BOOK MOCHIS discussion

Hey, Mochis! We've got another week long readathon coming up. This one is going to be from Monday, April 5, 2021 at 12 am Eastern Standard Time to Sunday, April 11, 2021, at 12 am Eastern Standard Time. This discussion will be locked until the start time. Please make sure that when you finish a book and add an update in this discussion topic, you use the following format:
name:
book:
pages:
summary (at least 100 words):
I will be checking your profiles at random to make sure that you are actually reading these books.

Each page that you read is worth .5 points. When it comes to the winner, scoring will be:
First place: 1,000 or more
Second place: 700-999 points
Third place: 500-699 points
There may be more than one person tied for a certain placing, depending on how many pages you read.

Once this readathon is over, I will be locking the discussion to make sure that no one enters an update after the cut-off date. I'm trying to keep it fair over here.

As the readathon moderator, I will be sending a mass email at the end of this readathon to let everyone know the amount of points everyone got and who got first, second, or third place. Last week we had a handful of participators, but I'm hoping that this week, more of us will be doing this. If you have any questions, please inbox me (or any other mod if necessary), and happy reading!! 🖤🖤

name: chelsea
book: the Ambassador of nowhere Texas
pages:320
summar: The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas by Kimberly Willis Holt
The author Kimberly did a wonderful job writing this book. This book is an excellent book for middle schoolers and it touches 9/11 which can be a difficult subject for some.
Rylee Wilson is a seventh grader that grew up in her small town. She is currently having issues with her best friend Twig. Twig us dealing with a lot of stuff at home and don't know how to talk to anyone about it.
While Twig and Rylee friendship are on the rocks a new kid just moved in and Rylee declares that she will show him around. Joe is a kid who just moved there from New York where he lost his father to the 9/11. Rylee and Joe's friendship grows while they are undercovering a small mystery of rylees dad friend from when he was a child.
Raiting: 5 stars

Isabelle: a short story
Name: Rafia
Book: Isabelle: A short storry
pgs read: 41
Status: Done
Rating:4 Stars
Summary:
I wanted to read something short but full of emotions. Where do I even start with this book? I have never lost someone close to me. I never felt the pain of losing someone and never being able to see them ever again. Feeling the pain of Jamie who lost her best friend, it was heart wrenching. Imagine being with someone 24/7 and telling them everything. Then the next day you turn to them to share a secret and they are not there any longer. To not be able to realize that your best friend was in pain and suicided, thats really tough. Knowing that maybe you could have helped her and could not? That would really break someone apart. It does not matter how many years pass, you will always feel the same pain you have felt when they had died. Its sad really that some people get to leave us before we get to tell them how much we really love them. I really liked this but if it was a bit longer than I might have given it a five star.

name: abby
book: pjo: the lightning thief
pgs read: 124
status- not done yet (because botm)
summary: woooooo we got into the first "action" part of the book. the minotaur is chasing percy, grover, and sally (SALLY. I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW MUCH I WISH SALLY JACKSON WAS MY MOTHER JHDGJHDGJH). percy offends grover by calling him a donkey (lmao), and grover tries to get it through percy's thick skull (i love him, but he's such a seaweed brain sometimes) that the myths are read. they finally "arrive" at half blood hill (aka the car gets flipped over and they just run A LOT). we get an EPIC battle scene, and percy's demigod instincts kick in (percy called the minotaur ground beef and I LOVE IT). grover just keeps screaming food, which is a MOOD. sally gets snatched and send to the underworld, and percy took a horn (why does that sound wrong?). fastforward to capture the flag. percy kicks some butt, finds out he's posideon's kid, and gets assigned a quest. he takes grover and annabeth with him (ah yes, the beginning of percabeth). the trio get on a bus, which ends up exploding. figures. but yeah had to stop there. i will literally always love this series. rick riordan is AMAZINGGG.

