I finished this last night and was ruminating on what to say or write to share my thoughts best.

It’s no secret that Marissa Meyer does retellings well. Yet, the adventure, the betrayal, the redemptions, the love and the found family aspects of this continued on from book one, only to shine in book two.

Full of heart and whimsy, I loved every line of this book.

A readers first introduction to Elfhame.

While Holly Black is most notably known for the Folk of the Air series, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that was not her first write through Elfhame.

I picked this up ages ago, after reading Folk of the Air, itching for more ruthless fairies. I’m glad it took me awhile to pick it up. While still very much the cruel, wicked and whimsy, this was its own story and should be treated as such.

I had a great time reading about Ben and Holly as superstition and reality collide.

A high stakes political fantasy, where empires are on the brink of collapsing, revolutions are in full force and heartbreak is inevitable. The Jasad Crown delivered on all fronts.

Did I know this book would cause me distress. Yeah.

Was I prepared? Hell no.

When I first began this mammoth of a book, I don’t think I was fully ready to be encapsulated the way I was. I like to describe books like this as “brain on” books, where my full attention is needed. I don’t have the full attention span I used to, so I really need to love the book I’m reading to commit to a lengthy one.

At first, I began to think that maybe this duology was best as a trilogy, just to shorten book 2. But by the end, I was eating my words. I think it needs all 600+ pages to be so involved with the world, with the characters .

Being lost in the world, made the end just that much more impactful.

An historical, multi-generation novel set in during Japan’s invasion of China in the 1930’s and beyond. Peach Blossom Spring is told through three generations of a Chinese family.

Through resilience and hope, this books explores the themes of the immigration experience, the impact of war, identity and lost of identity and so much more.

While the story explored many difficult and compelling topics, it never fully immersed me, so its emotional impact felt somewhat muted. This was especially difficult for me to accept when reading the author’s acknowledgements and learning that while fiction, the story included real life places and stories from her father.

Are you hungry for whiplash?

Kidan and Susenyos had me strapped in to one hell of an emotional ride.

Eternal Ruin is deliciously dark, full of vengeance and betrayal; I could not put this one down. Once again, Tigest Girma has woven a rich, atmospheric story brimming with brutal twists, dangerous loyalties and characters who blur the line between love and destruction.

Every chapter left me reeling, and just when I thought I knew where the story was headed, someone would waltz in to disrupt the peace.

This sequel raises the stakes in every possible way. The tension is relentless, the emotions are anything but stable. The world building feels even more immersive and haunting than before. I devoured this book and immediately wanted more.

I’m eagerly waiting for the third and final book, Infernal Vow.

“I have loved a dead mother longer than I have a living one.”

To be consumed by grief for decades is a phenomenon one hopes to never experience. Erin Vincent lost both her parents at the age of fourteen. Since then, the number fourteen has become a constant, a premonition, a number that’s more than just a value.

“Fourteen Ways of Looking”, is a collection of literary fragments, reflections and interesting facts surrounding the number fourteen.

Raw, emotional and experimental, I read this memoir in one sitting. I don’t rate memories on a star rating scale, but can say that this one had moments that struck me deeply, causing me to pause and really ruminate with the words.

Thank you to @mcclellandstewart for a copy of this book. All thoughts are my owns

Before you go into this book, I think it’s important you know the story of the Clarissa Clyde were inspired by the blowout on the Macondo Well in the Gulf of Mexico (April 20, 2010).

I bring this up because there is a lot of oil rig jargon in this book. So much so, that sometimes I couldn’t focus, because I was not interested in the workings of the rig. At first, I was interested to learn about something new, but this newness slowly lost its charm and I never want to hear about drilling again 😂. I’m only being a tad bit dramatic.

Outside of the technical aspects, which I do still believe add to the story building as it truly sets the scene, I was intrigued by Zainab’s story. I wanted to know what makes her tick, the why and the how. Even often, when frustrated by the characters around her, annoyed by the vulgarity of the dialogue, it felt real and I had to accept that it wasn’t going to tamper down.

Intertwined in the unfolding of events is Zainab’s faith. A true portrayal of how faith is present in our everyday.

A short read, overall interesting, but ultimately a read that I had a hard time immersing in completely.

Thank you Penguin Random House for the arc. All thoughts are my own. At Sea by Y. M. Abdel-Magied is now out to read.