AP season combined with the tennis season was rough and super busy, but I was still able to get some reading in! Expect some good content coming up this summer!
Stats:
- Read: 3 books
- Zero 1 star reads, zero 2 stars, one 3 star, zero 4 stars, two 5 stars
- Favorite book of May: Book Lovers
Heartstopper Volume 2 by Alice Oseman
I read this in preparation for watching the Heartstopper TV show! How could I ever give these books less than 5 stars? They’re just so sweet and portray the life of high schoolers so well. I honestly have no criticisms. Rating: 5 stars
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
This was probably my most anticipated book of 2022, and like always, Emily Henry didn’t disappoint. There was already so much hype about the book that, going into it, I thought I would be sobbing over how life-changing and relatable it was. That wasn’t the case for me- it was a 5 star read, but not a FIVE star read, if you know what I mean. I definitely connected a little less with Nora than I thought I would, considering how everyone said this book was MADE for the burned-out older daughters (aka me). Still, many parts about her character were painfully relatable and Emily Henry always does a superb job of creating romance books with both romance and deeply personal character arcs. I was completely sold on Charlie and Nora’s compatibility, and their banter was so fun. If I was feeling controversial, I might even go so far as to say that the romance didn’t even hold a candle to the themes of sisterhood, grief, responsibility, and home that were discussed. Rating: 5 stars
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
I can definitely appreciate this story for its suspenseful, sometimes horrifying retelling of the Hunger Games, The Lord of the Flies, and The Handmaid’s Tale. The themes of feminism and misogyny were also central part of the book, which was nice but didn’t really add anything new to the conversation. A main problem I had was that I couldn’t connect to the main character or any of the supporting characters. The girls’ personalities were not developed enough to the point where I could care about them or their survival. The tone of the story was dark and honestly depressing, and reading it during a stressful time in my life was not helpful either. Rating: 3 stars