ruby read

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“If you think the story has a sad ending, it's because it's not over yet.” ― Emily Henry, Beach Read

this may truly have been the best book i have read so far in the year of 2021. emily henry wrote a fucking masterpiece with this book. its a romance that will literally sweep you off your feet and make even the most cynical person believe in love, but its also so much more. she paints the most beautiful picture of how complicated life and love can truly be. it can be happiness and sadness and it can be anger and contentment. love is an extremely complicated emotion, and life is full of multi-faceted experiences that can push our boundaries and redefine what certain emotions mean. our MC, january, struggled with this. january is realizing that life sucks and its fucking complicated and you don't have to romanticize your life for it to be beautiful.

anyway, this book follows january who has just found out that her recently deceased father was having an affair for most of her childhood. a year after his passing she moves into his second home on lake michigan (the house where he lived with "the other woman"). here january is tasked with not only writing a book that she has struggled to even start for the last year, but also pack up and sell the house, all while confronting her complicated feelings about her father. here she also runs into her college nemesis, augustus, a best-selling author and certified mysterious sexy man. together they compete for who can write the best book in each others genres as they go on adventure for "writing research" and maybe fall in love).

if i can persuade you to read one book on this entire blog, it is this one. this literally probably changed my life. it made me feel seen in a way i didn't even know i needed to be seen. it helped me unpack the experience of being an adult and seeing your parents as real people for the first time and taking off the rose-colored glasses you sometimes look at your childhood through.

glint - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ gleam - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

“We’re all captives of something, even things we don’t want to admit to.” ― Raven Kennedy, Glint

“But that's the curse of the survivors. We have to live with our dead.” ― Raven Kennedy, Gleam

i can see what raven kennedy is trying to do with this series and i have to say, i don't hate it. it's definitely cheesy, it's definitely a little on the nose, but i am loving every bit of it. i can't get enough of this series. it's an extremely slow burn romance that gets steamy FAST. it's about empowerment and rampant misogyny and the perceived fragility of women. this series somehow is also about fae? it feels like it shouldn't work but it really really does. i gobbled up the next two installments of this series however i am extremely ANGRY with miss raven kennedy and her inability to finish a book without a cliffhanger!!

these next installments in the plated prisoner series continues to follow our main character auren and her journey with midas. we get a lot more background on their relationship and we get to see more of auren's past as well. we see how the world has continues to break her and use her and see her as an object, and how that has affected how she then sees herself. she is also learning more about herself outside of the eyes of midas.

the world building increases exponentially in these next two books and so does auren's character development. so many questions are answered in these two books, but you are also left with so many more. there are gruesome scenes, steamy as FUCK scenes, and some heartwarming scenes so kennedy really gives us everything we could want. there really isn't anything crazy happening in this series good or bad, but it is utterly incapsulating.

⭐⭐⭐.5

“Does it really matter if your cage is solid gold when you aren't allowed to leave it? A cage is a cage, no matter how gilded.” ― Raven Kennedy, Gild

cw: graphic sexual assault, physical and emotional abuse, confinement/slavery

so here's the thing. i did enjoy this book like the plot was fine and i wanted to read the second installment right after i finished this one, but there was absolutely NO reason why there needed to be a graphic on-page depiction of sexual assault. i feel like that just crossed a line. it's not even that dark of a book so the level of graphic-ness was really out of left field and felt super unnecessary.

so gild follows a young woman auren who is in love with king midas, so much so that she has allowed him to gold-touch her. so she is literally a golden (or gilded haha) woman. because she is so "precious" as he calls her, midas keeps her in a cage to make sure no one can touch her but him. for the most part she is comfortable in her cage, she feel like it keeps her safe from the outside world which has hurt her a lot (she has a lot of childhood trauma). the plot gets going when something happens in the politics of the kingdoms in this world and so auren has to travel outside of her cage. she begins to question all of the things that maybe midas has been telling her, and if she even liked the cage at all.

this very much felt like a first book in a series. it introduced the characters and built the world so we really got a sense of where we were and who we were reading about. i feel like auren is borderline an unreliable narrator because there are so many secrets she has but that she is hiding even from herself so we don't get to see even though the book is in first-person. she is also so blinded by her love for midas that she often has skewed perceptions of the situations that she is in.

