Ali Hazelwood's "Iron Flame" Review

I love Ali Hazelwood so much that I was excited when I heard she was writing a young adult book, and while I liked this book, it didn't live up to my expectations as much as her past books. A little bit of a letdown but still very cute. The series is one that I love so much, so being back in the world was great, but I still didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as I enjoyed "Fourth Wing", which was a little bummer.

My two critiques would be that I wish it was a little bit shorter and some of the problems in the romance that was keeping them apart felt a little silly and got a little repetitive. But again, I just love this world.

Seven-year Slip

This book caught me off guard with how beautiful it is, how much depth it has, and its magical quality. What more could you want in a book? It involves an apartment that slips through time, Indigo Ridge, my first time reading Ali Hazelwood's author, and I never know with reading a new author if I'll like them or not. So, I was so pleasantly surprised and happy when I loved this book.

It kind of reminds me of the "Chestnut Spring" series, which is small-town and takes place on a ranch, but it also has a crime subplot that I loved.

Christmas Books

I started off the month by reading "The Christmas Fix", which was not my favorite or least favorite Christmas book. It's a very fun concept and involves a reality TV star going to the small town to do a Christmas special. But, I think there are other Christmas books I liked more. Same with "Window Shopping", there are other Christmas books I liked more.

The Christmas books just weren't hitting as much this year. I don't know why then "Forever Never" by Lucy Score.

It's hard to rate this one because I've read so many of her books, and there are other Lucy Score books that I loved way more. But, it was still a good romance. I gave it four stars. It wouldn't be the first Lucy Score book I would recommend, but if you've already read her main popular books, this one is definitely worth a read.

"The Chase" by L Kennedy

I love this book! It's by L Kennedy, and since reading an L Kennedy book after "Off-Campus", I felt so happy to be back in her world. This is a college hockey romance that had a ton of depth to it, as well as being just like a chill fun College romance. But, it's also so much more than that.

Heart Stopper Yearbook

This is so cute! If you like the "Heart Stopper" series, I kind of randomly checked it out from my library and wasn't sure what it was going to be about. But, it takes you into the behind-the-scenes of the creation of Heartstopper, which is really fun. It has so many different elements, including more about the characters, how the author created this series, and bonus illustrations that you don't get in the "Heart Stopper" series.

Reckless

I think this is my favorite book in the "Chestnut Spring" series. Theo Silva is one of the best book boyfriends ever! That's the end of my review.

Christmas and Quincy

This is a really short little Christmas novel, but it was definitely good if you're looking for a short Christmas read. It takes place in a hotel at Christmas time, which was just such a fun setting. The Wishing Game

This book really reminded me of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". So, if you like that book or Slith movies, then I would check out this book.

I want to do a little blurb on the front because I think it perfectly describes my feelings towards this book.

Divine Rivals

I thought this was just going to be like your stereotypical "enemies-to-lovers" fantasy. But, it's really not that. This is a very quiet, vulnerable, raw read about these two characters who are rival journalists and also the world they live in is at war. It was so beautifully written. I loved it.

Every Book I Read This Year

Okay, I feel like I have been talking for 4 hours, so I will end the video here. But, I would love to hear how many books did you read in 2023 and what's going to be your 2024 reading goal. Book is literally my job, so I have way more time to read than the average person, but I'm so curious what all of y'all's reading goals are.

