Books and Sensibility

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Fiction

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

17 Hours | Mamillian Audio| Adult Fantasy| Release Date: 10/06/21

This book is one of a long list of books I read because of TikTok. My interest in this book was initially peaked when I heard Schwab’s interview on Wicked Wallflowers, but seeing it so much on TikTok is what made me sit down and listen to this 17-hour audiobook.

300 years ago, Addie LeRue made a Faustian deal with a dark god to live forever but he also cursed her with the inability to be remembered.  Until now.

This book has a unique premise and of the three and 1/2 (still need to finish A Conjuring of Light) Schwab books I’ve read this one was my favorite. Schwab really leads readers through the intricacies of the curse and I’d liked seeing how Addie worked within the confines of her curse and travels from rural 18th century France to modern-day New York City. I think a book that moves through time just works for me.

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I Think I Love You by Auriane Desombre

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Underlined | Contemporary | Release Date: 03/02/21

This YA Romance is from a new imprint called Underlined, a genre-focused collaboration between Delacorte and the Underlined teen writing community. The books are described as “highly-commercial and compulsively-readable” which is why I think this book hits the ground running. Within the first few pages, we are quickly introduced to all our characters, their backstories and then we dive into the plot as this group of New York City teens enter a short film competition.

Fifteen-year-old Emma has big ideas for the group’s short film, she loves romance and wants to make the queer rom-com of her dreams. That is until Sophia, her anti-romance frenemy objects, so they decide to split up their friend group and make two opposing films. Cue enemies-to-lovers.

I thought this was a great book for the younger YA set if they can handle the language. It’s very plotty and earnest but allows the teens to talk and act like actual teenagers. Desombre is a teacher and I feel like she narrowed in on what is important to teenagers. The romance between Emma and Sophia felt natural and they both have to put the work in for their HEA.

This cover confounds me because this book clearly takes place in an idealized New York City so why are there palm trees on the cover? Yes, the prize for winning is a trip to California but that is the only California reference.

Book Review: Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West

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Unrated | 352 pages | Park Row | Contemporary | 6/16/2020

Trigger Warning: sexual assault, incest and domestic violence

Saving Ruby King examines the past and present of Southside Chicago’s Calagary Baptist congregation after the murder of Alice King. I feel like this could be a read-a-like to The Mothers by Brit Bennett because it’s the story of a specific Black community told through multiple POVs that moves through time.

Alice’s daughter Ruby is left to contend with her abusive father Lebanon–an ex-con who is holding a dark secret over Calgary’s hard-working preacher.

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A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

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Rating: 3 out of 5.

16 hours 7 minutes| Bloomsbury | Fantasy| Release Date: 5/15/2015

I’m really good at reading super hyped YA releases several years after they come out. Like, I pre-ordered The Fault In Our Stars and then didn’t read it until the movie trailer came out three years later. I can’t believe it’s been five years since ACOTAR debuted and I finally decided to see what all the hype (and controversy) was about and read my first Sara J Maas.

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Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

 9 hours 58 min. | G.P. Putnam’s Son | Adult Fiction  | Release Date: 12/31/19 

2020 has been kind of a meh reading year for me so I decided to switch it up with some upmarket book club-y fiction. This is one of those books where it’s better to go in with as little information as possible. Such a Fun Age starts with 25-year-old Emira, a Black girl living in Philadelphia, being racially profiled while babysitting a white child. The book then follows Emira as she tries to figure out how to become a “real adult” and her boss, Alix Chamberlain, who starts noticing Emira in a new way after the incident.

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Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley

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414 pages | Simon & Schuster | Historical Fiction|  Release Date: 04/24/18

It’s sort of fitting that I read this book at the end of the year because the end of this book was such a letdown. Bellwether is a blend of historical and contemporary fiction revolving around the Wilde Family and their lasting legacy in small-town Millbank, NY …

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