I really wanted to love this book. But at the end of the day, it's hard to love something you don't really understand.

Let me start with what I enjoyed. Colored Television was interesting and unusual, and because I've never read anything like it, it fully engaged my brain. It constantly tried to explore so many meaningful topics that it often felt like every sentence and every paragraph had the potential to be something profound.

Every time I sat down with this book, I didn't want to put it down. I wanted to keep going, to keep turning the pages. There was this perpetual feeling that something compelling was right around the corner, if only I could stick around for a few more pages to find out what it was.

But the problem is that the compelling bits never really emerged. This story had the anticipation and the tension, but not the payoff. The whole thing felt like a setup instead of a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

The same could be said for the would-be interesting explorations. It feels like a lot of great ideas were introduced, but then nothing came of them. Yes, the book made me think, but that's because it served up ideas without any follow-through, so I was forced to come up with stuff myself or just leave the ideas dangling. As a result, while the book may have arrested my attention, it didn't actually give me anything new I could take away with me.

Let me give an example. It's clear Jane suffered from envy and wanted an upper-middle class life. But neither she nor her husband were willing to give up their high-minded artistic pursuits in trade for a job that would make more money. In fact, they regarded everyone who did as sellouts and were bitterly against them. Okay, but so what? I understand (as I'm sure everyone does) the conundrum of either working a well-paid but soulless job versus pursuing your passions but making considerably less, so I didn't understand what this story was trying to add to that conversation.

Another example is Finn, Jane and Lenny's son. He is possibly special-needs, but they're not sure. Jane and Lenny have different parenting views on what this could mean. Okay, but so what? I'm pretty sure every set of parents have had differing views at one point or another regarding their child, special needs or not. Again here, I feel like the author is trying to say something, but what it is eludes me.

Maybe part of the issue is the characters. Jane was not really sympathetic and neither were any of the supporting characters. They all just seemed to muddle along, blissfully certain in their views of the world while being bitterly against everyone who doesn't share them. From beginning to end, it seemed like there were no character growth, no gained understanding from their experiences.

Or maybe the problem is that this is billed as a dark comedy, but I didn't see any humor. It's not that I read potentially funny passages and just didn't laugh because it wasn't my brand of humor. No, it's more that I didn't even understand where the humor could be. Instead, this story felt earnest throughout, almost overly so, and thus I had to take everything it said seriously.

I suspect if I'd understood the humor, this probably would've read like a completely different story to me. Or if it hadn't come across so shallowly traversed, as I always prefer more depth than breadth. But as it stands, I can't shake the feeling that I didn't quite get this story. Still, I really enjoyed Senna's writing and will check out more from her. Hopefully my next foray will be more successful.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Did she sound like a whiny child? Yes. Did she care? Not even a little bit.

Oh boy. Here we go.

When I first heard about this story, I thought this was it. Billed as Knives Out meets enemies-to-lovers, you couldn't get me to say "Sold!" fast enough. I immediately dropped everything on my TBR and made room for this. But alas, I'm having a hard time pointing to even one thing I liked about it.

Let me start by saying that when an author wants a down-on-their-luck heroine but don't quite know how to write one, the result is often someone like Maggie. Instead of being a character who is sympathetic and cheer-worthy, you get one who is precious, annoying, and at times downright mean. She needs constant reassurance that she's special and worthy, but she's so stuck in her pity party that all she can give back is insecurity and insults.

Enter Ethan, our nice, handsome, charming male lead who crushes hard on Maggie, no matter what she does and says to him.

"Sometimes I lie in bed at night, thinking of ways to kill you and make it look like an accident."

In case it's not clear, that isn't the murderer talking, that's Maggie speaking to Ethan. Yikes. Seriously you guys, you know anyone who's attracted to people wanting to kill them? Yeah, me neither. And Ethan's response wasn't to run out of there screaming like a banshee, but rather something insipid and flirty. I just can't.

So when you put these two characters together, you'd be right to think their interactions would be vapid and cringe-inducing. And indeed they were. Every dialogue was as dull as dishwater, yet presented like they were some sort of witty repartee deserving of swoon. Reader, I did not swoon. Indeed, I should say I was lucky I did not suffer permanent damage from the constant eye-rolling.

In order for enemies-to-lovers to work, it has to make sense why they were enemies in the first place. But here, to pile on to poor Maggie's characterization of being annoying and full of herself, her only reason for disliking Ethan, which she states time and again, is that he's "handsome and charming and . . . universally adored." Ah, pettiness doesn't look good on anyone, and Maggie certainly didn't change my mind.

It's hard to stay engaged with such bland, unlikable characters, and the writing didn't help either. During what should've been emotionally charged moments, it often felt like we were just dropped there without any buildup or the necessary cues. In fact, when Ethan revealed the big ol' secret of his job prior to being an author, I actually laughed because I thought it was a punchline and he was joking.

But what about the mystery, you ask? Well, it had potential, but ultimately ended up rather clichéd. It's clear that the focus of the story was on Maggie and Ethan, and the rest of the characters were more or less cartoony cutouts lifted from the mystery genre. And I'm willing to put up with that, if not for the very end.

Mystery writers everywhere, in case it's not clear, I never want to reach the end of the mystery and see the line "there are some mysteries that are better left unsolved, some questions better left unanswered." Uh, no. Writers, it is your duty, after all that build up, to make sure I know every which way exactly how it all unfolded. It is not cute nor satisfying to leave a big part of the mystery unsolved just because.

But hey, don't let me dissuade you. I see nothing but glowing reviews for this book, so what do I know? But if you're unsure, I've devised a litmus test:

"Dobson thinks we tried to kill Eleanor. But that's crazy. Isn't that crazy? I think that's crazy. Because you are you. and I am me, and we are not a we?"

If that quote and all the italics made sense to you, have at it. Otherwise, you're probably better off saving your TBR—and your eyes—for a less exasperating read.

Readaroo Rating: 1 star

This was such a cute, short story. It was the perfect way to kick off the holiday reading season, or if you're like me, scrambling to fit in even one seasonal read, then you'd have successfully met your quota.

This has got everything I'd want in a romcom—tension, sizzle, romance, and absolutely hilarious banter. Honestly, I don't think anyone does banter quite like Ali Hazelwood. She often has me in stitches, and this time, I was at the library, so I had to stifle my laughter and do the silent shakes, for fear of being kicked out.

I will say, having read quite a few books by Hazelwood now, I've come to recognize what seems to be her excessive reliance on the miscommunication trope. Yes, the guy has professed every which way how much he loves the girl, and yet, she doth protest. But since this is a novella, it doesn't go on and on past the point of believability like it would in a full-length novel. Instead, we get it all sorted out pretty quickly, and that makes this reader very happy.

I can't think of anything bad to say about this other than it's short and I want more. But then that's my problem with every short story. Anyhoo, definitely recommend if you're a fan of Ali Hazelwood and looking for a fun way to spend an hour or two.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

From where I'm sitting, it seems like Richard Osman can do no wrong.

It's no secret that I love The Thursday Murder Club series. So when I heard the author was going to venture away and start another series with brand new characters, I was obviously excited. But also nervous. Because what if Richard Osman is a one-trick pony? What if he couldn't recapture the magic of four septuagenarians with a father and daughter-in-law duo? But my worries were completely unfounded, my friends, because the magic is all here.

From the moment I opened that first page, I knew I was going to adore this. All the hallmarks I've come to love about Osman's stories are on display here, from his loveable characters to his clever mysteries to the gentle humor that infuses every page. But this time, instead of puttering around a sleepy retirement village, our keen-eyed detectives traipse all over world, racking up the miles and adventures in equal measure.

The mystery here is a fun one. Amy is a private bodyguard extraordinaire, but someone has gotten past her security and is trying to kill her client. Oh oops, actually, the target is her. So Amy must turn to the one person she trusts the most, her father-in-law Steve, lure him out of retirement, and get his help before she ends up dead. Along the way, there are bags of money, assassins everywhere, and oodles of excitement as they race through exotic locales making new friends and foes alike.

I thoroughly enjoyed the way this all unfolded. As it typical of the best mysteries, we get clues and red herrings aplenty, and each new one serves up even more fun. First our attention is diverted one way, then another, and yet when the reveal finally happens, we're still taken by surprise.

Of course, one of the things that makes reading Richard Osman so special is how he portrays the characters and their relationships with each other. They come alive on the pages, and their interactions are so lovely and delightful, it makes me wish they were real and I really knew them. But it's not all rainbows and sunshine. Osman manages to tackle serious topics too, like grief and loneliness, with his trademark humor and wit, and the result is so heartwarming it touches something deep within me.

Now I'm in the happy position of being unsure which series I want Richard Osman to continue next. Either way, I'm sure to enjoy myself, so it's a good dilemma to have.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

I can never resist a wedding thriller. Call me a romantic, but nothing sets my heart aflutter quite like the prospect of murder and mayhem on that special day. So I went into The Last One at the Wedding with high expectations. But unfortunately, it disappointed from pretty much beginning to end.

Frank hasn't spoken to his daughter Maggie in three years. So when he gets a phone call from her, he's rightfully thrilled. And he's even more so when he hears that she's getting married and wants him to walk her down the aisle. But when Frank arrives at the three-day wedding extravaganza, he starts to realize that all is not right.

The story is told from Frank's perspective, and honestly, probably my biggest problem is that I just never connected with him. While I don't always have to love and be chummy chummy with all my protagonists, I do have to understand them. And I just couldn't get there with Frank.

His paranoia reaches the level of making my eyes roll with practically every thought and every sentence. Sure, it eventually turns out that his paranoia is justified, for how else would we even have a story? But it didn't make reading his perspective any easier or any more fun.

But it's more than that. For some reason, Frank came off as extremely unlikable. Now a lot of authors write unlikable characters, and they have no bearing or may even add to my enjoyment of the story. But in this case, I have the uncomfortable feeling that Jason Rekulak may have accidentally made Frank unlikable, that he thought he was crafting a personable guy and instead created a weird and bumbling one.

There were so many moments when Frank would make an observation in his head or open his mouth to say something, and I would just cringe so hard. Like he saw a couple where the man is old and the woman is young and called them "unnatural, a freakish mutation of human biology." It felt so unnecessary and inappropriate, and I winced in embarrassment for him. And it was like this the whole way through.

I tell you, it's hard to enjoy a story when you're wincing and cringing at the main character's every thought. I should've been focused on the thrills, but instead I was mired in second-hand embarrassment.

But it wasn't just Frank. I felt like all the characters were slightly off, doing and saying things that no actual person would do and say in those situations. It's clear that each interaction was there to further a specific point in the plot line and they were shoehorned in to achieve that, no matter how awkward the result may be.

As for the twists, they were fine, although with the weird characterizations, it made it hard for me to really buy in to them. It felt like characters were just randomly assigned roles in the reveal, and when the time came, their personalities were bent and changed to further that goal.

So when we finally reached the end of the book, I understandably breathed a sigh of relief. But then I turned the page and there was a whole nother section left? I realize now that this is Rekulak's modus operandi. He likes to end his thrillers with a nice leisurely wrap-up, just to spell out in long form how everything works out for everyone, kind of like a HEA for thrillers. But there's a reason no one does them. I tolerated it for Hidden Pictures because I loved that story so much, but here, it just made a mediocre tale feel even longer.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

Every once in a while, a book comes along that is so compelling, so superb in a multitude of ways, it makes me rethink every 5-star rating I have ever given. And so Big Little Lies falls squarely into that lofty pantheon.

On the surface, this seems like a story I've read a thousand times before. A neighborhood of women keeping secrets. A death, or could it possibly be murder? And an investigation into what really happened underneath the calm, placid facade of small town Pirriwee. And yet, this was so much more, and I'm still reeling from just how hard it hit me.

From the very first page, this book held me in its thralls. I couldn't put it down, I couldn't look away. Every scene, every character, every conflict, they all felt so vividly drawn. There is a sharpness to the writing and the observations that is so searing and spot-on, it could almost feel a little painful if not for the humor.

And this book was definitely funny. I often found myself grinning and chuckling along, trying to savor all the witty lines. If I were the sort to freely wield a highlighter at every whim, I'm pretty sure I would've marked up the entire thing. With satire, my preferences are always for the subtle. Is Liane Moriarty actually being serious or is she really poking gentle fun at the characters and us in turn? That fine line between truth and exaggeration is where her writing style really shines, as does her keen eye for the absurdity of human nature.

We take our turn following three different characters. Now usually when that's the case, it would inevitably lead to one or the other perspective being more interesting, while the rest are relegated to the role of the ugly stepchildren. But no such fears here. Every single narrative arc was just as interesting and compelling as the next, and I couldn't gobble them up fast enough.

I have to talk about one of the core themes of this book and a big reason why this was such an impactful read for me. Domestic violence, at least for those of us who are fortunate enough never to have experienced it, has always felt like a somewhat nebulous concept. Of course we sympathize with the victims, but underlying all that is always the vaguely puzzled questions—why do they stay? why don't they just leave? With this story, Liane Moriarty has sketched out with so much skill and emotional clarity exactly all of those reasons why. And in the process, she has given a voice to domestic violence victims and brought them to life.

Every page of this book has felt like a breath of fresh air, equal parts biting and invigorating. Everything I'd want in a story—light and dark, funny and scary, entertaining and insightful—is all here. Surely it should be impossible to achieve all that in one single book, yet through some special alchemy, Liane Moriarty has managed to do just that. And the result is something memorable and extraordinary indeed.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

Can a cozy fantasy be too cozy? Unfortunately, the answer here is yes.

When I think of a cozy fantasy, what I want is to be swept away in a story that's warm and comforting, but also compelling. And that last part is perhaps especially important since it can often be hard to achieve the right balance in this cozy genre. Because no matter how seemingly low stakes a tale may be, there must still be some depth and things of importance on the line. And for me, The Teller of Small Fortunes just never quite got there.

It pains me to say that my mind wandered constantly. The story failed to grab me, not in the beginning, nor in the middle, and not even eventually in the end when we get to the most exciting scenes. It lacked that all-important tension throughout, without which nothing really propelled the story forward.

It doesn't help that we had no permanent setting. Instead, Tao and her friends go from one town to the next. Each chapter brings a new location, so it felt like a string of short stories instead of one cohesive whole. Even though there were a few overarching goals for the merry band of travelers, they somehow felt very diluted and lacked the weight necessary to hold the story together.

