ARC Review: Fade into the Bright by Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz

YA romances tend to follow a similar structure--boy meets girl, the two instantly click (even if they don't know it yet), something comes between them, they end up okay by the end of the book. It's a tried and true formula. This book was no different, yet in spite of the occasional clichés, it was …

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Book Review: Circe by Madeline Miller

I'm reminded that everyone's lived the same childhood whenever I see those "Things Only 2000s Kids Will Understand" posts, so I'm sure I'm not the only one who went through a Greek and Roman Mythology phase in elementary school, especially thanks to a certain writer named Rick Riordan. I picked up Circe both out of …

Book Review: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Rating: ★★★★★ Spoiler-Free Review I haven’t read very many nonfiction books, much less memoirs, but I absolutely loved this book.  It’s written by Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon who, after being diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, decided to write a memoir recounting his journey of trying to understand the meaning of life. What do you …

Book Review: Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Spoiler-Free Review When I first started to read Love and Gelato and realized it was set in Italy, I've got to admit, I was a bit hesitant to continue reading. It reminded me a lot of Kisses and Croissants, which, while not a bad book, made me begin to realize that I didn't …

Book Review: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Rating: ★★★★★ Spoiler-Free Review Kafka on the Shore is a magical realism book set in Japan and follows two characters: Kafka Tamura, a teenage boy doomed to fulfill an oedipal prophecy, and Satoru Nakata, an old man who lost his mental faculties as a young child. Each traverse through their respective journeys, though often unsure …

Book Review: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Spoiler-Free Review The White Tiger is a social realist, epistolary novel set in India and narrated by Balram Halwai, who explains how he became the successful entrepreneur he is. It examines the complexities of class struggle, corruption, morality, and wealth, and questions what it truly means to attain dignity and freedom. Generally, I …

Book Review: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Spoiler-Free Review Hi! I'm sure many of you all have read or heard about "milk and honey," a collection of poetry and prose that deals with pain, healing, and growth. I haven't read very many poetry books, much less modern poetry books, so this was definitely an interesting read. I've heard people both …

Book Review: Dubliners by James Joyce

Rating: ★★★✦☆ Spoiler-Free Review Hey guys! I finished reading Dubliners, which is a collection of 15 short stories written by James Joyce. It follows Dubliners (surprise, surprise) of many ages and backgrounds, but they're held together with the common thread of paralysis that runs through each of the stories. I definitely preferred some short stories …

Book Review: Kisses and Croissants by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau

Rating: ★★★✦☆ e-ARC Spoiler-Free Review This book follows a sixteen-year-old ballerina, Mia, who spends her summer in Paris for a six-week ballet program. However, as things tend to go in the City of Love, she meets a French boy named Louis, and they hit it off immediately. Throughout the story, we watch as she balances …

Book Review: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Rating: ★★★★★ Spoiler-Free Review This book is set during China’s Cultural Revolution and follows two city boys who are placed in a mountain village to be re-educated by workers and peasants. However, they come across banned Western classics, and you follow their journey as books color the way they see the world. I read this …