her. At least he is not obsessed in the sense that he is running around kidnapping her - oh wait, he basically does that in the most loose of terms. You can tell that his infatuation with Shannon has overtaken his mind, but considering his mindset is rugby over everything, you can only imagine how well he handles having a "distraction" around during his most critical time to make the U20s.

Shannon's friends were pretty solid, and considering all of the bullying and harassment she went through at her old schools, I was glad she actually had people in her corner. I thought it was absolutely insane that just because Shannon would be standing near Johnny, there were people who considered her a threat and began to terrorize her. Bella in particular was the saddest excuse for a girl I have ever read and her insecurity was basically flying off the page. Considering Shannon was bullied for being small - and having big eyes? - I did think it was strange that high-school-aged people were still using those characteristics as their bullying points. It felt overused after the tenth mention, but I can see how the author wanted to drive the point home on how severe the bullying was for her at her previous school.

The worst offenders in this book are Shannon's mother and father - I was literally wishing they would disappear every other page. They are hands down some of the worst book parents I have ever encountered and I was perplexed on how they were able to carry on with their lives. It was physically nauseating to see how they treated their own daughter, and I wanted to put the book down by the last few chapters. This is not the worst I have seen, but definitely graphic enough to make me jump back as I turned the pages.

I wish I enjoyed this book as much I thought I was going to - I can certainly see the appeal, but I was expecting a lot more from this first installment, and with over 600 pages, I wanted to see more character development from Shannon. Johnny had his moments and his development after the first half of the book, but it was minimal in my eyes, and it frankly took a scenario that I will not spoil for him to get his act together and have his realization moment.

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Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

I was in desperate need of a lit fic to push me out of my romance-induced binge, and what better way to do a 180 and throw myself into a modern day Persephone and Demeter retelling. As a sucker for anything involving Greek mythology and a girl in her twenties who is drawn to literary fiction like a moth to a flame, this book has been on my TBR for a hot minute. When camp counselor Cory catches the eye of pharmaceutical mogul Rolo, a single father of one of her campers, she is whisked away to a private island to be his private nanny. As she continues to butt heads with her mother, the book switches perspectives between the mother daughter duo as they embark on separate journeys and explores varying degrees of consumerism, desire, and control.

It is so intriguing - and often disorienting - to see Cory slowly succumb to the draw of Rolo's charm and enticing nature as she becomes more integrated into the luxurious island. As her time there progresses and her use of Rolo's pharmaceuticals steadily increases, Cory begins to question the intentions of her charming host while convincing herself that she remains in control of her decisions and actions. Surrounded by Rolo's workers and influenced by their clique-like behavior, Cory seemingly begins to want to repair her relationship with her mother with the simple step of reaching out to her.

Cory's mother, Emer, is an ambitious head of an agricultural NGO and desperate to locate her teenage daughter that has seemingly disappeared from her camp counselor job into thin air. As she attempts to contact her, she is bombarded with questions regarding the status of rice growth and inquiries on how much longer investors will have to wait. Torn between her business and her child, Emer's life is disrupted as she abandons all and embarks on a search for Cory, no matter the cost to her reputation.

It was incredibly intriguing to see Rolo's characterization develop as Cory spent more time on the island and taking Fruit of the Dead - he becomes more alluring while also showing increasing signs of agitation and sporadic decision making. When he first appears to Cory, he is showcased as a god-like man with incredible draw, and yet we see this persona slip and form into a controlling man with tunnel vision. Cory's presence on the island continues to influence her own decision making and she becomes part of Rolo and his children's lives. Those around Rolo, including a mildly disgruntled ex-wife, seem to send warning signals to Cory every chance they get, but with infatuation blinding her and Fruit of the Dead muddling her mind, she stuck in island set on keeping her unaware of her surrounding.

Lyon does an impeccable job at incorporating myth and modern together. Her writing style abandons quotation marks in conversation - not one of my favorite stylistic choices, but I do say it worked well as it causes confusion for both the reader and the characters. Your brain begins to feel muddled and you are going back to past paragraphs to confirm you did not miss anything. Readers are left spiraling down the rabbit hole along with Cory as she is entangled in some serious fixation with a life of luxury with Rolo. I had a great time reading this disorienting exploration of capitalistic greed, carnal desire, and familial bonds - as a lover of Greek mythology, Lyon hits the nail on the head with this vivid retelling.

