“That’s the thing about fairy-tale endings. They don’t exist. But the ones you have to share, with everyone you love around you and good food spread over the counters and the city you love spread out before the open window with all it’s glimmering magic and promise?
Those I could live with.” – 2/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: gang rivalry, comfort food, diversity, love advice, grandmothers, ghosts, butter, cooking competitions, pastries and superheroes.

A stunning collection of short stories about the intersection of family, culture, and food in the lives in teens, from bestselling and critically acclaimed authors, including Sandhya Menon, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Rin Chupeco.

A shy teenager attempts to express how she really feels through the pastries she makes at her family’s pasteleria. A tourist from Montenegro desperately seeks a magic soup dumpling that can cure his fear of death. An aspiring chef realizes that butter and soul are the key ingredients to win a cooking competition that could win him the money to save his mother’s life.

Welcome to Hungry Hearts Row, where the answers to most of life’s hard questions are kneaded, rolled, baked. Where a typical greeting is, “Have you had anything to eat?” Where magic and food and love are sometimes one in the same.

Told in interconnected short stories, Hungry Hearts explores the many meanings food can take on beyond mere nourishment. It can symbolize love and despair, family and culture, belonging and home.

I’m finally done with this book – I thought about DNFing it at least six times, but I kept going because I thought it would get better and I would eventually find a great story. That didn’t happen.

Don’t be fooled by the cover. If you’re like me, you probably looked at the cover and thought this book would be about cute and heartwarming food themed stories.The food aspect is there like expected, but the execution was not great.

I think the main problem I had with this book is that there are so many different genres in it –  romance, paranormal, action, gang, you name it, it’s there – that it gets too confusing and random. I get that this is an anthology, but other than the city and a few characters that appear in several stories, there’s nothing connecting these stories. For example, at some point you will be reading a violent gang story, and right after that, a cutesy romance story begins. The stories as a set are too different from each other, so they don’t fit together in this book.

On a positive note, the food descriptions made me very hungry. All the authors did an amazing job writing all about comfort food. I can tell every writer was a foodie!

I also liked how diverse the book was. There are so many nationalities represented here, and it was nice to learn about foreign cuisines and traditions. These were probably the things I liked the most about this book.

Overall I wouldn’t recommend this anthology. I strongly believe you’ll get better use of your time with another book, because this wasn’t entertaining nor memorable.

xoxo,

“No one can be independent of other people completely, so why not give up the attempt, she thought, go running in the other direction, depend on people for everything, allow them to depend on you, why not.” – 2/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: abusive boyfriends, intelligence, shame, car rides, shared beds, college classes, scholarships and classical books.

Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in rural Ireland. The similarities end there; they are from very different worlds. When they both earn places at Trinity College in Dublin, a connection that has grown between them lasts long into the following years.

This is an exquisite love story about how a person can change another person’s life – a simple yet profound realisation that unfolds beautifully over the course of the novel. It tells us how difficult it is to talk about how we feel and it tells us – blazingly – about cycles of domination, legitimacy and privilege. Alternating menace with overwhelming tenderness, Sally Rooney’s second novel breathes fiction with new life.

I can’t believe I’m finally done with this book. I thought about DNFing it several times, but I ended up finishing it since it wasn’t that big of a book.
Let’s start with the obvious: I strongly disliked the romance. I understand the entire point of this book is that this is not a conventional nor a cliché romance story, but I just couldn’t understand it.
When the book first starts, you get to follow the main characters when they were in high school and you witness how they fell in love. As usual, with young love, it’s normal to make mistakes and do stupid things – Connell really thought it was a good idea to hide this girlfriend because he was worried about what his friends would think. Of course this is terrible, but since they were young I tried to not think too much about it, because they would grow out of this weird phase eventually. And here is the problem I have with this book: these people never grow up. They do have a strong connection between them, but they are incredibly childish and immature with their relationship. The characters were extremely annoying, privileged and futile with their first world problems. Not only that but the plot is non-existent. The entire book is divided in chapters that start and end the same way: they meet after x months, they talk (and maybe sleep together), and by the end of the chapter they part ways. And the cycle repeats until the end of the book.
And that ending… wow, that really was the cherry on top. Very disappointing.
A few months ago I added Conversations With Friends to my TBR list, but I have no desire to pick it up anymore. In conclusion: I genuinely don’t understand the hype around this book, but I’m glad some people liked it I guess.

