Nicola Yoon was one of my favourite authors when I was a teenager. Everything, Everything hit me hard, and I kept waiting for her other books to be translated into Greek. Unfortunately, my hopes eventually died. Four years ago, as an adult, I decided to give The Sun Is Also a Star a chance, and I liked it. Not as much as Everything, Everything, but I still thought it was good. And Safe Harbor reminded me why I loved Nicola Yoon's writing style so much in the first place.

Safe Harbor is a short story about a group of teenagers attending a therapy session for children of divorced parents, and this story really hit home for me.

Honestly, my biggest problem with it is that it was too short. I genuinely believe that this concept, if explored in a 250-page novel, could have been something incredible. There was so much emotional material here that I wanted more time with the characters and their stories.

I especially resonated with Isabel's thoughts about her parents' divorce. How are you supposed to keep believing in love when your own parents no longer believe in it? That question really stayed with me. I was also happy to see her find a little bit of comfort and solace in Gray.

One final note, though: Nicola and David, please don't ever include a line suggesting that a girl is angry because she's on her period. And definitely don't have it come from a man's mouth. We can leave that one behind, please. Other than that, this was a short but emotional read that reminded me exactly why Nicola Yoon's writing meant so much to me as a teenager.

For a long time, I had wanted to read something by Cesare. His books remind me of classic horror B-movies: over-the-top, bloody, and unapologetically gruesome, with characters being torn apart and entrails seemingly hanging everywhere. I'm not usually a huge fan of splatter films, as that level of gore isn't really my thing. With books, however, I find it easier to control how vividly I picture the more gruesome scenes, which makes this kind of horror much more enjoyable for me.

What I particularly enjoyed about this book was its setting. A haunted arcade was a refreshing change from the haunted houses that seem to dominate the genre. Not because of nostalgia, but simply because it was nice to see something different. I also didn't expect the book to be this much fun. It manages to be entertaining and almost playful at times while also being incredibly gory and disgusting. If I had to describe it in one sentence, I would call it "Goosebumps for adults".

The premise is wonderfully chaotic: a ghost haunting an arcade was largely harmless until it had to kill to protect its favourite patron. Now, the soul of a sociopath has become fused with its own, and the people trapped inside the arcade must fight for their lives...

I also have to mention the ending. I was convinced we were heading towards a familiar "final girl" trope, so I was pleasantly surprised by the direction the story ultimately took. This definitely won't be my last Cesare book.

If you're looking for something fun, entertaining, gory, and unapologetically over-the-top, this would make a great read for Summerween or Halloween.

I honestly can't pinpoint exactly what didn't work for me with this book, so let's start with what I loved.

First of all, the gothic atmosphere and the body horror. Some scenes were beautifully written, and I found myself eagerly turning the pages just to experience that haunting feeling crawling under my skin again. The mansion, with its ghosts and its basement, was described with such skill that it became one of my favourite parts of the book. It is definitely the kind of house that, if it existed, I would desperately want to visit.

Secondly, I really enjoyed the chapters set in the past. I won't say much about them because I don't want to spoil anything, but I appreciated that the author didn't simply give us a monster. She gave us the circumstances that created that monster. Thirdly, I saw another review describing Mother as a vampire. Personally, I liked that the author avoided using that word. She created something of her own. Something that certainly shares similarities with vampires, but also has enough differences to feel distinct from the typical version of one. I really appreciated that choice.

And finally, I have to mention that absolutely beautiful cover, as well as the title. Once you read the book, you understand why the author chose it, and I thought it was a very fitting choice.

And that is where my praise ends.

One thing that really bothered me was a particular attitude that I feel is becoming increasingly common in some spaces: the idea that men are inherently animals, that men as a whole are the problem, or that the world would somehow be better off without them. There was a line near the beginning of the book that immediately rubbed me the wrong way. What makes it even more frustrating is that the book itself doesn't fully support such a simplistic view. We see Rue find love in Oren's arms, and their relationship is an important part of the story. Yet that earlier statement was still there, and to me, it felt unnecessarily inserted to appeal to readers who enjoy broad, hostile generalisations about men.

And that is perhaps part of why I am struggling to pinpoint exactly what disappointed me. There are things in this book that I genuinely admired. The atmosphere, the horror, the writing in certain scenes, the mansion, the creature's backstory. All of those elements worked for me. But there were also choices that kept pulling me out of the story and left me feeling more frustrated than I expected.

Maybe this just wasn't entirely the book for me. I can absolutely see why others would love it, and I certainly don't regret reading it. But despite all the things I enjoyed, something never fully clicked.

DNF at 30–40%

As a librarian, I am absolutely the target audience for a book about books, librarians, booksellers, and a magical traveling bookshop. Twig's Traveling Tomes sounded like exactly the kind of cozy, whimsical adventure I would love: a traveling bookstore, a witch, books, magic, and a comforting atmosphere. And, for a while, I actually got some of that. Unfortunately, I feel like the book eventually lost sight of what it was trying to be.

My biggest issue was the romance. It felt so heavily pushed into the story that it completely disrupted the cozy atmosphere for me. Every time something interesting, magical, or genuinely cozy was happening, the book seemed to find a way to throw in flirting, sexual tension, or some romantic innuendo. The male protagonist is constantly flirting with the female protagonist, while her thoughts increasingly revolve around sex and sexual attraction. And honestly, I got tired of it.

I went into this expecting a cozy fantasy adventure with books and magic. Instead, it increasingly felt like the book was trying to be cozy fantasy, romance, and something much steamier all at once. The adventure was there, but it became difficult for me to enjoy it because I was constantly being pulled back into the romantic/sexual tension between the two characters.

At some point, I realized that I was no longer wondering what would happen next in the adventure. I was just waiting for these two to finally get together so the story could move on. That is simply not what I wanted from this book. I don't mind romance in cozy fantasy, but here it felt intrusive rather than complementary. I wanted the books, the magic, the traveling bookstore, the witch, and the cozy adventures. I didn't want the story to constantly remind me that the protagonists are attracted to each other.

Unfortunately, I reached the point where all the sexual looks, flirting, and innuendos became more exhausting than enjoyable, so I'm calling it a DNF at around 30–40%. It had so many elements that should have made it a perfect book for me, which honestly makes this even more disappointing. I just don't think the direction it took was for me.