Even the dialogue felt very low stakes, with no actual conflicts or surprises at play. As you enter each conversation, it's clear where it's going, and indeed it goes there. The way the characters talk to each other doesn't hold the authenticity of real, distinct people. Instead, it feels like an approximation of what dialogue should be, but cozified so that everyone talks the same and it achieves the warm fuzzy feeling without any of the give and take of real conversation.

And when we finally reach the end, that felt like a letdown too. All the overarching conflicts were instantly resolved, without any pushback or depth or even the slightest unexpectedness. It just felt so insubstantial after the whole journey.

Maybe it's me and this style of cozy isn't to my taste. A friend read this and greatly enjoyed it, as did the majority of readers for this book. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt and don't let me dissuade you, especially if you're a fan of this cozy genre.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

A mystery in epistolary form? Sign me up!

Before going in, I had heard a lot about Janice Hallett. Her unique take on mysteries—where every crime, every clue, and every suspect is presented via emails and messages—sounds as fun as it is intriguing. So it's with much anticipation that I finally pick up her debut and see for myself what all the fuss is about.

And The Appeal definitely starts off strong. We're immediately dropped into the fray and the action, being privy to the private conversations that fly back and forth between all the different characters. There's no setup to get through, no background we need to know first. The format lends an undeniably zippy feel to the whole thing, and you can't help but turn the pages, wanting to read just a little bit more.

But somewhere around the 80-page mark, I started getting confused. Because where is the mystery? I thought I'd signed up to read a murderous play, but all I got thus far was small-town petty drama. And the more I read, the less appealing it got.

For me, a large part of the issue is that the murder isn't even alluded to until more than 250 pages in. If that sounds like a lot of pages to get through before anything happens, I assure you it was. In the meantime, we must wade through so many emails and messages detailing the small and seemingly inconsequential minutiae of life and play. Yes, there were a few nefarious whiffs here and there, but they felt more like interpersonal drama than anything substantial enough to uphold the weight of a proper mystery.

Once the murder happens, things do pick up. But here again, I feel like I have to nitpick a little. The way the investigation unfolds is a little bit awkward. It's two lawyers trying to figure it out while a third lawyer who already knows everything eggs them on, so it comes across somewhat forced. Not only that, but they must examine the crime from every possible angle. That means every suspect and every theory is talked about at length, and it was so detailed as to be bordering on tedious. I even started having trouble keeping it all clear and square in my mind.

And yet, for all my misgivings, when we do finally reach the end, it comes together in a satisfying way. That, plus the interesting format, has me intrigued. This is a debut, so perhaps some of the issues I ran into were just growing pains and more writing experience would iron it out? I have a few more of Janice Hallett's books lined up and time will tell.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

I try to approach books with minimal expectations. After all, there's nothing more disappointing than going into a much-hyped book with glee and coming out with vague puzzlement about whether we all read the same book. But try as I may, I often can't help myself. The heart wants what it wants, for why else would I be reading in the first place if not to be blown away?

And so I cracked open Hidden Pictures with my usual mix of tempered yet hopeful anticipation, waiting to see which way this book would fall. And I tell you, I knew from almost the very beginning. I was only four pages in when I dropped my library ebook, ran out to my local bookstore, and bought a physical copy so that I could own what I hoped would be a new favorite. And I was right.

Talk about a riveting experience. From the first page to the last, this book had me hooked. I didn't just read it, I inhaled it. The pages slipped through my hands and before I knew it, hours had passed. It's exactly the sort of immersiveness I love and crave in a story.

There is so much tension in here, my spine tingled from it. It was the perfect mix of spooky (not too much), thrilling (very), and mystery (puzzling), and I just ate it up. The mystery, in particularly, was compelling and fun, and I totally enjoyed armchair detecting along with Mallory as she tried to figure out what was going on.

The use of drawings in here has to be a stroke of genius. They are such an integral part of the story and added so much to the spooky ambience. It made it feel like I was reading something special and inimitable. And—let's be honest—even though we're all grownups, I bet we still get pretty excited when we see illustrations in our books, amirite?

That isn't to say this book is without flaws. In terms of sheer funness, the first half of the book definitely has the second half beat. That's probably because setting up a story isn't quite the same as finishing it. So as we start to approach the denouement with all of its twists and turns, there was a noticeable change in the vibe of the story. It went from the perfect amount of spine-tingling thrill to more of eyebrow-raising crazy chaos.

Which brings me to the question: can a story have too many twists? I think so, and I think that's what happened here. The main mystery is already interesting enough, but I think this book went a bit overboard as it wrapped everything up. The twists piled upon twists at the end started to max out my dopamine receptors, and all I felt was numbness in the face of so much mayhem.

But those are minor quibbles in the overall scheme of how much I enjoyed this story. In fact, I had so much fun that if I'm ranking books based solely on that criteria, this would have to be near the top. Just for that alone, and for how memorable it is, it gets all 5 stars from me.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

I love books that make me work hard to get into them, said no reader ever. So it's with great relish (and relief) that I turned to the first page of Vampires of El Norte and was immediately sucked in.

What an incredibly vivid tale this turned out to be. The historical, horror, and romance components really gelled cohesively together and produced a story that is both rich in content as well as atmosphere.

There is so much goodness here, so much that kept me turning the pages. Nena and Nestor's love for their country, their home, and each other. The monsters, both human and not, that are trying to take it all away. And the setting against the backdrop of the Mexican–American War. I couldn't look away.

I thought the horror element was particularly well done. The way the vampires were portrayed was creepy without being too scary, thoroughly fascinating, and surprisingly humane and redemptive. It made me feel hopeful at the end, which isn't something a lot of horror books manage to do.

You can tell that Isabel Cañas put a lot of work into researching all the historical details in here. As a result, the setting feels as authentic as can be, transporting the reader to 1840s Mexico. The time and place flow effortlessly from the pages, allowing the narrative to really shine through.

As for the romance, it started out really strong, with tons of pining vibes that I can totally get behind. And it certainly ended strong the way a good romance should. But the middle there with all that parental disapproval and cowing before them and waffling back and forth? I definitely felt the angst and the melodrama of it all. But maybe this is just a case of me not being a fan of the rich girl/poor boy trope more than anything else.

Small quibbles aside, this was a heck of an interesting read. I was drawn in and held captive by the writing, the atmosphere, and the story within. I'll definitely need to check out more from Cañas.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

What a soppy and ultimately forgettable rendition of the famous fable this turned out to be.

When I approach a retelling, whether it's historical or fantasy, I'm always filled with anticipation. Here is a chance to explore a legendary tale, not via a short vignette, but through the experience of a full-length novel. I want to be completely immersed in the detailed characters, the vivid scenes, and the well-developed narrative that bring such a tale to life. But that didn't happen here.

Instead, we have a fairly basic retelling sagging under the weight of its writing. From the first page to the last, every scene is treated with the upmost dramatic flair. No moment is too pedestrian, no thought too ordinary, to not be effused with the sort of reverent, emotional language usually reserved for a story's climax. I often found myself snickering at the most inappropriate moments, unable to reconcile the dramatic tones with the simple scene unfolding in front of me.

But for all that exaggerated writing, hardly anything happens in here. This is supposed to be the story of a beauty who infiltrates an enemy kingdom to become the king's concubine and lover, all so that she can singlehandedly bring the kingdom to its knees. So where is all the action?

