"We walk up the mountain until we can barley move, until we think we can't go one more step, and then we keep going. We never let the mountain win."
°•"We walk up the mountain until we can barley move, until we think we can't go one more step, and then we keep going. We never let the mountain win."
°•*⁀➷
This was such a stunner of a book. While the summary was intriguing, I don't think that I really knew where the plot would take me until I truly got into it. What a controversial idea on how to save a marriage. What an interesting way of navigating love and all the different ideas surrounding it.
Lauren has so many different forms of love surrounding her. She has a sister who doesn't care when love comes into her life, but knows she wants it. Knows that she'll never search for it, but also never say no to it. She has a brother who stumbled into love, and is doing everything he possibly can to build a life out of it. A mother who tried love, thought it wasn't for her, and may be realizing it is. A grandmother who loved her entire life. A friend who was so broken by love, but still unable to say no to its charm. A co-worker who is in love, deeply, but not as happily as can be.
Each story that Lauren is surrounded by is so extremely important to her figuring out if she can or cannot be with Ryan. Each love is another stepping stone into figuring out if she can let him back into her life after they hurt each other so much. It was compelling, beautiful, and heart-breaking. I think it's so cool that you can see how perfectly matched Lauren and Ryan are even though we hardly see any of the actual good in their relationship.
And you want to know the coolest thing of all?
I didn't dislike either one of them.
In stories of separation and lost love, it's almost impossible to be neutral and not take sides. Especially if it's someone you personally know. Ryan's family disliked Lauren the moment he told them their situation, but Lauren's family supported her while loving him all the same. Found family is so special because so many of us are at an age where we feel lost in our families, and lost in our lives. Lost in decisions that nobody is ever truly prepared to make. But when you read a family that is so beautifully developed together, it's sometimes even better.
I love that Lauren found herself in her time away from Ryan. I love when it clicked, for her, what being in love truly meant. I love that he was so selfless in their decision and that she respected everything he asked for. I love that they aren't angry at the decisions they made in their time apart. I love that Lauren realized that sometimes the most important part of loving someone is not taking them for granted.
Marriage, by societal standards, is a very odd concept. The breaking of marriage, even more so. I hope that when I find the only person I want to hold onto me through life, we can both be as clear-headed and kind to each other as Lauren and Ryan were in their toughest moments. This may have started out as a plot I didn't think I could get behind, but it turned into one of the most beautiful stories about love I've ever read.
Marriage is different for everyone, and whether or not it works out in the end, it should always be worth the try.
Since this is a grouping of a bunch of stories, I wanted to review it a bit differently. I love that holidays can be spent in so many different ways aSince this is a grouping of a bunch of stories, I wanted to review it a bit differently. I love that holidays can be spent in so many different ways and have so many different traditions even with the ideals staying the same across the board... across the universe. I loved every story for its own reason and wanted to share my favorite quotes to explain why:
"You realize the things you give away make you happier than the things you keep for yourself."
"Anytime you share something you love, it comes right back to you like a boomerang: you never lose it."
"It's never about the gift, it's the love behind it."
"Always look beyond what your eyes initially recognize and find out what is real, what is possible, and what is the truth."
"It's hard to see the beauty in things when you can't look past your insecurities."...more
"Your life can only be as big as the container you plant it in."
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This was a short and sweet little story. I read somewhere that it was like Crazy "Your life can only be as big as the container you plant it in."
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This was a short and sweet little story. I read somewhere that it was like Crazy Rich Asians for young adults. Royalty instead of crazy rich. Everything inside its pages makes it so that I have to agree. I loved the Crazy Rich Asians books... so of course I adored this as well.
I'm not much of a young adult reader which is why my star rating doesn't exactly reflect how much I actually liked this.
This book follows a young girl who never knew who her father was. When she finds out he's royalty, she's thrown into a world she knows nothing about and seemingly thrives for all intents and purposes. I loved watching her and her father get to know each other, and love each other. Her Dad did two things I absolutely loved:
He tells her that if he had known he had a daughter, he would have done anything to make her a part of his life. In whatever way he could. Despite tradition. Since tradition is such a large idea in any culture, it was a sweet notion, and one that seemed to ring true with everything he did for his daughter.
He tells her that he'll banish anyone that makes her sad, or breaks her heart. I loved and hated this only because it took so much reality out of the book for me... but I adored his commitment to keeping her in his life no matter what.