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“I am here, I am with you.” ― Sarah J. Maas, Kingdom of Ash

somehow i thought this book was going to take me forever to finish but look at me now. i SOARED through this book and loved every single second. there was not a single part of the 1000 pages that lagged. everything and i mean literally everything that happened throughout all 7 of the previous books, have been leading up to this epic finale. sjm somehow tied up everything in a nice neat bow and this has truly been the only series finale novel that has ever left me feeling so fulfilled and satisfied. in complete and utter awe, yes, but also so satisfied.

i can't give too much of a synopsis on kingdom of ash because it is the 8th book in a very long epic fantasy series, but i can sure as hell try. this 1000 page honker of a finale to the throne of glass series follows all of our favorite MCs from the previous books: aelin, rowan, dorian, chaol, manon, yrene, nesryn, elide, aedion, lysandra. EVERYONE gets their moment. the war that has been brewing for the past 7 books (and millenia in the tog-verse) is finally upon us. we watch this epic battle unfold and see the gruesome reality of war, loss, and sacrifice.

this book was everything i needed out of the ending of throne of glass and more. i didn't think that sjm could deliver the kind of closure i needed from this world and the characters that i have grown to love so much but she delivered that and more. i don't know how she planned for literally everything since the first book because things that i don't even remember from previous installments were wrapped up neatly and beautifully. she didn't leave me feeling anything but satisfied and happy and lowkey sobbing by the time i closed the book.

i'm so sad to see our main characters' journey end but i know that i will always have this world to think back on and dwell on. i got to see what it means to love someone, to love yourself, and to love something bigger and greater than you with honor. aelin taught me all of those things and for that, i am thankful.

empire of storms - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ tower of dawn - ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

so of course, my september tbr has simply been ignored and i ended up finishing my tandem read of EOS and TOD. it took me a long time to finish these - probably because of the tandem read, but i wouldn't have done it any other way. i couldn't imagine having read them one at a time i feel like i needed the back and forth and everything that was happening at once ESPECIALLY after the ending of empire of storms.

so in these books we follow aelin galathynius and chaol westfall on their journeys after the events of queen of shadows. both parties are preparing for the war that has been brewing for the entire series. the events of both of these books happen on a concurrent timeline and thus can be read at the same time without spoilers.

by the end of both of these books i was again shocked by how much of a genius sjm is. it takes SO much planning to be able to pull off what she has done in these books. everything that we have learned and experienced in the last 5 books have all culminated and connected in these two installments. there was just no way i could have ever predicted how all of these things were going to connect but somehow they did and every single time i was shocked.

i immediately jumped into kingdom of ash because empire of storms ends on a cliffhanger, and i am currently gobbling it up. it's so weird to think of a time when i thought i really was never going to finish this series and now i'm almost done!

the city of brass by s.a. chakraborty the testaments by margaret atwood we hunt the flame by hafsah faizal the ones we're meant to find by joan he the dating plan by sara desai the vanishing half by brit bennett

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

“The universe erases me, but it also remakes me again and again, so there must be something worthwhile in this image.” -- Micaiah Johnson, The Space Between Worlds

The Space Between Worlds follows Cara who is a trans-universal traveler within the multiverse. She works for an Elon Musk-type company called Eldridge that has a monopoly over multiverse travel and possibly some malicious intent. In this world, you can only travel to a parallel universe if you are already dead in that world. Our MC was chosen to work for Eldridge because she is only alive on 8 of the 350-ish parallel Earths and when one of her last remaining 8 selves gets murdered, the plot unfolds. She begins to question her life, what she knows to be true, and her sense of value and purpose.

This book fulfilled everything I wanted out of it. It deals with the complex question of who are we? And who would we be if we made one different decision in life? Would we still know the same people or be in love with the same people in a different universe? It addresses all of this in a beautiful narrative about a young woman finding meaning in her life when her job has been to travel to the many places in which that world has killed her.

It's also a critique of classism and racism in a way that felt so real even in a fictional world. Many of the multiverse "traversers" are young Black and brown folks who are from the poor "wasteland" cities located outside of the world's main fancy cities' walls. They end up dying more frequently in other worlds because they don't have access to the city's healthcare or protection. They are also usually seen as "savage" and "dirty" by the "pristine" (and white) Wiley City residents. Cara deals with a lot of discrimination during her time in Wiley City and follows a beautiful character arc while unpacking her identity. Johnson also wrote in lovely casual representation for non-binary and LGBTQIA folks.

The Space Between Worlds blew my mind with all of the twists, turns, and multiverse connections. It made me reevaluate life and my values and what it means to love unconditionally.