Instead, it's scene after scene of Xishi smiling demurely and saying a few vapid sentences here and there, and that's pretty much the entire book. There were only two small conflicts I could remember in the leadup to the finale, and both were unforced errors. I cringed so hard, I tell you, because how can someone so incompetent actually bring anything down, let alone a kingdom?

Also, for a book about being a concubine and a lover, there were no actual love scenes in here, on or off page. All they did was sleep chastely side by side in the same bed, for years, with a few pecks here and there. If you're surprised, yeah, join the club. Like what king would agree to take a lover who doesn't do anything with them? Is this book for children? Because that's the only explanation I have for the extreme celibacy of this story.

Going in, I was under the impression that this was a fantasy, in large part due to the book design, its blurb, and all the book sites that categorize this first and foremost as such. But it's definitely not a fantasy. In fact, there is not a single fantasy element in here, unless you count Xishi's beauty as so astounding that it's otherworldly. Otherwise, it's straight up historical fiction.

It's clear that the author wrote this book with an eye towards wringing as much emotion from the reader as possible. And while I'm not above being emotionally manipulated by a good story, I need a little bit more than that to feel satisfied. I prefer my stories to have some meat on them, some substantial content I can really sink my teeth into, rather than just be one empty emotional punch after another.

And yet, for all my grousing, there was something in here that kept me turning the pages. There were scenes that charmed me and led me to cheer for Xishi and Fanli. Or perhaps I was waiting for this to materialize into the riveting tale I was hoping for. Either way, I kept coming back for more, so I must've gotten some enjoyment out of it, even if it was laced with disappointment.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

This is not planet Earth as we found it. This is a new place—a fire planet we have made.

A detailed investigation into all that transpired during the record-breaking Fort McMurray Fire, in which almost 100,000 people were forced to flee in a single afternoon, as well as a historical and scientific exploration of how we got to this point and where we will go from here, Fire Weather is as essential as it is eye-opening.

Going into this, I'd like to think I was fairly well-versed on current events, especially on anything weather-related. And of course I knew about global warming and climate change; I don't live under a rock, after all. But when it came to grasping the nitty gritty of exactly what all that entails, I admit I was a little bit hazy.

So this book is exactly what I needed to become crystal clear on this topic. It sits right at the intersection of current affairs, science, and history, all topics that interest me about our world. And I found it to be an absolutely engrossing read, one that as it went on, became harder and harder for me to put down.

We start off with a brief look into the history of fossil fuels, as well as how Fort McMurray became a petroleum boom town surrounded by boreal forest. Then the book shifts into a deep dive of the Fort McMurray Fire, and let me tell you, it is as harrowing and thrilling of a tale as any I've ever read. The mechanics of this fire were almost heretofore unseen, its destructive properties so vast and ferocious, it spawned its own weather systems and was not truly extinguished for more than a year.

The city and the surrounding landscape had become something akin to a fire planet—not a biome but a “pyrome” whose purpose was not to support life but to enable combustion.

But the irony is that Fort McMurray would not have existed as a city if not for its industry of extracting and producing fossil fuels. And while it's this industry that had made it into a boom town, it also simultaneously helped to shape the climate into one that supported and sustained the fire that eventually razed the city to the ground.

But the author doesn't just stop at reporting on the fire. He takes that event and ties it to history and science, and shows us the future in store for us if we choose to continue our destructive love affair with fossil fuels. The amount of research that went into this book must have been staggering, as is the author's vision and ability to tie it all together into a cohesive narrative that both informs and astounds.

Reading this book often left me in chills. Vaillant has a way with words that is not only illuminating in the way of nonfiction, but also evocative and emotionally resonant in the way that only the best of fiction can achieve. And the result is nothing short of remarkable and sobering.

It is almost unbearable to consider that our reckoning with industrial CO2 is only in its infancy, and that future generations will bear this burden far more heavily than we do now.

The juxtaposition of the details of a wildfire side-by-side with a study of climate change is a masterful stroke, as is the choice to go with the Fort McMurray Fire in particular. This combination, which examines climate change from both the micro and macro levels, really hits home the symbiotic relationship humankind has developed with fossil fuels and underscores the positive feedback loop we have created, through negligence at best and willful greed at worst, that is currently propelling us towards a future none of us want to see.

The message isn't all negative though. Yes, we are past the point of no return and our planet will never go back to the way it was before, but our total annihilation isn't a foregone conclusion yet. There is still hope, if we can only make the hard choices now and pivot in time. And so this book, more than anything, is a warning and a call to action.

The current moment is the greatest challenge humanity has faced since we (almost) mastered fire. This time, it is not fire we have to master, but ourselves. If we fail this test, there will be another one, and another after that, but each time the stakes will be higher and the price of failure steeper.

Every once a while, I come across a nonfiction read so profound, so staggering in its scope and so clear in its view, I feel like I'm walking away with essential knowledge of the world. And so this book does exactly that. It is timely, insightful, and surely a must-read as we approach yet another hottest year of yet another hottest decade on record.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

When it comes to horror, I'm not looking to have the bejesus scared out of me. Yes, you read that correctly. I am in fact a big ol' wimp and I'm not afraid to admit it. You can judge all you want, you horror junkies, but my bar is somewhere around reading Goosebumps and having nightmares afterwards.

So it's no surprise that I hemmed and hawed when it came to reading this book. Could I handle it? Is it too scary? Would I have nightmares for weeks and live to regret it? I even asked the person who knows me best what he thought, and my husband so helpfully put it in tennis terms that I was trying to make an unforced error.

But something about this book called to me, and I just couldn't let it drop. And I'm so glad I went for it. Because not only did it not scare the bejesus out of me, but I actually had the most ridiculously good time with it.

When Margaret and her husband Hal first came upon that beautiful Victorian house, they couldn't believe their luck. But soon after moving in, they began to realize why it had been sitting empty for so long. And slowly but surely, things reach a fevered pitch every September. While Margaret loves the house quirks and all, Hal can't take it anymore. Soon after he leaves, Margaret's daughter Katherine shows up looking for her missing father. But what Katherine doesn't understand is that her being there and poking around is making things so much worse.

Let me just say right now, The September House isn't like any other horror book I've ever encountered. The tone isn't dark and depressing as all heck. Instead, there's this levity that makes it so much fun. Maybe that tone isn't quite the norm when it comes to this genre, but I certainly didn't mind and I'm glad the author chose to take it in that direction. It makes an otherwise inaccessible genre feel entertaining and delightful (words I never thought I'd associate with horror).

Most books of this genre take their mission to scare the reader very seriously, almost to their detriment. The protagonist (always a female) is made to jump and squeak and whimper at every dark corner, shadow, and small noise that emanates in their vicinity, as if their fear would somehow translate onto the reader. But instead of adding to the atmosphere, it just makes me roll my eyes. After all, if such simple things could send our protagonist into a tizzy, then how could they possibly handle the really scary stuff? Thankfully, this book does not fall into such a trap.

Margaret is the most strong and competent heroine I have ever come across in a horror book. Nothing fazes her. Not blood running down her walls, not apparitions that appear and try to bite her, and certainly not unspeakable evils in her basement. She just carries on with conviction and all her wits about her, and it's a breath of fresh air, I tell you.