xoxo,

“Everyone wants the stars. Everyone wishes to grasp that which exists out of reach. To hold the extraordinary in their hands and keep the remarkable in their pockets.” – 2/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: pirates, bees, cut out tongues, realistic doors, dice, old books, fortune-tellers, bookshelves, swords, painters, parties, bunnies, doors, honey,  ginger cats and owl kings.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life.

I’m surprised with myself, I can’t believe I was able to finish this book because of the amount of times I considered DNFing this. It took me more than 4 months to read it, but I finally did it. I was really bored and unmotivated the entire time, but I kept going because I was hoping it would get better.

Let me start by saying this: the highlight of this book is the writing, because it’s absolutely stunning. It’s probably one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read… so why the low rating?

There’s a lot of things I didn’t enjoy about this book. Even though the writing is beautiful, there is so much going on that it was difficult to keep up with everything. The plot is very confusing (and I honestly couldn’t even identify one), and there are so many mini stories in different chapters that it’s difficult to fully understand the whole picture of the book. I felt lost most of the time.

The characters were okay but I didn’t feel any connection to any of them. I really tried, but I couldn’t care less about them! And not only that, but I was also confused about some of the revelations about family relationships and such.

There’s also an attempt at a romance, I guess? I honestly felt like it came out of nowhere and it had no substance to it. The guys talked a while and then they had a connection? There was no hint of a romance for most of the book, so when it was mentioned I was even more confused.

Another thing that confused me were the changes in timeline. It’s not as evident in the beginning, but in the last third of the book there’s so much going on that I couldn’t fully understand what was happening. The scenes kept changing each chapter with the same characters, and (again, I know) I was really confused.

I will say I really like the symbolism of this book (with the bees and doors), but at some point it gets very repetitive and it feels more of the same.So, long story short: I was confused and bored. Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand the value of this book and I get why some people would consider this an amazing work of art. Unfortunately for me, it was way over my head. I still have no idea what I’ve just read and I still don’t know what the book was about. I originally had The Night Circus by the same author on my TBR, but I’m definitely skipping that one. This author is not for me!

xoxo,

“Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices… Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?” – 5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: ginger cats, best friends, rock bands, decisions, pubs, infinite books, sweet librarians, polar bears, breakups, Australia and a life of choices and regrets.

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”

A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

I fully understand the hype of this book and I’m happy it is so popular, because I know for sure I will never forget what I’ve just read. 

It’s the kind of book that makes you think about how all the decisions you made, big or small, made an impact on the course of your life. While reading this, I kept thinking about what would have happened if I made different decisions at certain points in my own life and how different I would be today. 

The concept of this book is very interesting and the execution is also super good. I really liked how the author used a single character and reviewed her life decisions to send a clear message: make readers understand they’re exactly where they need to be and we shouldn’t regret anything in our lives. We are all doing the best we can with the decisions we face.

Can’t recommend it enough, give it a go and it will be worth it!

xoxo,

“I am not silly prey.
Tomorrow I will swim from the Pacific Ocean
Back to the Hudson River
I will build a home
I will build a home with a fence
One hundred leagues under the sea
Under the algae,
you will never find me.” – 4/5 stars!

Smith’s debut collection consists of 80 poems and several short stories. It is a meditation on miscommunication, childhood, Northeastern vs. Southern American culture, family, nature vs. technology, and the imagination of the introvert.