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Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield Review

This is a spoiler-free review! This book contains detailed descriptions of disordered eating, depression, and dissociation.

Elise and her boyfriend, Tom, take off to Minnesota for the sugar beet harvest, with Elise hoping that the money she earns from the harvest will hold off the never-ending bills and rent payments that come with living in Brooklyn. As she and Tom arrive to the harvest, strange occurrences haunt her journey and Elise begins to question the things she is seeing, hearing, and even herself. From strange and threatening text messages to the slow disappearance of her fellow harvesters, her trip to earn a paycheck quickly transforms into something much more sinister.

When Tom begins to form a close friendship with another sugar beet harvester, Elise becomes consumed with their relationship, sending her backwards into a spiral of depression, relapsing in her eating disorder, and questioning everything around her. With each passing day, Elise's paranoia takes a new turn, and her dissociation dives deeper as the sugar beet harvest calls to her in a way she never expected. The consumption industry's dark side takes root in Elise, and the sugar beets call to her, luring her further into their world of growth and destruction just as Elise is falling apart.

Sarsfield creates such a unique premise with this novel - both horror and caution, Beta Vulgaris takes a jarring turn as Elise and Tom's seemingly mundane journey is suddenly filled with vanishing coworkers and the allure of the beet pile. Even prior to arriving to the harvest location, the author pulls the readers into unknown territory along with her main characters, leaving us just as lost as they are. Unprepared for the drastic turns their story will take, Tom and Elise's relationship begins to fall to shambles the longer they become one with the beets. As they dig deeper to harvest, they are thrust deeper into madness.

To read about a main character that truly seems to have no appreciation for herself and just has genuine distaste for how her life is going is something I have not come across. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh is the closest I can think of, but even that lead did not harbor dislike towards herself, but rather the idea of doing tasks and living every single day. Elise is so focused on just getting to payday that she neglects herself and instead places sole focus on why Tom is drawn to another harvester, Cee. She is consumed by anxiety and obsession with this development, and in turn is thrown back into her own past self-destruction. Every internal thought that consumed Elise's mind was boggling, and while I could not relate to her struggles, witnessing her thought processes felt like I was living them.

The entire concept of the sugar beets luring the harvesters into the beet pile was incredibly surreal and I felt as though I was slowly descending into madness as the beets called to the characters like sirens to sailors. Sarsfield's ability to turn these inanimate objects into things of power and persuasion illustrates her capabilities to entrance not only her characters, but the readers as well. I was left questioning the story as a whole, mostly because I felt as though I was sent through the looking glass and experienced an entirely different dimension.

For fans of Bunny by Mona Awad, Sarsfield's debut novel takes you on a journey of transformation, uncertainty, and the horrors of consumption. Literary fiction and horror intertwine in this consuming tale of self-destruction and fall into madness - I highly recommend picking this up if you are looking for something completely out of your element and willing to be thrown into Elise's compelling journey.

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Valuing Only Us (A Sullivan Young Story, #1) by Cory Desmond Wolfe ARC Review

This is a spoiler-free review! This is an ARC review - Valuing Only Us will be available on January 22, 2025.

I would first like to thank NetGalley and Pine Hollows Projects for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. The premise of this book reminded me of HBO's Industry meets Tom and Greg from HBO's Succession, so naturally I was intrigued. The author chose to break the book in quarters, which meshed well with the environment of the story in maintaining the sense of how the book was paced. Alec and Ted are given alternating perspectives, and with different backgrounds and current complications, they are dealing with their own successes and failures while attempting to maintain their relationship.

The writing style reads a touch too stoic and mechanical for my taste - while we do have dual perspectives, one in first person and the other in third person, and read much like someone listing off things that they did throughout the day, rather than having a more natural flow. I had a hard time connecting to Alec and Ted, and found their actions to be all over the place - with the short chapters, it became a quick turnaround of small details, rather than a more fleshed-out chapter for each character.