Okay, and with that, I will see you guys in my next video. Bye

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enit's that time of year to review every single book that I read in 2023 I set my reading goal at a 100 books and then when December hit I realized I was so far behind I had like a billion books to read in December to catch up I did not hit my reading goal I was so close which is so frustrating but still kind of far I organized all the books from the first book I read in 2023 all the way to the last book I read so we're going back to the very beginning the very first book I read is Icebreaker this book is perfect if you want a fun a spicy college sports romance I love that he's a hockey player but he's not the only sporty one she's also a figure skater which was so fun then I read a court of frost and starlight and a court of silver Flames I'm letting my mom borrow those books I convinced her to read the acatar series which makes me so happy the way I will be forever trying to convince everyone in my life to read this series I think my number one favorite book series ever at least for romantices then I read Twisted love this is the first book in the Twisted series I didn't like love or hate this book I felt okay about it the book booyfriend in this book is is very like overprotective alpha male which isn't really my thing but I'll get to the second book that I've read in the series later I like that book more so if you read this book and don't love it I would say keep with the series then I read with a cwad saying I got this book from my library so I don't own it what did I think about this book honestly I don't know it's kind of an interesting mix of genres it's like general fiction plus murder mystery and it follows the entire life of a character which I think is quite cool it was really fun to read the book and then watch the movie adaptation but overall I don't know I just kind of felt okay about it in the end I don't feel like I like super bonded with the characters next up is heart of the Raven prints I love this book this is a Cinderella retelling this is the first ever fairy tale retelling I ever read it made me fall in love with the genre of fairy tale retellings and it's set in a fay World which is like a really cool Twist on the original Cinderella story then I read wait for it by Mariana Zapata another library book another Mariana Zapata slowburn I do love her books this one was a little bit too slow for me though but I love the ending and I love all the characters in this book it's a single parent TR Trope which is a Trope I have just been falling in love with in 2023 then we have The Roommate by Rosie danan the male love interest in this book has a very taboo job I won't say what it is let you read and find out and I knew that going in so I wasn't sure how the author was going to like tackle this kind of like taboo subject and industry but I was very pleasantly surprised very sex positive which I really really appreciated now we're on to February the month of love my first book in February was a romance this book actually involves Valentine's Day but it's a sad romance so if you want to be happy on Valentine's Day maybe read this book in a different part of February how do I describe this plot it's got like a little bit of a wild plot for a romance I'll read the tagline on the front because I feel like this really sums up the plot it says my first love ended in tragedy my second began with his brother I was so excited for five Survive by Holly Jackson because I love the good girls guide the murder series and it did not disappoint this book has a very unique concept the entire book pretty much takes place within a few hour period and involves six friends in an RV and they're being hunted by this guy outside of the RV with a gun so it's a very unique format and it was so suspenseful and there were so many Secrets I love a book with the characters have lots of good Secrets then we've got the doover this is a perfect book to read on Valentine's Day anything by lint painter makes me so happy and giddy I just love her writing and this is a Time Loop book which is so fun the main character repeats Valentine's Day over and over again so you literally couldn't get a better Valentine's Day book wreck then I read chain of gold this is the first book in the last hour series I really liked this book it has great friendship it also has a really good romance in it it's a fantasy Romance by the way and it involves Shadow Hunters who are basically demon Killers if he had been with me me this book honestly disappointed me a little bit just because I heard such good things about it it's definitely a sad romance but I just didn't like the ending this is probably out of any book I read this year the ending that I hated the most it just ended so abruptly to me but I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority with that opinion now the last book for February she's a sad one it's a little life this is just over 800 pages of pure sadness honestly like a beautiful read a harrowing read I could definitely see this book becoming a classic but it's not for everybody and I honestly don't fully know if it was for me I feel like I couldn't rate it anything less than five stars because it was objectively so good but I don't know that I want to read a book this sad ever again okay now moving on to the big Stacks behind us and to the first book of March it's Boy Meets Boy this book is really cute it's really short so I feel like it didn't have a ton of depth but it's a queer romance and it's basically exists in this kind of like alternate reality world where being queer is like completely accepted they're girls on the football team like just a very Progressive kind of society and it was so cute I literally got my highlighter out to highlight a bunch of quotes which I never do I like never never annotate books but there was just so many lines that I was like oh I have to highlight this then I read by thread by Lucy score I have become a huge Lucy score fan over the last like year and a half I gave this one five stars it's a workplace romance it's enemies to lovers and they work at a fashion magazine in New York which is such a fun workplace setting but I also appreciated that it had a lot of depth to it and tackled a lot of issues in the workforce then one of my favorite reads of the year is the mind Series this book is crazy I don't think I've ever read a book with a crazier plot in my entire life it's a romance between a serial killer and an FBI agent definitely a dark romance and I love that we get the romance but we also get so much murder mystery because we're following Theo killer Along on her killings and then the FBI agent we also follow him along at his job to all the cases that he's solving then I made my way back to the last hour Series this month and read chain of iron I was a huge cander Clair fan in middle school and then I hadn't read one of her books until this series since middle school so just being back in her series again has felt so nostalgic now this next book is actually the lowest rated book that I read this year and that's Lo that first sight it did kind of live up to its low rating I also gave it a low rating I don't really have anything against this book I honestly just thought it was boring to be honest I feel like it appears to be advertised as a romance and there is romance in it but it's really just a fiction about this girl working in the video game industry which I think is a fun setup for a plot but it just fell really flat for me then I started April off with a bang and read the entire cruel print series I'm obsessed with this series I'm so obsessed it involves Jude he's a human in a fay world there's an incredible eneme to lovers romance and I love the politics in this book this is one of the series that made me realize I really really get into politics and fantasy oh another great Fantasy Four Dead Queens I swear I haven't heard really anybody talking about this book what I