Believe it or not, there was a time that I loved cute romance books and adored books with meet cutes. As I hit my twenties though, I suppose I became somewhat jaded. I hardly reached for these books anymore, and when I did, I didn’t enjoy them anywhere near as much as before. Then along came What If It’s Us. I couldn’t stop smiling while reading it!
OUT OF THE BLUE by Sophie Cameron
When I first read the synopsis of Out of the Blue, I was intrigued. After the first chapter, I was hooked. Then my expectations came crashing down before it partially mended towards the end. See, the concept of angels falling from the sky sounded like there’d be a lot more to it than what Out of the Blue had to offer.
RELEASE by Patrick Ness
The opening chapter of Release gave me pause for the extent to which it borrowed from the beginnings of Mrs Dalloway. I knew that Ness took inspiration from Mrs Dalloway and Forever by Judy Blume. I’ve read the former, but not the latter. And let’s just say, I didn’t like that classic very much. I gave it 0.5 stars, although I could see what Virginia Woolf had meant to accomplish. But I’ve adored past books of Patrick Ness, so I was curious.
ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was beautiful! I’ve had the hardcover on my bookshelves for over two years. I also knew that Lin-Manuel Miranda was an excellent narrator. But the more people told me to read it, the more I put it off. Yes, I blame my irrational brain. I wanted to read it but then I refused because others encouraged me to. Thankfully, Hazel picked it for our June Epic Recs, so I couldn’t deny her pick. I went on to alternate between print and audio.
MORE HAPPY THAN NOT by Adam Silvera
For the month of February Hazel picked More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera as her book recommendation for me to read. What made this round of Epic Recs different was that we specifically chose to go with audiobooks. This also meant that for once we didn’t pick books the other already owned, and so had free rein.