The stakes in this book were not high enough for me - there did not seem to be a sense of urgency until well beyond the 80% mark. Alec and Ted's relationship was much more distant than I expected it to be, and the fact that they basically kept so much from each other had me wondering why they were even together. The side characters had minor importance until around the same point in the book, and did not add much to the story until actual problems arose for Ted and Alec. The plot was inconsistent with the goals of the characters, and riddled with abandoned ideas - Alec and Ted's relationship needed to be expanded upon in order for the reader to truly grasp on why they were so drawn to each other.

In my honest opinion, the concept of this story is definitely compelling, but needs some work in order to really grab the reader's attention. Some proof-reading and edits would serve this book well, and style choices needed to be locked down. As I previously noted, the choice of having one character's perspective in first person and the other's in third person was a bold choice, but left me more thrown after every chapter switch, as it was always an adjustment in reading perspective.

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Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul Review

This is a spoiler-free review! The version I am reading is an ARC -- any changes made for the final publication are not reflected in this review.

I had only heard a few songs from the Dear Evan Hansen Broadway musical, and was not entirely sure what the plot of the musical actually was before starting this book. I knew the basics: Evan Hansen has a broken arm, and he is writing fake emails between him and a student who passed away at his school. That's about it, and I was interested to see where the story went knowing so little going into the book.

Right in the beginning of the book, you feel bad for Evan -- he is a bit of a loner, seems to be under a lot of stress and dealing with a boatload of anxiety, and cannot catch a break. No one speaks to him in the halls unless they are making a snide remark, and as for the people who do talk to him, it certainly is not for his benefit. Jared, the son of one of Evan's mother's friends, basically uses Evan as a pawn to stay in the good graces of his parents. Other than Jared, there really is not anyone that Evan can turn to besides his mother or his psychologist.

This book reads fairly quickly, yet that does not take away from the fact that I was speeding through the story and still felt as though nothing was going on. Information is thrown out to the reader and we are left with bits and pieces of Evan trying to get himself out of a mess he did not mean to get himself into, while everyone else in the story is pushing a narrative onto him. Especially when it comes to Evan -- at least in the beginning -- trying to right the wrongs that have been committed, but he consistently backs out at the last minute and arguably makes everything so much worse than it was before he tried to fix anything.

Jared was pretty funny in the beginning of the book, but as the story went on, his presence became more of a black cloud hovering over Evan, since he was the only one who knew the truth from the very beginning. I found it interesting and pretty strange that Jared would continue to say that he and Evan were never friends despite their history, and yet he was very open to helping Evan build upon this growing lie for a mere twenty dollars and a passing comment to his mom so that his car insurance could be covered.

Alana had way to much pep in her step and a controlling nature that you could spot from a mile away and know that she was going to be a problem and blow things way out of proportion, and that is exactly what she did. I could not stand her any time she came on the page and the way that she treated Evan was so incredibly annoying -- as if he was just a step for her to become more popular at school and for people to know that she exists at all.

You feel so incredibly bad for Connor's family the entire book -- they are just being fed lie after lie as they try to come to terms with Connor's death, and you can tell that his parents, especially his mother, is clinging to this new version of Connor in order to understand what happened. Zoe, Connor's sister, and Evan's friendship to relationship was actually so hard to read because we know all of this information about Evan and what he has been keeping from Connor's family that it makes it seem absolutely unthinkable that he would attempt any form of romantic relationship with Zoe.

By the end of the book, the only character I liked was Zoe -- sure, she has her flaws, but she seemed to be the only one who actually grew as a character and was a genuine person. Even Connor's parents were unbearable at times, and do not even get me started on Jared. Evan grew into this person who seemed to recognize that what he was doing was wrong, but still fed into the attention that everyone gave him, while also struggling with the anxiety he had been battling. Everyone in the school seemed to use Connor's death as a personal gain instead of looking at it as a tragedy and try to grow and understand how to help others.

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History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera Review

This is a spoiler-free review! The version I am reading is an ARC -- any changes made for the final publication are not reflected in this review.

I am not exactly sure what I was thinking when I thought this would be a quick and easy read while I was on vacation -- it is definitely emotional and you see so much pain and grief that Griffin and Jackson go through that I literally could not bring myself to read it for a few days. I have read They Both Die at the End, and this book definitely is up there on the heartbreak scale, at least in the first third of the book. Not everything is incredibly sad, but the beginning definitely sets up Griffin's story to be a rocky road as he navigates life without Theo.