love about this book is that it's a standalone I feel like every fantasy is this huge big Series so I really appreciate that you can just read this one individually if you just want to dip your toe into fantasy or don't want to commit to a whole big Series this is perfect it also has romance in it and it's an urban fantasy which I wasn't aware of before this book being a sub genre and I really enjoyed that another book that I haven't been hearing anybody talk about which I'm so surprised by is killjoy by Holly Jackson this is a prequel to be a good girls guy to murder series it's such a popular series I don't know why more people haven't read the prequel if you haven't read the series yet you could start with this one first since it's a prequel but I kind of liked reading this prequel after I finished the series I feel like I picked up on more little like Easter eggs having already read the series and you definitely read it with a different perspective oh another Lucy score book love her things be hide from the light this is the second book in the knock him out series definitely my least favorite book in the knock talk about series but still so great and our main character is a police chief I love crime and mystery so any chance I get to read romance with a bit of crime and mystery in it I'm a sucker for it funny you should ask I heard so many mixed reviews about this book and I thought it was better than the reviews I heard I enjoyed it the female main character is a journalist and a mail man character is a movie star so we've got one of them as famous and she's writing an article about him this also might be one of my favorite covers ever for a romance book and then I end of the month with reading Once Upon A Broken Heart obsessed obsessed with this series another one of my top Series this was my first first year of ever reading Stephanie Garber and love her book she's going to become a new like Auto by author for me which brings us to May where I read the second book in the series The Ballad of Never After the male love interest in this series is a villain which is so fun and I just love Stephanie garber's writing style she writes so magically which is so perfect in a fantasy world oh my gosh back to the cool print series we have how the king of alame learned to hate stories this is a book of short stories about prince cardan it's such a fun little short read and the art in here is incredible let me just show you some some of the pages this is the visually coolest book that I own now for the reunion the reunion to me felt like funny you should ask but just less good so if you want a one of them as famous Trope I would first recommend funny you should ask but I still enjoyed this one this one is both of them are famous they're both movie stars and they were on a show together as kids and now they're doing a reboot reunion episode of the show Kiss of the sulky another fairy tale retelling this is a Little Mermaid retelling loved it this book also kind of felt like if the selection series met a fairy tale retelling there's a marriage competition in it which was a really fun take on the original Little Mermaid story then we've got the love wager this is the only LM painter book I've ever read That's not young adult and I really liked it the characters make a bet to see who can be the first one to find love so they're really like not looking at each other as potential love interest for a huge chunk of the book which I actually liked because that really allows them to become friends first which I think is just such a great foundation for a relationship then we have Legends and lattes you guys I'm so sorry I did not like this book I totally see why people do love this book and why it has such a high rating it's it's a cozy adorable comforting fantasy book but to me it was just kind of boring now for June I started off June with happy place by Emily Henry this book took me by surprise I am Emily Henry's biggest fan if there was a Spotify WRA for book authors I would be in the top 1% of Emily Henry's fans and all of her past books have been very like witty fun banter filled romances so I went into this book expecting that and this book is not B it's so different from her past books I would say this book is a fiction not a romance and it just happens to be about a couple it definitely caught me off guard for like the first half because I was like wait what this isn't like the Emily Henry books that I know so it took me a second to be like oh this is different from her other books and kind of get on board with it so I wasn't too sure about it for the first half but then I loved the second half Twisted games this is second book in the Twisted series remember when I said stick with the series if you don't like the first one here's why I really like this book it's a romance between a princess and her bodyguard which is such a fun setup and I love that we get so much more than just the romance we also get the politics of the princess this country all like the pressures and responsibilities of being a princess I love that it felt like a very full world and full plot the final Gambit the third book in The Inheritance game series I know there's going to be a new book the grandest game I'm not sure if that's a spin-off or a part of the inheritance game series I don't know there's so many books like in this universe now with like brothers Hawthorne but reading this as like the last book in The Inheritance games I feel like it ended it very well I would say it's my least favorite book in the series but I think a perfect ending then we've got the American roommate experiment this book is so cute I gave it five stars this is perfect if you want a swoon worthy romance that really feels like you're watching a romance movie like it will sweep you off your feet and the main character is a romance author which was so fun then we've got meet me at the lake it's a fun summer read the summer Vibes are Immaculate but there are definitely other summer books I've liked more so I don't know I would say like not the best or worst romance I've ever read I think I gave it four stars which is still very good oh this chunk of a book chain of thorns in June I finally made it through the last book in the last hour series it was so good there's one part that was so sad it was great seeing all the characters they just care so much about everybody and would literally sacrifice themselves to make sure their friends are okay so just seeing all their bravery in this book was amazing it was quite long I do remember feeling like parts of it kind of dragged but overall like so good I love cassander clir now to July into the tide is a book that was sent to me I never know with books that are sent to me how they're going to be because I didn't pick them out so it's always kind of like going in blind this is a really fun summer read it takes place over one summer in a small town and its brother best friend and boss employee Trope I really enjoyed it the summer Vibes are great I did feel like the writing could have been a little better I feel like it needed a bit more show don't tell it was very direct which didn't always work for me kisses and croissants this book is adorable if I could only use one word to describe this book it would be adorable it takes place during a summer in Paris I mean literally the city of love and our main character is a ballerina it was just so adorable then I read Shatter Me and the following Noella destroy me this book it it hooked me I read it all in one day it starts out pretty intense our main character has been in solitary confinement for 264 days it's very much a traditional like young adult dystopian book which I hadn't really read a series similar to this since probably Middle School I would say but I ate it up in the Midnight Library this is very different from what I would normally read I really liked that the main focus of this book is mental health it involves this magical Library where you can kind of like try on the like