This book has the feel of a thriller, meant to keep the reader engaged and turning the pages. There are interesting developments along the way that you don't see coming, and the overall progression of the story arc is both surprising and satisfying.

That isn't to say there aren't moments of seriousness and fear, but they did not overwhelm the scaredy-cat in me. Rather, the built-in comedic relief and the strong female protagonist both helped to offset the fright, and turned this into a horror story I could actually enjoy.

Now after such an unexpected experience, I'm left wondering if horror is really my long-lost favorite genre after all?

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

I feared both men and spirits now. I had no allies, only enemies on all sides.

A magnificent retelling, The Night Ends with Fire isn't the Mulan legend of your Disney youth, that's for sure.

Meilin has grown up under the thumb of her oppressive father all her life. Soon he plans to sell her for her dowry to another violent man who will treat her the same. When war comes to the Three Kingdoms, Meilin seizes her chance and enlists in the army as a man. But as she gains skills and confidence and the power of a spirit, she begins to wonder if her duplicity will hold and how far she's really willing to go to secure her freedom.

Let me just gush for a second here. I had such an amazing time with this story. It's exactly the sort I adore, with a badass heroine and a high stakes conflict where everything is on the line. There is no easy victory, only hard choices, and every character is some shade of morally gray.

I feel like Disney's Mulan was a bit too goody two-shoes (as is typical of Disney), so I'm really glad this book turned that on its head. Meilin certainly isn't good through and through. Instead, she must balance her desire for freedom and power with her duty to her kingdom and her love for her family. There was a rawness and courage to Meilin that makes it easy to like her and relate to her, even if I didn't always understand or agree with her decisions.

In fact, it's not just Meilin's character that's interesting and complex. It's almost every character in this book. Their moral ambiguity is a large part of why they come across as real and interesting. There is no straightforward path when it comes to war, no high road to take on the way to victory. There is only bloodshed and sacrifice and death, and this tale certainly doesn't shy away from that.

The writing in here is evocative and easy to fall into. I feel like I was sucked in from the very first page. To me, there is no higher compliment and no greater quality in a book than immersiveness, and this story has it in spades. I wanted to gobbled it up but also savor it slowly so that I didn't reach the end too soon.

This is categorized as romantasy, and I would say it's mostly fantasy with just a bit of romance sprinkled in, exactly how I like it. The fantasy world is vivid and easy to grasp without a lot of complex worldbuilding. And the light romance should appeal to readers who aren't big fans of it or don't care for lots of explicit scenes.

One interesting thing to note are the names in here. When you translate names between different languages, you have the choice of going phonetically or contextually. Phonetically is generally considered more authentic, but you lose the meaning behind the names. Here, the author chose to do a mix of both. While at first it was a little odd to have names in pinyin like "Meilin" next to "Sky" and "Sparrow", I did grow to appreciate that it gave context where otherwise there would be none and helped to distinguish the characters for an English-speaking audience.

Same could also be said for including some Chinese phrases mixed in in an English book. When the meaning is unclear, the author often put the pinyin and the English side-by-side, so that really the phrase is duplicated. I can see the purists getting up in arms over it, claiming that it's sufficient just to include the pinyin and leave it at that. So what if the audience it's intended for doesn't understand? But that's just silly. While I'm all for authenticity, I'm happy with the balance the author struck so that no one has to miss out.

What an exhilarating tale this turned out to be. I originally picked it up because the luminous cover and pretty sprayed edges totally captured my attention, and I wasn't about to pass up a Mulan retelling. While judging a book by its cover doesn't always pay off, it certainly did in this case.

My only regret is reaching the end and realizing this isn't a standalone. Now starts the long wait for the sequel.

Readaroo Rating; 5 stars!

And the award for Most Interesting Premise But Lackluster Execution goes to... drumroll please... The Wishing Game.

Like what the heck? Obviously, I have a lot to say, so please hear me out.

First, the premise. With its promise of a famous children's author hosting a game to win it all on a remote island shaped for the face of a clock, this book sounds like the most magical, whimsical journey. It's distinctly Willy Wonka-esque, and I don't know anybody who doesn't love that. Add in that eye-catching title which totally tugs at the imagination, and I was all ready to be impressed. But no, this fell so short on pretty much every level, I can only gape at the distance between my expectations and reality.

At the heart of it, this just doesn't read like adult fiction. It reads distinctly like a children's book, and honestly, not a very good one. There's a simplicity to the writing and the story that doesn't grab my attention. It's hard to stay engaged when every scene is so formulaic and bland. In fact, there are excerpts in here from the children's books themselves, and there were no discernible differences between the writing in there and the actual story.

The characters never became anything more than cardboard cutouts of real people. Each has one or two characteristics that define them, and they stay within those narrowly defined bounds. Lucy is poor and hates her family and wants to adopt Christopher. Christopher is a sad foster kid who loves sharks. Hugo is a temperamental artist who scowls a lot. And Jack is an eccentric author who lives in an eccentric house on an eccentric island, and every thing he says is eccentric. There, I've summed up the entirety of the cast.

The way they interact with each other is so odd and forced. Like if you've only known someone for 24 cumulative hours, would you go around hugging them and asking them to be your parent? What about calling your coworker "baby girl"? Or promising a child without parents that you can just adopt them, even when you yourself don't have safe housing or reliable transportation? I don't know, maybe you can, and it's just me that's weird.

But it wasn't just a scene here or there. There were so many moments that came off as vaguely creepy or inappropriate or uncomfortable or just plain weird, but they were all written as if they're actually heartwarming. It was so bizarre and puzzling, I felt like I was in a twilight zone.

And that's just it. Throughout this entire book, it's as if I was being sold a story and I couldn't shake the feeling that it was wrong. I can suspend disbelief for plot, but it's very hard to suspend disbelief for characters and the way they act. If what they say and do feel a little bit off, then it's like I'm constantly being reminded that what I'm reading isn't real. It's hard to become immersed in a story like that.

There's this phrase—"death by a thousand cuts"— that I think is totally appropriate here. There isn't any one thing I can point to that is egregiously wrong with this story, but there are so many little things. The simple writing, the dull dialogue and plot, and the way all the characters interact that feel just a little bit off—all put together, make this an extremely underwhelming read.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

This slim novel packs quite a punch, one I wasn't really expecting.

Speculative fiction can be hit or miss for me. The ones that miss tend to have extremely enticing premises, but when you look beneath the surface, there isn't much there. Hum is totally the opposite. I can't even explain what the premise is because it sounds so generic. The world is beset by climate change and capitalism gone awry, and a woman is trying to raise her kids and love them as best as she can in such a world. See, that doesn't really grab you, does it? And yet, there was so much more underneath the surface.

What makes this book so subversive isn't that the dystopian society presented in here is completely different from our current one. Rather, it's that it's almost the same. We need not look very far into the future—or even at all—to imagine that our lives could be like this. And that's what makes this so chilling.

Reading this, the disquiet and horror stole up on me slowly. At first, this seems like a dystopian world far from ours. In their world, capitalism runs amuck, constantly serving up ads and materialistic goods at the smallest sign of acquiesce. In their world, you must monitor air quality carefully and stay indoors during the bad days. In their world, everyone prefers the easy company of their "bunnies" and wooms to the complicated company of other humans. Except, oh wait...

And maybe part of the reason this hit me particularly hard is that I'm a mother to a young child, so I totally understand May's perspective. Her desire to disentangle her family from technology, all the while relying on its more useful parts, is a dilemma both familiar and unsolvable.

The only missed mark for me is perhaps the title of this book. I felt naming the story after the AI robots in here to be a bit of a misnomer. This story isn't about the hums at all. It's about us humans, and how far we are willing to go, how much of our humanity we are willing to sacrifice, in order to have everything we want at our technological fingertips.

Even though, like all speculative fiction, the world that's presented in here is just theoretical, it certainly feels much more than that. There's a prescience that is undeniable, and I suspect this story will continue to gnaw on me long after I'm done. It's definitely one of my most thought-provoking reads of the year.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

Calling all fans of science fiction—if you haven't read The Illuminae Files, what the heck are you waiting for?

Here we have reached the final book in this trilogy, and what a stunning culmination and conclusion it is. You know what this reminds me of? It reminds me of being a kid and reading for the pure joy of it. There are no themes to dissect, no greater takeaways to suss out. It's just a rip-roaring good time you can sink your teeth into, and the experience is so immersive, the line between the real and the fictional starts to blur.

The first time I read this series, I was fairly new to science fiction. So of course I made the mental mistake you always make when it's your first of anything. You assume what you got was fairly common and there's plenty more like it out there, so you use that to set the bar for average. Well, imagine my consternation when, after years and years of reading sci-fi, I realized that I actually read one of the best in the genre right off the bat, and I'm never really going to find another one quite like it.

I think you guys know my love for science fiction by now. But on the off chance you don't, please allow me to wax poetic for a moment here. Science fiction will always rank high on my list of favorite genres, if not at the very top spot. And that's because of how bold and imaginative it is. When done well, it takes you to places you've never been before in ways you've never encountered. And that's exactly what this series does.

There is something so audacious about every aspect of this story. The characters are about as brave and badass as you can hope for, putting their lives on the line again and again to save those around them. But they don't just brute force it. No, they use their brains to outwit their enemies, and you guys know I can't resist that. The dialogue in here is so snarky, whip-smart, and funny, to call it banter seems like such an understatement. And the plot surprises at every turn. Just when you think you've got a grasp on what's going on, well you didn't see that coming, did you?

Its format is as interesting as it is groundbreaking. The dossier-like style matches up perfectly with the action-driven plot, and together they seamlessly weave a story that is hard to look away from. You know that feeling of having your heart in your throat? That's exactly every moment of this book and this series in a nutshell.

But it isn't just action scene after action scene. The very best science fiction is profoundly moving, asking us to think deeply about what it means to be human and what price we would be willing to pay to protect that humanity. And so this series does too, reaching deep into our conscience to ask those searing questions.

The only minor drawback to this series is that it's young adult. The heroes and heroines in here are unabashedly teenagers, with their attitudes, romances, and cheesiness all rolled into one. And while there's nothing wrong with that per se, it is several decades in the past for me now. But over the course of three books, their courage and bright-eyed idealism won me over, and so did their hip lingo. I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't let the YA part dissuade you, even if you're an old fogey like me. If you can look past it, there is as good of a sci-fi story here as any adult ones I've come across, and it just might get you in touch with your younger self.

This whole series has felt so bold and fearless, taking the reader on a sublimely imaginative ride. And this third and final book does the series justice, bringing an epic conclusion to that breathtaking journey. Along the way, it left me in awe and gave me all the feels.

I guess my only remaining question is: when are they going to turn this into a movie? Someone needs to get J.J. Abrams on the line stat because the only thing that could make this even better is copious amounts of lens flare.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

She wonders how terrifying it felt . . . looking at the sea, feeling like she was at the very end of it all. She wonders what it was that made her realize there was somewhere else to go.

While The Wedding People wasn't a perfect read for me, it certainly was a darn special one.

Phoebe has always wanted to go to the grand Cornwall Inn in Newport, and now she is finally here. But it isn't at all the vacation she spent years dreaming of. For one, she isn't going with her husband because he is no longer her husband. For another, she didn't bring any luggage because, well, you'll have to read the book for that. And just as she has resigned herself to her decision, she unexpectedly meets the wedding people, all there to attend a week-long celebration. Soon she is swept up in their exuberance and drama, and just maybe this is the vacation she was meant to take after all.

This is definitely one of those books you read for the journey, not for the outcome. It's pretty clear right from the beginning where this story is going to go, because how else would you have a story at all? To follow Phoebe as she meets these strangers, see how they touch her life at exactly the moment she needs it, while she in turn touches theirs, brings a lump to my throat and a flutter to my heart.

There is something so inherently loveable and relatable about Phoebe, even if we have not all suffered the exact same terrible setbacks in life that she has. Her candidness and vulnerability seems like a breath of fresh air, inviting the reader into her heart and her mind, and we have no choice but to follow along.

No doubt Phoebe has been through a lot, more than anyone can be expected to endure. And yet, there is a quiet bravery and courage in how she approaches her life and in how the author chose to portray her. I can see how at the hands of a lesser wordsmith, this story could've easily turned maudlin or preachy, but no such fears here. For a story about such sad topics, I felt remarkably buoyant and hopeful while reading this.

There was so much heart and humor in here, I was often nodding and laughing along, surprised at all the little nuggets of wisdom and joy to be gleamed from these pages. If I were someone who marked up books (which I would never, the sacrilege!), I suspect I would've used up an entire highlighter trying to capture all the worthy lines.

I mentioned this wasn't a perfect read for me because while I particularly loved the beginning and the end, I did feel the middle sagged a bit. At times, it was a little overly long and meandering, with dialogue that was a bit too clever and may be verging on glib. And yet, the story continued to draw me in, even if the pacing wasn't quite even throughout.

I will say, I think this is a story best enjoyed with a reader's full and undivided attention. Often it feels like there were a multitude of things going on at the same time—the rapid-fire dialogue on the surface, the emotions underneath, and the wisdom to be sussed out if looked carefully. Unfortunately, it's hard for me to find solid chunks of uninterrupted reading time nowadays, so the book did lose some of its potency for me read in bits and pieces, a few lines at a time, especially in the middle there. But that's really my bad and not the story's fault.

I feel like the most resonant books are always the ones that address the human spirit—its unfailing desire to endure, to belong, to love and be loved, and to find meaning. And if you can sprinkle in a dash of humor along the way, all the better. Well, if that's the case, then one cannot ask for a better story than this.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

Is this a thriller? Is it speculative fiction? Or is it a good old fashioned romance disguised within an interesting premise? Well, The One turned out to be all of those and more.

When it comes to love, the world is a changed place. Now you can take a simple mouth swab and find your genetic soulmate. No more awkward first dates and uncertainty. No more wondering if the person you're with is the one. And for five people, receiving news of their match is only just the beginning. What follows is surely a lifetime of love and happiness, so what can possibly go wrong?

When I went into this, I didn't know anything more than what's in the little blurb above. And because of that, I can safely say this story surprised me at just about every turn. What started out as a fairly standard tale, albeit one with an unusual premise, soon turned into a wild ride.

Often with speculative fiction, I'm a little wary. When a premise is really good, sometimes it feels like the story has nowhere left to go, and what's in my head is so much more exciting than what I actually end up reading. But no such fears here, folks. This book really takes its premise and wrings every last ounce of possibility from within it.

