agiecummings's reviews
372 reviews

This book was an absolute *treat* to read. I cried. I laughed. I screamed and kicked my feet. Just an absolute delight.

Cara Bastone has a beautiful writing style that completely invites you in and anchors you in such lovely sense of reality. And she writes about NYC like a New Yorker. And as someone who’s lived here for 12 years, I just love that feeling of home when I’m reading. 

Now to the actual story. Miles and Lenny are delish. Grief can be a really difficult place to write from, and Cara moves through it masterfully. And using that as the way that this couple finds their way to friendship, and ultimately love is so beautiful. Ugh I wish I could read it again right from the beginning. ADORED IT.

I absolutely adore this book. My first Ali Hazelwood book and the one that low key re-jump started my love of reading in my 30s. It was so fun to want to keep reading every night to ensure that I got to see what happened next in the fake relationship between Olive and Adam. I’m a sucker for fake dating (I think it’s my #1 trope) and this one is actively so engrossing that I could barely put it down. AND, it’s about a woman in STEM? 10/10

As I have now re-read it for the first time, I’m just as delighted. And maybe even more so. First off, I also read the chapter 16 from Adam’s 3rd person perspective that Ali posted online and it’s DELICIOUS. Second, I have now watched the new Star Wars Episodes 7-9 and am a KyloRen stan so I’m happily delighted to be reading KyloRen fan fiction. Third, I just read Deep End before this, which prompted me to go back to their roots. And knowing that in the future they share pumpkin spice Post-Its and are more in love than ever fills me with the most joy.

I AM SO IN LOVE WITH ALI HAZELWOOD STORIES. But especially this one.

Wow I love Elias and Sage. And I actually absolutely adore their love story. The fake dating. The found family. The comforting each other until they realize that they’re actually just in love. That was all 5⭐️. AND TO SAY NOTHING OF NO THIRD ACT BREAK UP.

The one gripe I had with this book is that there is a lot of backstory. Most of it tragic. Which made some of the gravity of it feel lessened. And the resolution to some of that tragic conflict/backstory was often “too easy” for how serious the situation was. Not always, but sometimes. And it felt like, often, that we were making their home lives tragic just to be tragic.

That being said, I cried with Nina in the epilogue and to hear that that character was a nod to the author’s best friend almost broke me.

Any book I read after Onyx Storm had a lot to live up to and this was so delightful overall.

I read this for work - super helpful for understanding the Standards for Math Practices, which are a significant part of the Common Core (and an integral part to ensuring your math teaching is building thinking mathematicians).

I have a lot to say. First off, this is the first time while reading this series that I cried, like actually openly wept, while reading. And that happened not once but twice.

(I’m looking at you Andarna and Quinn).

Next, I think the best part of this book is after the first hundred pages and before the last 2-3 chapters. It has a bit of a slow start because there seems to be a lot to catch up on after the end of Iron Flame, but very little time has passed so it feels a bit jarring at the beginning but then it really picks up.

And while I know she has to set us up for a cliffhanger at the end, I don’t necessarily love where we’ve ended up with Xaden (aka fully venin, not stable, fully given over to that life). And I do not love that we ended with Imogen saying that “[she did] what [Violet] asked her to” after we find out that Violet and Xaden are MARRIED and that the whole world is going to shit.

I’m actually mad that we’re not getting book 4 for awhile. Infuriating.

That being said, I absolutely LOVED the chapters exploring the limits of the world, including the islands. Despite the danger at every stop I loved seeing more of the world. I also loved the reckless way that Xaden and Violet love each other in this one - no worrying about whether or not they do, but instead using that to push each other to be the best version of each other and make powerful, meaningful decisions together.

Honestly, I’m very excited to read the next installment and I feel like I already need to reread it.

This book had me absolutely kicking my feet and giggling for about 75% of it. Aiden and Lucie are so cutie and I absolutely adored reading their story. As a hopeless romantic myself, I absolutely identified with Lucie and loved seeing her realize that she could find love and “magic” in a place she never expected. And the way she broke through Aiden’s walls was fantastic. I felt like a member of the Baltimore community just rooting for those two crazy kids to figure it out. 🥹❤️👏🏼

Let me start by saying, as I always do. If Ali Hazelwood has no stans left, I am dead. And I think the way she pushes herself and her audience to engage with new and boundary-pushing tropes and plot lines every time she writes a new book is so special. And one of the reasons I will always be Team Ali.

That being said, this one was so hard to rate for me. I’m going to be honest with you, I went back and forth a lot on how to quantify my enjoyment of this book. Because there was a lot to enjoy and also a lot that I was a bit taken aback by.

Let’s start with the good. Scarlett and Lukas. I actually loved the “I’ll put you back together” aspect of their relationship and how their relationship seemed to develop quite naturally. And the romantic parts of it were *chef’s kiss*. I also loved the nods to Olive and Adam, I ate that shit up. And, I love that Ali continued to incorporate STEM into this book without it being the main plot point. AND and I *loved* that it was set in a high pressure sports/academics environment and we got to see Scarlett grapple with that in real time, with the support of a trained professional (a therapist).

Now let me switch to the “bad.” And I use air quotes because it wasn’t bad or wrong, just different. And I deeply appreciated that Ali started the book with a content warning because the first few chapters would have been very jarring if I had walked in blind to kink/BDSM as the manner by which these two characters have sex. I think Ali clearly did research on how to approach this topic in a steamy yet honest way and I appreciated how she handled it, I just don’t necessarily think that’s what I want to read all the time. 

That being said, I’m rooting for Scarlett and Lukas. He’s not going on my list of book boyfriends, mostly cause I think he’s too perfect for Scarlett and I love that. In the end, heed the content warning, and if that sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend. 

P.S. I also didn’t *love* that Penelope acted a bit shady near the end. Girls gotta have each other’s backs and I know she apologizes and actions later back up her being sorry, I still was kinda side-eyeing her cause I don’t love that I can’t trust her (and neither can Scarlett maybe).

For me, Lynn Painter never misses. And I think after reading this I’ve figured out why. At the beginning of this book I wasn’t totally on board with the MMC Blake, but she wrote him in a way where his personality unfolded for me, the reader, just like it did for the FMC Izzy and through that she totally changed my mind about him and this story.

Izzy and Blake are such a lovely example of “enemies” to friends to lovers in a way that has you just kicking your feet by the end. An absolute treat to read and to witness. ❤️

P.S. I’m not going to act like I didn’t notice Blake’s brother’s name was Jason and his wife’s name was Kylie. 🦅🏈

What an absolutely spellbinding and insane ride. Beautifully written, with a little of the Daisy Jones vibes with the interview aspect. 

My hands are literally shaking. I read the last section “The Last Time” in one sitting but had to put the book down and pace multiple times because I was so stressed. What magnificent storytelling - absolutely captivating from beginning to end. It felt like I was reading a memoir of an actual event (not to bring it back to Daisy Jones), and damn I am floored.

The way I thought I knew where this book was going every section and quite literally never did. Just breathtaking.

Chloe has done it again. Her Shakespeare retellings in this series have been so fun to watch unfold. And the last one being a Twelfth Night retelling that also has flavors of the best adaptation of that story in modern media, She’s the Man, makes it an absolute knockout. 

I found myself almost skipping lines to get to Juliet and Will realizing they actually love each other. It was so obvious. But Will coming to that realization after talking to his dad was so precious.

I’m not normally a soulmates/love at first sight girlie, and I think that’s the only qualm I have about this story in general. Chloe deftly handles that as a trope, but I just don’t think it will ever be my fave. Just too kismet-y for me.

But that was delicious.