Review for "Cleat Cute" by Meryl Wilsner

This book had so much promise...

This book has a really cute premise: a girl gets drafted for a professional women's soccer team where she gets to play with her childhood idol, and the two start to have feelings for each other. I really don't have much to say about this book. I want to give it props for being atmospheric and engaging, I was really envisioning the world and the story as I read. However: the characters were painted as two-dimensional pictures. They explained their whole backstory and personalities and opinions in the form of their internal monologues/narration. I would have loved to get to know the characters by just watching them interact and think and then deciding their personalities based on that. Similarly, their histories could have easily been woven into their budding relationship. It would have been real cute to have Phoebe gush about Teddy and his situation to Grace as part of them getting to know each other instead of just listening to Phoebe refer to Teddy in her own mind.

The romance was... fine. It was not swoon-worthy, but it also wasn't insta-love. I wish the characters had shown a little bit more chemistry or passion (outside of the extremely steamy scenes). I just don't know if I believed that they really liked each others' personalities, but that might be a problem branching off of the fact that I couldn't get a good feel of their personalities. Some aspects of the plot were a bit cliche (i.e. Phoebe being the one to out Grace about her injury, the entire subplot between Grace and Kelsey, etc.) but overall the plot was entertaining enough.

Final verdict: The book is engaging, but the characters lack satisfying development throughout the story.

Review for "Love, Theoretically" by Ali Hazelwood

I really need to stop listening to negative Nancy booktubers. For some reason, I was led to believe that Ali Hazelwood's work was shallow or "cringe" and I take full responsibility for letting that hold me back from reading any of her books in the past. But no longer... This was thoroughly enjoyable and pleasantly reminiscent of Christina Lauren's contemporary romance novels.

As a woman who works in the medical science field and has a brief background in academic research, this is a book that intrigued me straight away. I have to say I am a fan of the new trend where authors adequately address the issue of sexism and misogyny without overdoing it (most recently in Carrie Soto Is Back and now again in this book). In some primal way I felt the immense satisfaction of being heard and understood even if my circumstances are considerably different than Elsie's. Overall I thought the discussions of the climate of academia to be appropriate and perfectly rage-inducing.

This is how enemies-to-lovers should be done. Both Elsie and Jack had legitimate reasons to "hate" each other (Elsie's being Jack's delegitimization of her field and Jack's being his belief that Elsie was being dishonest with his brother). While both were misunderstandings, this book didn't read like the typical miscommunication trope. I was extremely content with Elsie's refusal to out Greg to his brother and even more so with Jack's reaction to finally finding out about Greg's asexuality later in the book. I was also fond of the twist that Dr. L was the physicist that ruined Jack's mom's career; for some reason I didn't see it coming even though the clues were probably there the whole time. That being said, I was slightly unsatisfied with the way that he immediately turned Cliche Bad Guy as soon as Elsie starts questioning him. I felt like there was a slight missed opportunity to make him more manipulative and gaslighting but instead he immediately starts saying outright "I want you to do what I want" which is just not as fun and provides less of a payoff when Elsie finally storms out of there.

My other qualm with the book that prevents me from going full five stars is Elsie's mom/family situation. I just did not buy into it at all. Elsie's mom calls so much through the book, and I just thought that side of the plot was so contrived and implausible. It was so obvious that it was meant to reinforce Elsie's people-pleasing problems, but it just didn't work for me. I wouldn't be so annoyed by it if it had not been a constant running thing throughout the book. And then to top it off, Elsie tells off her mom in a very short phone call rant and they never cycle back to repairing that whole relationship. That part of the plot was just a mess.

Onto the good stuff... the romance. The ROMANCE. I bought into this romance so hard. Jack's whole "I was into you the whole time" paired with Elsie's love epiphanies were just so cute. The pacing of the book was interesting because when it became clear the main plot was about Elsie trying to get this job at the place Jack was already working I thought that that would be the vast majority of the story, but then the interview is over at like 50%. This was actually brilliant though because we got to savor Elsie falling for Jack and then them beginning their relationship and just being in the honeymoon phase. Beyond that, this book had the perfect about of tension for a fluffy contemporary romance.

As for Elsie and Jack themselves, Elsie was immediately an engaging narrator and character to me. Her people-pleasing obsession was a little heavy-handed (do people pleasers really not even tell their best friend they don't or do like certain movies??), but I thought she was witty and fun without being a MPDG. And yes, I chuckled at "towered like a towering tower". The line was clearly supposed to be ironic and I loved it and all Elsie's other silly depictions of her life and her perceptions of Jack. Jack was definitely a grower on me; since this is a first-person narration from Elsie's POV it was hard for me to get to know him at first. Once the job interview section of the book is over and Elsie and Jack start spending more time together outside of the professional aspect I really appreciated Jack. I found him to be that perfect "I'm better than everyone except this one girl who is my entire world" boyfriend type (I'm sure there's a better term for that vibe that I just can't think of right now). It was slightly cringe that there was the cliche he's-super-tall-and-muscular-while-she's-tiny-and-dainty trope, but honestly that was the only cringe for me; everything else about this book that other people may have labeled as cringe was only ever silly in a way I had fun with and thus appreciated.

Final verdict: This is a very cute romance with well-fleshed out characters and interesting discussions that is only slightly hindered by an annoying family subplot.

Reivew for "Carrie Soto Is Back" by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 Never thought I'd read a book that would make me want to get into watching professional tennis, but here we are.

Read: 01/14/2024

As we all know, TJR is a master storyteller. She excels at creating characters and relationships, whether they be friendship, family, or romantic. One aspect of her craft that I think is really on display in this novel is her ability to bring in really original characters. The characters don't act the way you expect them to which makes the book both more entertaining and more realistic. The latter I attribute to the inclusion of non-stereotypical characters. For example, I expected Nicki to be more hard and less humble and friendly for being the best tennis player in the world. But no: TJR always subverts expectations and gives us more depth that we expect.

I also want to commend the book on its thoughtful discussion of gender and race in professional sports without being super heavy-handed about it. The things Carrie went through with the press and her reputation was very reminiscent to me of what Taylor Swift goes through in modern times (the lack of considerable improvement is indeed disheartening). I was reminded of Taylor's song "Sweet Nothing", but rather than it being in a romantic context, I really saw it from the point of view of Carrie's relationship with her father who was always supportive of her and demanded nothing in return.

I liked Bowe as a romantic match for Carrie; I appreciated how they both had a lot of personal growth to go through and they supported each other throughout it. I didn't completely understand why Carrie was so reluctant to trust him when she was the one who cut things off the first time they dated, but we can sacrifice a bit of logic for the sake of the story. On the whole I related so much to Carrie, to her desire and need to win. It goes beyond ambition; it's your personal pride on the line, and the idea of losing this single match is like losing all the work you've put in. I appreciated that Javier was so gentle as Carrie was so hard on herself, and I thought the two of them together made a good balance between ambition for the sake of winning versus self-improvement.

I wish the story had been a bit broader, but that's just me being greedy because I'm used to TJR's books having such a wide scope (enormous cast of characters/perspectives, large amount of time covered, etc.). The story is pretty self-contained, but it was still well done for what it was. There were times that I thought the plot was strangely scant. For example, when Carrie heads off in the semifinal against Cortez, it is over so fast. I feel like there was a missed opportunity to really stretch that out and take advantage of the suspense. I also felt like I was missing a bit of emotional damage when Javier dies. I just thought their relationship was so special, so I expected to feel more from Carrie's internal monologue after he died; I can't help feeling like there was something missing from it.

Side note: Of course, I loved the nod to Daisy Jones & The Six.

Final verdict: Carrie Soto is an immensely compelling main character, and TJR's mastery at weaving relationships and creating good social commentary were exemplified.

My ranking of all her books (that I've read):

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
2. Daisy Jones & The Six
3. Maybe in Another Life
4. Carrie Soto Is Back
5. After I Do
6. Forever, Interrupted

I promise to get to One True Loves and Malibu Rising soon!!

Review for "Then She Was Gone" by Lisa Jewell

 What an absolutely revolting reveal :))

Read: 01/14/2024

Then She Was Gone had me gripped right from the beginning. We start out knowing that this woman Laurel's daughter disappeared ten years ago and the police finally find evidence of her death after over a decade. I was confused at first at why the very first chapter had Ellie narrating her abduction, but it soon becomes clear that this disappearance is not the main focal point of the story. At least not yet. Fast forward ten years: Laurel has a new boyfriend whose precocious young daughter has uncanny similarities to her own late daughter. This is when the plot really gets good.

After we meet Poppy, I really thought it was going to be one of those The Bad Seed stories where the child is evil, but I couldn't make the timings work. After approximately nine times of being told how similar Poppy and Ellie are, I did end up figuring out the plot twist. It's completely disturbing in a can't-look-away-from-a-car-crash type of way, and I was very invested in Laurel's mission to uncover the truth.

This is the third book I've read from Lisa Jewell and I do notice a pattern. She is very good at sucking you into the mundanity and suburbia of the characters' lives. As the perspectives change and information is revealed, I find myself anxious for the characters' reactions, and I genuinely want them to succeed. That is a writing skill that not every mystery/thriller author has, so I will give her massive props for that. Also, despite being able to guess the plot twist, I did find the plot to be very unique and interesting.

All that being said, I will say that the negative aspects of the author's writing are also consistent. The main (really, the only) critique I have of this and her other books is that she gives away the twist too early. In this case, I was able to easily guess that Ellie was Poppy's birth mother and that Noelle abducted her for that sole purpose because it was revealed much earlier that SJ had seen Noelle without a baby bump. If that fact had been hidden for a little bit longer it would have made figuring out the twist more satisfying. This is almost identical to the problem I had with Watching You. For that reason, None of This Is True is still my favorite of the three books I've read by this author, but this one is still very engaging and overall entertaining.

Final verdict: The intrigue, unique plot, and atmosphere of the book are only slightly dampened by the plot twist being given away too early in the book.

Review for "Wolfsong" by TJ Klune

 It's been said: GAY WEREWOLVES. Need we say more? I shall...

Read: 01/10/2024

Okay okay I get the glaring problem of this book, so let's just address the elephant in the room first thing: the age gap is problematic. It definitely could be worse, but I think the story and relationship would have been equally as powerful and slightly less creepy if Joe was just like two years older than he is (so the age gap is 19 and 23, not 17 and 23). I think the romance is still done tastefully because it's obvious that Joe and Ox's relationship and love is rooted in friendship and family first and foremost. Also, we have the benefit of Ox's internal monologue so we know there wasn't anything predatory about his feelings of Joe (i.e. he only was physically attracted to him when he was an adult.)

So now that that's out of the way... these characters are so special to me. This is what the Cullens should have been: a family that understands each other so well and just authentically want the best for each other. That being said, the werewolf aspects that are brought into this otherwise-normal family dynamic are fascinating. The idea that Elizabeth basically switched packs away from all three of her sons was baffling to me, but I really leaned into the werewolf reasoning of it. It's the same reason I felt that the physicality and closeness of the family was endearing rather than awkward/slightly creepy. I definitely started out with the latter, but Ox really explains how primal the connections are and that it is a distinctly non-human type of bond and feeling, which makes sense because they are actually not human. The fact that humans are later added to the pack(s) just leans into the idea that humans are more capable of love and affection than we are usually willing to show.

I was just so sucked into this story. The small-town atmosphere was perfect, and I felt the perfect amount of rage (a lot) for the villain. The book was intentionally set up with sequels in mind and there is so much room to grow the story with all of the side characters. Overall, I found Ox's narration unique, engaging, and heartwarming, but also beautifully and almost lyrically sad. TJ Klune can do no wrong.

Final verdict: Gay. Werewolves.

Review for "Once There Were Wolves" by Charlotte McConaghy

 A five-star read!!! On January 6!!! I'm very excited about it.

Read: 01/06/2024

This just perfectly satisfied some reading craving that I didn't know I was having. It was dark, intriguing, heartwarming, and twisty at all the perfect moments. Based on the blurb, which I only skimmed a long time ago, I thought the basic premise was about reintroducing wolves into an area where they had once roamed but became extinct. While this is the beginning plotline, the story unravels into so much more. There's murder (or is there?) and dark pasts and tension and romance.

Inti was a compelling narrator, but the side characters really made the book. Nobody was black and white, everyone had a moral greyness that at times had you rooting for one person's revenge plots and at another time not being super sorry that this other person kicked it. The relationship Inti had with the wolves and her understanding of them was beautiful, and I thought the subtle references to feminism in biological science fields were pointed but not overdone.

Final verdict: The vibes, atmosphere, plot, characters, and relationships in this novel are impeccable. The perfect rainy day read. Chef's kiss.

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