The Mistake by Elle Kennedy (Off-Campus Book 2)

Oh my lord! I swear, I finished this book less than two hours ago! I have literally gobbled up the first two books in this series, and I’m pretty sure my FYP knows it because it’s only been feeding me Off-Campus TikToks. I’m not complaining, cause I love seeing my faves GG and Wellsy, as well as Johnny and Gracie!

Anyway, I started reading this about two/three ago, and now I’m finished. That’s it. End of story. That’s how much I like these books. My review of The Deal was literally me just ranting about how much I love the romance genre—did you think this review was going to be different? Honestly, who do you take me for? An academic?! BS!

I absolutely love this series and I love escaping to my little world at Briar. Even though the series is a realist genre, I still feel like I’m leaving my world behind whenever I go back to those books. I also heard that Elle Kennedy has another branch series called Briar U; is that still about all the characters in Off-Campus? Idk, but I’m down for the count.

Okay, well getting on the actual point of this book review—the book review—I’d like to start by saying that I am not sure about my ranking of the two Off-Campus books I’ve read so far. I think I may need to read more…No, I just mean that I loved both of them, and even though there were more identifiable favorite parts in The Deal than in The Mistake, I still think I grinned at fictional characters equally overall—good going, Jade.

The Mistake starts basically where we left off with The Deal, leaving Garrett and Hannah for Logan’s POV and a new girl we don’t know yet called Grace. Grace is a new freshman at Briar, a cautious, more shy girl than most of the other girls in the book. Logan and Grace happen upon each other by accident and hookup, then can’t stay away from each other. They’re an unlikely match but fall hard for each other, while Logan has a difficult decision to make this year.

Loved the dynamic, the pet names/traditions (especially “question—hit me”), and just how smitten Logan is with Grace. Seriously, she’s just such a regular girl, unlike how awesome and colorful Hannah seemed, that it made me love how focused Logan is on her.

Anyway, as you can see if you look at my Current Reads page, I’m already fully obsessed with this series and I’m on the third book, which I feel may be my favorite, just because I’m interested in how Dean’s story is going to play out. He seems like an *interesting* character. Hmmmm. I’ll let y’all know in the next review how it goes!

Genre: romance, smut, fiction

Age: 15/16+

Rating: 8/10

The Deal by Elle Kennedy (Off-Campus Book 1)

Okay, so now that the school year has begun again, I’ve taken it as my cue to fill my free time with all my favorite things to make all the difficult work I have to do more enjoyable. You know, a reward system; a certain amount of tiring and frustrating school, then some time with all the things that destress me and make it all worth it, namely, reading super fun romance books.

In all seriousness, romance books are my love language. Many people have told me that my love language is words of affirmation, but I think that’s just me on the surface. Underneath that, I secretly love reading romance books and people who love them feel like my soulmates. So, they are absolutely what I look forward to at the end of a long day, and sometimes, if I am not able to get a new one that’s been on my list, I re-read my faves. I crave those little romance tropes that make me scream and smile into my pillow—ugh, the best feeling. All I need is that little boost of serotonin and I’m back to my usual self after being bogged down by *adulting*.

Anyway, enough ranting about why romance books are superior, let’s get down to business. So, The Off-Campus series has been in the back of my head since I saw it on BookTok a few times, and my family just got a trial of Kindle Unlimited, so I was able to download The Deal! I was immediately in love, even though it didn’t have the attraction-at-first-sight trope that I love. Still, I liked the build-up and the pet name I didn’t know I needed. Also, I’ve mentioned this before, but I don’t love super intense smut in books. Physical stuff is okay, but when it gets way too intensely graphic, you’ve lost me. And, boy, did it get graphic—those children need to learn abstinence! So, that was one part of the book I didn’t love, but other than that, it was exactly what I needed this week.

I’m still technically reading Metamorphoses, though I haven’t picked it up in ages. I just got distracted by The Deal and now, oops, I guess I’ve become obsessed with the whole Off-Campus series. Oh well, I’m already on book 2, so I guess I have to finish the whole thing. Bummer.

Genre: romance, smut, Y/A

Age: 15/16+ (super sexual content)

Rating: 7.5/10

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Alright, halfway done with my book revie—oh, hey guys! ummm…what are you doing here? Oh, riiiggghht, you’re here for the review; ofc, I’m so stupid! Anyway, let’s get started, I’m sure you didn’t see what I was writing *awkward laugh*

Okay, so, as I’m sure by the title, you already know what this review is about: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I read this about three weeks ago and finished it about a week ago, so not my best length of reading, but I was busy, okay! I’ve been traveling the whole summer, and I’m going to be taking three AP courses this year, so I’ve been preparing for school as much as I can.

Back, to the review, this book was probably the most confudling, confusing book I’ve ever read. It was super difficult to decipher the hidden layers and the general story just jumped around so quickly that I struggled to understand anything. I didn’t even know until I was about halfway through the book and my grandfather told me that Vonnegut had been a veteran in WWII that S5 was even about him! To be sure, it made a lot more sense once I knew that information, but I still had trouble deciphering it. I think this would have been easier and better to read in class with my ELA teacher and to slow down while reading it (even though I was going abominably slow, I know).

I can’t really do a normal overview because I had such trouble understanding the book, and I’m going to probably re-read it again later in life. But, I can tell you what I do know and test my comprehension. So, basically, the book begins with what I presumed to be first-person narration, with Vonnegut as the voice. He talks about his experience coming back from the war and acclimating to regular life. He also talks about his goal to write a book about his experience in the war. Eventually, we get to a point where it seems the narration shifts to talking in the third person about a person called Billy Pilgrim, often referred to by that full name. It isn’t immediately clear that this shift is into the very book that Vonnegut describes wanting to write. Billy Pilgrim we follow through his odd and roundabout life, one part of which is that he time travels within his memories. Yeah, Billy’s pretty cool—he also is friends with some aliens. I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s way wack. Anyway, Billy was also in the war, and his story sometimes seems to cross with Vonnegut’s, seeming to reflect Vonnegut’s own life story, though way more cool than Vonnegut’s life. I think the best way to sum it up is that Billy Pilgrim is Vonnegut’s cooler, celebrity version.

Wow, okay, that was a pretty good explanation, and I think I said everything well. Huh, I surprised myself with how well I did. Anyway, that was the overview I could generally understand, and I have a strong suspicion that, upon re-reading, I’ll be able to glean a good amount more, especially if I let some time pass.

Age: 14+

Genre: Semi-autobiographical, fiction, historical fiction, dark comedy

My Rating: 7/10

Passing by Nella Larsen

Hey, guys, sorry for not posting in a while, I finished Passing a while back but was wrapped up in my summer travels and couldn’t find the time to write this review. I have another review coming shortly, as well as a summer review post. Also, hold tf up, cause about two hours ago, Tay announced The Eras Tour movie, and my sanity has been unstable ever since!! I’m literally so excited and glad that all our clowning was not in vain. Plus, I think the movie was filmed on the night I attended TET (yeah, I got tickets back in December and sometimes my brain just goes !!!! from that night), so I’ll be famous *mwah*

Anyway, enough about that, I’ll include my summer Tay activity in the summer post coming soon. For now, let’s talk about Passing, besties. To be honest, this book was not my absolute favorite. I liked it well enough, and there were certain parts that were gorgeous and just touched my nerves, but all in all, I wouldn’t say it was my favorite summer read—I’d say that was Emma (it just got me, y’know, and was a happy place).

I read Passing about a month ago, and I liked that it was a shorter read (around 150 pages), and the story was great. I actually watched the movie (I didn’t know it was a book too, don’t kill me!) before I read it, and found that I like the movie better now than the book. It was beautifully done.

Wait, I’m like 100% getting ahead of myself—let me back up and give y’all an overview of the book. So, Passing is set in the 1920s/30s and focuses on a woman called Irene Redfield. We meet Irene as a middle-aged woman, married, and with two kids, though none of that is the center of the story. No, the story centers around the melting of something in Irene’s past—an old friendship unexpectedly rekindled and the dangerous implications of it. Irene unexpectedly reunites with her childhood friend Claire, who is “passing” for white. “Passing” was one of the aspects of the book that really drew me in, and it’s explained in the book as being relatively common for lighter-skinned black people. Both Irene and Claire are light-skinned, though only Claire is “passing”—she’s married to a racist white man. The book follows Irene’s feelings as she and Claire grow acquainted again after all these years, and how different the two women are.

