Real rating: 4.25

I read this book in four days, didn't know how to rate it, then proceeded to reread it to make up my mind 💀

Into the Blue is a perfect blend of romance and literary fiction. It's an almost 450 page book and yet it felt like I was watching a tv show. I commend Emma Brodie for telling a love story spanning over 13 years in a way that took its time to develop each era (except for the ending) without making it feel like it was multiple books squished into one. I also loved that this book is so rereadable, and there are so many foreshadowing and hints that you won't catch on your first read.

AJ and Noah are two perfectly imperfect protagonists. I was mad at them, happy for them, crying for them and wanting to shake them! They felt human, even with some of their questionable choices and miscommunication. Their love is one like no other. You truly believe they are soulmates - or in this case, scene partners for life. Their connection through improv and Astronauticals felt authentic, their push and pull as captivating to watch as their acting scenes.

The reason why I had to reread to decide on my rating was because of the ending. It drags for a while and the last 20% felt so rushed that it didn't land. I often wish books are trimmed down, but for this one it's the other way around. Adding 50-100 pages to iron out that section like the others would have been better.

If you love Normal People, then you should definitely check this out, and if you do, please do it through the audiobook. Julia Whelan gives the performance of a lifetime!

I really liked this book. I think the characters were really well thought out, and there were some twists in there that I genuinely didn't see coming. But it hurts to have one major problem with this book.... I don't think this should have been a romance. I personally think it would have made way more sense if Juliet and Declan didn't end up together at the end of the book. This book was mainly centred around their individual struggles and I think they both have a lot of things to work through by themselves so I actually would have liked this more if they didn't actually end up together. They're one of those couples that I imagine broke up after the end. Not because they're necessarily bad together, but simply because they both have too much baggage.

I found the book to have a nice concept but didn't like the way it was executed. Throughout it was trying to be funny when it wasn't. Like, how many clogged toilets do we need? It also didn't really feel like it was going anywhere and even when it did, it just went back to the same things.

”No matter how it seems now, I must confess: I loved him. I do not think that I will ever love anyone like that again.”

There are certain books which, once I have finally read them, I feel as if I could speak of for days, but simultaneously that there is nothing I could say which has not already been said, and said more eloquently. Giovanni’s Room is one such book. I still don’t know if my review, which I have taken over a week to find the words to write, does the work any justice.

This novel has a quiet quality to it, despite the bar scenes and late nights shared between characters. There is the romanticization of Paris, and the shedding of its glamour; the making of future plans, and an air of resignation. Giovanni’s Room is a capsule of internal conflict and contradictory truths. David’s story is a tug of war played out in the mind.

Baldwin’s writing was stunning, subtle, sensitive, and sincere. Giovanni’s Room is literature, deserving of its status as a classic in American canon as well as import in queer history. The novel is ripe for analysis, and I enjoyed annotating while I read it.

Giovanni’s Room will stay with you. Or will you stay in it? A beautifully, achingly rendered examination of internalized homophobia and cultural expectations of masculinity, Baldwin’s classic is more than worthy of your time.