name-abby
book-i am not your perfect mexican daughter
pgs read- 230
status- done
summary- *MAY HAVE SOME SPOILERS* *IDRK*
so julia is a mexican high schooler who has just lost her older sister, olga. pretty soon after the funeral, julia finds a computer with a password she can't hack, so she's immediately suspiscious of everything and thinks that her sister is hiding something. while handling this, julia's dad is basically a ghost, and her mom is more or less blaming her for olga's death (which she had nothing to do with) and basically wishes it was julia that died, not perfect (ohhh if only ama knew) olga. this book takes us through julia's life and stuggles throughout a year or two (idrk) after olga's death. in this book, we are shown the importance of mental health, and how we must be kind to others, because we don't know what could be someone's trigger. that's all im going to say because i don't wanna spoil anything, but you should definately read this book. it's AMAZING and it will shake you to your core (haha that rhymed). also yeah olga was hiding something. anyways byeee xx

name: Chelsea
book: Iron kissed
status: done
pages: 287
summary: Iron kissed by Patricia Briggs
Mercy Thompson world #5
One thing I can say about Mercy is that she fights for friends and she is always there for them. Her former boss and mentor is put behind bars left to rot by one of his kind. He calls Mercy for help. In which Mercy intently beganinvestigating in what happened to Zee. She refused to back down even when everyone told her to she will solve this mystery and rescue her dear friend or die trying.
Will Mercy save her old boss, will she be able to keep a cool head, will she be able to keep everything she holds dear to her heart?
Raiting: 5 stars

name: Charlotte
book: Red Queen
pages: 383
summary (at least 100 words):
I've read this book before... I think it was around a year ago, and I remember liking it. However I didn't really like it this time around. The book is set in another world where people are split based on the color of their blood. There are the silver bloods, who are basically the upper class and royalty. They also have powers (like being able to control fire, water, metal, minds etc.) Then there are the red bloods who are the lower class, and treated really badly. Red bloods don't have powers... Well except for Mare. Mare is a red blood, but one day she finds out she has lightning power. She gets taken to the castle, and has to pretend to be a long lost daughter of some silver blood royalty because the king and queen don’t want people to know that red bloods can have power too.

rating: 2 stars

name: Charlotte
book: The Shadow Queen
pages: 390
summary (at least 100 words):
Shadow Queen is a snow white retelling. Lorelai is Snow white, Irina is the evil queen, Kol is the prince. However in this story, Lorelai doesn’t eat an apple, and both she and Irina have magic powers. Irina killed the king and queen so that she could have supreme rule over the kingdom, and thought she killed Lorelai and her brother. So when she realizes that Lorelai is still alive, and stronger than ever, she makes a plan to stop her. This is where Kol comes in. Kol is the prince from the neighboring kingdom. His father, mother, and older brother are all killed in a battle against the ogers that are attacking his kingdom, so he’s left with the responsibility of being king. He travels to Irina’s kingdom to ask for help fighting the ogers. She agrees to help as long as he promises to bring Lorelai to the castle. Now Kol isn’t a normal prince, the people from his kingdom are half dragons. Which means that he is able to shift into dragon form, breathe fire, and all that dragony stuff. Lorelai has to finally face Irina after years of hiding.

rating: 3 stars

name: Charlotte
book: The Wild Robot Escapes
pages: 279
summary (at least 100 words):
**contains spoilers for the first book: The Wild Robot**
Roz has been repaired, and now is being sent to a small farm to work for a family. She is ordered to take care of the cows, the crops, and the machines at the farm. She has to act like a normal robot, so that the family doesn’t think she has brain damage, and make sure they won’t send her back to be reprogrammed. Why doesn’t she want to be reprogrammed? Because if she is, she’ll forget all her memories from the island, with the animals there. Roz has to find a way back to Brightbill (her son the goose) and back to the island. But she has to get by her new owner, the police robots, and an entire ocean.

rating: 5 stars

Name: Rafia
Book: Don't count your Tanukis #1
pgs:39
Status: Done
Rating: 3stars
Summary:
Okay so this was an impulse buy. It was for free and the cover was so cute I had to buy it! I have never seen a real life tanuki! I really want to see one because they are so adorable like????!!! This is only the first chapter of many others. I guees the other gave the first chapter for free. A boy who is 17 yrs old wants to move away and go to a college far away from his city. His family owns a dye shop and they will not let him go. He insists but his parents firmly say no. His father sits him down and tells him something shocking. The reason why he cannot leave this family business is because he has to marry his fiance and take care of her. His fiance is non other than a cute shape changing tanuki! Yup and then the author left me at a cliffhanger! How sad! I am not sure if I really want to spend so much money buying the other books but we will see.

