Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft
Chapter one was a 50/50 mix of current moment events and backstory. We learn of Wren’s feelings/relationship towards Una, her superior officer and how she broke orders by healing a spy. And we also get snippets of the kingdom, the queen, part of the problem and her missing friends. I enjoyed the present scene moment more with their dialogue, the rest didn’t have much white space on the page and felt slower. We already see her arc potential of acknowledging that she’s good enough.
In chapter 3 the author makes FF love clear so I appreciate the LGBTQ+ representation.
I made it to chapter 5 but DNF. I bet it would get much more interesting if she decided to leave & be the healer for the enemy’s side, but I was too bored waiting for something to happen. The descriptive prose did well of giving a cryptic and dark vibe which I loved but I was just too bored. Sorry y’all.
Here’s the blurb of Down Comes the Night:
He saw the darkness in her magic. She saw the magic in his darkness.
Wren Southerland’s reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she’s been dismissed from the Queen’s Guard and separated from her best friend―the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.
The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren’s patient isn’t a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom’s sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths.
With sinister forces at work, Wren and Hal realize they’ll have to join together if they have any hope of saving their kingdoms. But as Wren circles closer to the nefarious truth behind Hal’s illness, they realize they have no escape from the monsters within the mansion. All they have is each other, and a startling desire that could be their downfall.
Everything I Never Told You be Celest Ng
I did not finish because there was too much head hopping. This contemporary murder mystery has a lot of potential with cultural differences and family drama & community relationships. I just can’t sink into a story when there’s a lot of head hopping. Here’s the blurb: “Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
Here is the blurb of “Everything I Never Told You”:
“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
Counting Down With You by Tashie Bhuiyan
I appreciate the first person present tense writing in this YA contemporary story. I want to read more in this point of view as research for my next project. In chapter one I learned about Karina’s family dynamic and how she’s relieved to have a month of freedom from her parents. The voice of this sixteen years old definitely feels full YA instead of a potential NA crossover. In chapter 4 there’s a thread of text messages which I’m not super into in novels. I tried to stick with it, but if the two versions of YA that are out there, this one feels more young compared to others. Which is great for the intended teen audience, but doesn’t seem to carryover to middle age women who also enjoy YA books sometimes. It’s harder to relate to.
Here’s the blurb:
Karina Ahmed has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents’ rules—even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything.
Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. But Ace Clyde does everything right—he brings her coffee in the mornings, impresses her friends without trying, and even promises to buy her a dozen books (a week) if she goes along with his fake-dating facade. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back.
T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal—but what if Karina no longer wants it to?
Daughters of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
Unfortunately I was bored. Sorry, y’all. I think this book would be great for readers who like slower plot with high levels of detailed descriptions.
Here is the blurb:
Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.
Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.
To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.
Desperate Measures by Katee Robert
After chapter 1 it is crystal clear that this will be a dark, steamy villain-is-the hero story. Jafar has taken over the kingdom and is offering Jasmine freedom if she can outrun him to the front door. She flees. But only after a moment of hesitation when a part of her wonders what it would be like to be with evil Jafar.
In chapter 2 I’m put off of the story. I understand there’s a content warning before the book starts so it’s my choice to continue reading. But I also don’t feel okay with this: “Scream if it makes you feel better. We both know why you won’t make me stop. You want this.”
“I don’t want this.”
The mixed signals. The thrashing and fighting against him but also somewhat aroused doesn’t work for me, especially if this is labeled as romance. Because these are the scenes we’re starting out with, it’s not in the middle of the book where the reader has been inside Jasmine’s head for multiple chapters and understands her. It might excite many readers to be forced into something and pushed against their limits and have men say they know what they want. But I also feel as if it’s irresponsible to make that type of dialogue romanticized.
Here’s the blurb:
Once upon a time, I was a sheltered princess.
On the night Jafar takes everything from my father, he offers me a devil’s bargain—walk with my freedom and nothing else, or attempt to best him and regain my inheritance. In my arrogance, I play right into his hands. I foolishly assume I have a chance to come out on top. I’m wrong.