different versions of your life if you had made different choices the ending to me felt very typical I kind of wanted a Twist at the end but other than that I liked it now the last book in this stack Siege and storm this is the sequel to Shadow and Bone I really like Shadow and bone this book though to me I didn't love as much I thought it moved a lot slower than the first book and I don't know why in this book I really just stopped caring about the romance plot but I feel like this book felt kind of like a setup for book number three so I have a feeling that the third and last book in the series is going to be really good now on to our last stack and moving on to the month of August I started the chestnut spring series and read flawless I am obsessed with this series I love it so much it's a cowboy romance in a small town like do I need to say more than that it's great then we have fourth Wing which I know took the World by storm this was such a unique read for me because I've never read a fantasy book involving dragons or a fantasy book that takes place at a college I love that the stakes in this book were so high like any character could die at any moment and the romance oh the enemy is still love it it hit it was good then I really tackled the Shatter Me series in this month I read I wrote it down because there were so many I I read unravel me I read fracture me I read Ignite Me restore me shadow me defy me reveal me books three and four in this series get crazy the plot twist like it felt like a whole new series because the plot just took such an insane turn and then in September I finished the Shatter Me series with imagine me and the last Nolla believe me there's a lot of novellas in this series and in most series I feel like you can skip the novellas but in this series I would really really highly recommend reading the novelas they offer povs from all different characters and you get a lot of information in the novelas that you may not get that in the main series and then I started the caraval series caraval itself is this like magical competition and it was just so cool to read about it's so so magical and the competition of caravel has its own storyline so you never know what is real versus what is a part of the competition which was really cool then I listened to the honeymoon Crashers by Christina Lauren this is the sequel to The unhoneymooners I honestly haven't really been hearing anybody having listened to this little Nolla audio book I thought it was cute it's definitely not a must read but if you liked Amy's character from the unhoneymooners then I would definitely check out this novella because it's more of her story I'm glad my mom died I think this was the first and only Memoir that I read this year and I really want to read more Memoirs in 2024 I loved how real and raw this book is Janette MCC has a cool writing style she writes very direct this book is so sad but so good in the way it sheds so much light on her childhood and her relationship with her mother and how that affected her for the rest of her life the housemade this book starts out so creepy and eerie and then it escalates to the fullon dangerous and the plot twist in this book it got me good eight dates this is a relationship self-help book I think it's probably more geared towards people in long-term relationships but it could be also a good read if you're just starting a relationship my favorite thing about this book is that it not only has advice but it also has actionable things to do every single chapter with you and your partner then I started off October with Wildfire this is a sequel to Icebreaker it takes place at a summer camp which was so nostalgic for me and I love the male love interest in this book he was so shy and sweet which I think is a little more rare for the personality of a male love interest in Romance Books bring me your midnight I love this book so much I still cannot stop thinking about it it's a fantasy romance involving witches and it just had so many good themes of the balance of loyalty to others but also needing to find yourself and stay true to yourself it was very atmospheric I could go on and on and on I loved it back to the chestnut spring series with heartless this has the single parent Trope which I mentioned earlier in this video is one of my new favorite tropes it's a romance between a single dad and his nanny I don't know what it is about seeing characters single parents I think it just shows me automatically that they're like very loving and caring but also responsible so I just instantly like them escape room the concept for this book is so fun the main characters go to do an escape room but then the game master won't let them leave I think I gave it three and a half Stars it's like nothing crazy but I think it's perfect if you want a really fun concept and a really short read then I made my way back to the caraval series with legendary also love legendary it takes place at carav all which brings us to November where I read the last book in the carav all series finale I don't know what it is with Stephanie Garber books I only read two series by her the carow series and the Once Upon broken heart series her last books in the series were my least favorite of the whole series which is a little bit of a bummer because you kind of want the last book to be really good like end with a bang and feel like a really satisfying ending and another last book in the series is things we left behind I love this book so much this is Lucian and Sloan story from The Knockout series it really caught me off guard how much depth this book has it's definitely sad at part but I think the depth and kind of heartbreaking Parts made it a very meaningful read every day this is the first graphic novel I've read since the heartstopper series in 201 22 and it was really fun I think graphic novels are going to be a thing I continue to pick up more and more this one did fall a little flat for me I feel like in graphic novel version we just couldn't go as in depth so maybe I'd read the full novel at some point not sure this book murder of the family has the coolest format ever it's told as a fictional True Crime show so the whole book is written as a script and you also get a bunch of mixed media like you get like pictures newspaper articles comments from the web about the show it's just a really fun format room service another fun murder mystery by the same author as escape room so far all of her books that I've read have been like three and a half Star reads which I normally wouldn't go back to an author if they're giving me like three star Vibes but there's just something about her books that even though they aren't like the best Mysteries Ever they're just really fun and they're really short which sometimes you're just kind of in the mood for a book you can read in a few hours then I finished the Once Upon A Broken Heart series by reading a curse for true love I kind of mentioned this earlier but not my favorite in the series still love the series so much though so it's great to get a conclusion and I'm glad our main characters got a happy ending my dark Romeo I think this is is my least favorite book that I read in 2023 I just thought that M loveing was mean to be honest so I did not care for him or want to root for him because I didn't like him back to the chestnut spring series with powerless this is my least favorite that I've read in the chestnut spring Series so far but I still really liked it it's childhood friends to lovers and a sports romance check in made by Ali Hazelwood I love Ali Hazelwood so much I was so excited when I heard that she was writing a young adult book I like this book but I didn't love it and I have loved Ali hazelwood's past books so a little bit of a let down but still very cute iron flame how to review this book I love this series so was so great to be back in this world I still very much enjoyed it but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as I enjoyed fourth Wing which was a little bit of a bummer but but like still so good my two critiques would be that I wish it was a little bit shorter and some of like the problems in the romance that was keeping them apart felt a little silly and got a little repetitive but again I just love this world the seven-year slip this book caught me off guard with how beautiful it is how much depth it is and it's magical like what more could you want in a book it involves an apartment that slips Through Time Indigo Ridge my first time reading this author and I never know with reading a new author you know if I'll like them or not so I was so pleasantly surprised and happy when I loved this book it kind of reminds me of the chestnut spring series and that it's small town an takes place on a ranch but it also has a crime subplot which I loved now we're in the last month of the year December I started off the month by reading the Christmas fix I would say like not my favorite or least favorite Christmas book it's a very fun concept and involves a reality TV star going to the small town to do a Christmas special but I think there are other Christmas books I liked more same with window shopping there are other Christmas books I liked more the Christmas books just weren't hitting as much this year I don't know why then forever Never by Lucy score it's hard to rate this one just because I've read so many Lucy score books by now and there are other Lucy score books I loved way more but it was still a good romance I gave it four stars it wouldn't be the first Lucy score book I would recommend but if you've already read her main popular books this one is definitely worth a read the chase I love this book it's by L Kennedy I had it read an L Kennedy book since since the off-campus series and I felt so happy to be back in her world in one of her books again this is a college hockey romance and it had a ton of depth to it as well I was expecting just like a chill fun College romance and it is that but it's also so much more than that then I read a Heart Stopper yearbook this is so cute if you like the Heart Stopper series I just kind of randomly checked it out from my library and wasn't sure what it was going to be about but it takes you into the behind the scenes of the creation of heartstopper which is really fun and it has so many different elements from more about the characters about how the author created this series it has bonus illustrations that you don't get in the Heart Stopper series then I read Reckless I think this is my favorite book in the chestnut spring series Theo Silva is one of the best book boyfriends ever that's the end of my review thank you then we have a Christmas and Quincy this is a really short little Christmas Nolla definitely good if you're looking for a short Christmas read it takes place in a hotel at Christmas time which was just such a fun setting the wishing game this book really reminded me of Willy wonam the Chocolate Factory so if you like that book slth movies then I would check out this book and I want to read do a little blurb on the front because I think it perfectly describes my feelings towards this book this book is clever dark and hopeful a love letter to reading and the power childhood stories have over us long after we've grown up perfect if you love books about books and want something really magical Divine Rivals I thought this was just going to be like your stereotypical like enemies to lovers fantasy and it's really not that this is a very like quiet vulnerable raw read about these two characters who are rival journalists and also the world that they live in is at War it was so beautifully written I loved it and that is every single book I read this year okay I feel like I have been talking 4 hours so I will end the video here but I would love to hear how many books did you read in 2023 and what's going to be your 2024 reading goal book is literally my job so I have way more time to read than the average person but I'm so curious what all of y'all's reading goals are okay and with that I will see you guys in my next video byeit's that time of year to review every single book that I read in 2023 I set my reading goal at a 100 books and then when December hit I realized I was so far behind I had like a billion books to read in December to catch up I did not hit my reading goal I was so close which is so frustrating but still kind of far I organized all the books from the first book I read in 2023 all the way to the last book I read so we're going back to the very beginning the very first book I read is Icebreaker this book is perfect if you want a fun a spicy college sports romance I love that he's a hockey player but he's not the only sporty one she's also a figure skater which was so fun then I read a court of frost and starlight and a court of silver Flames I'm letting my mom borrow those books I convinced her to read the acatar series which makes me so happy the way I will be forever trying to convince everyone in my life to read this series I think my number one favorite book series ever at least for romantices then I read Twisted love this is the first book in the Twisted series I didn't like love or hate this book I felt okay about it the book booyfriend in this book is is very like overprotective alpha male which isn't really my thing but I'll get to the second book that I've read in the series later I like that book more so if you read this book and don't love it I would say keep with the series then I read with a cwad saying I got this book from my library so I don't own it what did I think about this book honestly I don't know it's kind of an interesting mix of genres it's like general fiction plus murder mystery and it follows the entire life of a character which I think is quite cool it was really fun to read the book and then watch the movie adaptation but overall I don't know I just kind of felt okay about it in the end I don't feel like I like super bonded with the characters next up is heart of the Raven prints I love this book this is a Cinderella retelling this is the first ever fairy tale retelling I ever read it made me fall in love with the genre of fairy tale retellings and it's set in a fay World which is like a really cool Twist on the original Cinderella story then I read wait for it by Mariana Zapata another library book another Mariana Zapata slowburn I do love her books this one was a little bit too slow for me though but I love the ending and I love all the characters in this book it's a single parent TR Trope which is a Trope I have just been falling in love with in 2023 then we have The Roommate by Rosie danan the male love interest in this book has a very taboo job I won't say what it is let you read and find out and I knew that going in so I wasn't sure how the author was going to like tackle this kind of like taboo subject and industry but I was very pleasantly surprised very sex positive which I really really appreciated now we're on to February the month of love my first book in February was a romance this book actually involves Valentine's Day but it's a sad romance so if you want to be happy on Valentine's Day maybe read this book in a different part of February how do I describe this plot it's got like a little bit of a wild plot for a romance I'll read the tagline on the front because I feel like this really sums up the plot it says my first love ended in tragedy my second began with his brother I was so excited for five Survive by Holly Jackson because I love the good girls guide the murder series and it did not disappoint this book has a very unique concept the entire book pretty much takes place within a few hour period and involves six friends in an RV and they're being hunted by this guy outside of the RV with a gun so it's a very unique format and it was so suspenseful and there were so many Secrets I love a book with the characters have lots of good Secrets then we've got the doover this is a perfect book to read on Valentine's Day anything by lint painter makes me so happy and