This is one of my GOAT book series. The characters are so fleshed out, the dialogue is hilarious, the woman writes a mean fight scene. They just announced the release date for the next one and I don't know how I'm going to survive until next January.

Rising storm was a great book with a lot of twists and turns. It so perfectly displays a once great leader's decent into madness, while also keeping you on the edge of your seat during the battle scenes. The writing is good enough to really make you feel what the characters feel, and holds one of my favorite death scenes in the series.

Has many Slavic myths that I had not known before but very little about Vampire legends. Good for a folklore overview, not so good on the subject in the title.

Obviously a must read for fans of The Hunger Games, this gives the story of how President Snow became who know him as. The first 2/3 went pretty quickly, taking place during the 10th Hunger Games (also showing us its evolution). There's a love story for Coriolanus, and that takes up some of the last third. That whole last chunk of the book came off a bit forced to me, like she could have included the content during the HG, but then didn't bother to go back to fill it out and instead tacked everything onto the end. But, you know, Hunger Games. Clearly we'll all read it and ask for more.

I knew of this book and the TV series that was based on it pre-pandemic, but reading it now has just confirmed how surreal this all is. The premise of the book is there is a virus that ends up wiping out most of mankind and tells of the people who survive to make a new life for themselves. (Think Walking Dead minus the zombies.) You see how some people stay true to who they are, while others struggle to reinvent themselves, for better or for worse. It was published back in 1976 so it is slightly dated, but it is easy to apply the premise to what it going on today. The TV series (the newer one from the BBC) took some liberties but also still a good companion follow-up to the book.

I thought this book was a good way to tie up all the loose ends of the last one. The new character POVs were nice, especially Carl’s. I was a little apprehensive to see April and Maya get back together, but I think if April works on her self-esteem and can consequently treat other people better, it will work out. I would have liked for Robin to be more involved and I wish he had chapters of his own. Otherwise, this book was wonderful. It was paced well, April’s return and her character development were perfect, and getting to look further into the main characters’ lives was interesting and needed. Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and will read it again.

I'm very ambivalent towards this novel, but not in a bad way. I am stuck between good and neutral. Admittedly, I did not particularly enjoy this book more so than the average read. However within the last 50 pages, I found myself feeling incredibly human, which is something I haven't felt in a while. I've learned to become an escape artist with myself, and for a moment I was able to come back from that. I loved some of the quotes, and occasionally I'd find a one off passage that I'd adore. But over all, I don't really like this as a book. I could understand what was going on just enough to finish it and come out of it with something rather than nothing. I don't regret reading it, but I don't think I would have necessarily picked it up if it weren't assigned for my AP summer reading. I also felt as though this was less than a book and more a snippet of the human experience. I feel like the reader was put in place halfway through the actual story, and was only keyed in to a small piece of the main character as well as the story. It was more of a piece of life rather than a novel, which I both appreciate indefinitely, and kind of am stuck shrugging my shoulders at. Very ambivalent, but given that I enjoyed some one offs, 4/5 stars

I love the illustrations and how all the dresses are designed. It has a happier, kinder ending.

A beautifully written retelling of classic fairytales. Some I thought a little dark but it is classified as YA so really not appropriate for the little kids. Block's language and imagery are striking, rhapsodic but not cloyingly overdone . Highly recommend if you like classic retellings of stories you thought you knew and even if you don't.

Plain and simple, it just wasn't very good. First of all, the main character was extremely naïve and annoying. Listening to the things she said made me just want to shake her. And the story was anticlimactic. It was pretty much laid out for you from the start and there was a little twist at the end that was surprising but not exciting, like twists in many books. Wasn't worth the read so I'm glad it was short. I didn't give it one star because I've read worse.