This was just such a special book for anyone who feels lost because they didn't grow up with one or both of their parents. Such a lesson the reality that, not all children who grow up with a parent are unloved because of it. Not every parent has to learn to love their child when they didn't know they existed. Sometimes there's as happy a beginning as an end.
"You can't just pick and choose when it comes to healing."
°•*⁀➷
I was quite honestly not loving this book very much at all. It was slow, and confusing,"You can't just pick and choose when it comes to healing."
°•*⁀➷
I was quite honestly not loving this book very much at all. It was slow, and confusing, and it took until the last 50 or so pages for me to understand what was going on. But even with that said, I can't help but recognize how important all of the confusion was to get to the ending. How important it was to be lost in a plot that didn't seem to exist.
Matthew Quick so wonderfully portrayed trauma that by the end I couldn't imagine how I was so lost at the start.
This book followed one man's recollection of a shooting at a movie theatre in December and the effect it had on the town. Our main character Lucas lost his wife, and the town lost seventeen other members as well. One of which was the shooter. That's eighteen lives lost in the span of only a few minutes. We read about shootings on the news all the time, see the effect, but we never truly live it unless we're there. I love how closely that idea followed this plot.
It also followed, through Lucas, the shooters brother Eli. It showed how much blame we put on a family when in reality two people can grow up in the same house completely different. I don't want to spoil how moving Eli's story was for me because it's so much of the reason I ended up loving this book by the end.
I swear it was a solid two stars, so confusing, and was so lost on me... and then I turned the page again. This book is the reason I will never allow myself to dnf something. The reason why even if I can't get through a book in that moment, I will always try again.
Books define who we are in so many ways. Writing... reading... they heal. This book proves that for Lucas, and per Matthew's note at the end, for him as well. It may have been confusing, but it was never slow. And it was more than worth it in the end.
This is a collection of poetry. Of life. Of pain. I'm in awe. I don't know how to review it. All I know is that this is profound. That I loved it. ThaThis is a collection of poetry. Of life. Of pain. I'm in awe. I don't know how to review it. All I know is that this is profound. That I loved it. That I want to read it again. A million times.
I can't wait to pick up a copy and write all over it.
Here's five quotes I loved:
"I thought the fall would kill me, but it only made me real."
"I am too tired, she said, to be this happy."
"Given another chance, I'd pick the life where I play the piano in a room with no roof."
"I stopped apologizing into visibility."
"If reading is to live in two worlds at once, why is he not here?"
I want to write the whole book here for you, but I'll settle for these.
"I know about hurting all the way to your bones. And I know about giving up. It ain't the way."
°•*⁀➷
This book was a very tough read for me. I feel lik"I know about hurting all the way to your bones. And I know about giving up. It ain't the way."
°•*⁀➷
This book was a very tough read for me. I feel like I grew up at the perfect time, although arguably worst, to have this hit just a bit too hard.
This begins with a very intimate look into a broken marriage. Two people who love each other had grown apart due to different experiences with loss. Joleen lost her parents at a very young age and found solace in the routine of the military. Michael lost his father and tried to find solace in his wife. The difference is, he felt grief, she only ever felt loss.
She comes to find that there is a very big difference between the two.
As duty requires, Joleen is sent off to war. In her absence, Michael needs to step up and take care of his children. In doing so, he remembers who he was before grief changed him so entirely. He remembers how much he loves his wife and regrets the way he treated her before they had to say goodbye.
He also takes on what his father always calls, "the case that changes everything." He's a defense lawyer defending a man with PTSD. It hits so close to home for him and helps him to learn what his wife may need from him when she comes home one day.
This book is heart breaking, and was hard to get through. I cried through so much of it due to my own experiences with friends and family that came home from Iraq. If you told me Michael and Joleen didn't exist, I wouldn't believe you.
That's how incredibly Kristin Hannah wrote this.
Sometimes a five star book sneaks up on you. I wanted to give this four stars almost the entire read, and then I started writing this. It's five stars. It's knowing that while you may never be the person you were before, you can always become someone to be proud of now.
"We don’t live longer when we try not to die. We live longer when we are too busy living."
°•*⁀➷
It's so difficult to review memoir's of people you have"We don’t live longer when we try not to die. We live longer when we are too busy living."
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It's so difficult to review memoir's of people you have looked up to for so long. Or people you admire. Or probably anyone in general, if we're honest. It's just so difficult to write something about a life that's currently being lived, whether it be positive or negative. Everything I have to say about this one is positive.