giddy I just love her writing and this is a Time Loop book which is so fun the main character repeats Valentine's Day over and over again so you literally couldn't get a better Valentine's Day book wreck then I read chain of gold this is the first book in the last hour series I really liked this book it has great friendship it also has a really good romance in it it's a fantasy Romance by the way and it involves Shadow Hunters who are basically demon Killers if he had been with me me this book honestly disappointed me a little bit just because I heard such good things about it it's definitely a sad romance but I just didn't like the ending this is probably out of any book I read this year the ending that I hated the most it just ended so abruptly to me but I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority with that opinion now the last book for February she's a sad one it's a little life this is just over 800 pages of pure sadness honestly like a beautiful read a harrowing read I could definitely see this book becoming a classic but it's not for everybody and I honestly don't fully know if it was for me I feel like I couldn't rate it anything less than five stars because it was objectively so good but I don't know that I want to read a book this sad ever again okay now moving on to the big Stacks behind us and to the first book of March it's Boy Meets Boy this book is really cute it's really short so I feel like it didn't have a ton of depth but it's a queer romance and it's basically exists in this kind of like alternate reality world where being queer is like completely accepted they're girls on the football team like just a very Progressive kind of society and it was so cute I literally got my highlighter out to highlight a bunch of quotes which I never do I like never never annotate books but there was just so many lines that I was like oh I have to highlight this then I read by thread by Lucy score I have become a huge Lucy score fan over the last like year and a half I gave this one five stars it's a workplace romance it's enemies to lovers and they work at a fashion magazine in New York which is such a fun workplace setting but I also appreciated that it had a lot of depth to it and tackled a lot of issues in the workforce then one of my favorite reads of the year is the mind Series this book is crazy I don't think I've ever read a book with a crazier plot in my entire life it's a romance between a serial killer and an FBI agent definitely a dark romance and I love that we get the romance but we also get so much murder mystery because we're following Theo killer Along on her killings and then the FBI agent we also follow him along at his job to all the cases that he's solving then I made my way back to the last hour Series this month and read chain of iron I was a huge cander Clair fan in middle school and then I hadn't read one of her books until this series since middle school so just being back in her series again has felt so nostalgic now this next book is actually the lowest rated book that I read this year and that's Lo that first sight it did kind of live up to its low rating I also gave it a low rating I don't really have anything against this book I honestly just thought it was boring to be honest I feel like it appears to be advertised as a romance and there is romance in it but it's really just a fiction about this girl working in the video game industry which I think is a fun setup for a plot but it just fell really flat for me then I started April off with a bang and read the entire cruel print series I'm obsessed with this series I'm so obsessed it involves Jude he's a human in a fay world there's an incredible eneme to lovers romance and I love the politics in this book this is one of the series that made me realize I really really get into politics and fantasy oh another great Fantasy Four Dead Queens I swear I haven't heard really anybody talking about this book what I love about this book is that it's a standalone I feel like every fantasy is this huge big Series so I really appreciate that you can just read this one individually if you just want to dip your toe into fantasy or don't want to commit to a whole big Series this is perfect it also has romance in it and it's an urban fantasy which I wasn't aware of before this book being a sub genre and I really enjoyed that another book that I haven't been hearing anybody talk about which I'm so surprised by is killjoy by Holly Jackson this is a prequel to be a good girls guy to murder series it's such a popular series I don't know why more people haven't read the prequel if you haven't read the series yet you could start with this one first since it's a prequel but I kind of liked reading this prequel after I finished the series I feel like I picked up on more little like Easter eggs having already read the series and you definitely read it with a different perspective oh another Lucy score book love her things be hide from the light this is the second book in the knock him out series definitely my least favorite book in the knock talk about series but still so great and our main character is a police chief I love crime and mystery so any chance I get to read romance with a bit of crime and mystery in it I'm a sucker for it funny you should ask I heard so many mixed reviews about this book and I thought it was better than the reviews I heard I enjoyed it the female main character is a journalist and a mail man character is a movie star so we've got one of them as famous and she's writing an article about him this also might be one of my favorite covers ever for a romance book and then I end of the month with reading Once Upon A Broken Heart obsessed obsessed with this series another one of my top Series this was my first first year of ever reading Stephanie Garber and love her book she's going to become a new like Auto by author for me which brings us to May where I read the second book in the series The Ballad of Never After the male love interest in this series is a villain which is so fun and I just love Stephanie garber's writing style she writes so magically which is so perfect in a fantasy world oh my gosh back to the cool print series we have how the king of alame learned to hate stories this is a book of short stories about prince cardan it's such a fun little short read and the art in here is incredible let me just show you some some of the pages this is the visually coolest book that I own now for the reunion the reunion to me felt like funny you should ask but just less good so if you want a one of them as famous Trope I would first recommend funny you should ask but I still enjoyed this one this one is both of them are famous they're both movie stars and they were on a show together as kids and now they're doing a reboot reunion episode of the show Kiss of the sulky another fairy tale retelling this is a Little Mermaid retelling loved it this book also kind of felt like if the selection series met a fairy tale retelling there's a marriage competition in it which was a really fun take on the original Little Mermaid story then we've got the love wager this is the only LM painter book I've ever read That's not young adult and I really liked it the characters make a bet to see who can be the first one to find love so they're really like not looking at each other as potential love interest for a huge chunk of the book which I actually liked because that really allows them to become friends first which I think is just such a great foundation for a relationship then we have Legends and lattes you guys I'm so sorry I did not like this book I totally see why people do love this book and why it has such a high rating it's it's a cozy adorable comforting fantasy book but to me it was just kind of boring now for June I started off June with happy place by Emily Henry this book took me by surprise I am Emily Henry's biggest fan if there was a Spotify WRA for book authors I would be in the top 1% of Emily Henry's fans and all of her past