“From sonnets to somnambulance, from algae to oxytocin, from manatees to Manhattan, Stirling Smith rides the riptides of memory’s fictions and frictions in this prolific debut. Butterfly Bruises is a gem mine of poems and stories that write through grief and growing up, personal and planetary survival, with words rugged and glistening like seashell shards…” -Poetry Critic and Scholar, Professor Robert Dewhurst, PhD.

This was probably one of the best poem/short stories collections I have ever received in the mail.
There were a lot of amazing things about this book, but two things stood out to me the most. First, the amount of detail and thought the author put into the book. It’s very clear to me that every element of this book has its purpose and is there for a reason. To me it showed me the author spent a lot of time and energy planning this collection to be perfect…. which I appreciate as a reader.
The second thing that made this collection so good is the analogies/metaphors made using animals and nature. All the analogies and metaphors used were very creative and well accomplished given the presented context. Every single poem captured the beautiful essence of nature.
There were so many poems in this collection that spoke to my soul! Some of my favorites were: “An Everlasting Cut”, “Sorority Blues”, “Ladybug”, “Silver Fish”, “In Time” and “When I Chew On My Thoughts”. I may not be an expert when it comes to poetry, but I really like to read poems that I can identify with, and this is what is so great about this collection. I was completely absorbed in the poems and stories, and I saw my reflection in a lot of them!
For a debut collection, I’m pleasantly surprised with the final result. The author did an amazing job. Highly recommend it!

…And can we take a minute to appreciate the beautiful cover of this book? It’s so stunning!

xoxo,

“What do you do when the things that are supposed to protect you, fail you like that?” – 5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: missing knives, catfishes, graveyards, pink watches, calamity parties, fitbits, photographs, search teams, podcast episodes, leads, alibis, witnesses, recorded interviews, bordeaux shirts and new mysteries.

The highly anticipated sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder! More dark secrets are exposed in this addictive, true-crime fueled mystery.

Pip is not a detective anymore.

With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.

The police won’t do anything about it. And if they won’t look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town’s dark secrets along the way… and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it’s too late?

The only question here is: will this series ever disappoint me? This is the third book I have read from the series (including the first novella) and I also gave it five stars.

I really liked how the story picks up right after the end of the first book. It was unexpected because I thought this would be about an entire new mystery, but there are a lot of references to what happened to the first book. With that said, I highly recommend you to read the first book first and this one afterwards. The books are strongly connected and you won’t understand what they’re talking about if you mess up with the order.

I liked Pip as always, I think she’s a fantastic main character. I know she is known for being a bit annoying and a know-it-all, but I admire her perseverance and courage.

The mystery is also incredible, just like in the first book. If you liked A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, you will also love this book because the mysteries were made in a very  similar way. There’s a lot of twists and new leads in every chapter, so you will be hooked to the story the entire time –  like I was. 

I also highly recommend the audiobook version for the series –  not only just this book. There are a lot of interviews and podcast episodes, and the full cast of voices and sound effects really makes the story shine and gives it a new dimension. I would recommend the audiobook over the digital/physical copies.

If you haven’t read the series yet, you are sleeping on it! It’s one of the best young adult mystery series out there. I can’t recommend it enough, you won’t regret picking it up I promise.

xoxo,

“I think having hope is one of the most important things you can do. Once you let go of it, despair takes over. Despair will kill you quicker than hope ever could. So if you’re going to hold onto something…I’m glad it’s that.” – 4/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: islands, white sand, private jets, fresh water, blood, rafts, infections, luggage, antibiotics, crystal clear water, crabs, cut-out shorts, storms, coloring books and flare signals.

From internationally bestselling author Julie Johnson comes an action-packed story of survival and forbidden love…

“When we crash-landed on the island, I thought my story was over. Turns out, it was about to begin.”

He was an asshole from the first moment we met.

I took one look at the stranger in the airport terminal and knew he was exactly the kind of man my mother spent seventeen years warning me against. Gruff, grumpy, and far too good-looking to stare at without experiencing heart palpitations.