Matthew McConaughey has been a part of my life for the entirety of it. I've known he existed for as long as I've known how to say the word alright (x3). My Mom loved him, and so I grew up loving him, too. I know one day, if I'm lucky enough, my kids will know Zac Efron's name for all the same reasons I know Matthew's.
To read about his life felt like a gift.
When you grow up admiring, respecting, adoring, and looking up to someone the way I did for him, it's difficult to put into words what a text about their life can mean to you. Especially when it's something that sits so well with the way your own brain works. Every word he wrote, every bumper sticker, every red, yellow and green light... I understood why it worked that way for him! I loved the online of the idea, and I loved the outcome even more.
I don't know what to say other than to ask you to read it yourself because I don't want to influence any feelings you may/may not have going in. Matthew McConaughey is so full of light, and love, and respect, and exuberance that it's difficult to even say what moved me most.
From his loneliness in Australia to his list of 10 things he wants to accomplish in life, I loved every word in between. And every word that cam before, and will probably come after. I'm so happy he mentioned my three favorite movies of him and that one of them was so pivotal to his career. I love that he talked about covid and explained that, "The red light year that 2020 was will one day, in the rear view mirror of life inevitably, turn green, and perhaps be seen as one of our finest hours."
I love the optimism. I love that he's exactly who he has always shown us he is... even in written word. Even reading to us.
I love Matthew McConaughey. I hope he'll keep writing, keep existing, and keep loving.
"All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find."
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Let me tell you, I found the treasure in this one. I "All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find."
°•*⁀➷
Let me tell you, I found the treasure in this one. I have been so excited to read Agnes Grey since I read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall earlier this year and it did not let me down. It was definitely a bit slower as a read, but worth every word to get to the end.
As is the Bronte sisters way, this is an account of a series of events in Agnes Grey's life. We begin with her families history, the tale of a rich girl who falls in love with a poor boy and decides love is more important than money. The difference between this story and others is that she never regrets her choice. She loves, and she builds a family, and she gets her happily ever after.
Agnes is the youngest of the family and has always been treated as such. She wants to prove that while she may always be the youngest, and young in their eyes, she can do anything they can do. She believes, as all of us do for a little while, that the world will embrace her and any dream can come true if you put enough heart into it. Is it not comforting that that's such a timeless ideal?
I loved the way Anne brought Christianity to life in this story. She made it feel as comforting as it ought to be when you truly believe in something. Every time she allowed her faith to be a comfort to her trials, I could feel the strength it gave her, and I loved to be a part of it.
There's also a love story snuck in there that I wasn't expecting, and happily encouraged with every page I turned. I love that I have another kind and loving Edward to hold so close to my heart.
I'm so glad I will forever have Anne Bronte's lost treasures and wish she got as much credit as her sisters for her incredible story telling. No matter, honestly, as I'll love them enough for the world.
"It's one thing to wander in the darkness because you know no different, but it's quite another to enjoy the light only to have it taken from you."
°•*"It's one thing to wander in the darkness because you know no different, but it's quite another to enjoy the light only to have it taken from you."
°•*⁀➷
What a wonderful book. What a beautiful series.
While this entire series was beautiful, intricate and a work of art through words, this book feels so separate from the other two. A Discovery of Witches is what it implies: a discovery. Whether it be of the world or self, it focuses on building the beautiful world we fall into. Shadow of Night was a different form of discovery. One of love, respect, loss, and so much joy. Both books set this one up to be so much more than just five stars.
Diana and Matthew have spent months away from their present. Coming back seems like a dream, especially with heart break settled in to the walls before they even get there. This book has a slow start to represent how grief slows the world down, and I love it. I love that in that grief, we see how far they have come as a couple. As partners. Yet somehow, they haven't come far enough.
There's a seemingly silent war happening in the under currents of every page we turn. Everyone is fighting for their right to choose their own future. The covenant began as something to keep creatures safe, and has become a crutch to allow prejudice and hate. A friend of Diana's points out to Matthew that everyone would rather hide from tough decisions, but someone needs to stand up for what is right. In that moment, everything changed.
For centuries, much before Diana came into Matthew's life, he thought he could be nothing more than his families Shadow. He believed he was the darkness inside the de Clermont's light. Until Diana, he couldn't see that he could step into the light as well. Through her unending love and compassion, he realizes he can be so much more.
It's something those who loved him knew all along. He was always worthy of a different life, but until he took it for himself, he would be stifled by his own darkness.
