3 ⭐️

This book is all over the place in terms of quality. The best parts are amazing. They are emotional and gave me chills. The weakest parts are dreadfully boring and dragged on.

I think this book would’ve benefitted from a little bit of a faster pace (especially towards the end). It got really slow and I felt like nothing was really happening for chapters at a time.

I think that Semiramis is a great main character for one of these mythological “feminist retellings”. I am obsessed with this genre and I will never get tired of them. This book tried to do something a little different in the genre and had multiple POVs. At first I thought it was working, but overall I think it hurt the story more than helped it. I feel it should’ve focused solely on Semiramis’ story. Often times (this story being no exception) the characters are all morally gray and I think leaving the butterfly effect caused by these horrendous decisions hidden from the reader helps with the story. It forces us to consider and imagine the worst instead of literally see the bad things happening. Our imaginations are usually worse than the reality.

I enjoyed the first half a lot. The last half was more a struggle but I thought the writing was consistently great throughout. Very poetic. Very quotable. Very good imagery.

I know that Casati is a very talented author and I am still eager to see what else she releases in the future.

Disclaimer: I got an eARC of the audiobook through netgalley. Thanks to NetGalley and RBMedia for the advanced copy!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK. Except there was one smut scene towards the end that was so foul and disturbing and flabbergasting and slightly triggering that it completely ruined the book for me. I’ve decided to pretend this scene doesn’t exist, and rate it off of that. It’s written so vaguely that it’s easy to miss what’s happening. I didn’t miss it Ali. I’m looking at you.

4.5⭐️

The characters

5 ⭐️

I loved this book. I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. It has all my favorite things and none of my least favorite things all tied up in a cute and unique package!

single parent ✅

forced proximity ✅

sloooooooow burn ✅ (like actually)

characters improving themself before they enter a relationship ✅

entertaining and fleshed out side characters ✅

no miscommunication trope ✅ (in fact there’s a scene that kind of makes fun of this)

what’s not to love?!

I loved the presentation. The radio show idea is sooo unique! I loved it. It was creative and led to some ideas i’ve never seen in a romance before. This book will live rent free in my head forever.

Every man that isn’t Aiden.

I have to read this for Pewdiepie's book club. Everyone on his subreddit says it sucks.

6⭐️!

This is a rivals to lovers story about a book editor and a literary agent from New York who meet by chance in a small town while on vacation.

The banter is UNMATCHED. I’ve never seen a novel, movie, play, or any form of media with banter and chemistry as good as the two characters in this story. I laughed out loud so many times reading this. Definitely my favorite romance book I’ve read so far. I loved them so much. I think Charlie may be my favorite love interest ever. It does a great job of acknowledging the common tropes found in this form of media while not being too cheesy or fourth wall breaking. I think this book was actually written for me.

If you like romance novels you will love this. If you like silly romantic comedies, you will love this.

4.5 ⭐️

There is an important discussion to be had on cultural appropriation and where the line should be drawn. I think Rebecca herself explained it well when she said that barring people from writing about topics because they are the "wrong race" becomes a slippery slope. However, June as a character shows that maybe not every white person should write about the experiences of minorities.

June is narcissistic, jealous, a little racist, and incredibly flawed. Yet, it is terrifying that I found her relatable in many ways. I can sympathize with her thought process and see how she backed herself further and further into a corner.

The saddest part is that she never learned her lesson and continued to play the victim, when it was a monster of her own creation.

I like that every character is equally as flawed as June. Athena isn't a "perfect token asian" character who was horribly ripped off.

She was an asshole who was too full of herself and hurt a lot of the people close to her. Not that she deserved what June did, but it makes the story less black and white.

I think this book is an exceptional study of guilt and grief and what it does to a person. Everyone is familiar with that ball of guilt in their stomach that can grow and fester. Rebecca in this novel explores what thats like when the guilt is immense and left to snowball.

June's spiral into madness at the end of this book is probably my favorite part. She is so racked with guilt that she is willing to do seances, burn IKEA magazines, and consider exorcisms because she can't live with what she's done. Her fight with Candice at the end is very dark and showcases how lies can grow and grow until they can't be contained. June, a young white woman who has never fought in her life, considers murdering a girl in order to keep her secret safe. I'm convinced that June probably would've, if Candice hadn't won.

I love this analysis of race and identity and think it serves as an important voice in current discussions. I highly recommend this.

I also have to mention that books about publishing, authors, and the literary field are some of my favorite and I enjoyed learning more of the ins and outs of the book publishing world as well. Even if it wasn't the main takeaway I was supposed to have.

Wow! What a beautiful and powerful memoir about the cycle of abuse, self-determination, and the power of education. Tara paints a raw picture of what her childhood was like and the emotional ramifications of trying to cope with it. It was dark and frustrating to read at times. How can so many oblivious and incompetent people around them enable this sort of behavior?

Inspiring and emotional, Educated is a book that will stick with me forever.

There is something about Madeline Miller’s writing that is just perfect for the tone she was going for. I love her writing style and tone and this sort of omniscient first person like you are being told a story where the narrator knows how it ends.

This story was beautiful and tragic and a great reimagining of The Odyssey. Circe is one of those characters that you relate to wholeheartedly and a little embarrassingly. She is flawed and imperfect and empathetic to her downfall but it is told in a compelling way. I love her.

4.5 ⭐️

I liked this book way more than I had any right to. It was sold to me as more of a romantasy but I would say it is closer to Fantasy. This is a great example of how fun YA fantasy can be. Especially after reading the nightmare that was the last 2 Twilight books.

This was fun but serious and dark enough when it needed to be. I thought a lot of the characters were interesting and had a lot of depth. I have the sequel requested on Libby and I cannot wait to continue this series. I really liked the dynamic between Jude and Cardan. There was some good court drama and subterfuge that was exciting and twists that totally caught me by surprise a few times which is rare in the YA genre.

Highly recommend for people who want to get into fantasy or who already like fantasy but want something a little lighter and less complicated.

3.5 ⭐️

I loved the first book. I think it should be required reading in school. Unfortunately, this book didn't hit the same.

Fredrik Backman's writing is incredibly poetic. He can make anything feel profound and deep. I really love reading anything he's written, even when what he's saying isn't that interesting to me.

Benji, Ana, Leo, and Maya all have a piece of my heart and everything they went through was tragic. I care way too much about these fictional characters. I just want to give them all a big hug. Something about Benji in particular. I love him so much.

I really feel like this book just wasn't necessary. I don't care enough about the politics of this town to care about anything Peter was doing. I think the core message of this book didn't hit the same as Beartown and while the last 30% had some meaningful discussions about how we deal with sexuality (there were also some earlier discussions around violence and masculinity that were well executed), I think a lot of this book ran itself around in circles skirting away from the point it was trying to make.