I was straight up crying from page eighteen to about page one hundred. I have no idea what possessed my body during those pages but my god they were so incredibly sad and heartbreaking to read. Since the book goes back and forth from two years before Theo's death to his funeral, it really tugs at your heart strings, especially seeing the life he lived and then immediately going to him no longer being there anymore.

Griffin is dealing with so much on top of Theo's death, and his character is definitely not the most likeable at times. You really see the way that grief affects him, and watching him struggle to make sense of what has happened really puts it into perspective on how grief is not linear and how anger and frustration play into grieving. Even without getting Jackson's point of view throughout the book, you can tell that his initial distain for Griffin was more out of mild jealously and feeling as though Theo would drop Jackson in a heartbeat if Griffin would get back together with him.

With Griffin's OCD, readers are able to see how his compulsions stem into his grieving and begin to take over his life and thoughts as he attempts to cope with losing Theo. We see him become more open about them as well, and as Griffin begins to confide in people about how he really is doing, we also see him go deeper into a state of denial -- I would even argue that he was trying to get revenge on Theo in some instances, even with Theo being gone. He becomes somewhat self-destructive towards the end of the book, and while understandable that he could not come to terms that Theo was not only gone, but shared some intimate details about Griffin, he definitely began to isolate himself from people who wanted to support him. It is a stark reminder that people are so incredibly individual and human, and without compassion and understanding from others as well as from ourselves, grief can feel so very alone.

Both Jackson and Griffin were using each other as support after Theo died, but I felt as though they were mildly competing with one another on who knew Theo better and who had more memories with him. When they would go out together and talk about Theo, it would feel genuine in the beginning, but slowly it would gain this somber atmosphere that would encompass them as they tried to grieve. Silvera did a pretty good job at depicting two different methods of grief and coping, especially when Griffin and Jackson were pretty much placed in the exact same situation.

I do not typically reach for a contemporary read, but Silvera manages to build a compelling story exploring grief and coping with struggles in a heartbreaking read. If you are looking for a quick yet provoking read on humanity after death, this is a great choice. With complex characters and writing that pulls emotion out of its readers, Griffin's story will certainly take you on a journey.

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My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh Review

This review contains spoilers for My Year of Rest and Relaxation.

I have been trying to get back into contemporary books and I figured that one of the most talked about books on the internet should be the way to get back into the genre. The only things I knew about this book before going into it was that a twenty-something woman was seeking to hibernate for a year through medications, to make it as though she was sleeping through life. Both of her parents passed away within weeks of each other, and with the inheritance from them, our narrator is able to continue to live a lavish life while on her hibernation journey.

This is certainly not an upbeat novel, and the narrator is anything but enjoyable -- she is insufferable and infuriating, yet I could not stop turning the pages. Moshfegh will have you captivated by her eccentric way of thinking and outlook on life as she navigates her year of sleep aided by pharmaceutics and designer jean hauls. We constantly see her blacking out for days on end when trying new medications, and she comes back to consciousness with receipts and packages of designer clothes and Victoria's Secret lingerie that she has no intention of wearing.

While we never learn the name of our blonde female lead, we certainly learn the most intimate details of her life, whether it be the death of her parents, the way she sleeps in the closet at her art gallery job, the on-again-off-again sex life she has with Trevor, or her one-sided friendship with Reva. For crying out loud, after she is fired from the art gallery, we have to read about her defecating on the floor in front of an art installation. 

She knows that Reva needs her more than she needs Reva, yet she cannot seem to detach herself from the girl who buys fake designer handbags and compares herself to the narrator in what appears to be a never-ending cycle of Reva being vulnerable, the narrator gobbling down pills, watching discount movies on VCR, and experiencing the most bizarre interactions someone can have.

We are exposed to every minute detail of her existence, except of course, when she begins to lose days at a time thanks to the world's worst psychiatrist, Dr. Tuttle. She was the only psychiatrist to answer the phone at nearly midnight, and seems to have a supply of sample pills that never runs out. As our narrator is on her journey to sleep, Dr. Tuttle seems to be on a journey to to simply hand out the strangest advice known to man.

