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. 

ALL THE BOOKS I READ IN 2022 RANKED

The title speaks for itself! Here's the color legend:

Green - 5 stars (4.30-5.0)

Blue - 4 stars (3.50-4.29)

Fuchsia - 3 stars (2.50-3.49)

Orange - 2 stars (1.50-2.49)

Yellow - 1 star (1.00-1.49)

1. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
2. Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
3. Red Tigress (Blood Heir, #2) by Amélie Wen Zhao
4. Finding Me by Viola Davis
5. Blood Heir (Blood Heir, #1) by Amélie Wen Zhao
6. Heartstopper, Vol. 3 by Alice Oseman
7. The Midnight Library  by Matt Haig
8. The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
9. The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
10. These Broken Stars (Starbound, #1) by Amie Kaufman and Meghan Spooner
11. Heartstopper, Vol. 1 by Alice Oseman
12. Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
13. Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
14. Heartstopper, Vol. 2 by Alice Oseman
15. Sky In The Deep by Adrienne Young
16. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
17. Warcross (Warcross, #1) by Marie Lu
18. Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell
19. House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
20. If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
21. Portrait of a Scotsman (A League of Extraordinary Women, #3) by Evie Dunmore
22. A Rogue of One's Own (A League of Extraordinary Women, #2) by Evie Dunmore
23. The Boy at the Top of the Mountain by John Boyne
24. The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn, #1) by Renee Ahdieh
25. Neon Gods (Dark Olympus, #1) by Katee Robert
26. A Touch of Darkness (Hades and Persephone, #1) by Scarlett St. Clair
27. A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw
28. Girl In The Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
29. The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor, #1) by Jessica Townsend
30. Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1) by Sarah J. Maas
31. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
32. Electric Idol (Dark Olympus, #2) by Katee Robert
33. Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2) by Sarah J. Maas
34. Everless (Everless, #1) by Sara Holland
35. Wildcard (Warcross, #2) by Marie Lu
36. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
37. The Heart Forger (The Bone Witch, #2) by Rin Chupeco
38. Under The Whispering Door by TJ Klune
39. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
40. The Bone Witch (The Bone Witch, #1) by Rin Chupeco
41. Dare Mighty Things (Dare Mighty Things, #1) by Heather Kaczynski
42. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
43. Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
44. Red Rising (Red Rising, #1) by Pierce Brown
45. Lore by Alexandra Bracken
46. Bringing Down the Duke (A League of Extraordinary Women, #1) by Evie Dunmore
47. The Shadow Glass (The Bone Witch, #3) by Rin Chupeco
48. Their Fractured Light (Starbound, #3) by Amie Kaufman and Meghan Spooner
49. The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1) by Maggie Stiefvater
50. Fever by Mary Beth Keane
51. Tipping The Velvet by Sarah Waters
52. I See You by Clare Mackintosh
53. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
54. This Shattered World (Starbound, #2) by Amie Kaufman and Meghan Spooner
55. Crimson Reign (Blood Heir, #3) by Amelié Wen Zhao
56. Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor, #2) by Jessica Townsend
57. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
58. A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor (The Carls, #2) by Hank Green
59. You (You, #1) by Caroline Kepnes
60. The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
61. Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
62. The Rose and the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn, #2) by Renee Ahdieh
63. Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
64. Golden Son (Red Rising, #2) by Pierce Brown
65. One Day in December by Josie Silver
66. I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
67. Who Put This Song On? by Morgan Parker
68. The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1) by Scott Lynch
69. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
70. What Momma Left Me by Renée Watson
71. The Never Tilting World (The Never Tilting World, #1) by Rin Chupeco
72. The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton
73. Unretouchable by Sofia Szamosi
74. Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
75. Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5) by Sarah J. Maas
76. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki
77. How To Stop Time by Matt Haig
78. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
79. Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4) by Sarah J. Maas
80. Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3) by Sarah J. Maas
81. Exile (Keeper of the Lost Cities, #2) by Shannon Messenger
82. The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum
83. The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5) by Sarah J. Maas
84. DEV1AT3 (LIFEL1K3, #2) by Jay Kristoff
85. I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
86. The Atlas Six (The Atlas, #1) by Olivie Blake
87. Another Country by James Baldwin
88. The Butterfly Project by Emma Scott
89. Morning Star (Red Rising Saga, #3) by Pierce Brown
90. Wicked Beauty (Neon Gods, #3) by Katee Robert
91. A Touch of Ruin (Hades and Persephone, #2) by Scarlett St. Clair
92. The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2) by Maggie Stiefvater
93. Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1) by Tahereh Mafi
94. The House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman
95. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
96. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
97. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty
98. Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
99. One Giant Leap (Dare Mighty Things, #2) by Heather Kaczynski
100. A Winter's Promise (The Mirror Visitor, #1) by Christelle Dabos
101. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
102. The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
103. This Present Darkness by Frank E. Peretti
104. The Light at the Bottom of the World (Light the Abyss, #1) by London Shah
105. Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss, #1) by Stephanie Perkins
106. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
107. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
108. Mother Knows Best by Serena Valentino

Not rated:

• Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
• Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham
• This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
• Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Rereads:

• An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (The Carls, #1) by Hank Green

2023 Reading Goals

Now that 2022 is over, it's time to think about next year 😁 Here are some of my reading goals for the coming year ~

Get my TBR down to 250 books

• As of the end of 2022, I'm down to 317 books on my TBR. My goal for the end of 2022 was 310, so we're a little behind, but I still think 250 books is very doable for next year.
  

Be finished with 90% (90) of the books on my 100 Greatest Books Challenge

• As of the end of 2022, I'm down to 25 books left which means I need to read 15 this year to make this goal. Check out my 100 Greatest Books Challenge here. Most of the remaining books are long-winded classics, books I own, or books that don't have audiobooks, which is why they've been put off so long...

Do 5 rereads

• I never make time for rereads because there are SO MANY books out there that I haven't read. Here are some favorite books I've been wanting to reread:

• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• The Nevernight Chronicle by Jay Kristoff (I haven't read the third book yet, and now I need to reread the first two to refresh my memory)
• Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
• Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. A childhood favorite that is more relevant to me now that I have a baby niece on the way.
• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. Will always be on this list. 
• The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. I had to read this for class in high school, and it moved me so much I bought my own copy (that I have yet to read). It's been 6 years since then so I'd like to reread this and watch the adaptation.

Read 110 books

• I normally put my goal as 104 books (2 books/week), but I have been reading a lot of graphic novels lately so I think 110 is more than attainable.

Read more nonfiction

• I used to be so good at reading science books and even history books. I only read 3 (three!) nonfiction books this year, even though I own so many. Some of the nonfiction books I want to get to this year include:

• Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
• Pandora's Lab by Paul A. Offit
• Grunt by Mary Roach
• Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
• My Own Words by Ruth Bader Gisburg
• A Life on Our Planet by Sir David Attenborough

Read one book from each of my favorite authors (based on availability)

• I spread myself so thin with reading that I forget to read new releases from my favorite authors. Here are some authors I want to make sure I read at least one book from this year:

• Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Fredrik Backman
• Andy Weir
• Jay Kristoff
• Mary Roach
• Christina Lauren

I think it's nice just to do a "Top 10 books I most want to read next year" (outside of the aforementioned books in this post) so here are mine:

• Crier's War by Nina Varela
• Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
• Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
• All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
• Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
• Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
• Bunny by Mona Awad
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
• Cinder by Marissa Meyer
• This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab

Lastly, I want to write/post more reviews in 2023. I did hardly any this year (did I even do one?) because I just got lazy, but looking back on my favorite reads, I wish I had all my thoughts about them. 

That's all my 2023 reading goals!! Cheers to 2023 and happy reading 💝

ALL THE BOOKS I READ IN 2021 RANKED

1. The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg
2. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
3. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
4. The Humans by Matt Haig
5. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
6. LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff
7. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
8. A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1) by V.E. Schwab
9. Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) by Rainbow Rowell
10. We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
11. What The Wind Knows by Amy Harmon
12. The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
13. The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
14. Keeper of the Lost Cities (Keeper of the Lost Cities, #1) by Shannon Messenger
15. Midnight at The Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson
16. Lovely War by Julie Berry
17. King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
18. These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling
19. A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen
20. Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh
21. Carve The Mark by Veronica Roth
22. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
23. This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amar El-Mohtar
24. Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
25. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
26. The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo, #5) by Rick Riordan
27. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
28. The Tyrant's Tomb (The Trials of Apollo, #4) by Rick Riordan
29. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
30. The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin
31. The Wife and the Widow by Christian White
32. The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2) by Rick Riordan
33. The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon
34. Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
35. Crown of Feathers (Crown of Feathers, #1) by Nicki Pau Preto
36. The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo
37. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
38. Room by Emma Donaghue
39. A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2) by V.E. Schwab
40. Reign of Shadows (Reign of Shadows, #1) by Sophie Jordan
41. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
42. State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny
43. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
44. Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
45. False Witness by Karin Slaughter
46. Namesake (Fable, #2) by Adrienne Young
47. Turtles All The Way Down by John Green
48. Fable (Fable, #1) by Adrienne Young
49. Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy, #1) by Emily A. Duncan
50. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith 
51. The Egg by Andy Weir
52. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
53. The Art of Racing in The Rain by Garth Stein
54. Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1) by Josiah Bancroft
55. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
56. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfield
57. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
58. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
59. Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke
60. A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic, #3) by V.E. Schwab
61. The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo, #3) by Rick Riordan
62. Number The Stars by Lois Lowry
63. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
64. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
65. Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
66. She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen
67. This Coven Won't Break (These Witches Don't Burn, #2) by Isabel Sterling 
68. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
69. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, #1) by Patrick Ness
70. The Ocean At The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
71. Flawed (Flawed, #1) by Cecelia Ahern
72. Heart of Flames (Crown of Feathers, #2) by Nicki Pau Preto 
73. Tithe by Holly Black
74. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
75. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
76. No One Knows by J.T. Ellison
77. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
78. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
79. The Stranger In The Mirror by Liv Constantine
80. John Dies at the End by David Wong
81. Drowned Country by Emily Tesh
82. 1984 by George Orwell
83. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
84. Tales of the City by Armstead Maupin
85. The Shack by William Paul Young
86. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
87. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
88. Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp
89. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller




Not rated books (in order I read them):

• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
• An Octopus Tale of The Law of Attraction by Linda Marie Hogan
• D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths by Ingri d'Aulaire and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
• Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
• When The Earth Was Flat by Graeme Donald
• Unfinished by Priyanka Chopra Jonas
• Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
• The Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo
• Great Expectations by Charles Darwin
• Rosie The Riveter by Penny Colman
• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds
• Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
• The Red Pyramid: The Graphic Novel by Rick Riordan and Orpheus Collar
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Rereads:

• Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce