Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer Armentrout

Kind of slow paced for most of the book.
*laughs uncomfortably. Yeah this is adult fantasy.
Am I comparing it to FBAA... A little bit.
It was cool.
432 Pages

Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

Did someone say Dred Pirate Roberts.
So like....This felt like it was a lot of set up/exposition heavy.
No shade, but you can tell she's trying to make it new adult.
The concept is cool, but I feel like I've read it already
604 Pages

Forget Me Not by Julie Soto

 

Summary: "Ama Torres loves being a wedding planner. But with a mother who has been married more times than you can count on your fingers, Ama has decided that marriage is not the route for her. But weddings? Weddings are amazing. As a small business owner, she knows how to match her clients with the perfect vendor to give them the wedding of their dreams. Well, almost perfect…

Elliot hates being a florist, most of the time. When his father left him the flower shop, he considered it a burden, but he’s stuck with it. Just like how he’s stuck with the way he proposed to Ama, his main collaborator and girlfriend (or was she?) two years ago. But flowers have grown on him, just like Ama did. And flowers can’t run off and never speak to him again, like Ama did."

The writing was fun. The FLOWERS. The flower tattoos. 

The zillion step-siblings.

341 pages 

Planes, Trains, and All the Feels by Livy Hart

 

Summary: "As the black sheep of the family, choreographer Cassidy Bliss vowed she’d do anything to get home in time to help with her sister’s wedding and avoid family disappointment… again . She just never expected “anything” would involve sharing the last rental car with the jerk who cut her off in line at the airport this morning. But horrible times apparently call for here-goes-nothing measures."

I'm here for an unexpected and unlikely pairing on a road trip anytime. 

Luke is a sweetheart, and I love him. 

352 pages

Two Wrongs Make a Right and Better Hate than Never by Chloe Liese

Two Wrongs Make a Right
It's the neurodiversity representation. Like... not being able to eat certain foods because textures and like. having big feelings and fixating. sfjkldsfjkldsfjkld
337 Pages

Better Hate Than Never
It's the note on the flowers.
The ADHD and the forgetfulness and the time blindness.
336 Pages

me: sits here waiting for sister 3, even though she's my least favorite because I wanted to strangle her all through the first book.

The Name Drop by Susan Lee

Ok but like...the one plot hole....how can no one know that the heir to a tech company is a guy.
But also they got to switch places and do the things they want to do. Like. He got to be normal and just try things and she got to be in charge of things and have idea.
Jessica being...kind of clueless and Elijah actually knowing what's going on.
Also. NEW YORK ADVENTURES.
299 Pages

The Scarlet Veil by Shelby Mahurin

If this is a love triangle. I can't.
Reid's just trying his best. Poor boi.
The reason why men shouldn't be in charge: they don't listen and they stupid.
No proof until there's a body.
640 Pages

TS Song: YOYOK, Champagne Problems, You're Losing Me

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

But instead of falling it's crying, and instead of minutes, it's hours. I hate it. I wish I could forget most of this book, and I won't be able to watch most of the show. Because I can't. yes it's about Calvin.
That scene where Max bringing the Grinch tools.
Six-Thirty is the precursor to Bunny the Dog. Must protect.
390 Pages

After the Forest by Kell Woods

Me IMMEDIATELY knowing what's up with the bear.
It's the scary talking book that gives me Hocus Pocus + horcrux vibes
Greta making magical gingerbread from a book she stole from the witch in the gingerbread house.
This is my favorite kind of book and I love it.
384 Pages

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

I am unwell. Adrienne Young continues to kill me with her magical realism books.
I'm fine. Everything's fine.
I love Amin. (spelling?) I'm dying alone.
Alexa play no body no crime
336 Pages

Kismat Connection by Ananya Devarajan

Her little science brain making experiments. Samesies.
Can someone please just give Arjun a sandwich and a hug...like...
He's like Adrien Agreste but different
304 Pages
TS Song: New Years Day

The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker

It has some of the vibes of A Magic Steeped in Poison...but darker
The number of Fullmetal jokes I want to make.
It's the ducks being named after vegetables for me.
must find duck memes
*Stares into the abyss until next October.
416 Pages

Starling House by Alix E Harrow

So apparently it's spooky season in my reads... And by spooky I mean gothic.
One of my favorite hyper-specific tropes--the caretaker of a house/place that is dangerous...No we're not going to look at that in therapy.
THE CAT THE CAT THE CAT THE CAT.
also I love Arthur and the cat together.
like...he has a sword.
Can we just appreciate Opal trying her best. Because like.
Is this commentary greed and the environment and slavery in the past and now. Yes it is. Love it.
400 Pages

A Prayer for Vengeance by Leanne Schwartz

So I love Milo. I am Milo. Must Protect.
Could I overthink about the symbolism of changing in and out of statue form.. yes.
But also it's hecka cool.
368 Pages

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

It's the rivals to lovers and the spooky house by the sea.
"You don't have to pick up a sword. Survival is bravery too."
There's fae and a fairy king
It's not sorcery of thorns, but like... they share some flavors.
I just love the character chemistry and the concept and the magic.
When a specific scene reminds me of The Rescuers.
Pretty sure this is going on my 2023 Favorites
*When a character is called pedantic and you realize that's what you are.
376 Pages

If I Have to Be Haunted by Miranda Sun

WHAT IS IT WITH SWIM TEAM MEMBERS AND GHOSTS.
This might hurt me.
The red string theory. 😏
It's the enemies to lovers that have known each other since childhood.
Must protect sweet cinnamon roll boy.
Chef's kiss
*Reads epilogue: EXCUSE ME.
368 Pages

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.

Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.

When the United States attacks Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.
 

Pages: 371

Cage of Dreams by Rebecca Schaeffer

**It's a sequel**

"....not independence, it's isolation" quote... like... boof.
The number of therapy quotes about healing and fear and growth and trauma I want to underline.
It's the open conversations about fears and worries for me.
The last chapter/epilogue. Like...Don't do that to me. Like... that's hinting.
368 Pages

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

I'm rereading it for Curse for True Love. (which comes out at the end of October)
When I wasn't sure if I was mixing up the plot with another story, but I was right.
The magic. The mystery. The intrigue.
Me watching/waiting for Jack to show up
437 Pages

Foul Heart Huntsman by Chloe Gong

**It's a sequel**

You know what sounds as good as "that's my wife"... "I am your WIFE" best thing you ever gon get

They included one of my favorite tropes. fkdlsfjkldsfdjkl
They do talk about blood and needles and stuff.
....hears the phrase "burning red" ...sus
I don't even know why, but like...reading this book gives me LWYMMD tour entrance vibes

So this might have benefited from a re-read so that I have a greater grasp of the outer characters...but I'm screeching. My babies. All of my babies. With confirmation that my theory was right.
*me waiting for someone to die because Chloe Gong could kill me.
*Finally understands the titles.
593 Page

The Troop by Nick Cutter

 

Once a year, scoutmaster Tim Riggs leads a troop of boys into the Canadian wilderness for a three-day camping trip; a tradition as comforting and reliable as a good ghost story and a roaring bonfire. But when an unexpected intruder -- shockingly thin, disturbingly pale, and voraciously hungry -- stumbles upon their campsite, Tim and the boys are exposed to something far more frightening than any tale of terror. The human carrier of a bioengineered nightmare. An inexplicable horror that spreads faster than fear. A harrowing struggle for survival that will pit the troop against the elements, the infected ... and one another.

Pages: 407

The Wake-Up Call by Beth O'Leary

Beth O'Leary owns me.
#sharedtrauma
*lays on floor crying because miscommunication but it's not the annoying stupid miscommunication, it's just stupid.
Can we just let Mandy take a nap.
But like.... I feel called out because apparently my handwriting is bad.....She's me.
416 Pages

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

It was ok. The concept sounded interesting, but like....
290 Pages

Unnecessary Drama by Nina Kenwood

I just want to brag real quick about how I figured out the narrator was Australian because honestly I'm proud that I caught that.
It's the watching Vampire Diaries for me.
It's the younger sibling trying to take care of the older sibling and always feeling like they have to be the responsible one and that they can't ever be out of control.....
320 Pages

Julie's books

 

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

Pages: 400

Peter Aykroyd spent his childhood watching his family's parlor seances through the crack of a basement door. Here, for the first time, Aykroyd tells the strange and delightful story that inspired his son, Dan, to make the mega-hit, "Ghostbusters." Part history, part family legend, "A History of Ghosts "starts in 1848 in upstate New York, where the spiritualist craze first began. Aykroyd introduces the reader to notable mediums while telling the story of the development of spiritualism, interweaving a personal history marked by a fascination with ghosts and spirits with the larger narrative about the role the paranormal has played in our culture. Such legendary figures as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini appear and vanish.

Pages: 256