I do wish that we got to see more of Dr. Tuttle towards the end of the book and prior to the narrator's "art installation" project with Ping Xi. Her initial distain for him after seeing his first show at the art gallery soon proved to be useful to her in order to complete her year of sleep. I found myself constantly wondering on what Dr. Tuttle was thinking regarding her treatment and all of the medications that she was on. We know that this psychiatrist should basically have her license revoked, yet every scene with her had me more intrigued on her thought process, and I can only imagine what she would have thought of the narrator's approach to sleeping for a year.

The ending of this book really felt like you got hit in the face with a brick -- I could tell that this event was going to take place, based on the fact that it was New York in 2000 to 2001, but I have to say I did not expect Reva to meet such a cruel fate. I felt as though Reva's death opened the narrator's eyes in the sense that you could be living as much as could every day and suddenly have it taken away. Compared to Reva's vibrant way of living, the narrator would be hoping that pills would keep her consciousness at bay long enough that she barely had to live.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a blunt and eccentric dive into a woman’s desire to sleep for a year, riddled with a number of characters that not only drive her further into sleep, but finally awaken her.

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The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata Review

This is a spoiler-free review! Trigger warnings include physical and emotional parental abuse, child neglect and abandonment, and intimate partner abuse. You can also read my review of From Lukov with Love on my blog, here.

Once again, I had been putting off reading this book for a little over a year, but I am back and in the mood for a sports romance to add to my 2022 reads before the year comes to an end. I honestly did not know much about this book before I started it, besides the few excerpts I had seen on TikTok videos that kept reminding me that I needed to read this book.

To my very happy surprise, the main trope of The Wall of Winnipeg and Me had me absolutely thrilled. I love a grumpy and sunshine relationship, and with Vanessa and Aiden, we get to see Aiden as this total grump that slowly shows his soft side while Vanessa is always nice until she decides to stand up for herself and switches over to being more confrontational. I am an absolute sucker for fake-relationship or marriage-of-convenience books, and Zapata really knocked it out of the park with this one.

The way that Vanessa and Aiden defend each other from other people, especially when the other is not around, was so great to see because you could literally feel the tension on the pages. In the beginning of the book, Aiden barely speaks to anyone or Vanessa unless it's a head nod or three-word sentences, but then we get to see him give these long backstories about his past and speeches of him defending her to anyone that looks at Vanessa the wrong way.

Trevor and Christian are so incredibly annoying that every time that their names showed up on the page, I had to force myself to stop rolling my eyes into the back of my head. The only thing they brought to the story was a number of problems or arguments and insults that left me more agitated than before the popped up again. And do not even get me started on Vanessa's sister, Susie, and Vanessa's mother -- probably some of the most despicable characters I have ever come across, and I have read a lot of mafia romance books with some truly nasty characters.

This woman LOVES her food-themed nicknames, I simply cannot escape them in both of the books I have read by her so far. Meatball. Muffin. Dinner Roll. The list is never-ending. There are a ton of fun little moments between Vanessa and Aiden, and the friendship that Vanessa and Zac has really adds to the story, because you see the effortlessness of joking they have with each other compared to the build up that Vanessa and Aiden have to work toward to get to that level.

The modern day references were kept to a minimum in this book, and I was so grateful for it. Zapata used a decent amount of references in From Lukov with Love, and I was glad to see that this was much more toned down. I really did enjoy the dynamics between everyone in the book, and how Zapata was able to depict various types of relationships without dragging out certain aspects or turning them into major cliches.

If you are looking for a slow-burn, sports romance, this is definitely the book for you. Fans of The Deal by Elle Kennedy will graduate to Zapata's books and a more cohesive storyline following adults instead of college students. It is always so refreshing to see sports romance books following people in their twenties and thirties instead of being a nineteen-year-old hockey player in their first year of college.

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See Jane Snap by Bethany Crandell Review

This review contains spoilers for See Jane Snap. Please read with caution if you have not completed the novel.

To the watching eye, Jane Osborne is living the perfect life with the perfect husband -- under the surface, she has discovered that her surgeon husband of eighteen years has been cheating on her the entire time, and with a man. Jane is trying to hold it together through self-help mantras and audios in the car, but everything must come to an end as she meets her breaking point in a most unexpected place: the grocery store parking lot. 

Under the impression that she has taken one of her friend's Zoloft pills, she becomes increasingly agitated by a woman who has too many items in the 15-or-less line and leaves her grocery cart in the middle of the parking lot. Jane, who simply cannot take anything else, snaps and starts to hurl oranges at this woman's car and causes quite the disturbance, especially when it is revealed that she did not take Zoloft, but ecstasy. Resulting in her arrest but no charges, Jane agrees to take a first time offender class to make sure this event stays from away from her permanent record.

You can't help but feel for Jane -- she has discovered the life that she has been living for nearly two decades is nothing but a charade for her husband, Dan. She does everything she can so that Dan's cardiology department stays afloat at the hospital, and appeases the donors he desperately needs to impress for a $25 million naming rights donation. 

Dan is probably one of the worst fictional husbands I have ever read about, nearly up there with Nick Dunne from Gone Girl. He is constantly angry at Jane for anything she does that is out of place -- she follows his car and finds him with another man and also misses a conference call regarding the fundraiser where his potential donors will be. Dan is basically absent from Jane and their daughter, Avery, lives and acts shocked when there could be a possibly of Jane spilling his secret. He continues to be an absolute jerk throughout the entire book until the very end, where he somewhat redeems himself at the fundraiser gala.

The group of women that Jane meets and forms friendships with at her required course are the first people that she is able to open up to, and it leads to her journey of healing and no longer settling for a life that is not what she expected. She quickly forms close bonds with them, despite initially wanting to only go to and from the course in order to get it over with, and avoid talking to any of the women outside of the course.

Jane's "snap" was short-lived, and in my opinion, not very "public" as the synopsis described. I was expecting a lot more feminine rage coming from her, but the plot felt as though it was mostly Jane jumping from one moment in time to the next, leaving a lot of unanswered questions in her journey. Her inner monologue definitely gives some good insight on her emotions and thought processes as she comes to terms with what she did in that parking lot and what she knows about her husband. Jane's relationship with her younger sister Julie does have some hardships, but they try to make the best of it as they work together to care for their ailing mother.

I was so incredibly glad when Jane yelled at Dan towards the end of the book -- she has been living, for the past two months, with a constant loop of what she knows and has seen Dan cheating on her, and for him to call her out with Officer Chavez and say that he was "never caught" with the men he was seeing but she cannot see Chavez is an insane double standard. She was in the right with asking him to move to that other portion of the house and have him talk to their daughter, especially because Avery knew he was cheating on Jane, she just did not know who he was doing it with.

I'm glad that in the end Jane is doing well for herself and on the road to healing, I just wish we were able to see more of her snap or even see it go in a different direction, rather than it just be her and that woman in the parking lot. This premise had a lot of potential and it personally felt as though it fell a little flat -- you can tell the author wanted to be funny in some parts and more serious in others, but the comedy fell short in the long run. It is fast-paced and an easy read, and I am happy to finally have read it, since it has been on my shelf for so long.

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It Starts with Us (It Ends with Us, #2) by Colleen Hoover Review

This review contains spoilers for It Starts with Us. A list of trigger warnings for the first book in this duology, It Ends with Us, can be found here. You can read my review of It Ends with Us on my blog, here.

I read It Ends with Us five years ago, and I never thought there would be a book to follow it -- I was pretty reluctant at first when It Starts with Us was announced. Personally, I feel like too many people went into It Ends with Us thinking it was a romance book, when it is NOT. It needs to be explicitly clear that in no way, shape, or form is that book romantic in any way. It deals with domestic abuse and a number of other incredibly delicate topics, and somehow BookTok turned it into their book of worship.

I was genuinely more concerned about those stolen croutons in chapter one than I was about anything else -- when Ryle would come up on the page, it took everything within me not to skip over his presence. He is a horrendous human being, and I still cannot fathom why he is so heavily involved in this book, especially with how Allysa and Marshall are just letting him be in their lives when they have first-hand knowledge of what he did to Lily. It's actually insane to me that they even let him into their home, where they have their own child, and have him there as if he is not an abusive POS.

Marshall is slightly better than Allysa -- he acknowledges the pain and abuse that Ryle did to Lily, and verbally expresses that he hates what he has done to her, and that he is glad she was able to get out of the marriage. However, he is still walking a very thin line of enabling an abuser, so he is the doghouse with the rest of them when I was over halfway done reading. He definitely got better by the end of the book, and same with Allysa -- I am glad that they came to their senses and finally recognized Ryle for the nightmare that he is.