⭐⭐⭐.5

if you are looking for a hot steamy romance that is kind of insta-lovey but also in a way that is sooo engaging, the kiss quotient is for you. it also has solid representation for the AAPI and autistic communities!

the kiss quotient follows stella, a statistician on the autism spectrum, who is being pressured by her family to find love. she decides that in order to get more practice with relationships (and sex) she needs to hire an escort. and thus the tension ensues!

as someone who studied math in college, i loved that stella had an analytical mind and all of the mathy things that she did at work. i also loved having an aapi love interest, especially because in media asian men are so rarely portrayed as sexy or cast in that main love interest role.

so while i did love many things about this book, and i did love michael and stella's romance, i also had a few problems with it. i did not love michael's possessiveness of stella, calling her "my stella" and in some parts infantilized her which i took issue with. i also didn't love that stella's progress in coping with some of her sensory or social struggles were because of the romance with michael.

in short, if you are looking for a strongly feminist romance this is not really it (at least in my mind based on when i read it). but it does have solid identity rep and if you don't focus too much on it, it is such an enjoyable romance read and i would suggest everyone read it despite my small issues with it.

the deal - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ the mistake - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .75 the score - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ the goal - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.5

this series of four standalone new adult romances follows a group of four friends who play hockey at a ivy league-like college called briar university. each one of them are non-committal and love to sleep around...until they meet the heroine. ; )

so. i read the deal either as the last book of 2020 or the first book of 2021 and i was kind of confused as to why it was popular. it felt very wattpad and i wasn't taken by the plot or the writing. not to say i didn’t enjoy it, because i definitely had a fun time - sometimes you just have to turn a blind eye to bad writing for a cheesy romance. BUT i was kind of unsure at the end of the first installment.

after i read the deal i definitely didn't think i would finish this series but this past month i finally got into the mistake (book 2) and WHEW i have been hooked ever since. the score (book 3) was by far my favorite. it follows DEAN (*swoon*) one of the most man-whore-y of the hockey team. the goal was my second favorite with the mistake taking number three and the deal being last place.

elle kennedy has some crazy ability to make an incredibly steamy and cheesy romances while also making them about something more and subverting tropes. of course many of her female characters are "not like the other girls" and all of her male characters usually start as pretty misogynistic, but somehow they also feel somehow more than both of those things?

i am literally so addicted to this series and i can't stop. even the goal which has definitely not my favorite trope had me by the fucking balls until the end.

heir of fire by sarah j maas - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ glass sword by victoria aveyard - ⭐⭐⭐.75 the assassin's blade by sarah j maas - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ queen of shadows by sarah j maas - ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 people we meet on vacation by emily henry - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ the grace year by kim liggett - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

not pictured: the year we fell down by sarina bowen - ⭐⭐⭐.75 the year we hid away by sarina bowen - ⭐⭐⭐.75

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“Heaven is a boy in a treehouse, with cold hands and a warm heart.” ― Kim Liggett, The Grace Year

this book quite literally ruined me. clearly i thought i was on a throne-of-glass-a-thon but it has quickly been interrupted by fast-paced standalone reads, such as this one.

the grace year is kind of a female lord of the flies mixed with the handmaid's tale. this book is gruesome, dark, emotional, and utterly bewitching. throughout the entire read i was questioning everything, and never ONCE were my guesses about the plot correct.

this story follows tierney who is about to go on her "grace year" where all sixteen year olds in her town disappear for a year and come back broken women without their magic and thus ready to be married. none of the women speak about what happens in the grace year, she only tries to gather what she can from whispers and the scars (physical and emotional) on the women around her. tierney is determined not to be a wife and to break the oppressive and violent mold that her town tries to put her in.

i had absolutely no idea where this book was going to take me. i went in basically blind and boy did it suck me in immediately. the grace year took me on a wild fucking rollercoaster of emotions and events and i loved every second. tierney is an incredibly strong, smart, and loving young woman and her journey tells an incredible story about womanhood, oppression, and rebellion. it's a great read as a woman because it challenges the societal expectation where women are pitted against each other. (it also has an INCREDIBLE romance that literally swept me off my feet)

the last fourth of this book was my favorite and literally so fucking emotional. liggett didn't give us a perfectly happy ending, but a more realistic one. it felt real within the scope of the incredibly violent and oppressive world that tierney exists in. she also could have easily ended the book a fair few chapters earlier but i really appreciated how she showed what happened in the "after."

