ALL THE BOOKS I READ IN 2023 RANKED

I read 105 books this year, with five 5-star reads! My total page count was 36,720 with an average of 350 pages/book. My average rating was 3.53. I read:

• 33.3% (35 books) contemporary
• 17.1% (18 books) fantasy
• 15.2% (16 books) STMH (suspense, thriller, mystery, horror)
• 15.2% (16 books) science fiction
• 6.7% (7 books) historical fiction
• 5.7% (6 books) nonfiction
• 3.8% (4 books) mythology/retellings
• 2.9% (3 books) classics

74% of my reads were from library with only 26% from my own collection. 58% were audiobooks, 29% physical books, and 13% eBooks.

My ranking:

1. Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1) by Rebecca Ross
2. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
3. Heartstopper, Vol. 4 by Alice Oseman
4. Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall
5. Heartstopper, Vol. 5 by Alice Oseman
6. Bad Girls with Perfect Faces by Lynn Weingarten
7. Happy Place by Emily Henry
8. None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
9. Solitaire by Alice Oseman
10. Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7) by Sarah J. Maas
11. How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
12. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
13. I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
14. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
15. Clytemnestra by Constanza Casati
16. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan, #1) by Elle Cosimano
17. Glitterland by Alexis Hall
18. Zero Days by Ruth Ware
19. All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham
20. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
21. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
22. In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
23. Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica
24. Crier's War (Crier's War, #1) by Nina Varela
25. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
26. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
27. River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
28. Maame by Jessica George
29. Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey
30. We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman
31. Iron Heart (Crier's War, #2) by Nina Varela
32. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
33. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
34. This Winter by Alice Oseman
35. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sarafi (Amina Al-Sarafi, #1) by S.A. Chakraborty
36. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
37. The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
38. The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson
39. The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores
40. Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
41. Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid
42. A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall
43. Paperweight by Meg Haston
44. Even Though I Knew The End by C.L. Polk
45. Radiant Sin (Dark Olympus, #4) by Katee Robert
46. Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (Song of the Last Kingdom, #1) by Amelie Wen Zhao
47. The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews
48. The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
49. Atalanta by Jennifer Saint
50. The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
51. A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
52. Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim
53. Watching You by Lisa Jewell
54. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
55. The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand
56. What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall
57. The Stand by Stephen King
58. Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa
59. Ascension by Nicholas Binge
60. The First to Die at the End (They Both Die at the End, #0) by Adam Silvera
61. Silver in the Bone (Silver in the Bone, #1) by Alexandra Bracken
62. The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz
63. The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
64. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
65. Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee
66. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
67. Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
68. The River at Night by Erica Ferencik
69. Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
70. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
71. Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler
72. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
73. Cruel Seduction (Dark Olympus, #5) by Katee Robert
74. Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens
75. The Reading List by Sarah Nisha Adams
76. Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli
77. The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
78. The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan
79. What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jimenez
80. She Is A Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
81. Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass, #6) by Sarah J. Maas
82. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
83. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
84. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Not Rated:

• Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
• Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
• The Comfort Book by Matt Haig
• Red, White, and Royal Blue* by Casey McQuiston
• Saga, Volumes 1-11 by Brian K. Vaughan
• Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening by Majorie Liu
• My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• The Wager by David Grann
• Monstress, Volume 2: The Blood by Majorie Liu
• Monstress, Volume 3: Haven by Majorie Liu

*reread

Taylor Swift Inspired Book Recommendations

 This is going to be a looooooong post, but I wanted to make recommendations for every Taylor Swift song.* There are over 100 Taylor Swift songs, and I have read just 885 books, so this will probably be difficult. As such, I will possibly be doubling or tripling up some books that relate to multiple songs. I will be recommending books based on their likeness to the song either in style/tone or in plot/lyrics or both if applicable. Last thing: I will only be doing books I have rated 3 stars or above, so that they are truly recommendations!

*"Every" meaning every song on each of her major albums, including bonus tracks and Taylor's Version songs From the Vault. I don't include most standalone singles (I Heart ?, Beautiful Eyes, Christmas Tree Farm, etc.).

I'm publishing this list before it is even NEAR completion because I want to keep adding to it as I read good books that remind me of her songs!

Updated: 3/28/2024

Tim McGraw

Picture To Burn

Teardrops On My Guitar

A Place In This World - Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Cold As You

The Outside - Noteworthy by Riley Redgate

Tied Together With A Smile - Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Stay Beautiful

Should've Said No

Mary's Song (Oh My My My)

Our Song

I'm Only Me When I'm With You - Josh and Hazel's Guide To Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Invisible

A Perfectly Good Heart

Fearless

Fifteen - Twice In A Blue Moon by Christina Lauren

Love Story - If the Tide Turns by Rachel Rueckert

Hey Stephen 

White Horse

You Belong With Me - People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

Breathe - We Used To Be Friends by Amy Spalding

Tell Me Why

You're Not Sorry

The Way I Loved You - The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Forever and Always

The Best Day - Room by Emma Donaghue

Change - Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

Jump Then Fall

Untouchable - Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Come In With The Rain

Superstar - Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

The Other Side of the Door - Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Today Was a Fairytale

You All Over Me

Mr. Perfectly Fine

We Were Happy

That's When

Don't You

Bye Bye Baby

Mine

Sparks Fly - Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

Back To December

Speak Now

Dear John

Mean

The Story of Us - After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Never Grow Up - Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Enchanted 

Better Than Revenge - Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Innocent - I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane

Haunted - The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

Last Kiss 

Long Live - Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

If This Was a Movie

Ours - The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Superman

Electric Touch

When Emma Falls in Love

I Can See You - One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Castles Crumbling - Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Foolish One

Timeless - The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

State of Grace - Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Red - Ravensong by TJ Klune

Treacherous - The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

I Knew You Were Trouble

All Too Well

22

I Almost Do

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

Stay Stay Stay

The Last Time

Holy Ground

Sad Beautiful Tragic - The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

The Lucky One - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Everything Has Changed - Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins

Starlight - A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell

Begin Again - One To Watch by Kate Stayman-London

The Moment I Knew - Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

Come Back... Be Here - The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon

Girl At Home

Ronan - I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

Better Man - It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Nothing New - The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

Babe - Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

Message In A Bottle 

I Bet You Think About Me

Forever Winter - The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

Run - This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

The Very First Night - Lovely War by Julie Berry

Welcome To New York - City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

Blank Space

Style - The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

Out of the Woods

All You Had To Do Was Stay

Shake It Off

I Wish You Would

Bad Blood - Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Wildest Dreams - A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

How You Get The Girl

This Love - Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

I Know Places

Clean - We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

Wonderland - Alice In Zombieland Series by Gena Showalter

You Are In Love

New Romantics - Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

...Ready For It? - Crier's War by Nina Varela

End Game

I Did Something Bad - Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin

Don't Blame Me - House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Delicate - The Honey-Don't List by Christina Lauren

Look What You Made Me Do - The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

So It Goes... - Neon Gods by Katee Robert

Gorgeous - Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett

Getaway Car

King Of My Heart - The Charm Offensive by Alyson Cochrun

Dancing With Our Hands Tied - The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Dress - Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things - Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Call It What You Want - The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

New Year's Day

I Forgot That You Existed

Cruel Summer - The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Lover

The Man - Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

The Archer - This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

I Think He Knows - Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince

Paper Rings - Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

Cornelia Street - A Little Life by Hanya Hanagihara

Death By A Thousand Cuts

London Boy - Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Soon You'll Get Better - The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

False God - A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair

You Need To Calm Down - The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

Afterglow - Glitterland by Alexis Hall

ME! - Me by Elton John

It's Nice To Have A Friend - The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Daylight - Wolfsong by TJ Klune

All of the Girls You Loved Before

Only The Young - What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton

the 1 - Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler

cardigan - Wolfsong by TJ Klune

the last great american dynasty

exile

my tears ricochet

mirrorball - Maame by Jessica George

seven - Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

august - Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

this is me trying - The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg

illicit affairs - My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

invisible string - What If It's Us by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli

mad woman - Circe by Madeline Miller

epiphany - Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

betty

peace - The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab

hoax - Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

the lakes - The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

willow - Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

champagne problems

gold rush - Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin van Whye

'tis the damn season - In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren

tolerate it - Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler

no body, no crime - Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

happiness - Happy Place by Emily Henry

dorothea - An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

coney island

ivy - Silver In The Wood by Emily Tesh

cowboy like me - The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

long story short  - A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas

marjorie - The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan

closure - The Women by Kristin Hannah

evermore - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

right where you left me

it's time to go - It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Lavender Haze

Maroon

Anti-Hero - Solitaire by Alice Oseman

Snow on the Beach - Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

You're On Your Own, Kid - I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Midnight Rain - Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

Question...?

Vigilante Shit - The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

Bejeweled

Labyrinth - All This Time by Rachel Lippincott and Mikki Daughtry

Karma

Sweet Nothing - The Butterfly Project by Emma Scott

Mastermind - The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller

The Great War - Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

Bigger Than the Whole Sky - Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Paris - Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

High Infidelity

Glitch - Funny Story by Emily Henry

Would've, Could've, Should've - Weyward by Emilia Hart 

Dear Reader

Hits Different - Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey

You're Losing Me

Fortnight

The Tortured Poets Department - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys

Down Bad

So Long London

But Daddy I Love Him - If the Tide Turns by Rachel Rueckert

Fresh Out the Slammer

Florida!!!

Guilty as Sin? - Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? - Weyward by Emilia Hart

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) - Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

loml

I Can Do It With a Broken Heart

The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

The Alchemy - Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Clara Bow - I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

The Black Dog

imgonnagetyouback

The Albatross - Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus - Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

How Did It End?

So High School

I Hate It Here - The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

thanK you aIMee

I Look in People's Windows - Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell

The Prophecy - The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul

Cassandra - Elektra by Jennifer Saint

Peter

The Bolter - The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Robin - The Guncle by Steven Rowley

The Manuscript - My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Review for "The Villa" by Rachel Hawkins

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

The Villa is a mystery thriller book set in an idyllic Italian landscape and told in two perspectives. Firstly, we have Emily: an author of cozy mysteries that she's less than passionate about but writing because they pay the bills. With a costly impending divorce, she desperately needs to write the next book in her Petal Bloom series. Emily's best friend from childhood is Chess: an ultra successful author of self-help books aimed at helping women take back control over their lives. Emily and Chess decide to spend the summer at an Italian villa, where Mari, an inspiring author and resident ingenue caught up in the rock star scene, stayed when she was 19 in the 70's. Emily starts to realize that Mari's story may not be all it seems, and her investigation is accompanied by bitter exes, conniving friends, and shocking discoveries.

CHARACTERS

Emily was an unimpressionable main character. I did empathize with her a lot, especially at anything related to Matt. It's unfortunate that we didn't get to see Matt as an actual character; he's just sort of the one-dimensional Big Bad Wolf of the story. Morally gray is a characteristic claimed by Chess, the problematic best friend. She is more layered than the two other aforementioned characters, but she's completely unbearable to read about, so I'm not sure I appreciated her layers. In relation to Chess, I found it difficult to empathize with Emily when she was being such a doormat. Chess betrayed her so many times and then manipulated her way out it, and Emily just lets her. It's either an indication of Emily's intelligence or self-respect and either way I was cringing at it.

PLOT

I knew that the plot twist hints were too obvious to be the full story. For example, Chess wearing the anklet and Emily having found a bracelet in Matt's things (indicating his infidelity) was too obvious a sign that it was Chess that Matt cheated with. I was somewhat mollified at the fact that there was more to the story--i.e. Chess actually being on Emily's side and not Matt's. (Although, it's completely plausible she actually was on Matt's side, and literally poisoning Emily, and just weaseled her way out of it as the tides shifted. This possibility is supported by Chess's veiled threat at her dinner with Emily in the end, but it still wasn't obvious enough for me to really believe it was intentional by the author). The Chess flip is also completely tainted by two facts. Firstly, let's examine how Emily let herself be manipulated by all Chess's reasonings and pleading. She just lets her off the hook for sleeping with her husband and continuing to talk to him based on Chess's flimsy explanations. AND THEN she lets Chess in on the book! Girl, how do you not realize that Chess will just say whatever she needs to to get what she wants? And then you let her have half the book, which you spend the entire novel desperately trying to avoid. The logic just does not compute to me. "Oh, you had an affair with my husband? I get your reasoning completely, here have half of my million-dollar book idea." Secondly, WHAT was that Matt ending? He drowns in a pool? As told by journalists???? There is no payoff. We spend so much of the book building up a hatred for Matt, expecting some big no body, no crime (a la T Swift) moment, and we get literally nothing. I'm sure there was some reason the author decided to do this, but I can't for the life of me figure it out.

ATMOSPHERE/WRITING

I'm so conflicted on this. I can't tell if Chess was written brilliantly or just chaotically. Either way, I hated her from start to finish. I also feel that the atmosphere of the book was lacking. It's set in a totally serene Italian estate and it feels like the plot could have been picked up and set in any random house without much change to the story.

I was feeling 3 stars for this the entire time until Matt's drowning. It wasn't very "thrilling" for a thriller, but I did want to read to the end... and then I got to the end, the most anticlimactic thriller confrontation ever, seeing as it was nonexistent. Very disappointing.

Review for "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus

 This is such a readable book. I have never so enjoyed a book that also infuriated me so much, excluding possibly The Heart's Invisible Furies. For a book set in the 1950's and early 1960's, there was so much relevant content that makes me want to tell everyone I know to read this book.

She only ever seemed to bring out the worst in men. They either wanted to control her, touch her, dominate her, silence her, correct her, or tell her what to do. She didn't understand why they couldn't just treat her as a fellow human being, as a colleague, a friend, an equal, or even a stranger on the street, someone to whom one is automatically respectful until you find out they've buried a bunch of bodies in the backyard.

The only thing that kept it from a full five-star rating for me was that there was what felt like an unintentional modernization of the characters. Obviously, Elizabeth was meant to be very ahead of her time in terms of her opinions on society, equality, etc. (This is a sentence I hesitate to even include because the concept that recognizing that women/other marginalized groups are people too is 'modern' is, I think, misleading and inaccurate.) However, there were several times throughout the story that the narration, mostly from Elizabeth and sometimes from Madeline or Wakely, went a little bit too far. Sometimes that was with very modern opinions, but it was also in the characters' formality and speech. It just felt like when an author writes a romance set in the Victorian era, but they use completely modern speech so it is not authentic to the time period at all. This wasn't as bad as that, but I did have a distinct feeling of being pulled out of the atmosphere of the story when one of these moments happened. The author was clearly very well-researched for this novel (in terms of events, culture, and behaviors of the time period), but it seemed that at times she just couldn't help herself from adding a little joke that had a bit too much of a modern touch.

Along with that thought, we have to talk about Six-Thirty. It was a cute concept, reminiscent of Watchers (but a happier setting). However, it was another little detail that took me out of the story. A dog learning 900 words? Yes, I am a doubter. It wasn't that fact so much that was the issue, but rather the internal monologues the dog would have, as if he had human intellect. I love dogs, I think they're very smart, but this was overdoing it. It was cute, it was fun, but it came at the cost of the integrity of the story in my opinion.

The reduction of women to something less than men, and the elevation of men to something more than women, is not biological: it's cultural. And it starts with two words: pink and blue. Everything skyrockets out of control from there.

Last little qualm with the book was that I was underwhelmed by the ending... Or perhaps it was just too cheesy? The tone of the last 2-3 chapters just didn't match the tone of the rest of the book.

I want to make it clear that although I've listed several "issues", they were actually pretty minor in terms of my overall enjoyment of the book, and I do recommend it. Elizabeth Zott is the newest icon in modern literature and my personal hero.

Review for "Book Lovers" by Emily Henry

The first Victim of the Hype of 2023... I appreciate what we were going for here, the flip on the cliche Hallmark movie romance plotline. I just didn't completely buy the story/characters. 

The reveals in the plot just kind of fell flat. For example, there was so much suspense created around the mythical Jacob. And then the reveal comes and it was just... fine. Not much to comment on and definitely not worth all the intrigue that was created surrounding that aspect of Nora's past. I also think there's a bit of irony that the point of the story is to reject the notion of well-known cliche romance stories, but the plot of this book was still pretty cliche/predictable. Would I have liked this more if it wasn't the most hyped book of last year? Who can say. Still enjoyable enough though; I knew I would finish the book just so I got the full story. 

I thought Nora was a fine protagonist. Interestingly, I didn't connect with her as much as I feel I should've considering our similarities. She comes off as very cold and like she doesn't have any feelings, but the people she loves she feels so much for. Somehow I didn't vibe with her though. She put me off at times by how immature she acted (can't even think of an example but I remember thinking it several times). Somehow Libby was simultaneously completely unbelievable and unbearable to read. How was she supposed to be a 28 year old woman? Lol. My favorite character was probably Charlie. I wonder if I would have liked the book more if we got dual perspectives or if it was better that he was an enigma for Nora in the story. Overall, the book just fell flat considering all the hype it got. 

Review for "Bad Girls with Perfect Faces" by Lynn Weingarten

 

Pray you never find out how strong you are. Pray you never find out how much you can carry, how much you can bear, how many secrets you can keep. And where you can hide them.

This was pretty much a perfect YA thriller. It had just enough suspense, intrigue, and raw emotion to keep me completely engaged without being over the top. The book starts out simple enough: a girl is in love with her (male) best friend, but is afraid to tell him because she doesn't want to ruin the friendship. She finally has the courage to tell him and then... Enter Ivy, the best friend's desirable, unattainable, and unkeepable ex-girlfriend that he has been hung up on since they broke up months ago. Throw in some drama in the form of misunderstandings, poor teenage decision-making, and emotional hurricanes and that's pretty much this book.

I understood then, just what had happened. We had shared something impossible and unimaginable, dangerous and destructive, shared something no one else on earth would ever truly understand. And right then, against all reason, for one single moment, as I looked at her, the only thing in my head and in my heart was this: You made me feel less alone.

This book is interesting because not only are there multiple perspectives, but they also told from different POVs. Sasha's POV is first person, Xavier's is third person, and the third perspective is also first person. I did wonder why Xavier's was third person when it seemed to delve so much into his consciousness and emotions the way first person perspectives normally do. My thought on it is that it was meant to show how Sasha feels like the burden is all her own, and it emphasizes Sasha's role as the perpetrator (even if it's not true, she wants it to be so she can protect Xavier). I will say none of the characters drew me in in the first couple of chapters, but seeing the way Sasha responded to trauma and guilt really changed that. Xavier was in the dark for most of the novel, but it was good to have his innocent-puppy-dog perspective as a contrast to Sasha. Ivy was intolerable, as I believe she was meant to be; one of those girls all the guys want and all the other girls are like "but why tho". I wish we had gotten more of Gwen's perspective/presence in other people's chapters! Especially in part 1. I think it would've made the twists hit harder, but then again it may have given it away too easily.

So the thing about thriller plots for me is that I willfully don't figure stuff out ahead of time. I don't try to speculate and theorize about twists because I like to be surprised by them. I did not see any of the twists coming in this book and I enjoyed the heck out of it. Even after I realized that the italicized chapters in part 2 are Gwen, not Ivy, I still didn't put it together that that would mean the italicized chapters in part 1 were also Gwen, not Ivy. It seems so obvious after the fact, but I was just in the book. Partially I was distracted by Sasha's intense guilt but also impressive hiding-the-body skills. Another reason the plot/twists just worked really well for me is that the pacing was so good. The plot didn't drag but it still had enough time to let the reader soak into the story. It is honestly just a very satisfying YA thriller.