Now Jafar owns me, body and soul.
We fight during the day, but when night comes, we play out every fantasy I’ve never allowed myself to admit to having. I can’t hide them from Jafar, though. We know each other—and the dark desires we share—far too well. He sees to my every need, no matter how carnal or extravagant. It’s almost enough for me to be happy…
But a gilded cage is still a prison, and I’ll do anything to obtain my freedom—even betray the man I’m falling for.
One Plus One by Jojo Moyes
In the prologue, we are in Ed’s point of view. He’s confused and upset that his own company is suspending him from work for possibly giving insider trading info to a woman he dated. Now the police are waiting for him for questioning. In chapter one we hear from Jess and in chapter three we switch to Tanzie’s viewpoint.
There were too many characters introduced right off the bat and I was feeling confused and overwhelmed at the start.
So, I stopped a few chapters in. There didn’t seem to be any clear objective to the story and it felt too aimless.
Here’s the blurb if you’re interested:
Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied, and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight in shining armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages . . . maybe ever.
Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott
Five Feet Apart was a DNF for me because instead of living in the character’s point of view, I’m on the terrifying parent side and can’t deal with imagining my children in this position. The prose were very YA and it was a shorter book compared to others recently so I recommend this for a younger crowd. I enjoyed that the points of view went back and forth between Stella and Will. The author did a great job of showing contemporary times with social media and vivid examples of Stella’s life balanced between her home and friendships verse the hospital.
Here’s the blurb:
Can you love someone you can never touch?
Stella Grant likes to be in control—even though her totally out of control lungs have sent her in and out of the hospital most of her life. At this point, what Stella needs to control most is keeping herself away from anyone or anything that might pass along an infection and jeopardize the possibility of a lung transplant. Six feet apart. No exceptions.
The only thing Will Newman wants to be in control of is getting out of this hospital. He couldn’t care less about his treatments, or a fancy new clinical drug trial. Soon, he’ll turn eighteen and then he’ll be able to unplug all these machines and actually go see the world, not just its hospitals.
Will’s exactly what Stella needs to stay away from. If he so much as breathes on Stella she could lose her spot on the transplant list. Either one of them could die. The only way to stay alive is to stay apart. But suddenly six feet doesn’t feel like safety. It feels like punishment.
What if they could steal back just a little bit of the space their broken lungs have stolen from them? Would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too?
One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
In chapter one Katy is grieving the recent death of her mother and contemplating divorcing her husband, Eric. She is considering flight 363, which I’m assuming is to Italy.
In chapter 2, Eric seems like a good guy overall and willing to work on their differences and talk through it. Katy is depressed and needs a break so is flying alone to Europe. I’m interested to read her healing journey, but am still finding myself skimming. It feels like a Colleen Hoover type of book but not as gut-wrenching with the feelings.
Sometimes I feel like information is being “told” to me instead of shown like- “We picked June for our trip because it was still a little ahead of tourist season.”
At page 51 I’m feeling guilty because I haven’t experienced real loss of a close family member or best friend so it’s a bit hard for me to relate to this type of grieving of missing someone. Sometimes I feel like I’m a robot and won’t respond to death in the way I’m “supposed to.”
In chapter 8 I’m not sure if what’s happening is magic or metaphorical for how she’s mentally processing her emotions?
Before I reached halfway, I just caught myself skimming too much and couldn’t fully engage and attach myself to the characters and story.
Here’s the blurb:
When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: to Positano, the magical town where Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.
But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.
And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that she has somehow, impossibly, gotten her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.
Thanks for reading!
See my first seven DNF lists on my blog and compare my thoughts to which books you had more patience to finish than me. I also have 250 reviews on my blog to check out more details. If you click at the hastags on the bottom of each page, it’ll lead you to a list of similar novels that share a common trope/theme.
Cassie Swindon 