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honestly i rarely read adult contemporary romances, i'm much more of a larger-plot-with-romance-subplot type reader. BUT i have heard only amazing things about this book as well as emily henry so i feel like i HAD to give it a shot.

i do think i rated it a little harsh (if i was more of a romance reader it might be a five star) but its hard for me to feel like it was a five star without complex worldbuilding and politics.

all that said, i had a great time reading this book. i literally DEVOURED it. alex is such a great character and honestly so is poppy. their problems felt real but not heavy so it was an engaging but not overly emotional read. i also tend to read much more enemies to lovers so it was so cute and fun to read a friends to lovers.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

i guess the month of july has just become a personal throne-of-glass-a-thon. i can't stop reading these books! for those of y'all who have read sjm before, you know how truly addictive her writing and worlds can be.

i loved how in this book sjm gave every single character their own sense of agency and their own chance for growth and redemption. in heir of fire we followed different groups of characters on disconnected plotlines but the same timeline. in this book we finally got to see the plots and timelines come together and how all of the main characters play into the bigger picture of the series.

i sometimes struggle with book series longer than like three or four books because i feel like the main conflict can become too drawn out. however, in this series i see how each book builds on this giant political conspiracy and adds to this complex world that sjm has created. the series focuses on political tension that has been developing in adarlan for a literal decade if not more. each book reveals more about the impending war and preparing all of the main players for that big conflict.

i simply cannot stop reading these books and am excited/scared to finally get to the finale - kingdom of ash. quite a daunting task at almost 1000 pages, but i would do it for sjm.

going to be reading tower of dawn and empire of storms concurrently and will hopefully finish both of them before the end of july.

⭐⭐⭐.75

this was honestly a huge surprise. i really really did not like red queen. it didn't age well against other older YA dystopian novels and felt immature and poorly paced.

however... i really enjoyed glass sword. for some reason, i decided to pick up the series again even after i had absolutely no interest in reading it after i finished red queen. but i am really glad that i did.

though this book was by far not the best book i have read this year, i did really enjoy it. i love a good lead up to a revolution and the building of an army. mare goes through so much in this book and deals with so much in the aftermath of the first book. again, she is not my favorite character but i can appreciate how she is morally gray, full of trauma, and trying to deal with everything that this world has handed her.

i love how aveyard gives mare a ton of agency but makes her more real by showing how she doesn't really know what to do with it. she is struggling with her power, both physical and political, and how to feel and act like a leader when she doesn't want to be one.

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as i make my way through the throne of glass series, i love to see sjm's writing become what i loved when reading acotar. it was beautiful to read about celeana's beginning and everything that shaped her into who she was in throne of glass.

the first novella wasn't my favorite, but i loved how as a group the five of them blended together and showed celeana's own character development during her time as an assassin. the assassin and the red desert was by far my favorite of the five, and the last one... absolutely destroyed me.

i see why people like to read it before the first book because i think i would have been able to suffer through tog easier knowing that sjm's writing would get better and how much i would love celeana.

for people who are unsure about the series or read the first one and don't love the characters, i suggest reading the assassin's blade. i had a great time in all of the novellas and my view on celeana definitely changed by the end.

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this was the second best book i have read this year behind a court of mist and fury... probably because they are kind of the same?

so honestly i had very low expectations for the entire throne of glass series after reading the first book. i had also heard it was much more of a fantasy than a fantasy romance like the acotar series. AND most of the big plot twists/reveals were spoiled for me on booktok.

HOWEVER, this book changed my whole mind about the series. i loved all of the new characters we met and the multiple perspectives that jumped to different places and different perspectives of what was happening in the world. (manon and abraxos are the highlight of this book honestly). and we finally get to meet rowan! and of course sjm made me cry when his story finally got told.

the way that sjm writes extremely raw and real representations of trauma and mental health and the powerful journey to recovery. celaena has so much agency in this book and so much growth and power and vulnerability and love.

i can definitely see how the first two books were building blocks for this book which is the ultimate building block for the next 4 books in the series.

(a little late)

the gilded wolves by roshani chokshi girls of paper and fire by natasha ngan skyward by brandon sanderson furyborn by claire legrand daughter of smoke and bone by laini taylor

not pictured (gonna read at my own pace): throne of glass series by sarah j maas the addicted series by krista and becca ritchie