Some things I liked about the book: 1. The concept of “passing,” as I stated above. I read The Vanishing Half a few years ago and absolutely loved it. It was the first introduction I had to passing, and I was fascinated by it. So, that was one of the reasons that compelled me to pick up Passing, though I was a bit disappointed by the lack of content on passing itself. The story focuses more on who the two women are themselves, not exactly the implications of their differing races, though that does play an important role in the end…

2. Claire’s husband. This wasn’t exactly something I liked, but it did create a feeling of fear I’ve never come across in a book. Books don’t usually make me feel afraid, but this character certainly struck that in me. Just wait ’til you read it and you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Irene’s emotional reaction to meeting him = intense.

So, yeah, like I said, this book wasn’t especially jaw-dropping to me and didn’t strike an intense emotional cord in me, though I could tell that was what it intended (especially the raw ending). But, no flack to Larsen, I didn’t feel those intended emotions. I liked those certain parts, and I’m glad I read it, but I wouldn’t rank it as a favorite.

Age: 12+

Genre: Historical fiction

Rating: 5/10

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

I don’t remember whether I’ve told you guys this, but I really love summer reading. Now, don’t get it twisted, I didn’t say “summer”; I said “summer reading.” Summers are usually just as busy and hectic if not more, than school years. But, the one perk is being able to read whatever I want and visiting a lot more bookstores—which are my happy places—than I normally do. Of course, the summer is also when I get to visit friends and family, but that can be super stressful and tiring. So, I find as much solace and peace in exploring my literary interests, some of which are anything but educational…

However, in the case of this book, I really did continue my educational reading spree into the summer. I’m preparing to take AP English Lit in the fall, as well as two other APs, so I’m trying to get ahead of the class by reading a lot of educational books over the summer. This will help when I begin to prepare for the test in the spring because it centers around having a wide knowledge of many books. My headstart this summer is to read as many classic, great books as I can. I’m sadly a bit behind, as “smart” books are more difficult and longer to read than my usual fun, summer reads. I’ve managed to get through Emma, about a third of Metamorphoses, and now Of Mice and Men.

I loved Of Mice and Men, and it was such a great second Steinbeck read. I read The Pearl a few years ago, and I remember it being so incredible and beautifully terrible at the end. Of Mice and Men had that same feeling and was such a testament to a great writer and the power of stories. I’m constantly blown away by books, but especially in this one, being so short and yet still so lovely.

Its length was actually exactly what I wanted. It’s an amazing book to have under my belt, but I didn’t want to sacrifice so much time to read it, especially when I still have so many books left for the summer. It could be read all in one sitting, but because I’ve been rather busy, it took me about three days to finish. Highly recommend!

Age: 13/14+

Genre: Fiction, historical fiction

Rating: 8.5/10

Emma by Jane Austen

So, I’ve read Pride and Prejudice, and I loved it; it was a fan favorite of my family. Also, the movie and TV show adaptations slap, especially Pride and Prejudice and Zombies—so freaking good! (Side note: P&P&Z is also a book, and it’s so good as well!) But, I’ve automatically transferred that love for P&P to Jane Austen. I’ve started saying, “Oh, I love Jane Austen!”, when in fact, I’ve only fully read and loved her most famous book. If it really matters, I’ve partially read/listened to Sense and Sensibility, but I never finished it. (It was for a writing competition and I was very busy at the time—give me a break, guys!). The point is, I’ve never actually read an original, un-modernized, or adapted Austen’s work beside P&P. Reading Emma, I felt I could finally change that statement.

Emma just reaffirmed all my opinions about Austen; it displayed her wit, her complex mind, and her wonderful character-building. I had felt that when reading P&P, but it was more beautiful to see it for the first time in another work that wasn’t as familiar.

Now, for my shame; you guys are never going to forgive me for this. I’ve actually seen the 2020 movie adaptation…I know, I know! You can kill me after I post this review—I give you full permission. But, just hear me out: I had never really heard of Emma before then and I was only told afterward that it was Austen. I felt so extremely dirty, you have no idea. Thankfully, even though I can’t undo what I did, it was long enough ago that I can’t specifically remember what happened and so much of the book was still surprising.

I also had some pretty visuals randomly floating around in my head as I read it, which was helpful for setting the scene and giving a flowery, light academia vibe to the book. I’m definitely not going to say I’m thankful for watching the movie before (heavens, no), but it did have some advantages that I liked. Now, after finishing the book, I can rewatch the movie and feel it all over again. (Anya Taylor-Joy, I heart u!)

Emma just gives me pretty, period-piece vibes, which are one of my favorite genres. Also, Austen makes Emma not as perfect as you would think she is. She’s far from perfection, and we see all the rough edges. She reminds me a bit of Taylor, honestly: always scheming, keeping plans quiet, being careful with love, and having a strategy for everything—just overall blonde goddesses give me Taylor vibes!

Austen, as well as just any antiquated book or movie that brings me to olden times just hits different. That’s probably the main reason I rated it so high and loved it, but I think also the entire story is beautiful. I love Clueless as well—go watch it!

Genre: period drama (is this a book genre?), romance, fiction

Age: 14+ (this is more about the reading level than maturity or uncouth language)

Rating: 9/10

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Well, this was certainly a deviation from my usual reads, and I had a feeling of being posh and academic when I was reading it. I had to look up so many words I lost track while reading this book, and I am certain that if I had been older I would have understood much more of this book. But, that’s not to say I wouldn’t recommend it to my peers; I just think they should analyze it deeper than other books.

The drama, the tension, the existentialism—everything felt like dark academia. This is cool because I’ve never really read dark academia before. I did read If We Were Villains, which felt very similar to this, but I like that my taste is expanding. I’m very new to the genre, so comment if I’m using it incorrectly, but I’m starting to be interested in dark academia. Admittedly, I haven’t read any light academia, so I may also be interested in that. Also, comment down below with light academia recommendations!

I recently read something somewhere (haha) that said that you should look for books that you feel inside yourself, to paraphrase. I definitely don’t always follow this, as I’ve read a lot of classics simply because I felt I needed to, not because they made me feel something. But, it’s absolutely super important to look for those books, whatever they may be. For me, I think the books I feel inside myself are romance books, which isn’t something I’m ashamed of. The most prominent one that’s coming to mind is Beach Read, which still has a chokehold on my heart—that book ruined my life, I swear. Still, I felt it inside myself, so that’s all that matters.

The point I’m trying to get at is that I’m starting to feel dark/light academia books inside myself as well (again, new to the genre so help me out!). I’d love to explore it more and get super emo, so I’m going to look for more books in the genre. Always good to explore things you’re interested in.

There was a lot going on in this book, some of which were mildly disturbing, but also some weird plot choices. I didn’t fully understand the ending, and I also thought it could have been shorter (did I really have to read 600 pages for all that?). But, all in all, it was definitely an educating and cool book, especially the class parts with Greek and philosophy. Sorry for not including more specific examples of things that stood out to me, but I don’t want to give any spoilers. Just know, I do recommend this book, though it is for someone who enjoys the genre of dark academia fiction. It wasn’t a soul-crushing, spellbinding book that captured me like no other, but, to be honest, sometimes that’s not what I want to read; sometimes I want an interesting, intriguing book.

Age: 15+

Genre: dark academia, fiction

Rating: 7.5/10

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Hey all! I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump, so not reading as voraciously as usual, but I did manage to read Normal People by Sally Rooney. I wanted to post another review so I can keep up with my goal of posting regularly! To be honest, I didn’t entirely love this book, but that might be explained by the fact that I would absolutely not recommend this book to any of my peers—it was a bit past my age group!

In the simplest of terms, I did have a few reasons for disliking the book, but there was a certain aspect of it that drew me in; it was the story of messing things up in your love life royally and still having love and possibility in your life. I feel like a lot of the books I read, stories I am told, or songs I listen to are about either the romantic idea of a soulmate or being in love with the absolute right person immediately in your life without messing anything up. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea that there is a soulmate out there for me, and think if you find your soulmate, you are the luckiest person ever. But, if we strip away everything and face the real, cold world, it’s hard for me to say that I’m going to find my soulmate immediately and not going to fall in love with the wrong person or get my heart broken. I can’t just wait around for my soulmate—that’s not how it works, I have to be kidnapped by a handsome fae—and if I do I’ll miss out on all the real, ugly parts of love in the real, hard world. I know that sounds scary, but I feel like I want to have that pain so I can finally understand those feelings I hear in books.

Normal People was beautiful in that it showed two real people living in the real world and falling in love with the wrong people, making mistakes, and generally messing everything up—they didn’t cling to finding the “one” but allowed themselves to experience all the pain of doing things wrong. I liked reading this book because it reflected how I’ve been trying to synthesize the love I see in books and the love I want to have in the real world. What the characters go through is messy, difficult, and full of mistakes, but those are all part of real life and I liked that Sally Rooney didn’t shield me like other authors had.

This is getting far more honest than I imagined, but I would like to say that I do love a bit of shielding now and then; the world is cruel and love is scarce, so it’s nice to escape to a perfect world of perfect love stories. But, as I’m growing up, I guess I do want to know what’s waiting in store for me and have my shelter taken down a little bit. I have enough armor that it doesn’t hurt to realize that I’m going to make mistakes in love, hurt or be hurt by people, and most probably fail completely. I applaud and thank Normal People for making me feel that it’s okay to make those mistakes. For a moment there, reading fantasy and romance books, I was getting deluded by the idea that my love life would be a perfect 200-300 page book with a wonderful, picturesque love, so it was refreshing in a weird way to get grounded in the real and surprisingly not-scary world by Normal People.

For everything else, I didn’t really enjoy the book. As I said, I would have been fine reading it a bit later than I did, as well as maybe discussing it with someone—you guys don’t count! So, I do advise all of you to evaluate honestly whether you want to read it and I’d love to know your thoughts as well; I think it’s a very thought-provoking and dividing book.

Genre: fiction

Age: 16+

Rating: 5/10

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

I’m pretty ashamed of how long it’s been since I posted a review, but I have some valid explanations I think I should tell you guys. Firstly, as I stated in my most recent post, I’ve been prepping for my AP exam these past two months, leaving little time for recreational reading. Secondly, even when I have found time to read, I haven’t found a book that’s really captured my interest. For a while, I was in a bit of a reading slump, then I saw that my sister purchased the second TOG book on Kindle, so I did finally had something good to read, but you guys know how much I hate reading on Kindle. So safe to say, my inner book nerd has been starved of good fantasy and romance for too long.

That is until my mom managed to get a copy of Six of Crows about a month ago, when, like always (I think I’m seeing a theme), my sister snatched it right up. To be fair, I’d already read it and she was leaving soon and didn’t want to have to bring it with her. But, still, come on?! She didn’t even give me a chance!

Anyway, after she was done with it, I finally got to dive back into the Grishaverse, one of my absolute favorite book worlds, apart from the ACOTAR universe. I highly recommend Leigh Bardugo’s books because they’re generally geared toward a younger audience than me, and Shadow and Bone is a great introductory to fiction that makes you fall immediately in love with the genre. I was so ecstatic to get a real copy of SOC because I’d only read a borrowed version, but also because I’ve recently finished the second season of Shadow and Bone! If you guys haven’t seen it, GO WATCH IT NOW!!! It is 100% the best book-to-screen adaptation I’ve ever seen, hands down. And, the crows are in it, so: AGHGHHGH!

So, I had a lot of the show’s visuals fresh in my mind when I read SOC, which made it so enjoyable—highly recommend. The book is just fantasy perfection: worldbuilding (check), romance—but not overt and plot-driving—(check), found-family (check). Also, it’s one of the only fantasy books I’ve ever read that isn’t based around a “chosen one” plotline. What I mean is that a lot of fantasy books have an MC that has a special power/mysterious fate/dark past, but SOC isn’t like that at all. It’s about a group of teenage criminals, none of them supernatural, who manage to pull off a never-been-done-before heist. SOC really introduced me to that narrative style, and I definitely feel that it’s one of my favorites; there’s just something about feeling like the MC could actually be you and isn’t some far-fetched person you can’t relate to.

This book is just perfection and was exactly what I needed to get out of my reading slump and give my book-loving soul a balanced meal. Granted, I didn’t finish it immediately—I’m still doing school, so it’s not like I don’t have any responsibilities—but I still loved every minute of escaping into my room and curling up with that beautiful cover and one of my all-time fave books.

Genre: fantasy, Y/A

Age: 11/12+

Rating: 9/10

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas (ACOTAR Book 5)

Oh my golly, lord-and-savior, divine intervention, holy magistrate, goodness gracious! I feel like I say this every single time I read a book I’ve been dying to read for the first, but I have been WAITING for this one! I read ACOTAR for the first time months ago—I think I read the first book in December—but it has been living in my mind rent-not-needed-I-will-be-paying-you-sir ever since. I don’t even want it to leave at this point; the ships give me sustenance and the banter makes me die inside.

Anyway, it’s beside the point to say Ms. Maas holds the key to my soul, I definitely have a bit of a story to tell about reading this final book in the series (so far). I finished ACOFAS a while ago and have even gotten around to re-reading all of the books again. But, even though I bought all of them at the bookstore before we left civilization to cross the ocean, the bookstore didn’t have A Court of Silver Flames! Noooooo! On top of that, I was near certain I wasn’t going to finish all of them before we got someplace with a good enough bookstore to buy ACOSF. Never make the mistake of underestimating the power of addiction, my friends. I swear, it took me record time to burn through those books and then I was left with an itch I could scratch in the form of ACOSF.

The worst part was that I could’ve just ordered it on Kindle and read it just to get that desire satisfied, but I don’t love Kindle reading. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Kindles in general and have used them happily for the better part of my life. But, for me, once I bought real paperback books, there was no going back. There’s just something about the physical feeling of a book that I loooove.

So, yes, my stupid laziness convinced me to not bother looking for ACOSF while I had the chance in Cape Town and my stupid pride wouldn’t allow me to buy it on Kindle in an inferior form than I wanted it in. Also, for those who understand the meaning of bookshelf beauty, I wanted the physical copy of ACOSF to put on my bookshelf next to the rest of my ACOTAR series to give me an endorphin boost whenever I looked at it. If you get it, you get it.

Eventually, my sister (there seems to be a theme here) gave in to her temptations and ordered ACOSF on Kindle. I was annoyed when she did it, but also slightly glad because then I could finally read it while not compromising my standards—though that bookshelf remains sadly incomplete. Either way, I was just super excited that I could finally read ACOSF and dove right in.

First of all, I’d like to give a general review that comes to mind: shield your eyes, children. I will definitely be giving a higher than usual age rating for this book, certainly older than the rest of ACOTAR, because…wow. I don’t know how many times I had to just put the Kindle—:(—down and clean my eyes. Everyone was literally so h0rny all the freaking time! And, I mean that’s saying something because this is ACOTAR we’re talking about—come on.

Anyway, there was definitely a spice increase I should mention, and other than that, I absolutely loved the rest of the plot. I know that there are people who aren’t Nessian shippers—I personally think they should be removed from the planet—but I would like to say that I have been a Nessian shipper from Day 1. From the very first time Cassian and Nesta met in ACOMAF I was like, “Oh yeah, this is gonna be good!” Although Feysand remains 100% my OTP and LOML, Nessian has been in the back of my mind forever and has just gotten better in ACOSF.

I would also like to give a quick mention of a new ship that has surfaced that I will defend until my dying breath: Gwynriel. I absolutely love Gwyn, I didn’t know how much I needed a Gwyn in my actual life until she appeared in this book, and I would walk over hot coals to give this woman (excuse me, female) a hug. Combined with the love I feel for Azriel, I was gobbling up the Gwynriel crumbs that are sprinkled throughout the book. That has been the new occupier of my mind at the moment: how ready I am for Gwynriel to surface fully. Azrelain can go die in a pit, sorry not sorry.

The thing I love about the book is the insight into Nesta that we get. I loved Feyre and I love her story, but I’ve also been eyeing Nesta and wondering what her deal was since the beginning. It’s so easy to see her as the nasty, mean older sister, but I think any reader can recognize the inner turmoil going on within that head. I for one was super excited when I realized the whole book would be focusing on Cassian and Nesta with a particular inside look into Nesta’s character. I don’t know, I guess there’s something about the ferocious, backtalking female MC for—it’s just my fave.

This book checked so many boxes for me that have been churning away in the back of my mind since finishing ACOFAS and being left on a teetering cliffhanger for the future of Nessian. More Cassian and Nesta representation, hinting at more deep dives, hopefully, into more Inner Circle characters (pls, pls, pls, Azriel, SJM, pls)? Check. More focus on Nesta and seeing a representation of PTSD, self-destructive tendencies, and bottling up of pain? Check. So much smut from Nessian it was putting Feysand to shame? Check. Not my total top favorite of the series, especially because more books are coming, but it felts so great to dive back into the world of ACOTAR fresh.

Genre: adult fantasy, romance

Age: honestly? 100+ realistically? 16+

Rating: 10/10