Thankfully, I’d never see him again.

Or so I thought.

I couldn’t have known our plane would crash.
I couldn’t have predicted we’d be the only survivors.
I couldn’t have ever, in my wildest dreams, anticipated that the asshole from the airport would become my only source of solace in the darkness.

It’s so wrong to want him, for so many reasons. But as the months slip by and our hopes of rescue grow dimmer… the spark between us kindles into something impossible to ignore.

Sometimes, survival requires swimming in uncharted waters.
But if salvation doesn’t come soon…

I might just drown in him.

I’m impressed, this was a very nice book! I couldn’t help but remember the movie The Blue Lagoon while I read it. Sure, the main plot is different and only one of the main characters is a teenager, but the intensity of the romance and the desire to survive on a deserted island reminded me of the movie.

I liked the romance, but I can imagine some people being bothered by the age gap, knowing the girl was seventeen when they met. Personally it didn’t bother me too much because it made the story more realistic. When you are in a survival situation like that and you don’t know if you’ll ever get out, I think it’s normal to lean on whoever’s with you, no matter the age.

The writing is good and easy to follow, and for the most part the story felt realistic. I’m surprised with how easy it was to read this book. I went through it like it was butter and it was captivating from beginning to end!

I don’t usually read a lot of survival stories –  even though I like them -, but this is probably one of the best ones I have ever read. I love how strong the bond between the main characters got overtime, and how they took their time learning how to respect each other.

Now I can’t wait to read the sequel! From what I know, the sequel has been delayed a few times and some readers believe it will never be published… but I have faith! I would love to continue the duology if I have the chance.

xoxo,

“She’s remarkably composed. It’s almost as if he’s watching someone else, an actor, playing his wife.” – 4.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: rubber gloves, nosy neighbours, knitting, abandoned restaurants, burner phones, brownies, perfume, stalkers, dark pasts and amnesia.

In this neighborhood, danger lies close to home. A domestic thriller packed full of secrets, and a twisty story that never stops—from the bestselling author of The Couple Next Door

He looks at her, concerned. “How do you feel?” She wants to say, Terrified. Instead, she says, with a faint smile, “Glad to be home.”

Karen and Tom Krupp are happy—they’ve got a lovely home in upstate New York, they’re practically newlyweds, and they have no kids to interrupt their comfortable life together. But one day, Tom returns home to find Karen has vanished—her car’s gone and it seems she left in a rush. She even left her purse—complete with phone and ID—behind.

There’s a knock on the door—the police are there to take Tom to the hospital where his wife has been admitted. She had a car accident, and lost control as she sped through the worst part of town.

The accident has left Karen with a concussion and a few scrapes. Still, she’s mostly okay—except that she can’t remember what she was doing or where she was when she crashed. The cops think her memory loss is highly convenient, and they suspect she was up to no good.

Karen returns home with Tom, determined to heal and move on with her life. Then she realizes something’s been moved. Something’s not quite right. Someone’s been in her house. And the police won’t stop asking questions.

Because in this house, everyone’s a stranger. Everyone has something they’d rather keep hidden. Something they might even kill to keep quiet.

I’m in love with Shari Lapena’s books! I read this a few days ago in one sitting, and I loved the story.

If you read The Couple Next Door, you will find the similarities in the writing style. Her books have their own style, and I love how the stories are structured. I would compare her stories to icebergs: when the story begins you are only given a very small portion of what the story is, but as the story progresses you discover new and important details that compliment what you knew at first. So it’s safe to say you never know what is going on for sure, and you can’t trust anyone or what they’re saying.

The pacing is very fast, you’re on the edge of your seat the entire time. I’m also not over that ending… It was mind blowing and it gave me chills! It was a great way to end the book, in my opinion.I can’t recommend Shari Lapena’s books enough. Her books are very entertaining, fast paced and full of surprises. I still prefer The Couple Next Door over this one, but this was also pretty good!

xoxo,

“We’re all ugly, Ryen. The only difference is, some hide it and some wear it.” – 4.25/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: black envelopes, silver-inked pens, abandoned theme parks, prom dates, songwriting, siblings, scavenger hunts, movie quotes, cheerleader outfits, watches, swimming lessons and pen pals.

“We were perfect together. Until we met.”

Misha

I can’t help but smile at the words in her letter. She misses me.

In fifth grade, my teacher set us up with pen pals from a different school. Thinking I was a girl, with a name like Misha, the other teacher paired me up with her student, Ryen. My teacher, believing Ryen was a boy like me, agreed.

It didn’t take long for us to figure out the mistake. And in no time at all, we were arguing about everything. The best take-out pizza. Android vs. iPhone. Whether or not Eminem is the greatest rapper ever…

And that was the start. For the next seven years, it was us.

Her letters are always on black paper with silver writing. Sometimes there’s one a week or three in a day, but I need them. She’s the only one who keeps me on track, talks me down, and accepts everything I am.

We only had three rules. No social media, no phone numbers, no pictures. We had a good thing going. Why ruin it?

Until I run across a photo of a girl online. Name’s Ryen, loves Gallo’s pizza, and worships her iPhone. What are the chances?

F*ck it. I need to meet her.

I just don’t expect to hate what I find.

Ryen

He hasn’t written in three months. Something’s wrong. Did he die? Get arrested? Knowing Misha, neither would be a stretch.

Without him around, I’m going crazy. I need to know someone is listening. It’s my own fault. I should’ve gotten his number or picture or something.

He could be gone forever.

Or right under my nose, and I wouldn’t even know it.

For a smutty, quick romance, this was beautifully executed. I read a lot of romance, and I know how hard it is to find a story that doesn’t feel shallow… and this book has a good layer of depth to it!

The romance was really good and entertaining. At first, the main characters are friends, but they become “enemies” before becoming lovers. 

I liked both main characters and their stories, but I didn’t love Ryen at first. I know she had a hard time making friends, but it was hard to see her being mean to others. I adored Misha though! He had a hard time, but he never treated others poorly – well, at least if they didn’t deserve it.

I wish the chapters were a bit shorter, but it didn’t bother me too much. The writing was immaculate and the book is very easy to read.

I enjoyed this a lot! It’s a good one to pick up if you like smutty romances. Penelope Douglas makes great books, I loved every single one I read so far.

xoxo,

“The ties that bind a parent to a child can never be broken; however awful their relationship might be, those ties just are.” – 3.75/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: asthma inhalers, hunger, tweets, bird tattoos, old earrings, cheap makeup, landlords, closed beaches, blue eyes, black hair and cassette tapes.

A young woman wakes up in a cold, dark cellar, with no idea how she got there or who her kidnapper is. So begins her terrible nightmare.
Nearby, the body of another young woman is discovered buried on a remote beach. But the dead girl was never reported missing – her estranged family having received regular texts from her over the years. Someone has been keeping her alive from beyond the grave.
For Detective Inspector Helen Grace it’s chilling evidence that she’s searching for a monster who is not just twisted but also clever and resourceful – a predator who’s killed before.
And as Helen struggles to understand the killer’s motivation, she begins to realise that she’s in a desperate race against time…

Big disclaimer before you pick up this book: if you bought it for the title, you will probably be disappointed. I personally thought the theme for this story would revolve around creepy dolls and doll houses, but it didn’t. The small reference to the title had almost no significance and it didn’t contribute to the story in a big way. This was probably the main reason why I was so disappointed with this book.

But with that said, the book has great quality just like the other books from the series! We are again following the inspector Helen Grace and her current murder investigation. Just like the other books in the series, I have (almost) zero complaints about this book. The writing is amazing and easy to follow, the pacing is great and the story is interesting and intriguing until the very end.

Sure, I got title-baited, but the story is good! I read it in one sitting, and I’m definitely continuing the series.

xoxo,