books have been very like witty fun banter filled romances so I went into this book expecting that and this book is not B it's so different from her past books I would say this book is a fiction not a romance and it just happens to be about a couple it definitely caught me off guard for like the first half because I was like wait what this isn't like the Emily Henry books that I know so it took me a second to be like oh this is different from her other books and kind of get on board with it so I wasn't too sure about it for the first half but then I loved the second half Twisted games this is second book in the Twisted series remember when I said stick with the series if you don't like the first one here's why I really like this book it's a romance between a princess and her bodyguard which is such a fun setup and I love that we get so much more than just the romance we also get the politics of the princess this country all like the pressures and responsibilities of being a princess I love that it felt like a very full world and full plot the final Gambit the third book in The Inheritance game series I know there's going to be a new book the grandest game I'm not sure if that's a spin-off or a part of the inheritance game series I don't know there's so many books like in this universe now with like brothers Hawthorne but reading this as like the last book in The Inheritance games I feel like it ended it very well I would say it's my least favorite book in the series but I think a perfect ending then we've got the American roommate experiment this book is so cute I gave it five stars this is perfect if you want a swoon worthy romance that really feels like you're watching a romance movie like it will sweep you off your feet and the main character is a romance author which was so fun then we've got meet me at the lake it's a fun summer read the summer Vibes are Immaculate but there are definitely other summer books I've liked more so I don't know I would say like not the best or worst romance I've ever read I think I gave it four stars which is still very good oh this chunk of a book chain of thorns in June I finally made it through the last book in the last hour series it was so good there's one part that was so sad it was great seeing all the characters they just care so much about everybody and would literally sacrifice themselves to make sure their friends are okay so just seeing all their bravery in this book was amazing it was quite long I do remember feeling like parts of it kind of dragged but overall like so good I love cassander clir now to July into the tide is a book that was sent to me I never know with books that are sent to me how they're going to be because I didn't pick them out so it's always kind of like going in blind this is a really fun summer read it takes place over one summer in a small town and its brother best friend and boss employee Trope I really enjoyed it the summer Vibes are great I did feel like the writing could have been a little better I feel like it needed a bit more show don't tell it was very direct which didn't always work for me kisses and croissants this book is adorable if I could only use one word to describe this book it would be adorable it takes place during a summer in Paris I mean literally the city of love and our main character is a ballerina it was just so adorable then I read Shatter Me and the following Noella destroy me this book it it hooked me I read it all in one day it starts out pretty intense our main character has been in solitary confinement for 264 days it's very much a traditional like young adult dystopian book which I hadn't really read a series similar to this since probably Middle School I would say but I ate it up in the Midnight Library this is very different from what I would normally read I really liked that the main focus of this book is mental health it involves this magical Library where you can kind of like try on the like different versions of your life if you had made different choices the ending to me felt very typical I kind of wanted a Twist at the end but other than that I liked it now the last book in this stack Siege and storm this is the sequel to Shadow and Bone I really like Shadow and bone this book though to me I didn't love as much I thought it moved a lot slower than the first book and I don't know why in this book I really just stopped caring about the romance plot but I feel like this book felt kind of like a setup for book number three so I have a feeling that the third and last book in the series is going to be really good now on to our last stack and moving on to the month of August I started the chestnut spring series and read flawless I am obsessed with this series I love it so much it's a cowboy romance in a small town like do I need to say more than that it's great then we have fourth Wing which I know took the World by storm this was such a unique read for me because I've never read a fantasy book involving dragons or a fantasy book that takes place at a college I love that the stakes in this book were so high like any character could die at any moment and the romance oh the enemy is still love it it hit it was good then I really tackled the Shatter Me series in this month I read I wrote it down because there were so many I I read unravel me I read fracture me I read Ignite Me restore me shadow me defy me reveal me books three and four in this series get crazy the plot twist like it felt like a whole new series because the plot just took such an insane turn and then in September I finished the Shatter Me series with imagine me and the last Nolla believe me there's a lot of novellas in this series and in most series I feel like you can skip the novellas but in this series I would really really highly recommend reading the novelas they offer povs from all different characters and you get a lot of information in the novelas that you may not get that in the main series and then I started the caraval series caraval itself is this like magical competition and it was just so cool to read about it's so so magical and the competition of caravel has its own storyline so you never know what is real versus what is a part of the competition which was really cool then I listened to the honeymoon Crashers by Christina Lauren this is the sequel to The unhoneymooners I honestly haven't really been hearing anybody having listened to this little Nolla audio book I thought it was cute it's definitely not a must read but if you liked Amy's character from the unhoneymooners then I would definitely check out this novella because it's more of her story I'm glad my mom died I think this was the first and only Memoir that I read this year and I really want to read more Memoirs in 2024 I loved how real and raw this book is Janette MCC has a cool writing style she writes very direct this book is so sad but so good in the way it sheds so much light on her childhood and her relationship with her mother and how that affected her for the rest of her life the housemade this book starts out so creepy and eerie and then it escalates to the fullon dangerous and the plot twist in this book it got me good eight dates this is a relationship self-help book I think it's probably more geared towards people in long-term relationships but it could be also a good read if you're just starting a relationship my favorite thing about this book is that it not only has advice but it also has actionable things to do every single chapter with you and your partner then I started off October with Wildfire this is a sequel to Icebreaker it takes place at a summer camp which was so nostalgic for me and I love the male love interest in this book he was so shy and sweet which I think is a little more rare for the personality of a male love interest in Romance Books bring me your midnight I love this book so much I still cannot stop thinking about it it's a fantasy romance involving witches and it just had so many good themes of the balance of loyalty to others but also needing