I just want to sit back, relax, and enjoy my evening... when all of a sudden I hear this agitating, grading voice. This was me every single time Ryle had the audacity to open his mouth or even look in Lily's direction. He really was screaming on a rooftop because of the middle name Lily chose for her daughter -- get a life!! I spent the entire book wishing that Ryle would get taken out by a bus or that he would just up and disappear, never to be heard from again. He continuously becomes more and more of a pest the further the book goes on -- threatening Lily, nearly assaulting her in her own home, physically assaulting Atlas at his place of work... the list goes on and on.

The addition of Josh was nice for Atlas -- finally seeing him have a family member that is not a complete and utter disgrace was refreshing. I did think that it was pretty obvious from the beginning that the person breaking into his restaurants would end up being his brother, especially when it was mentioned that it was a teenager. Character development for Atlas did not really have anywhere else to go, so with the introduction of Josh, it made it seem that Josh was there to show that he was a mature adult. Which was not at all surprising -- he owns two restaurants, he kind of has to be mature.

Hoover seriously needs to drop all of the buzzwords that are dating her writing -- I cannot believe I actually had to read the words "TikTok" and "Boomeniall" with my own two eyes. I am begging her to stop. And just when I thought I could clear those Ellen letters from my memory, she brings them back in full force. I understand that those letters are important to Lily's character, but we seriously could have let her find a new outlet in life, rather than write to Ellen.

I finished this book with more of a "meh" feeling than I wanted to have. I am glad that Lily and Atlas got the happy ending that they deserved, but the entire story leading up to it felt rushed and haphazardly thrown together in order to appease the BookTok fans who only just discovered her books in the past year. As you read, you know exactly what is coming, so there are no surprises that you would expect reading one of Hoover's books, and fell a little flat.

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People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins Review

 

This book contains discussions of gun violence, death, attempted suicide, and sexual assault - reader caution is advised. Mild spoilers for People Kill People are mentioned in this review.

I have to say that I already was a fan of Ellen Hopkins' writing and poetry, and this book did not disappoint. When it comes to approaching such a topic, Hopkins is able to derive emotion where many would see just an inanimate object. The structure of the book works very well in order to take breaks from one character's story to another, while also including breaks that allow the reader to digest what they just read and apply it to the broader issues of gun control and violence in today's society.

It is an unfortunate time in our society that I read this book as mass shootings continue to skyrocket in the United States, with white supremacists using guns and violence to cause terror among communities. There is no excuse for using such violence in our world, and we should be speaking up against these individuals that use their unnecessary hatred to inflict pain onto others and take lives. Hopkins does an excellent job showing the consequences and heartbreak that gun violence brings upon to not only the people directly effected by these disgusting acts, but to the communities and overall population in which they occur.

The change in POV between the select characters shows an interesting dynamic on the mentality that they all hold on political views and attitude towards gun use and ownership. We are shown atrocious, bigoted views of several characters, while transitioning to the acceptance and hope from other characters, many of which who have been directly effected by gun violence or sudden death. Characters that begin with alt-right views begin to question their beliefs towards the end of the book, but only when they are finally confronted with the realization that arguments and violence will get them nowhere. Ashlyn has such an extreme mindset, that is riddled with alt-right ways of thinking, and when she finds herself arrested after pepper spraying a number of people at the rally, she begins to question why she is has this mindset and how this will play out.

Other characters we see experience traumas that are not directly related to gun violence, but allow them to use their experiences to work towards fighting against hatred -- Noelle was in a serious car accident, and begins to use her energy towards fighting for immigrant rights, through the encouragement of her sister. We see Cami, after being involved in the robbery at Denny's and her arrest for marijuana, begin to fight for herself, her child, and her life at the age of 19-years-old as she begins to confront the fact that her life is not going in the path she she saw for her and her family. Rand, Cami's husband, has experienced a brutal sexual assault, as we see how it impacts him and how he begins to view his relationship and his worries that Cami is slipping away from him -- just as Daniel begins to believe that Grace is going to leave him once she begins to spend more time with her sister and build a better relationship with her.