name: Chelsea
book: the hidden staircase
status:done
pages: 182
summary: The Hidden Staircasr by Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #2
Nancy friend Helen calls her to ask her for help. Her grandmother, Miss Flora, lives at Twin Elms home. Helen and Miss Flora believe that the house is huanted and they need Nancy to help figure out the haunting. While Nancy is solving the mystery of the haunting house her father gets kidnapped and she worried about his safety. Right before her father goes missing someone threatens him for a deal that might not be a good deal.
Will Nancy solve the mystery of the haunted house, is Nancy father going to be okay?
Raiting: 4 stars

name: Rafia
Book: Fantastic Beasts and where to find them
Pgs: 115
Status: Done
Rating: 3
Summary:
Okay so this was a reread. This is the first of two other books. I wanted to read all of hogwarts library books and so I started with this one. I know J.K Rowling is under some fire right now due to transphobic comments however yes I still chose to read this because its a book and why not? It was a list of ll these cool different beastswith exotic names and very vivid images. This actually sparked some creativity for me. I have the urge to pick up a pencil and creat a whole colage of all these beasts...I might actually do that right now. I will have to say my favoriye one is the basilik and the dragons because after reading Eragon dragons are my absolute favorite! My least favorite was the spider thingy named arach-er i forgot the name already. I just hate spiders ergh.

Lily wrote: "Ooooooooh! You have read Eragon??? *squeal*"

Omg yes now i have dreams to have a dragon *face palms* im going to go get myself a lizard and find small costume wings to put on it. bam. there you go my mini dragon.

name: Brittany
book: Clockwork Angel
status: done
pages: 324

summary: -copying and pasting my review-
I want to preface this review by making it clear what my experience is with the Shadowhunter world. I read City of Bones years ago and then DNF'ed City of Ashes. As such, there are probably a lot of Easter eggs in The Infernal Devices series that I will not pick up on.

Having said that, I did really enjoy this book. It is leagues better than City of Bones, and as a result I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this series. The plot was great. Everything flowed really nicely from one beat to the next, and a lot of that has to do with how these characters are fully realized. None of them felt one dimensional to me (except maybe Jessamine), which is truly saying something considering how many characters are part of the main cast. Every plot point was driven by a specific character's action, and what was great was I never felt like someone was acting out of character. Also, the plot twist was expertly done. The clues are there for you, but it's also so easy to miss them that when the reveal comes, it still catches you off guard. I also appreciate how Cassandra Clare does not pull back on the punches. Battle scenes will result in casualties.

One thing I really loved about this series and this world is that despite how the Shadowhunters view themselves to be morally superior to every other supernatural being, they aren't the gold standard of morality. They have flaws, the Downworlders despise them (and for good reason). I hate it when an author portray the good guys as this paradigm of all that is righteous. It's just not realistic. It makes sense that in a world where only the Nephilim have made the laws, it would naturally piss off every other being affected by said laws. Oh my god.... are the Shadowhunters.... colonizers???? Ohh...... I might come back to this thought another time.

Getting into the characters specifically, Jem is my baby and I want to protect him at all costs. I adore him so much. He's definitely my favorite character so far. Tessa is Tessa. I think I need more time to really fall in love with her. She has moments where I absolutely adore her, but then there are other moments where I'm just like Tessa pls get with the times!! Henry and Charlotte are awesome!! I love them a lot and want the best for them. Jessamine is a straight bitch, but I love to hate her?? So it works out haha.

Will is... interesting. And I think a lot of why I'm giving this book a 4 star instead of a 5 is tied up with Will and how little we know of him. I know we're supposed to be kept in the dark about Will, that it's intentionally done by the author. However, it is because of this mystery that I could not for the life of me connect to Will at all. Even when Jem told Will's story to Tessa, I just absorbed it as information rather than as a moment of sympathy. So much of him is shrouded in mystery that I could both understand and not understand why Tessa was crushing on him so hard. It made it really hard to feel any sort of romance between them, and as a result, the whole Will/Tessa plot line fell really flat for me. Scenes I know were intended to make me feel something ended up giving me a hollow feeling instead. This is just the first out of three books, so we'll see how invested I get in this love triangle as time progresses.

Overall, a great first entry into this prequel series. Excited to see where the plot goes from here!!

name:Chelsea
book: of mice and men
status:done
pages:107
summary: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
This is one of my favorite books of all time. This copy is my third copy the others have died from being reread so many times. Oops.
The themes of friendship, loneliness, human connection, and understanding was written beautifully and hit me hard. I first read this book when I was 16 and it hit home with me. At the time this was the first book that made a real life connection and I loved it.
George and Lennie are an unlikely match but they are best buds. George is a small and a quick thinker. While Lennie is a really big guy that is not all that bright. Lennie has an obsession with soft things and it gets him in a lot of trouble at every place they go. George and Lennie are migrant workers that travel to farm to farm for work. They always have to leave before the month is up because of Lennie doing bad things.
Raiting: 5 plus stars

name: Palvi
Book: Scenes from the city: a Knitting in the city
Pages:111
Summary: this is a collection of short stories where we see some scenes involving each couple from the first book to the fourth, and the new couple from the fifth book. The first chapter is about Janie and how her honeymoon goes; the second one is about Elizabeth what happened after her wedding in Las Vegas and how she deals with emergency situations and the consequential death of some of her patients. The third is about Sandra and her list of things she wants to do and one thing in particular is what Alex is "gifting" to her for her birthday. The fourth chapter is about Ash and her waiting to meet Drew after she left for Chicago and before she moved in with him. The fifth is about the collage days of Fiona and how she met Greg.

name: abby
book: the body finder
pgs: 329
status: done
summary: **SPOILERS**
so violet has this gift. a 6th sense, if you will. it allows her to basically see echos or something of the dead/killers. don't ask me how or why, bc i dont know. when she was like 8 or something, she found a dead body. of a human. and that's when her parents found out that she had the same gift one of her grandparents had. idk who, and they never elaborated, so i just went with it. after that, she pretty much only found the bodies of small animals her cat killed. and the weirdest thing is that she goes into a frenzy when she finds a body, but calms down the moment the body gets a proper burial. she's like this town's hades. anyway, there's this serial killer going around, targeting teenage girls in the area, and violet always. finds. the. body. why doesn't this girl go to therapy??? there's also her obsession with her best friend (im kinda being dramatic but i swear she's obsessed with him) and hwo she's in love with him. and it ruined the entire book.
this book was fine for the most part. i could've done without the romance, lack of personality, and the homophobic character thrown in last minute, but other than that, it was......eck
wouldn't recommend. 2 stars at most. still gonna drag myself through the rest of the series because i (unfortunately) believe in redemption.

Name: Palvi
Book: ninja at first sight
pages: 195
Summary: this book talks about the collage days of Fiona and how she met her to be husband, Greg. There are plenty of details about her childhood, how she was an Olympic gymnast and how she had to stop because of cancer, then details about her family and how she struggled to make friends in college.
The different chapters show us how the two talk and start to know each other, and how they start to date. We can see the reality clash with what Fiona though the reality was, and in the end there's something pretty unexpected, I must say, and quite strange - in my opinion.

name:rafia
book:Poseidons academy
pages: 318
status:done
rating: 4 stars
Summary:
Okay so this kept showing up in my reccomendtions and i was like okay why not? This story is about a girl naed Hailey who is a Zeus. Basically thousands of years ago the gods had died in the great battle. Their powers had fallen from the sky and given to people making them all demigods. These powers have been passed down from generations to generation. Hailey is the first Zeus after many many years. She thinks she is not a very powerful one due to the fact that she cannot do impressive magic like what people think she should. This is a perfect coming of age novel. Although I do think i would have eNjoyed this more as a preteen. I dont know i think my younger self would enjoy this quite more. I mean there are quests, powerful friends and some mean girls as well who wouldn't enjoy that???This book is somewhat similar to Rick Riordans Percy Jackson.Somewhat.

