This one took me a while to get into. I didn’t care for the characters at first mostly because while they didn’t start off as enemies, the way they spThis one took me a while to get into. I didn’t care for the characters at first mostly because while they didn’t start off as enemies, the way they spoke over one another and made so many assumptions that contradicted their inner thoughts just made me want to scream. The forced enmity before the rest was just not great and left a bad taste in my mouth. I paused the book for a bit before picking it back up again for another chance since it has had so many positive reviews.
While I’m ultimately glad I did for the bookish aspect alone and because I loved the way the author describes the reason why romance is a wonderful genre deserving of its place in readers’ hearts, the romance was pretty run of the mill and maybe and but underwhelming. It just felt too formulaic. I can see how that may have been purposeful but the characters and their story never really tugged my heartstrings or engaged me like so many others do....more
This book is Heather Webber at her best. Her stories are always like a comforting hug and a good cry or a good friend and a cup of tea. They always leThis book is Heather Webber at her best. Her stories are always like a comforting hug and a good cry or a good friend and a cup of tea. They always leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy at the end and unable to stop thinking of the characters throughout. The Forget-Me-Not Library is no different.
I loved Tallulah and Juliet, who were both grieving in their different ways but who found healing and hope in this magical town and close-knit community. I loved the peripheral characters, especially Katy and Renny, who both saw things so clearly and always had that uncanny ability to say just the exact right thing. I loved the romances that developed, lending even more hope to Lu and Juliet's stories. Finally, I loved how well Webber ties the magical elements together, dropping tiny breadcrumbs that have greater meaning when the end is revealed.
If you're unfamiliar with Webber's work, you should know that her pacing tends to be purposefully on the slower side. It is my opinion that she does this to encourage reflection on how the story may parallel with the reader's life. That said, I felt like the first third of this book moved almost too slow. I would have liked to have seen Lu and Juliet's friendship develop a little sooner than it did, or at least be shown more of it, but this is a minor gripe.
If you enjoy emotional stories with feel good endings with a touch of magic, if libraries have ever calmed your soul upon walking into one, if you enjoy books that lead to introspection, The Forget-Me-Not Library is just the sort of story for you.
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I find myself on the fence about whether this was a fantastic book or only fooling me into thinking it is.
On one hand, it’s incredibly atmosp3.5 stars
I find myself on the fence about whether this was a fantastic book or only fooling me into thinking it is.
On one hand, it’s incredibly atmospheric and deeply, tragically romantic in an Emily Brönte kind of way, tortured love and all that. I love the reincarnation aspect and the idea that these souls are drawn together by their enduring love life after life. Add in the tragedy that this love always ends in death and I was getting The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue crossed with The Unmaking of June Farrow with a dash of Divine Rivals vibes. I was really excited about it.
As the book continued on, however, I found myself getting slightly bored at the repetitiveness of the glimpses of their previous lives. I understand that they were meant to be a device to parse out more breadcrumbs of the story, but I wonder if the same couldn’t have been achieved with fewer of these glimpses. Perhaps Evelyn could have shared memories in the 2022 timeline that accomplished the same thing.
Another thing I admired is that the book illustrates the “love is love” concept, that it’s about loving the truth of a person and not just what their outer shell presents to the world. She addresses this in the conversation when Arden asks Evelyn if she ever preferred one gender over another. But then on the other hand, it felt conforming to traditional gendering at times. I don’t know, I can’t put my finger on it. I could be off base here.
I loved how deep and meaningful the conversations between Evelyn and Arden could be, however brief, like the exploration of different beliefs on what happens after death according to other religions. But on the other hand, many of their conversations felt stilted and one-sided as Arden tries to both keep his distance emotionally and keeps the truth of why they are in this cycle. The frequency of these felt tired as the book progressed.
And while I was wrapped up in the idea of this soul-bonding, fated love at the beginning, I didn’t feel like all of the glimpses back into past lives established that love as sufficiently as I’d have liked and didn’t sustain that feeling throughout the rest of the story.
Ultimately, I feel like there was more that could have been done with the glimpses into the past lives to both condense the story and establish the connection between the characters more. It had a strong start, beautiful writing, incredible atmosphere, and an interesting conclusion, but altogether ended up being a bit disappointing....more
This is my first book by Elle McNicoll and I really enjoyed it! I am a big fan of hidden disability stories getting attention and as a neurospicy womaThis is my first book by Elle McNicoll and I really enjoyed it! I am a big fan of hidden disability stories getting attention and as a neurospicy woman myself (ADHD), I related to a lot of what the autistic characters in this book experienced. I don't know if the author herself is autistic or not, but she writes about it with kindness and gentleness in a way that also helps to explain some of autism's nuance to neurotypicals.
From a genre perspective, this is a small town, enemies to lovers epistolary romance and the You've Got Mail comparison in the book's blurb was on point, though I'd hesitate to call this a romcom...romance, yes, comedy, not so much. I loved the bookish setting, the majority of the story centered around a book store and a book festival. While I haven't read any of the author's previous work, there is a cameo from the characters in Some Like It Cold, but I didn't feel like I needed to have read that first to enjoy this, it's completely standalone. I really loved Jonah and found him very endearing and I respected the way Allegra stood up to bullies and set boundaries, something this people-pleaser always struggled with.
There were a couple things I found a bit off-putting but not enough to prevent me from appreciating the story. First, I felt like the author went a little too on-the-nose with some of her autism portrayal. Second, the swear words used in dialogue toward the end of the book felt incongruous with the characters as they hadn't been using them all along and the overall feel of the book was more wholesome. I'm no stranger to swearing, so the words themselves didn't bother me, but more the fact that they didn't feel authentic to the characters. Lastly, this book leans on the miscommunication trope, which I typically hate. While I found it as frustrating as ever in this book, it also felt authentic to the characters due to rejection sensitivity common in neurodivergent people.
Quick note regarding the cover, since this is an eARC. I saw that there were two different covers online for this title and it looks like the primary contender is this almost cubist rendering of a couple embracing versus the more common cartoon drawing that's more in line with the author's other book covers. If I had to choose my favorite, it would be the cartoon drawing. It's more in line with the author's other titles, as I said, but also more common to the romance genre. I'm not sure if I saw the other cover in the store that I would pick it up to read, and that would be sad because it's a great story.
Ultimately, the romance was sweet and rewarding, the story was pretty wholesome, spice level was at a 2 (on page but vague), and the autism rep was well done and will hopefully build empathy in neurotypical readers of the book. Miscommunication is a necessary element to telling this story but it was a little OTT at times, but I still enjoyed the story.
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I flew through this book. It captured my attention with the very first line and I knew I was going to love it. Especially the cake scen4.5 rounded up
I flew through this book. It captured my attention with the very first line and I knew I was going to love it. Especially the cake scene with Wilma Jean.
This is a satire and covers a lot of topics and probably won’t be for everyone, but I think it does a great job encapsulating the issues addressed. It’s a satire, so if things feel a little on the nose, it’s on purpose. I loved the representation in the book across race, age, gender, and sexuality. The structure took a little getting used to, using multiple POVs and didn’t often repeat but linked the story together so seamlessly. I felt that the author did a wonderful job giving each character their own voice and arc considering the brevity of their shares of the story.
What kept me from going a full 5 stars was that I felt like the beginning of the book was stronger than the end. That said, I’m still happy with how everything wrapped up.
Please beware of sensitive topics and sometimes crude language and scenes....more
This was one of those books I picked up on a whim. Actually, that's a lie, I fell in love with the cover and the artwork on the edges. I may have pickThis was one of those books I picked up on a whim. Actually, that's a lie, I fell in love with the cover and the artwork on the edges. I may have picked it up for those reasons, but I bought it because the synopsis was compelling and I'm happy to say that the story did not disappoint.
I love a good atmospheric setting, and the deteriorating and moldering manor house perched upon the crumbling cliffs in a seaside town steeped in myth and lore hits that note perfectly. The pervasive feeling of unease and ruin of the setting was almost another character in the book.
I also love a good unreliable narrator, which we have in Effy, a woman who has been told her whole life that the things she's seen and experienced, her very perception of events is false and all in her head. Whether the things she's seen are real or imagine aside, Effy is every woman who has been dismissed, disregarded, put down, and gaslighted by those who would keep her in her place simply because she is a woman. Misogyny is evident in the book, from the casual disregard of women to the outright derision of them or the more violent entitlement men feel owed by them. I loved watching Effy grow as a character, question things she's been told, decide for herself what she believes, and fight for herself and others.
The writing was as beautiful as the book itself--poetic and prosaic, with wisdom parceled out in resonant metaphors. I found the romance to be similar to that in Pride & Prejudice, with Preston cast as Mr. Darcy in this slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance. There is some on-page spice, but it is not very descriptive and I'd give it a 2 on my spice scale.
The audio was good, nothing OTT great or awful, just middling. The narration won't make or break the story with this book. It allows the story itself to really shine and helps pronounce those strange fictional names and words.
All in all, if you enjoy atmospheric stories set in fantastical places with a dash of romance, you'll like this one.
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I read and really enjoyed The Only Woman in the Room and The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by this author, and I was excited to be approved to read an eARCI read and really enjoyed The Only Woman in the Room and The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by this author, and I was excited to be approved to read an eARC of this one, but the writing was a departure from Benedict's usual style and it just didn't work for me at all. Unlike her other books, where the story focuses on the heavily-researched, fictionalized stories of real-life women that allowed the reader to learn something about those women, The Queens of Crime focuses on Dorothy L. Sayers and four of her female contemporaries of the time, including Agatha Christie, and uses them as detectives to solve a murder mystery.
My first problem was the characters. I wasn't able to connect with any of the characters at all. They felt two-dimensional and never came off the page for me. The dialogue, which I assume was intended to sound authentic, came off as stilted, lacking the panache and pluck these women must have had. The few tidbits of their real lives we pick up throughout the story didn't really pack enough punch in either educating me or in connecting me to the characters or storyline much. In fact, I had to Google the Queens of Crime to see if this was a moniker assigned to the group by society or if they were actually as they were portrayed in the story, a self-appointed subset of the larger Detection Club, and I couldn't find an answer, so hopefully there's an Author's Note added in the final copy of this book.
Probably the bigger problem I had was the pacing and writing. I found the pacing incredibly slow and the story much too drawn out. The writing itself was often pedantic and sometimes a little patronizing in how much was overexplained throughout. The book was fairly short and the chapters moved quickly, but it felt purposely drawn out, but could have been condensed even more by the time you remove unnecessary explanations and redundancies.
As a result of my problems with the characters, the pacing, and the writing in addition to the fact that I didn't really learn overmuch about Dorothy L. Sayers and the Queens of Crime, I struggled to engage with this book. I pushed through because of my respect for the author, but I honestly almost DNFed this at least once a week during the month it took me to read it.
I am sad to say that I cannot recommend this one, unfortunately.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.
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I’m not sure where to start with this I’ve. I liked it but I wasn’t wowed by it. It was heartfelt, honest, and I enjoyed it, especially as someone of I’m not sure where to start with this I’ve. I liked it but I wasn’t wowed by it. It was heartfelt, honest, and I enjoyed it, especially as someone of the same age as the MC that can empathize with all the drama that surrounds middle age moms who have lost themselves a bit in the throes of motherhood. I can understand the references to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but this was not on par with that. Ultimately, though I liked it, it feels a bit forgettable, so 3 stars....more
This was a beautifully written story of strength, love and hope. It covers some very heavy topics (physical and emotional abuse mostly with some referThis was a beautifully written story of strength, love and hope. It covers some very heavy topics (physical and emotional abuse mostly with some references to alcoholism, wartime psychosis and the propensity of women being wrongly sent to asylums), and I definitely had to take a break from it when it got to be too hard, but ultimately the characters and story pulled me back in. The audio narration was okay, not my favorite, but didn’t detract from the story.
If you enjoy historical stories about strong, independent, courageous women, with a dash of magic, you’ll enjoy this book....more
I really struggled with the stream-of-consciousness style, and part of that might be that this 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars
This was sort of okay for me.
I really struggled with the stream-of-consciousness style, and part of that might be that this was an ARC and it still needs a good edit, but I was confused as often as not at what was happening most of the time. There were times I wasn't sure if there was actual dialogue that took place, or if the characters were reading it on each others' faces. Also, I had a really hard time believing a famous ex-footballer (soccer player) was THAT inept at technology and THAT socially awkward. If we had found out that he was actually 85, I would have believed it more. Lastly, for a slow burn romance, I felt like the scenes leading up to the main event were spicier than the main event itself, which was a letdown.
There were several things I liked though, like the body positivity and plus-size rep. I also really liked the similar childhoods that the characters bonded over and witnessing how that effected their actions in the book. I even found some of the witty rejoinders or off-handed comments LOL funny, which was a nice surprise. However, I really kind of wanted to DNF this one but felt compelled to keep reading so I could give feedback for the ARC. I really feel like that was down to the writing style and the characters themselves.
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This was such a wonderful book! Never have I found a non-fantasy or non-magical realism book to be so magical! Like if Willy Wonka were a children's bThis was such a wonderful book! Never have I found a non-fantasy or non-magical realism book to be so magical! Like if Willy Wonka were a children's book author, this would be that story. This book checked off all my boxes!
✔️ wonderful, relatable and lovable characters ✔️ found family ✔️ a hint of romance ✔️ a setting I want to live in ✔️ it’s a book about books ✔️ imaginative, whimsical, and tender-hearted ✔️ has life lessons to impart
If I have any complaints about the book, they're minor. I didn't see the point of the ex-boyfriend and found that he had little, if any bearing on the story. Also, I thought the audio narration a little stilted in the beginning, like she had to find her rhythm, but she got there and it was good. Like I said, minor things.
Truly, this story was just so beautifully rendered that it's hard to believe the magic created by Jack Masterson wasn't "real," throwing this into the fantasy or magical realism categories. But believe it or not, no markers of either genre are found in this book, it's magic all on its own.
This beautiful story has heart, imagination, and with real life lessons added in, not only should adults read it, but I’ll be giving this to my kids to read too!
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I really liked this one! Sweet, heartbreaking, heartwarming, and it’s a book about books! I think the way this book was formatted was very clever and I really liked this one! Sweet, heartbreaking, heartwarming, and it’s a book about books! I think the way this book was formatted was very clever and I enjoyed the tandem way they read Regretting Belle and Forever, and Other Lies. It was a bit predictable but no less enjoyable for it....more
Add another to the "sophomore slump" shelf. This book was just not as good in my opinion as the first.
My problems with this one...
First, Tilly, who seAdd another to the "sophomore slump" shelf. This book was just not as good in my opinion as the first.
My problems with this one...
First, Tilly, who seemed so mature in the first book, is now acting out and lying to her grandparents, making unsafe choices out of spite and the overwhelming belief that she's right and everyone around her is wrong. She is generally a bit annoying throughout. In a book targeted toward children, it feels like there weren't enough repercussions to Tilly's behavior that affected her directly to show young readers that disobeying guardians and acting rashly have negative consequences. I get that part of her character growth seems to be questioning the status quo (admirable), but she's letting emotion guide her actions, not sound logic.
Second, this book is getting a bit political and felt like there was definitely some other agenda at work here disguised as good guys vs bad guys. The details of this went well over my 8 yo son's head, but it makes me wonder what aspects he retained and how they have shaped his thinking, even with me doing my best to explain to him in a relevant way. Yes, I realize he's much younger than the target audience, but I would argue the same even for kids older than he is. All of this took up more space in the book than any of the magic of entering books did, which was a huge drawback for me. I wanted more of that magic!
The first book was lighthearted and easy, with a simple, straightforward plot that seemed like a great adventure, but this one was a pretty big departure from it. It is darker and scarier and with Tilly's 180, it just didn't feel like it expanded the series in a believable way.
If I'm being honest, though, my biggest complaint is with Tilly, and I hope that what she learned by the end of this book is enough to change her attitude/behavior in future books. Even disliking this one as much as I did, I'm still curious to find out how the rest of the story goes, so we'll probably pick up the next book. I'll just read it before reading it to my son instead of at the same time so I know what we are in for and whether I want to read the next one to him or not....more
This was a super cute book. I read this with my 8 year old and the balance of real-life and magical situations is just right to inspire active imaginaThis was a super cute book. I read this with my 8 year old and the balance of real-life and magical situations is just right to inspire active imaginations and make kids of all ages believe in the magic of books.
My only gripe with it is that I wish that the books referenced within were a bit more recent and relevant to today's readers. I may be completely off base, but how many kids know these books? How many boys? Classics though they may be, A Little Princess, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass, and Anne of Green Gables appeals only to a very specific audience. I've never read them myself, though I have seen their respective movie adaptations. But seriously, they were written in 1905, 1865, and 1908, respectively. We really enjoyed the story, but I think my son might have enjoyed it more if he was more familiar with those stories, since they act as the settings for certain scenes.
Still, he enjoyed the adventure of Tilly and Oscar wandering into books, chatting with fictional characters, and puzzling out the mysterious Enoch Chalk and we both look forward to the next book in the series. I just hope we get more recent titles....more
I really enjoyed this book! It was a great, light-hearted read. There was so much I loved about this book, I have a whole (Nora approved) list.
The firI really enjoyed this book! It was a great, light-hearted read. There was so much I loved about this book, I have a whole (Nora approved) list.
The first thing that struck me immediately is the writing itself. It was quick, clever and downright hilarious. The back and forth banter often reminded me of Gilmore Girls, and the small town that the book takes place in had a total Stars Hollow vibe to it, even down to the town hall meeting that Nora attended for pure entertainment purposes just like Lorelei. I was hooked!
It’s also another favorite sub-category of mine, books about books, and it was done in such a fun way! Nora, a book agent by trade, pokes fun at the common big city MC falls in love with small town love interest trope. Lo and behold, her sister has arranged such a story for Nora, who usually plays the foil in her own love life. As much fun as she pokes at this trope, its obvious that this book indeed follows that formula, with a few modifications.
Nora is a fantastic character! I love that she is a strong and independent woman, a shark of an agent who isn’t afraid to go for the jugular to get the best deal for her clients, and someone who cares and looks after those she cares about with the same tenacity she puts into her work. I think Henry did a great job showing the double standard women face as compared to a man with the same qualities. Also, I loved that unlike many of the men in this type of trope who complain about country life, Nora doesn’t whine about it, just gets on with it. I also adore that Charlie accepts and loves Nora for all these things, including her “nightmare brain.”
I loved the chemistry between Nora and Charlie, even when they were archrivals (yup, it’s also the enemies to lovers trope), the tension was a live wire. Their banter and sarcasm made me laugh out loud pretty much every page for the first half of the book. I read in bed and kept shaking with laughter so much I was afraid I was going to wake HBW Hubby beside me. Oops! Then when things start to heat up, it gets pretty hot. Enough to satisfy people there for the heat and not so much as to take away from the point of the story, which is about the way they heal one another and free each other from perceived notions they had about themselves. Also, race car bed.
The only thing I didn’t quite buy into was the sisters’ relationship. The use of the pet name “sissy” struck me as juvenile and saccharine, not something grown women would use regularly to address one another at any time except nostalgically. The angst resulting from their parent/child- instead of sister-relationship was a bit drawn out for me, making the latter half of the book really drag.
Still, I loved the book and was truly pleased at the changes to the small town love affair trope that Henry made with this book. If you’re looking for a funny, feminist, light-hearted romcom, this one is a can’t miss!
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When a friend and I went to hear Taylor Jenkins Reid speak during her book tour for Carrie Soto, she raved about this book by the woman who has narratWhen a friend and I went to hear Taylor Jenkins Reid speak during her book tour for Carrie Soto, she raved about this book by the woman who has narrated many of her books. I immediately added it to my TBR on Goodreads, then promptly forgot about it until it popped up in my daily Chirp deals email earlier this week. It was a no-brainer. I love Julia Whelan's narrations and was eager to listen to her narrate her own book.
Psst! If you haven’t tried Chirp, it’s an audiobook app without the subscription! Try it and get 50% off your first purchase with my link here!
What a great listen! This book is deliciously clever and funny. I absolutely loved the banter between characters! It’s the kind of book you will gleefully volunteer to fold more laundry for just so you can pop your ear buds in and keep listening. WARNING: Family members may become irritated with you when you constantly have your earbuds in and make them repeat themselves multiple times to get your attention. WARNING: You may become irritated with family members for interrupting you while listening to this book.
It pokes fun at its genre and at audiobooks, but for all that, it’s a perfect example of both done right. It is definitely best experienced by listening to the audiobook since it is narrated by the Audie award-winning author herself, who herself got her start in narrating audio romance books, just like our MC.
This book had me laughing out loud, even rolling with laughter at times, but it still pulled on my heart strings and had a surprising amount of depth to it as well.
I swear to Pete, this book was just so good! Stop looking at reviews and go download it already!
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Some words are more important than others–I learned this, growing up in the Scriptorium. But it took me a long time to understand why.
This book is
Some words are more important than others–I learned this, growing up in the Scriptorium. But it took me a long time to understand why.
This book is one part love letter to language, one part journey of self-discovery, one part lesson in subversive feminism, and wholly a lovely book. This is a book that you need to take your time with. Let the words wrap around you, let each of Esme’s experiences draw out emotion and reflection, and, like Esme, question everything you thought you knew about language, and indeed about any of the institutions we have today.
If the words of one group are considered worthier of preservation than those of another…well, you have given me pause for thought.
How does something so seemingly innocuous become something scandalous, or insulting, or crude. Why did they become those things, and who rewrote their meanings? Who decides what is to be written down and immortalized and why are some words left out? Who speaks those words? Why don’t their voices get to be remembered? These are the questions that plague Esme Nicoll as she goes from playing under the sorting table in the Scriptorium to creating her own Dictionary of Lost Words.
Note: there is language that is considered offensive used in this book. It is done to illustrate in a scientific way how words can have negative connotations and to question why those negative connotations exist. It is intended to get the reader to think more deeply on this practice and ponder what other examples that reader might find in the everyday.
There are several heavy scenes that necessitated a pause in my reading and required me to sit with them for a while before continuing. It was a much different time that Esme lived in and she was raised in what was then considered a very untraditional way. Her widowed father, a loving and intellectual man, didn’t know what he didn’t know about raising a young lady. He had the help of Edith Thompson, or Ditte as Esme called her, to guide him, but she herself threw convention out the window in most things and encouraged the same for Esme. These things combined to make Esme a woman of a more modern persuasion that we can relate to in the 21st century. Nonetheless, the obstacles she confronted as a woman in her time felt very authentic and relatable.
I often wondered what kind of slip I would be written on if I was a word. Something too long, certainly. Probably the wrong colour. A scrap of paper that didn’t quite fit. I worried that perhaps I would never find my place in the pigeon-holes at all.
Incredibly well-researched, the author threaded her narrative around the real-life people and events surrounding the establishment of the first Oxford English Dictionary. For example, bondmaid really was left out of the first edition! I loved Esme and her ability to not just question the status quo but to also question herself. Like anyone, she can be self-absorbed and inconsiderate, but she also checks her privilege and isn’t afraid to apologize or to think herself above it. She sees how insufficient the OED is and takes it into her own hands to rectify it.
Alongside all of this, she contends with her position in women’s suffrage and whether she has to be like her friend Tilda to be effective. I liked how well Williams portrayed the gatekeeping that happens within the members on the same side of an issue, illuminating a struggle that is still very much a real thing today. One group thinks that the others don’t do enough and the others think the first is too extreme.
Williams also touches briefly on The Great War that happened during the publication of the first edition of the OED. While she doesn’t devote a very large part to this part of history, I respected the way she gave life to it. From the overconfident young boys to the reservedness of older generations who know what war does, the pressure to join and the judgement men faced if they didn’t enlist right away, and the loss. Loss of life, loss of limbs, loss of youth, innocence, future.
His fingers curled back, revealing the crushed remains of a white feather…. “You sound like you want to go.” “Only the young or stupid would want to go to war, Essy. No, I don’t want to go.” “But you’re thinking about it.” “It’s impossible not to.”
The only thing holding me back from giving this a full 5 stars is that I felt like several scenes toward the end of the book were rushed. I felt a bit unfulfilled with the ending, though I liked that it came full circle. All in all, I really loved this book and highly recommend it.
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