The absolutely heartbreaking reality of children getting ahold of a poorly contained gun, resulting in an accidental death haunts the ending of this book. So many stories in the news detail the unfortunate deaths caused by parents not properly locking up firearms, and in combination with curious children, lead to tragic deaths, many of which are of children themselves. Hopkins provides readers with resolutions for nearly all characters -- some of which are left uncertain, but are shown how acts of violence forever impacted their lives.

I highly encourage everyone to read this novel -- Hopkins is able to show the realities of what gun violence, among other atrocities, does to individuals and how mentality can change once something is experienced first-hand. Despite this being fiction, this is a major reality for so many people, especially in the United States, that has constantly impacted society and government response. These scenarios are very much a reality in today's society, and education on gun reform and public action are some of the many ways that our communities can work together in order to make our lives safer. No one should ever have to experience the grief of losing a loved one by firearm misuse and hatred -- we must come together and find a way to ensure that this stops from happening.

To those who have been impacted by gun violence and bigotry, I send my deepest sympathies and urge everyone to be aware of what is happening in your country. Violence is never the answer, and we must hold people accountable for these disgusting acts of violence.

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Normal People by Sally Rooney Review

This review contains spoilers for Normal People - please read with caution.

The only thing I knew about Normal People before going into the story was that the author writes her novels without quotation marks in the dialogue, and I immediately knew it was going to take all but five pages before I felt like I was losing my mind. It actually took seven pages before the feeling came, so, yay! But seriously, if I had the time, I would have taken a pen to every line of dialogue and added quotation marks because your eyes are so trained to transition from paragraphs of descriptions to speech that you miss sections of talking because you're not even registering them as actually exchanging conversation.

I immediately wanted to talk some sense into Connell, because obviously any girl who spends her lunch hour reading novels in the library or cafeteria has read The Communist Manifesto. Marianne is basically the smartest person in school and top in English, and you think she hasn't read it?

Also, if a guy asked me to not talk to him and pretend that I don't know him and am not literally hooking up with him, I would toss him immediately. Connell acts like he would be committing social suicide by associating with Marianne, when in reality, people would just talk about how they would maybe be an unlikely pair - it would not cause the fall of their social hierarchy. The way that Marianne makes it so clear to Connell that she wouldn't do the same to him that he is doing to her, he has this fleeting moment of a morality change, and I started to like him just a little bit.

I know I did not just read people laughing at Marianne literally getting physically assaulted at this pub while she tried to sell raffle tickets. She has got to find better people to hang around with and these people have got to get better morals. Also, I don't know if it's just because I recently read I Hate Men by Pauline Harmange, but Connell is literally doing the minimum for Marianne - the bar is on the floor. Shoutout to Lorraine for trying to knock some sense into Connell because the boy is as dense as they come.

The writing becomes significantly more tolerable once Connell and Marianne go to college - the flow is better, the dialogue runs smoother, and the character development vastly improves. Jamie and Helen are the worst people to be around Marianne and Connell - the borderline abuse from Jamie and the slut shaming from Helen makes them intolerable to read about.

Marianne's relationship or "agreement" she has with Lukas is unconventional, and her using sex as a coping mechanism in what appears to be a response to her brother speaking and acting horribly to her is sad to read. She has so much going for her, and watching her become isolated from her friends, and quick frankly from herself as well, is heartbreaking.

I actually really started to like the direction that the book was headed towards the end, and then Alan had to come in and ruin it all, followed by what I saw as a rather obvious ending to Marianne and Connell's ending. The sentiment of it all can definitely resonate with readers, but it felt as though we were moving constantly away from the idea that they could ever end up together.

I will personally buy Sally Rooney a keyboard with the quotation mark key so I never have to experience that writing style again. In all honesty, I have never encountered a book more that I wanted to DNF so badly before I even got to page 50. It definitely improved about halfway through the book, but I could not help but feel disconnected from both Connell and Marianne - constant miscommunication and "right person, wrong time" felt so repetitive that I found myself hoping that it would just end. I do not think this was a bad book - I just think that it may not have been a book for me.

You can add Normal People on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on publications and releases. Normal People is available now to watch exclusively with a Hulu subscription in the United States.

You can catch up with me and my current reads by friending me on Goodreads and following this blog in order to stay up-to-date with any reviews, blog tours, and more!