to find yourself and stay true to yourself it was very atmospheric I could go on and on and on I loved it back to the chestnut spring series with heartless this has the single parent Trope which I mentioned earlier in this video is one of my new favorite tropes it's a romance between a single dad and his nanny I don't know what it is about seeing characters single parents I think it just shows me automatically that they're like very loving and caring but also responsible so I just instantly like them escape room the concept for this book is so fun the main characters go to do an escape room but then the game master won't let them leave I think I gave it three and a half Stars it's like nothing crazy but I think it's perfect if you want a really fun concept and a really short read then I made my way back to the caraval series with legendary also love legendary it takes place at carav all which brings us to November where I read the last book in the carav all series finale I don't know what it is with Stephanie Garber books I only read two series by her the carow series and the Once Upon broken heart series her last books in the series were my least favorite of the whole series which is a little bit of a bummer because you kind of want the last book to be really good like end with a bang and feel like a really satisfying ending and another last book in the series is things we left behind I love this book so much this is Lucian and Sloan story from The Knockout series it really caught me off guard how much depth this book has it's definitely sad at part but I think the depth and kind of heartbreaking Parts made it a very meaningful read every day this is the first graphic novel I've read since the heartstopper series in 201 22 and it was really fun I think graphic novels are going to be a thing I continue to pick up more and more this one did fall a little flat for me I feel like in graphic novel version we just couldn't go as in depth so maybe I'd read the full novel at some point not sure this book murder of the family has the coolest format ever it's told as a fictional True Crime show so the whole book is written as a script and you also get a bunch of mixed media like you get like pictures newspaper articles comments from the web about the show it's just a really fun format room service another fun murder mystery by the same author as escape room so far all of her books that I've read have been like three and a half Star reads which I normally wouldn't go back to an author if they're giving me like three star Vibes but there's just something about her books that even though they aren't like the best Mysteries Ever they're just really fun and they're really short which sometimes you're just kind of in the mood for a book you can read in a few hours then I finished the Once Upon A Broken Heart series by reading a curse for true love I kind of mentioned this earlier but not my favorite in the series still love the series so much though so it's great to get a conclusion and I'm glad our main characters got a happy ending my dark Romeo I think this is is my least favorite book that I read in 2023 I just thought that M loveing was mean to be honest so I did not care for him or want to root for him because I didn't like him back to the chestnut spring series with powerless this is my least favorite that I've read in the chestnut spring Series so far but I still really liked it it's childhood friends to lovers and a sports romance check in made by Ali Hazelwood I love Ali Hazelwood so much I was so excited when I heard that she was writing a young adult book I like this book but I didn't love it and I have loved Ali hazelwood's past books so a little bit of a let down but still very cute iron flame how to review this book I love this series so was so great to be back in this world I still very much enjoyed it but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as I enjoyed fourth Wing which was a little bit of a bummer but but like still so good my two critiques would be that I wish it was a little bit shorter and some of like the problems in the romance that was keeping them apart felt a little silly and got a little repetitive but again I just love this world the seven-year slip this book caught me off guard with how beautiful it is how much depth it is and it's magical like what more could you want in a book it involves an apartment that slips Through Time Indigo Ridge my first time reading this author and I never know with reading a new author you know if I'll like them or not so I was so pleasantly surprised and happy when I loved this book it kind of reminds me of the chestnut spring series and that it's small town an takes place on a ranch but it also has a crime subplot which I loved now we're in the last month of the year December I started off the month by reading the Christmas fix I would say like not my favorite or least favorite Christmas book it's a very fun concept and involves a reality TV star going to the small town to do a Christmas special but I think there are other Christmas books I liked more same with window shopping there are other Christmas books I liked more the Christmas books just weren't hitting as much this year I don't know why then forever Never by Lucy score it's hard to rate this one just because I've read so many Lucy score books by now and there are other Lucy score books I loved way more but it was still a good romance I gave it four stars it wouldn't be the first Lucy score book I would recommend but if you've already read her main popular books this one is definitely worth a read the chase I love this book it's by L Kennedy I had it read an L Kennedy book since since the off-campus series and I felt so happy to be back in her world in one of her books again this is a college hockey romance and it had a ton of depth to it as well I was expecting just like a chill fun College romance and it is that but it's also so much more than that then I read a Heart Stopper yearbook this is so cute if you like the Heart Stopper series I just kind of randomly checked it out from my library and wasn't sure what it was going to be about but it takes you into the behind the scenes of the creation of heartstopper which is really fun and it has so many different elements from more about the characters about how the author created this series it has bonus illustrations that you don't get in the Heart Stopper series then I read Reckless I think this is my favorite book in the chestnut spring series Theo Silva is one of the best book boyfriends ever that's the end of my review thank you then we have a Christmas and Quincy this is a really short little Christmas Nolla definitely good if you're looking for a short Christmas read it takes place in a hotel at Christmas time which was just such a fun setting the wishing game this book really reminded me of Willy wonam the Chocolate Factory so if you like that book slth movies then I would check out this book and I want to read do a little blurb on the front because I think it perfectly describes my feelings towards this book this book is clever dark and hopeful a love letter to reading and the power childhood stories have over us long after we've grown up perfect if you love books about books and want something really magical Divine Rivals I thought this was just going to be like your stereotypical like enemies to lovers fantasy and it's really not that this is a very like quiet vulnerable raw read about these two characters who are rival journalists and also the world that they live in is at War it was so beautifully written I loved it and that is every single book I read this year okay I feel like I have been talking 4 hours so I will end the video here but I would love to hear how many books did you read in 2023 and what's going to be your 2024 reading goal book is literally my job so I have way more time to read than the average person but I'm so curious what all of y'all's reading goals are okay and with that I will see you guys in my next video bye\n"