name :rafia
book: The particular sadness of lemon cake by amie bender
pgs:308
status:done
Summary:
I am so happy I have a physical copy of this because I kid you not this is amazing! Like i devoured this books in 1 hr and 37 minutes. I had no break no nothing i just READ....Oh wait thats the part of this challenge oopsies. So imagine having the power to feel someones emotions by eating their food. Yup! Thats what this girl has. She can feel emotions through foods. Although at times it can be a bad thing. Her brother can morph into inanimate objects...not so cool but still a power right?

name-abby
book-the 57 bus
pgs-320
status-done
summary- so this book is about sasha, an agender teenager living life in california, and richard, an african american teenager also living life in california. on one fateful day, richard doesn't think stuff through and lights sasha's skirt on fire, which results in sasha having to undergo a few surgeries. the court takes this as a hate crime, when tehcnically, it wasn't meant to be one. this book just takes us through the events from both perspectives, and shows us what it was like to go through such a thing. the book is, to be honest, more of a combination of interviews and recounts of scenarios/events than a book, but it was still extremely addicting. it wasn't just richard and sasha's voices that were heard; it's also the voices of family, friends, and people who were directly involved with those two people. i honestly loved this book and would, without a doubt, recommend it

name: Chelsea
book: five star: the Communication secrets to grt from good to great
pages: 256
status: done
summary: Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great by Carmine Gallo

I really liked this book but I am a Communication nerd.

This book highlights a lot of areas where we can make good Communication Great Communication. I'm going to highlight a couple key points from this amazing books.

Humans are creative- computers are good but humans are better. A lot of people are worried that computers are taking away jobs from people except for one thing. We are creative and empathetic. That is why humans will be better then computers.

Average skill- before the age of computers the average Joe could make an average living. However now the average Joe needs a little extra something to make an average living. What is the extra? It can be anything from computer skills, special training, or soft skills.

Soft skills- soft skills was the main theme of this book. What is soft skills? Its simple, communications. Now a days soft skills is one of the most important skills to have. You will need this skill at any job level and in your personal life.

Leadership skills- not everyone can be a leader. But what makes a great leader a great leader? Great Communication skills can make a huge difference between an okay leader to an amazing leader.

I really enjoyed this book alot. I really do recommend this book for anyone who is a Communication nerd like myself. Or just wants to do better in Communication.

Raiting: 4 stars

Name: palvi
Book: manga: ファックナイトレバーサル[Fuck Night Reversal]
Pages: 194
Summary: SPOILER this is the story of Aoba who lost his job in the factory of the family who raised him after his mother died. We find out that the family was ruined by their son who is involved in money laundering, and that same man stole money from the owner of a casino where Aoba started to gamble to earn some money.
The story continues as Aoba and the owner start to work together to capture this guy who stole money from them, and Aoba starts to like working with the owner, but when he suggests that Aoba joins the yakuza, he backs off. The story ends with Aoba who helps the owner to get out of the yakuza and their relationship becomes more stable.

name: palvi
Book 待宵の鬼 Matsuyoi no Oni
Pages: 182
Summary: this is the story of Minoru Suzuka, a guy who can see faeries, or yokai. He had a difficult life because of that, as he was a child he was scared of them, as there are some dangerous yokai who want to eat his spirit. One day he finds an oni who's wounded ad wanted to eat Minoru as he had a trace of spirit of Tomoe, the woman who stole his original name and powers, but Minoru is a writer so he wants to know more about his story with Tomoe so he can write something about it, as he always did with all the yokai he has seen. So they make a pact where he gets stories in exchange of being his "food". As they live together Minoru falls in love with him and has a misunderstanding about the past relationship of Maru (the oni) and Tomoe. As Minoru almost dies due to another yokai, he meets Tomoe in a dream and all misunderstandings get cleared, so that Minoru now knows the true name of Maru and they now confirmed their feelings for each other.

name: Chelsea
book: chronicles of Avonlea
pages: 183
status: done
summary: Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Chronicles of Avonlea #1

We are back with our favorite red head from Avonlea. Anne makes several appearances in both person or in conversation.

This book is slightly different from the actual Anne of Green Gables series. This is a book of 12 short story of the town of Avonlea. It also introduces some town folks that Anne talks to or have helped.

The Hurrying of Ludovic- Ludovic has been courting Theodora for years and has not yet popped the question. He finally does with a little help from Anne.

Old Lady Lloyd- old lady Lloyd is an old lady who everyone believes she is rich recluse. Turns out she is broker then broke and very lonely.

Each in His Own Tongue- a young boy is gifted at the violin. However his grandfather does not approve of his gift.

Little Joscelyn- Aunt Nan is very fond of little Joscelyn. Her dying wish is to see her one last time.

The Winning of Lucinda- 15 year old Lucinda had a quarrel between Romney and Lucinda.

Old Man Shaw's girl- a sweet story of how a father and daughter finally reunited.

Aunt Olivia's beau- Peg and Mary witness the reunion of their old maid aunt with Malcolm. Who was her suitor from years before.

The Qurantine at Alexander Abraham's- smallpox outbreak forced some unlikely people to be quarantined together.

Pa Sloane's Purxhas- PA Sloane has returned from an aution with an unusual item.

The Courting of Prissy Strong- A long abandoned courtship has begun again despite a mean sister intervening.

The Miracle at Carmody- Judith Marsh is not a believer of God till a her sister was cured

The End of a Qurrel- Nancy and Peter get a second chance of love.
Rainting: 4 stars

name-abby
book-desires of the dead
pgs-355
status-done
summary- **SPOILERS**
so we pick up i think 3 months after the last book. violet still has her death sense, and when she went to seattle with chelsea (who i now hate), she senses a death echo. she goes back in the middle of the night, calls the police, and apparently finds a missing boy who'd been killed. the kid gets buried, and violet's chill. there're two new kids at school: mike and megan. chelsea is in love with mike, and megan is crushing on jay (who's violet's bf....). some lady named sara priest contacts (read: stalks/follows and tries to talk to/corner) violet because of how she found the boy. she's ex-fbi, and apparently really talented in tracking down killers. wooo. they have a few nice chats, and there's this new guy (fbi) named rafe and he. sounds. hot. and. i'm. dying. HE HAS BLUE EYES. BLUE. WHY DOES THAT EXCITE ME???? anyway, there are some echos, and a lot of stuff happens, and violet almost dies again (and she faints, because she's a disney princess now 😒😒). anyways, this book was fine. didn't love it, but i liked it more than the last one....

name: Brittany
book: Only Mostly Devastated
pages: 272
status: done

summary: -copying and pasting my review-
MINOR SPOILERS
2 stars.

I came into this with extremely high expectations. That's my fault. However, that does not change the fact that Ollie is the wORST. This book is in Ollie's first person POV and at first, I thought he was a cool character, but then at the midway point I started getting more and more annoyed by him that by the end, I did not like him. At all. He comes across as the quintessential I-can-do-no-wrong-because-I'm-a-white-gay-guy and it is extremely frustrating to read through. A lot of the frustration begins after Will and Ollie's big fight because that's the turning point when you can really tell that Ollie doesn't care about anyone but himself.

And...God, I was so selfish and self-absorbed.

Yes Ollie. Yes you were. And you still are. Throughout the story, Ollie never puts himself in Will's shoes. Will, who is a POC in North Carolina, with a family steeped in a culture that prioritizes and emphasizes masculine, "macho" men. Of course Will would be terrified of coming out. He feels as if he has to maintain this facade he's had since he was born because of so many different factors. Hell Ollie even goes to one of Will's family parties and it still doesn't click why Will would have such a hard time. Ollie gives absolutely zero fucks. He accuses Will of not caring about him, but really, Ollie only cares that Will isn't constantly giving him his undivided attention. Which, would be ok if Ollie himself did SOMETHING for Will. But NO!

Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t gone out of my way to do something just for him that didn’t benefit me in any way.

Ollie literally thinks this 90% of the way into the book, which to me, is too fucking late. He should've had this realization halfway through the book and should have spent the rest of the book apologizing and making up for being such a self-absorbed prick. All he does as "growth" is one minor gesture (that he should've been doing the entire book mind you) and that's it. There's this one scene that breaks my heart because Will is literally apologizing his heart out to Ollie for a couple idiotic moments he had, but then at the same time he also lays out why he was upset at Ollie as well.

GUESS WHAT.

Ollie never fucking apologizes to Will. Ever. Will literally says to Ollie, "I don't deserve you.", and Ollie never really gives him any indication that Will does deserve him. He just says something akin to well I love you so it doesn't matter. And that was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. This is for sure an unpopular opinion considering how many 4/5 stars this book has, but I don't think Ollie deserves Will at all. I could tell that we were supposed to sympathize with Ollie, especially during the scenes where Will was doing his utmost to act "straight", but really I felt more for Will in those situations.

The only reason why I didn't rate this book any lower is because of Will and Lara. These are the only two standout characters for me. Flawed, and yet so incredibly strong. I loved them a lot. Seriously, anytime Lara was in a scene I was invested. Also what the hell happened to Juliette? Notably, the first person Ollie becomes friends with and yet wholly absent from most of the plot.

This book just really missed the mark for me. Like yes, the romance is kinda cute if you squint and ignore the lack of substantial character growth from Ollie and his incredible selfishness. Seriously, Will deserves someone who would cherish him. Ollie is just...not it.

name: palvi
book: 王子さま、どちらさま？ Oujisama, Dochirasama?
Pages: 190
Summary: This manga is basically about this guy, Mizuki, who has a crush on a guy in the student council, Seima, as he helped him have more self-respect by just praising him. So after changing from a gloomy and dark guy to a cute looking and cheerful one, he started to help the student council, but he finds out that the one he has a crush on actually likes someone else. Out of jealousy he does really nasty stuff to Itsu, the boyfriend of Seima, so when Seima finds out he tells him to leave the student council.
While he was crying alone and rethinking about the past after seeing Seima, he meets Fuji, who helps him understand that he has to have more self-confidence.
Mizuki decides then to try anyway to confess and starts to go on rehearsal dates with Fuji. Meanwhile Fuji starts have feelings for Mizuki but he decides that he'll just help him, without telling him and by just staying by his side.
One day, during one of these rehearsal dates, he sees Seima from the window and decides to go confess, but Seima doesn't even notice him as he sees his boyfriend going towards him.
Mizuki decides then to stop liking him, but to have closure Fuji helps him understand that he has to apologize. After apologizing and after some trouble with another dude who hits on Mizuki and almost rapes him (he gets saved by Fuji), him and Fuji starts to date.

name: Charlotte
book: Above World
pages: 356
summary (at least 100 words):
Earth is a mess, so what do people do? They create organizations to make tech that allows humans to live in the ocean, mountains, desserts, etc. so that there is more room on the planet. Aluna is a Kampii (the humans from the ocean), and is about to participate in the ceremony that gives her a tail. (basically making her a mermaid) But there is a problem in the Kampii world, their breathing devices have been turning off, causing Kampii to randomly be drowning. Aluna is sure that the only way to save her people is by going back the the human world, "above world", and talking to hydrotech.

name: Charlotte
book: The Siren
pages: 267
summary (at least 100 words):
One day Kahlen is on a cruise with her family, when everyone starts to hear someone singing. Everyone rushes over to the edge of the boat to see who/what is making the noise, then people start jumping off. Kahlen is scared, and confused, but soon she also feels the need to jump. She begs to the ocean to save her, and that she doesn't want to die. Then a siren comes to her, and tells her that Kahlen can eaither become a siren, or drown along with the rest of her family. She chooses to be a siren, and serve the ocean for 100 years, never aging, not able to get sick or hurt, and beautiful. However, her voice is deadly to humans. Kahlen and the other sirens have to live among humans when they aren't serving (aka killing people) without speaking to anyone. But then of course Kahlen falls in love with a boy.

name-abby
book-the last echo
pgs-358
status-done
summary-*SPOILERS*
so we're back at it again. violet still got the death sense, and now she's part of a team that sara priest "runs". there's rafe, gemma, sam, and krystal (i'm pretty sure that's it). krystal can talk to spirits, sam can figure out the history of things by touching them (idk how that's helpful tbh), gemma can feel waht everyone else is feeling, and rafe's ability is complicated...... the criminal this time is some guy obsessed with finding true love to the degree that he's kidnapping girls to find it. can i get a psycho? there's also some relationship tension with jay because he feels like violet is more or less ditching him for the team. we also get a lot less of chelsea, claire, and jules, which i thought was good because they were kinda getting on my nerves. kinda=a lot. as usual, violet gets in contact with the killer in one way or another, and YOU GUYS SEH FINALLY REALIZED THAT SHE WAS BEING A USELESS EXCUSE OF A HUMAN BEING AND MORE OR LESS SAVED HERSELF. IT WAS ABOUT TIME. yeah so basically it took 3 books for this series to get interesting. and that's why i believe in redemption lol.

name: Brittany
book: A Rogue to Ruin
pages: 360
statue: done
summary: -copying and pasting my review-

Thank you to Netgalley and Darcy Burke Publishing for this digital copy. All thoughts are my own.

Lots of questionable choices made throughout, but it was a fun read. 3/5 stars.

I've come to realize that as long as I like the characters within the story, more often than not I'll lean towards a 3 star rating even though the plot itself could be a little baffling at times. That was definitely the case for this book. I really liked Rafe and Anne. I thought they were excellent characters. I also appreciated the characters that they surrounded themselves with, their loved ones and their found family. However, I do wish that we got to see more of them as a found family.

Let's get into those questionable choices now though, because oh boy were there a lot. I wish the prologue was expanded upon more. Rafe and Anne's love story (at least the part where they meet and come to care for one another) is shoved into the opening prologue. I hate when authors do this. I want to see the relationship develop. I want to witness those burgeoning feelings of care into love. Because it was so short, it felt so much like insta-love (and to be honest there was a little bit of that going on from Anne's side). It just would've been more satisfying to see them meet again if we had that time to get to know the two of them and their love beforehand. Then, when the two finally do meet, they're basically consumed by their attraction to one another - which usually I love - but if you have your two leads have sex right after a life altering fight instead of talking things through first, I'm gonna have some issues. Other than a few gripes through, I did like Rafe and Anne separately and together.

Something else this book suffers from is lots of telling and not a lot of showing. Much of the main plot threads are told to us from side characters, which is fine... but if you're trying to give us a murder mystery, at least make the hunt for the killer compelling. This happens a lot throughout the book, which becomes incredibly frustrating to read through.

The first 30% of this book was also like a rollercoaster. I felt like I kept getting whiplash because there was new information thrown at me every few pages. Most historical romances that are part of a series can act as standalones with minor Easter eggs thrown in to reward readers who have stuck with the series, but for the most part you're not missing anything substantial if you don't read the other books. I went into this book thinking that was the case. However, this really felt like the ending of a series and I was missing all the important pieces and had to fill in the gaps myself. Just know that if you want to read this story, it'd probably be a good idea to read the first two books as well.

So overall, was the plot the best thing I have ever come across? No. But I had a good time.

name-abby
book-dead silence
pgs-389
status-done
summary-***SOME SPOLIERS**
so we're back at it again. violet. death sense. wooooo. we start off at the beginning of violet's senior year. yayyyy. honestly i'm kinda surprised she made it this far. i've never read about her actually doing homework and she rarely gets to class on time and she skips a bunch. tsk tsk. and now i sound like my mother kjshdfkghkjdfhkj. anyway. things are a little shaky with jay because he thinks she's hiding MORE stuff from him (wow this chick has some serious trust issues jkdshkj) and rafe (i still think he's hot) and gemma (ugh) go to white river high now. 👁️👄👁️ idk whose idea this was, but they did NOT think it through. we've got another serial killer on the loose (this town needs a break oh my god are the okay?)(they're not but idrc anymore ngl). but these murders are like jack-the-ripper-type murders with slit throats and stuff. we find out some new things about violets abilites and we get more info about her grandmother, who, if you've been paying attention (unlike me), also had the death sense. we also went from the killer killing because they're psychos or because they're taking their anger out (not valid reasons to murder a bunch of people btw) to killing the "richer" (idk) people for money for drugs. 👁️👄👁️ gkshkfdhgjdhfkjhfd. and yeah, in case you were wondering, someone does get hurt. and i'm not talking about the murder victims. and yes, violet does a lot of stupid things. but that was expected.
overall, i liked this book more than i liked the other books in the series, but it's...not the best book? 3.75/5 stars. like i said, better than the past 3, but not good enough, ya know?