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So over the top, cliche, and repetitive. I only picked this bc Amy Sherman Paladino is turning it into a show and I regret it. It’s not good.

I don't know what's harder, the tension I feel knowing what's coming for Anna or the boredom I feel with all of Levin's farming stuff.

I just got to the part where Tiff reads BALLET SHOES and I think Schlitz got Mr. Simpson's name wrong and is calling him Mr. Smith. Oops!

Gary D. Schmidt meets LOVE THAT DOG

It's obviously a mistake to read yet another death/grief book, but here I am.

OMG she uses “quite literally” too much!!! But in her defense, the stuff about masculine vs feminine and hero vs heroine is not transphobic, TERF-y, or gender essentialist as some reviews say. She is taking about cultural concepts, not biology. She quotes Judith Butler!

Right off the bat, this makes me think about the novel THE UNNAMED which makes me think of SORROW AND BLISS.

A lot of one-star reviews say the author doesn't take her privilege into account, but she talks about it a lot.

The wolf hunt was hard to get through. I hated it.

I don't like this as much as I thought I would. :(

Ok, now it’s feeling like The Giver crossed with The Golden Compass with a dash of Harry Potter.

The first bit is giving Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book. A terrifying man trying to murder a child with a knife!

Women Talking vibes

Fun and surprisingly deep twist on Percy Jackson

I like Lucy’s Anne of Green Gables vibes.

The rapping teacher on page 104 is questionable.

Why am I reading two books about disordered eating at the same time?!

This is giving me OUT OF MY MIND vibes. I understand why it's been highly praised, but the writing is not good in my opinion. May be a CBAIT.

Recommended on the “Hot and Bothered” podcast. So far I don’t love it but I’m willing to stick with it. Phoebe has said multiple times that she shouldn’t be treated like hired help because she “speaks five languages” and I think it’s ridiculous bc she is literally hired help and no one cares how many languages she speaks.

I cannot not laugh at the audiobook narrator's attempt at an Australian accent. It is truly terrible.

The audiobook narrator sounds so sad which makes this book a huge bummer. The main character talks about TikTok A LOT.

I'm confused that these kids are supposed to be in 7th grade but they have recess. Is that a thing?

This is starting to feel like a YA novel. I don't mean that as a compliment.

It's very cringe to call your adult sister "Sissy."

I made the mistake of starting this book during my lunch break. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT attempt to read this book while eating. The two activities are not compatible (unless you have a very strong stomach).

I started reading this last year but didn't finish because it seemed like a dystopia that I had already read. I got to a line that was like, "Equality and sameness are different" and assumed this was just rehashing the message in The Giver. Now that this book has won the Newbery I'm going to try again with a more open mind.

It's hard for me to take a book seriously when there are major mistakes in the copy editing. Chapter 2 has "Jupiter" instead of "Juniper" right in the chapter title. Chapter 8 says the sisters are in sixth grade, but at the end of the chapter it says they're in fifth grade.

Someone mentioned that it's nuts for Cam's mom to "chase a job to Venezuela" with no explanation of why she'd go to an unstable, dangerous country and now it's all I can think about.

Is it just me or is this book extremely repetitive? How many times does she have to mention that foxes are discriminated against and that she's looking for her brother? It feels like that author doesn't trust the reader to remember anything previously established.

This is giving me strong BOYS WITHOUT NAMES vibes.