I love when books remind you that healing doesn't happen overnight, that the work never stops and the darkness can come in at any time. It's how we react to it, how we face our fears, how we choose to live that matters.
This book is the answer to the first two's questions just as for every question Matthew has ever had, his answer is Diana. I can't wait to read these books again. What a perfect last read of the year.
"Maybe spells are nothing more than words that you believe with all your heart."
°•*⁀➷
This book picked up exactly where the first left off. Or 422 year"Maybe spells are nothing more than words that you believe with all your heart."
°•*⁀➷
This book picked up exactly where the first left off. Or 422 years earlier, if you want to be accurate. Diana ends up in a life she's only ever read about and finds out very quickly that reading about something and experiencing it are two very different things. Like anything else in her life though, she adapts and takes it on with a determination I can only imagine.
That doesn't come with only her own mind though. Beside Matthew, she meets so many people that touched his life once upon a time. His friends, his family, his father... who in their time had passed on. Everyone who has touched Matthew's past begins to be a part of Diana's present, leaving their impact on her heart in all the same ways they had Matthew. And for him, it feels like an opportunity to fix past mistakes.
The issue is that they were PAST mistakes. Anything they attempt to change in his past affects their future, which isn't necessarily good for the issues they escaped by running to the past in the first place.
I loved everything about this book, but the thing I loved most was Diana and Matthew's ability to adapt. To communicate. To understand each other. Did they have their trials? Absolutely, all new couples do, but this book really captured what it means to work together rather then alone. To love rather than expect love. To love another heart and soul rather than with exceptions.
We find out pretty early on in the first book that Matthew holds himself to a high standard because of events in his past. Being forced to face them seems to be the only way to confront and move on from them. He has an eternal life ahead of him, with or without Diana in it, and to not feel worthy of her while they're together is a disservice to them both.
I loved watching him work through that. I love that he had his father to lean on for a time, a father who loves him no matter his flaws. No matter his future. Unconditionally. Philippe says to him, "You are equally worthy of her. Stop regretting your life. Start living it."
And so Matthew does. Even if it takes this entire book to do it, he does. And I'm so proud of him for it.
I could never choose whose journey in this book meant more to me, but I can't wait to see how it concludes in The Book of Life.
This was a sweet little story. It touched a lot on the difference between reality and imagination, how "normal" means "Normality is only perspective."
This was a sweet little story. It touched a lot on the difference between reality and imagination, how "normal" means different things to different people and is truly only what you make of it. I liked that it focused so much on the idea that we get to choose what we believe is normal. I like that even though it was short, it was thorough in that message.
It was a bit too insta love for me, and I wish it was longer for the back story I know Nora is so good at. But it was the perfect quick read for a morning with tea and breakfast. ...more
I feel like this book was a gift for the teenager who grew up loving Edward Cullen. How on earth was I able t"Magic is a gift, Diana. Just like love."
I feel like this book was a gift for the teenager who grew up loving Edward Cullen. How on earth was I able to wait so long to open it? I think it's because I was meant to read it when I could text my wonderful friend, Aly about this world she loves as much as I love Edward and Forks.
Isn't that something?
It's been a long time since I've been so entranced by a fantasy novel. I escape into ACOTAR and Twilight to feel everything I did the first time I read those, and I think All Souls is going to turn into that for me as well. The lore, the history, the magic, the absolute love that went into creating this fantastical world. Deborah Harkness is a genius. I'm so glad I'm in it now.
As stated above, I've loved vampires all my reading life. I can't even begin to explain how much Edward has meant to me for over a decade. To find Matthew and remember falling in love with Edward by falling in love with him: there just aren't words. I know these stories are different. I know Matthew is much more complex than Edward ever could have been starring in a young adult novel. I know that Matthew is going to become so much more to me in the coming pages, and I can't wait to see how his journey continues.
The true star of this book for me, though, was Diana. The quote above captured so much of the plot for me in one simple statement. She grew up believing that if she were to use her magic, she couldn't call anything her own. It caused her to hold back, to not learn, and to push all of her family history behind a door that never should have been closed. I love that Hamish (I'm going to love him forever, too) pointed out to Matthew so early on that expectations are terrifying, and she can't be pushed to become something she's not ready to partake in.
In between falling in love and bonding over history... there's also the mystery of how witches, vampires and demons came to be. The mystery of wondering how their species can continue when they're dying out. There's war coming. There's fueds that have existed longer than any human lifetime. There's a story that never could have been just a story.