I don't want to give anything away here, so I'll just say this is such an unusual story. Where it goes isn't at all where I thought it would go. And embedded in it all is what feels like a warning of sorts, like hey world, don't get too reliant on technology to the exclusion of good ol' common sense. Or perhaps, if it's too good to be true, then it probably is.

Maybe the only quibble I have with this is that it follows five separate characters, and they remain separate for the entirety of this story. Usually with multiple points of view, even if they start out on different narrative threads, they do eventually come together, so I was a bit surprised that they didn't here. It means the whole thing felt a little less cohesive than I would've preferred, and I didn't quite get that satisfying narrative unity at the end. But it's really a small quibble.

I just love stories that can surprise me, and this one certainly did. It's fun, intriguing, at times even a bit horrifying, and it thoroughly kept my attention. I'm a little late to the John Marrs party, and this is my first book by him, but it for sure won't be my last.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

Bet you don't hear me say this a lot about thrillers, but here's a fun one, everybody!

Meredith McCall is a psychiatrist dealing with her own personal tragedy. In the midst of her grief and guilt, she can't help but be drawn to the one person who must understand how she feels. When she sees him one day on the street, she feels the impulse to follow him. But what starts out innocently enough soon turns into something more. And when he shows up in her office as a patient, Meredith knows it can't possibly be a coincidence. Can it?

I pretty much judge psychological thrillers by two criteria—how riveting they are and how much eye-rolling they induce in me. Obviously, I want maximum of the former while keeping the latter to a minimum. And this story totally ticks both boxes.

I think the word unputdownable gets thrown around a lot when it comes to books, but this one definitely fits the bill. In fact, I dare you to pick it up and then try to put it down. There's something so eminently readable and binge-worthy about this story, and I couldn't help but want to read just one more page.

In terms of twists, I think that gets made into a big deal with this genre. But whether you'll be surprised here will probably depend on a few things, namely how many other books of a similar vein you've read. There are usually only a few ways such a story can play out. And since I've read a bunch, I wasn't that surprised. But it didn't take anything away from the story for me and I enjoyed it nonetheless, regardless of the surprise element.

If you're going to read this book, it's probably best to go in blind as is the case with any book of this genre. But maybe the one thing to know to set expectations correctly is that under the big umbrella of psychological thrillers, this bends heavily towards romantic suspense. While it isn't a romance, it does have heavy sexual undertones and some spicy scenes, which totally makes sense since Vi Keeland is an author known first and foremost for her romance books. In fact, this looks to be her first foray into the thriller genre, and if it's anything to go by, I definitely can't wait for more.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

I don't know, you guys. This feels more like a crazy fever dream or maybe a drug-induced trip than a proper romcom.

Delphie has unexpectedly died. As if that isn't surprising enough, she comes face-to-face with her soulmate in the waiting room of her Afterlife Therapist. But before she can fully introduce herself to the dreamy man, he's sent back to Earth with no recollection of their meeting. Now Delphie has just ten days to find him on Earth and get him to kiss her, or else she will remain dead forever.

You got me with that premise. It's undoubtedly intriguing, with loads of potential for the story to go every which way, all of them interesting. But almost from the very start, it felt like something was a little bit off, and I just couldn't shake that feeling throughout the whole story.

When I'm reading a romcom, my criteria isn't that high. I'm looking for banter, lots of sparks, and adorable characters I just want to squish and cheer for. But this story didn't really have any of that. I kept waiting and waiting, and eventually we reached the end.

Instead, this felt more like a zany slapstick comedy, where the heroine kept almost getting what she wanted, but through a variety of strange coincidences, all of them rather cringey, she does not. She almost runs into the man of her dreams, but she has a wardrobe malfunction that exposes her nether regions. She almost runs into him again, but instead has to draw a naked woman. She almost runs into him a third time, but alas, misses him by minutes and has to dance the hand jive on stage in front of dozens of strangers. Like, what? And this kept going on and on.

But what about the characters? Surely our heroine is sweet and loveable? Well, she's quirky, I'll give you that. And also rude and snippy. But for reasons unknown, the recipients of her ire all want to be her friend. They constantly invite her along to everything even though she has rejected them for years. The thing is, if someone were rude to me over and over, I wouldn't want to be their friend. But hey, I'm just a cold-hearted reader, so what do I know.

Okay, but surely there is sparks and tension galore? Well, no on that front too. I didn't feel even a blip of chemistry anywhere in this story. Delphie is just her usual mean self to our main male character, and he takes it like a champ and still lusts after her.

The one thing that's meant to make Delphie seem more sympathetic to readers is her relationship with her next door neighbor, Mr. Yoon. But that was a miss for me too. The whole thing gave off a weird vibe. She kept treating him like a child who didn't know better even though he's just an old man who can't talk.

So there you go. I suspect someone played a joke on me and swapped my copy of the book with one titled The Love of My Rudelife. Because that's the only explanation I have for why I didn't enjoy this book that everyone else so clearly adores.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

Okay, lots of thoughts on this one. Going to try to unpack them all here.

The God of the Woods starts out really well. I found the beginning to be compelling, with lots of interesting characters and perspectives. But then as the investigation into Barbara's disappearance heats up, a few things started to really bother me, and it went a bit downhill from there.

When it comes to verbosity in a book, readers generally fall into two camps. For some, if they love a story, then stretching it out an extra hundred pages by filling it with lots of beautiful writing but no additional content makes it even better. But for me, my motto is always shorter is better, and fluffing it out to pad the page count doesn't do it for me. So you see where I'm going with this.

What starts out as compelling quickly turns meandering for me. The longer the story went on, the more unfocused it seemed. There are a lot of perspectives in here—I count seven—and every time something was about to happen, we immediately switched to a different perspective, effectively losing the momentum. And when we come back to the original one, the exciting scene had already happened off-page and it's mostly glossed over.

But it isn't just the perspectives, which I honestly don't mind that much. It's also how unnecessarily convoluted the mystery was, in large part due to the way it was written. Every time the police needed to talk to a witness, that person would inevitably end up missing. So we would have to spend time tracking them down just to have a conversation with them. In addition to the two disappearances which are central to this story, I counted no less than six other characters who disappeared at one time or another. It was exhausting.

Surely though, once these witnesses are found, they would be able to answer some simple questions, right? Well, no. Everyone in here lied every chance they had, often for no reason that I could discern and against their best interests. It felt like drama for drama's sake, making the mystery feel even more tortuous and chaotic. You know, just in case the reader thought it was too easy or there weren't enough pages in this book.

My other big issue is that the author has a real knack for writing dumb female characters. It drove me a bit nuts in Long Bright River and here it is again. This time, we have Alice and Louise, two of our main characters, both being portrayed as spineless fools. You guys know I love my female characters to be strong and smart, so to have to read about women who let people walk all over them while making one bad decision after another got old real quick.

Then after all of that (almost 500 pages), this mystery had to be one of the most unsatisfying I've ever come across. Clues were laid out seemingly to point to one direction or another, but then the story disregards almost everything it had said before and ends on something completely different. And some of the clues were never addressed at all, as if they've served their purpose to mislead us and now we can just forget about them.

