I've read Echoes by Alice Reeds twice, and I still have no idea what the heck is going on. This YA Thriller novel follows two timelines as high school students Fiona and Miles are both stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash and being hunted down in Berlin. I get nitpicky talking about issues with the writing style and try to guess what is going on and what will happen in the next book.

This week we take a trip into the past with Anna North's historical fiction novel Outlawed. We follow Ada as she joins an outlaw group in the Wild West made up of women and their nonbinary leader the Kid. I rant about the repeated use of the phrase "not unkindly," praise the feminist and racial message of the book, and discuss what kept me from loving this book.

Moving away from my more fantastical and romantic reads, I picked up The Cat Who Taught Me How to Fly by Hashem Gharaibeh this week. In this book about an Arab prison, our main character Imad struggles with the decision to renounce his allegiance to the Communist party and walk free or stay true to himself and stay in a Jordanian prison. My inner English major comes out as I ponder truth versus fact, try to define freedom, and question what the jasmine symbolizes.

In Rhiannon Thomas's standalone YA fantasy novel, Freya becomes queen after being 23rd in line for the throne. She must use her scientific skills to find out who poisoned the court and keep herself alive. I spend a long time drawing comparisons between the coup scene in this book and real life, explain my thought process on trying to figure out who the murderer was, and address various complaints about this book.

Now that Emily and Simon have gotten their happily ever after (HEA), it's time for Stacey to get hers in Well Played by Jen DeLuca. Stacey spends 11 months messaging her Faire fling, only to find out that she's actually been talking to someone else the entire time. I applaud the choice Stacey makes at the end of the book, low key question the choices Stacey's love interest makes, and spend some time comparing Well Played to Well Met.

To kick of 2021, I'm doing a two week series on Jen DeLuca's Well Met and Well Played. First up is Well Met where our main character Emily learns there's no place quite like a Renaissance. Sparks fly when Emily meets Simon and at first they are not the good kind. I give my opinion on the enemies to lovers trope, wonder if someone can actually fall in love in less than a month, and praise the secondary characters.

2020 was one for the books. Literally. I spent most of this year reading, and when you hear how many books I read this year you'd be hard pressed to disagree. After recounting how many books I read this year and what genres they all fall into, I discuss both my favorite and least favorite books I read in 2020. Get ready to hear about some of the usual suspects from earlier episodes, but also new ones as well from earlier in the year.

Happy Holidays! What better way is there to celebrate Christmas than talking about In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren, which is a holiday themed book. Our main character Mae is stuck in a time loop reliving the same week over and over again until she gets it right. I wish for more resets in the timeline, contemplate what was up with Theo, and share my own personal connection with Mae.

In A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik creates a magic school that you would NOT want to go to considering half of the students die before they graduate. That doesn't phase our main character El, who is determined to make it out alive and not compromise her morals to do it. I spend way too long describing the confusing magic system and the school, examine El's character and morals, and rave about her friendship with Orion.

Not being able to travel was no problem because with The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany Lori Nelson Speilman took me straight to Italy. Emilia and her cousin Lucy accompany their Great Aunt Poppy to Italy for her 80th birthday hoping to break the family curse keeping all second born daughters from finding love. I rank all of Emilia's love interests, question how she can be so forgiving toward her family, and touch on some of the real life inspiration for the book.