So many things pushed me to keep flipping the pages. My favorite thing about reading has always been forgetting that time passes around you. Forgetting there's a world outside of the one you're in. The most spectacular thing about this one is that time seems to have no meaning.
Matthew is thousands of years old, and he falls in love with a modern woman who loves history. What could be more perfect? More magical, as my quote implies?
I can't wait to see where time takes them next....more
"Translation was impossible, the realm of pure meaning it captured and manifested would and could not ever be known."
I write quotes out every time I r"Translation was impossible, the realm of pure meaning it captured and manifested would and could not ever be known."
I write quotes out every time I read a book so that when I'm done I can find the perfect one to capture the heart of a story. It's become my favorite part of reading. It's interactive and it always gives me something to look forward to when I turn the final page and there is an inevitable end. It's been a very long time since I didn't want an end to come.
I'm so in awe of this book that I think I'm in denial that it actually finished. How can it be done? How can a story like this one end? How is this fiction?
For the first half of Babel I was entranced by the writing, the story-telling, the set-up and the world. I was transported to the past and enriched by the theory of translation. I was essentially on a readers high. The kind where you forget you're reading at all. For the latter half, I was breathless. I don't think I have ever read a fictional book that so truthfully explained reality. As it's written, "It's hard to accept what you don't want to see."
That's not what I want to talk about, though. I want to talk about translation. I want to talk about the metaphor of silver bars representing a foundation of not only listening, but understanding as well. When you make a new friend, much like Robin did at the start of this, you spend so much time giving information. You spend so much time trying to tell them who you are that you forget they want to tell you who they are as well.
All anyone wants, as Ramy says to Robin, is to show themselves to the world and hope someone else understands them.
That's what I got from this book. It's a boy stolen from his homeland and told that he has to be thankful for a privilege he never asked for. A privilege he was never made to feel like he deserved. A privilege he only ever felt like he stole. All because he had a mind willing to understand, comprehend and dream with.
So many things get lost in translation, even when you speak the same language. It's the listening, and the ability to dance in shackles that becomes so much more important. When at a party where Robin is meant to feel down about himself, he uses the term "dance in shackles" to explain how translation truly works. He says that, "The poet runs untrammeled across the meadow. The translator dances in shackles."
I think that's such a beautiful analogy. An author, a writer, a poet... they get to express how they feel in the language they speak. They tell us exactly what they mean, exactly what they want to convey, and it's the translator who needs to understand it so completely that they can bring that meaning into a different language. Essentially a different world. A different culture sometimes. How can we ever hope to understand an experience we've never had without someone else who understands it standing in the middle?
How do we trust them?
This book opened up so many questions I never knew I had inside of me. It answered all of them by the end. Another quote I loved is: "Language was just difference. A thousand different ways of seeing, of moving through the world. No, a thousand worlds within one. And translation - a necessary endeavor, however futile, to move between them."
The world is big, and difficult, and dark, and light, and kind, and reckless, and full of pain, and regret, and so much anger, and so much love. How can we understand any of that without translation? How can anything be understood if we are not truly listening?
How can we ever be better if we can't learn from the mistakes made in history? R.F. Kuang writes, "History isn't a premade tapestry that we've got to suffer, a closed world with no exit. We can form it. Make it. We just have to choose to make it."
So let's choose to listen better, and understand without bias.
Let's "Be selfish" in some things. But let's also "Be brave" in all others....more
"I like to read now because I imagine your voice in every word."
°•*⁀➷
Oh, how I love a redemption book arc. Oh, how I love a book about loving books. A"I like to read now because I imagine your voice in every word."
°•*⁀➷
Oh, how I love a redemption book arc. Oh, how I love a book about loving books. As the title implies, this is very much a Beauty and the Beast retelling and a sweet one at that.
In the second book, we meet Vance, a spoiled, rich kid actor who doesn't seem to care what anybody thinks of him. Who goes through life believing he can do anything and not be punished for it. Until he is. After getting in trouble and being sentenced to spend some time with his godfather, Vance is counting down the days to when he can go back to LA and his life.
That all changes when he meets Rosie, absolute chaos and completely annoying. Until he finds out she's his mystery girl who he spilled his secrets to months earlier.
We watch him go from a spoiled actor to a sweet, understanding book lover and it's a story for a lifetime. The reason I put the quote above is because if a boy ever said that to me I'd probably marry him on the spot.
I loved this series. It's nostalgic in the way only young adult novels can make you feel. And mix it in with a Disney love story? You win every time.
I can't wait to read more Ashley Poston. I'm obsessed with her.
"Sometimes the stories you want aren't the ones you need, and the ones you need are the ones you never thought you'd like."
°•*⁀➷
This was a sweet littl"Sometimes the stories you want aren't the ones you need, and the ones you need are the ones you never thought you'd like."
°•*⁀➷
This was a sweet little book about finding yourself in a character and doing everything you can to save them.
Jess hates her role in Starfield as Princess Amara and wants nothing more than to be seen as a serious actor. One who takes on serious roles, ones that are award worthy and talked about. She wants to be so much more than a character in a sci-fi movie that she doesn't even like. I didn't like her very much, nor do I still, but I admire her growth throughout the story realizing that the only thing that truly matters is how people react to the characters she plays. If they mean something to fans, shouldn't she do everything she can to bring them to life?
Imogen is a fangirl who wants to save Princess Amara and make sure she can see herself in her for so much longer. When the script for the new sequel leaks and they wonder, together, if Amara will be there, they strike up an unlikely bond over differing opinions.
It was so sweet to see Jess' change and Imogen's understanding of why she might not want to be the Princess anymore. I feel like this book is for anyone that has seen themselves in a character. For anyone who looks up to someone so much. To see that despite what you hear about someone else's life, not everything is always as it seems.
It was a sweet little read, I just didn't like either of the characters very much. The plot could easily be five stars with anyone else in focus!
"Star light, star bright, you can be anyone you want to be tonight."
°•*⁀➷
I have had this book free with my audible subscription for so long that I alm"Star light, star bright, you can be anyone you want to be tonight."
°•*⁀➷
I have had this book free with my audible subscription for so long that I almost can't believe I never picked it up sooner. I read The Dead Romantics this week, and loved it so much that I wanted to read something else by the author. I can't believe this is Ashley Poston's book. I can't believe I've had it sitting, and waiting for me for over a year.
Cinderella has always been my favorite princess. As a young girl, I felt so connected to her inability to fit in with anyone, and loved the idea of meeting a prince and having him search the land for you. Very much a non-reality, but a dream nonetheless. This story lived up to all the best re-tellings with the side story of being a "geek" which... I most definitely am.
Obsessed with her favorite show, Starfield, Elle is so angry when THE WRONG GUY gets cast in the role of her very own prince charming. And the story follows her realizing that maybe he doesn't look right for the part on paper, but he might just have the heart for it. It's a book about not judging people before knowing them. About celebrity and everything you lose when people around you are greedy. It's learning to be more understanding, and kind, and respectful. It's so very special.
I rarely enjoy young adult novels these days because I don't always understand the premise, nor the miscommunication. Teenagers are very hard to understand, and while I know I probably acted the same way, it's hard to relate to them. I didn't have any trouble with this one and it was quite possibly one of the sweetest stories I've ever read.
It even got me crying. The bullying from one of Elle's step-sisters... Elle felt so bad when her monster of a step-sibling got a taste of what she always dishes out. It made me think about how I apologize for someone else running into me on a sidewalk. So selfless, so kind, so brave. I don't know how I lived so long without reading Ashley Poston.
"Caring what others think is a lot of work, and with a handful of exceptions, I'm not a huge fan of work."
°•*⁀➷
Not only did I just enjoy an Ali Hazelw"Caring what others think is a lot of work, and with a handful of exceptions, I'm not a huge fan of work."
°•*⁀➷
Not only did I just enjoy an Ali Hazelwood book (FINALLY!) but I loved one. I loved this one. I loved Hannah's brain so much and I loved Ian even more. I love that the sex FINALLY wasn't the only thought on the characters brains, gosh, it adds so much more to the story when there's reasoning and development. I want every book she ever writes to be like this one, from now on, PLEASE. I am begging. I loved this novella so much.
Hannah doesn't want a relationship. She doesn't want to have expectations or open herself up to being hurt. Inside of that, though, she's so respectful of those around her that don't feel the same way. Ian is one of those people. He's not the kind of guy who doesn't take a girl out to dinner. I loved watching them grow in that, grow out of that, grow together.
I loved the miscommunication and how it got resolved. I love that it's cold outside and this book takes place in the cold. I love space, and I love Mars, and I want Ian to be mine. I kind of want Hannah to be mine, too.
I cannot express enough how MUCH I loved this book.
paige (ptsungirl)
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Books:
2022
(275)
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