Still, for all my complaints, I did find this to be a fairly engrossing read. There were many moments I got really into it, and the pages just melted away. But there were also many moments where I could not believe yet another character has disappeared or Alice and Louise are yet again being dumb and weak, and I could just feel my eyeballs rolling around in exasperation.

Clearly I'm in the minority here. Everyone else is loving this, so you shouldn't take what I say too seriously. Sometimes there is just a mismatch between a reader and a book, and that's probably what happened here.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Elin Hilderbrand's final Nantucket novel, Swan Song feels like both a fond farewell to her book franchise, as well as a love letter to the island that is her cherished home.

Chief of Police Ed Kapanesh is set to retire. But before he does, he has to get through one more summer in Nantucket. Of course there's no chance of smooth sailing. Trouble arrives soon in the form of a new couple who comes to town, and they immediately take the island by storm, stirring up all sorts of drama and intrigue.

What is it that makes Elin Hilderbrand's books so irresistible? Is it her plot or her characters? Or is it that Nantucket is an aspirational place for most of us, filled with seemingly wealthy and beautiful people with nothing better to do than soak up the sun and stir up drama? So to step into these stories feels like a break from normal life, a vacation of sorts. Or even better, a staycation without the hassle of having to leave the comfort of one's couch.

And Hilderbrand definitely understands and plays that up. Her stories always have that light, playful, conspiratorial tone, inviting the reader into the exclusive lives of these Nantucket elites. She never takes the stories and the characters too seriously, and the result is the perfect dose of fun and escapism.

Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket year round and knows the island inside and out. And you can feel that in her stories. All the local restaurants and beaches and gathering places she includes adds so much authenticity and charm to the whole thing, and it makes you want to visit Nantucket. In fact, now that Hildebrand is done writing Nantucket stories, maybe their tourism board can just scoop her up since she's pretty much already doing that job.

One thing to note is that the blurb makes this seem like a mystery, but it isn't really. Coco disappears off of a boat, and we alternate between the police trying to figure out what happened and the events leading up to it. But that's rather misleading because it implies there are suspects and motives and clues, not to mention a denouement that explains it all. But none of that really happened here. So just make sure you don't have the wrong expectations going in.

The other thing worth mentioning is that I didn't really like any of the main characters. Now that isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me, but in this case, I feel like I could've connected with the story just a little bit more if I did. Initially, Coco and Kacy were both interesting, but then as the story went on, they started to annoy me a bit with their inability to communicate and make good decisions. In other words, they were both rather immature, and then you add in the Richardsons, and at times, this felt like a story about a bunch of teenagers rather than adults. But that is a small quibble since I obviously had a lot of fun with it.

Oh, one last thing. This is marked as part of a series, though I've only read one other book in it. I neither felt like I was missing out on the ones I haven't read, nor did I feel like the one I did read contributed anything substantial to this. The books in the series share some similar characters as they take place in the same Nantucket universe, but it isn't necessary to read all of them (or even one) prior in order to maximumly enjoy this one.

There's definitely a bittersweet feel to this final book. But fortunately for me, I am rather late to the Elin Hilderbrand party. I only discovered her a few years ago, though she has written 30 books. So even though she may be done with Nantucket, I still have many more of her books to go before I have to call it quits.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

Say no more. The Illuminae Files is going on my favorites list of all time for sure.

First of all, let me just take a moment to breathe after finishing Gemina. Like, wow, talk about an adrenaline rush. From the moment I cracked open that first page, the story immediately grabbed me. It was nonstop action from there, the sort that has your heart in your throat the whole time, compelling you to forsake all else just to read a few more pages. If there were a scale for unputdownableness, with 1 being a cure for insomnia, and 10 being better than crack, this would rate somewhere around 15.

Everything I loved about the first book was here—the unique format, the relentlessly fast pace, and of course, the most crazy, mindbending story.

This trilogy is first and foremost a science fiction one, and I have to applaud how well done it is. Sometimes science fiction gets a bad rap for being a genre that's difficult to understand and hard to get into. But this series totally blows that assumption away. It is science fiction at its most fun and entertaining, while retaining the epic scope that the genre is known for. And the end result is the most imaginative ride of your life.

The format that had me all agog in the first book worked even better here. In addition to the dossier-like chats, memos, and audio and video transcripts, this book also contains fabulous drawings and an ever-updating roster of the invaders, both of which added a richness and immediacy to the story.

In terms of the characters, I found Hanna to be a completely badass heroine. Her courage and fearlessness is exactly the sort I love in my female characters, and it was so much fun to cheer her on. While this book still keeps to the YA genre by sprinkling in lots of silly teenage love, it felt less cringey than in the first book, at least to me. Whether that's because there's actually less of it or I'm just getting used to the cringe, I can't say for sure.

When was the last time a series has worked its way into my thoughts and my imagination as deeply as this one has? I honestly can't remember. Every time I pick a book in this trilogy, I'm just in awe of its immense creativity and fun. If you're a fan of science fiction (or you just like a good story), you have to check this out.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

Look at me, turning into a Christina Lauren fan.

When I think back to The Soulmate Equation, one of the things which stands out most vividly in my mind is Fizzy. In fact, I'd wager to say she is probably the most memorable supporting character I've ever come across in a romcom. She's sassy, fun, and so sharp with a comeback, it brought an undeniable zing to every page she was on. So it's particularly exciting that CL decided to bring Fizzy back and make her the star of her own story.

Of course, when authors revisit a character, there is always the fear that what made the character so special in another book doesn't translate to the new one, that the magical essence somehow gets lost. But I'm happy to report that nothing got lost here, ladies and gentlemen. Fizzy is just as scintillating and irreverent as ever, and I very much enjoyed her journey of finding her happily ever after.

The premise of this story is certainly an interesting one. I don't watch much reality TV, but I've caught a few episodes of dating shows while flipping through the channels and getting inadvertently caught up in the drama. After all, there is a reason they're so wildly popular. So I was definitely curious to see how Fizzy's dating show would shape up, and it ended up being a fun and unique one.

I will say though, I've noticed CL has a habit of writing scenarios for their main characters that are somewhat questionable and unethical, and it happened again here. The whole point of a dating show is to enter into it to find a potential mate, and you can't do that if you're already having a side relationship. This is especially true if you're the star of the show, as it makes it incredibly unfair to the contestants who are dating you. This was even mentioned in the story by Fizzy and Connor as being a part of Fizzy's contract. And yet, the book never goes on to address this moral quandary and mostly glosses over it by making everyone happy for the couple, including the contestants.

Another thing that struck me is that CL is two white authors writing a Chinese American main character, which seems a bit tricky. But they did tread gently, and as a result, struck a good compromising note. If you're looking for a book on anything related to the Chinese American experience, this isn't it. The book doesn't dive too deep or really at all into that. But honestly, I feel like that's the right call, as anything more would've probably come off as forced or inauthentic.

Thoughts and quibbles aside, I really did have loads of fun with this story. Was it a bit cheesy and drawn out towards the end, with a third act breakup that totally mystified me, as in the way of most romcoms? Yes. But that doesn't detract from how overall entertaining it was. I just gobbled it up, all the while having a big, silly smile on my face.

I never thought the day would come, but that's two Christina Lauren books I've enjoyed back-to-back. If that isn't a sign that I need to read more from this author duo, I don't know what is. The only question is, which of their 30 books should I go with next?

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars