The Charmed List by Julie Abe

so. much. fluff
Also it's contemporary and magical realism and there's magic and non-magic. and the stores and the whimsey. I love it. 
The ship. Adorbs. fdjlk;asjfl;saj;f
304 Pages

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber

I wish we had more of Natalie's story.
Also I'm here for the small town shops and the small town vibes. 
mgfld;fgkldkl'gfd
It's all the soft cuteness for me.
Let's talk about grief, y'all.
Magical cat. 
Don't give me a character named Gideon and expect me to survive....or a guy who takes photos....I'm dead. 
336 Pages

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

Ok but they are so cute... like.... I have all the warm and fuzzies. 
I'm going to go fall and cry in a corner because cute nice boys.
Quint is adorable and I love him and I would die for him. Too pure.
Prudence I love you. You are my spirit. I mean minus the....yeah it's fine.
What I would give for a storm.....Ahem....I mean...
It had Freaky Friday vibes, and some Last Song vibes (but without all the Nicholas Sparks heartache).
It was cute, it was fluffy, it was soft. Cute baby animals, cute boys. Sign me up. 
400 Pages

Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman

 

Skylight Confessions 

by Alice Hoffman

Pages: 264

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Cool, practical, and deliberate, John is dreamy Arlyn's polar opposite. Yet the two are drawn powerfully together. John builds a house made of glass in the Connecticut countryside, the pinnacle of his career. But he appears to love the house more than Arylyn and their son or daughter. Glass breaks, love hurts, and families make their own rules. Ultimately, it falls to their grandson, Will, to solve the emotional puzzle of his family and of his own identity.

Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry

Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book releases January 22, 2019: Go pre-order a copy right now!

This book fronts as a YA contemporary romance, but it has this delicious undercurrent of magical realism that just takes my breath away.

It reminded me of being a kid, when I also felt so tied to the land that I haven’t set foot on again since I was about 13 years old. It’s funny the way the things that shape us as a child can suddenly seem so distant once you are 38. This story threw me back into the shell of an emotionally fragile teenager who fought through the challenges life served up in a far less graceful and mature fashion than Jesse and Scarlett. Granted, I didn't have the sort of mentors they had to help guide me on my way.

This story basically scratched me raw from the insides out, and I spent the better part of the story trying not to cry, not because it’s so painfully sad but because it hit home in so many ways that just left me feeling vulnerable and emotional.

Katie McGarry understands characters and relationship dynamics in a way that is so real and honest. She creates characters that I fall so hard in love with that it hurts just a bit when I have to admit to myself that they aren’t real. The writing is excellent. The plotting and pacing are spot on, and this story is gritty and aches in all the right and wrong kinds of ways. It ran me through the full emotional spectrum, and the end result is that it was such a satisfying read that I expect this story will cling to me, even after I have moved on to other books.

I will definitely reread this one, and while I received it free from Netgalley to review, I suspect I’ll pop on Audible and pre-order the audio, as this is a story I could reread again and again and likely take something a bit different away from it each time I revisit it.

Like the land, this story has life and breathes.

Book 7 read in 2019

Pages: 368

Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff

Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an emotional read with a magical realism thing happening that is quite fascinating.

I personally wanted to shake the MC a few times for treating her dream world as being completely separate from her real world, but then I guess if I started dreaming myself into places I knew I wasn't supposed to be, I might be a bit confused and overwhelmed too.

Pages: 384

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is unique, and I haven't read anything quite like it before. For that alone, it's worth a read.

I listened to the audiobook by Jim Dale, one of my favorite readers, and I think that helped my impression of the story.

I found the endless pages of description exhausting at times (especially as it seemed to grow worse as the novel progressed), though I confess description and setting were a huge part of the actual story. Most of it, really.

This novel is light on plot and heavy on world building. Character growth and development are minimal and typically surface level. Usually, that's a negative for a novel, but there was something so unusual about this whole story that it sort of worked.

It used a strange sort of trickery to elicit emotions from me, and I have a confusing sort of frustrated admiration for that. I mean, at least it made me feel things. I just wish, I had come to feel them on my own, through solid storytelling, instead of the sudden pretty words used as a knife to my heartstrings approach.

Still, there's something fascinating enough about this story that I may sit on it a few years, and then give it another try to see if I come away with the same impressions.

Pages: 516