Aurora's Updates

Aurora added 'We Fell Apart'

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 07:19:08 -0700

Aurora gave 5 stars to We Fell Apart (Hardcover) by E. Lockhart
bookshelves: own
4.5 stars rounded up

Matilda is living with her mother's ex-boyfriend after recently being dumped by her boyfriend and all his friends when an invitation comes out of the blue to visit the father she's never known. Kingsley invites her to his castle on Martha's Vineyard, but when she arrives he's not there and only her half-brother was expecting her. Something's wrong with the castle, too — nobody is keeping it up, and the few people still living there seem like they could be the last lingering members of a cult. Desperate to learn more about her family, Matilda must uncover the truth about the castle before it's too late.

I felt truly transported to the setting in this novel, which felt alive in a way that many settings do not. It did a great job of adding to the mystery and somewhat horrific elements of the book. I think Lockhart did a better job with the setting in this book than she did with either of the previously published Liars books.

I didn't really like the love interest, Tatum, but he was still an interesting character. I understand why he made the choices he made, but a lot of them were deeply questionable. That goes for all of the characters in this book, pretty much, but I found Meer, Matilda's brother, to be significantly more sympathetic than Tatum was. June, Matilda's stepmother, is also a complex character — sort of hate-able, but you can't exactly hate her for what she did because she was trapped too.

I appreciated the Jewish representation in this book as well, and the representation overall. Matilda's mother and her ex-boyfriend are also Jewish, and June and Meer are part Japanese. Meer is gay, and I think Holland, a side character, is a nonbinary lesbian. The way Holland was written as a nonbinary character is a little confusing — there's one line about it, and then she/her pronouns are used for her. Lockhart's author's note says that they/them pronouns weren't being used much yet in 2012 and Holland comes from an establishment family, which is why she uses she/her pronouns. I suppose that makes some sense, but I don't think it would have exactly been unrealistic for her to use they/them pronouns since she was just hanging out on the island with her best friends, not with her parents. People did definitely use they/them in 2012. It's not that big of a deal, but it is a little odd.

The plot twist in this book was a little more predictable than the ones in We Were Liars or Family of Liars, but I didn't entirely predict it. I thought I knew what was going on, and I had a partial idea of what was going on, but not the complete idea. It was still a very enjoyable read.

We Fell Apart releases Nov 4 2025 from Delacorte Press. Thank you to Netgalley, E. Lockhart and Delacorte Press for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Aurora is 42% done with We Fell Apart

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 12:08:59 -0700

Aurora is 42% done with We Fell Apart.

Aurora added 'Forgive-Me-Not'

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 16:24:11 -0700

Aurora gave 5 stars to Forgive-Me-Not (Paperback) by Mari Costa
bookshelves: own
4.75 stars rounded up

Aisling is a princess who doesn't know she's a fae changeling under a glamour until she's captured by the human whose place she took. Forget-Me-Not, the true princess, wants to break free of the faerie schemes she's been forced to operate under and sees stealing Aisling as the answer, but she doesn't expect to fall in love with the pretty hobgoblin.

I love books about faeries and sapphic romance, and this book was wonderful! I didn't expect it to be a graphic novel (I haven't read a lot of those), but I'm happy with it nonetheless. The art is beautiful and a little reminiscent of the descriptions of faeries in both older lore and Holly Black's modern books. The villain is appropriately spooky, and the art of the side characters is beautifully detailed. I wish it could have been longer, but I understand that a lot of work goes into making a graphic novel of this length at its current length.

Thank you to Netgalley and First Second Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Aurora added 'Love Stories'

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 11:43:44 -0700

Aurora gave 4 stars to Love Stories (The Taylors Version #1) by Elizabeth Eulberg
bookshelves: own
Taylor, Tay, Teffy and TS are four girls all named Taylor by parents who were huge Swifties, and they're Swifties themselves as well. They've been best friends for four years, but they're now starting high school and their relationships and passions are threatening to damage their friendship. Taylor is campaigning for student body president and dating an older boy, Tay is falling for the rich boy in a band who's her biology partner, Teffy is crushing on her next-door neighbor in a Romeo-and-Juliet type situation, and TS has a crush on the girl on her soccer team.

I enjoyed this book as a lighter read than I typically read. Elizabeth Eulberg once again succeeds at capturing the drama of high school and first love, and all four girls are relatable, even if you don't like boys or don't like girls. Taylor irritated me more than once with her behavior towards her other friends, but she does have character development by the end of the book. The four girls were all sweet girls who you wanted to root for and didn't want to see hurt.

I agree with other reviewers that the girls seemed on the younger side in this book and that it would suit for younger readers, which does make sense since the girls are freshmen in high school. They're young, but they are supposed to be. It's definitely a book by Taylor Swift fans, for Taylor Swift fans, and if you aren't a Taylor Swift fan you might not like the book very much. If, on the other hand, you really wished that Fifteen, You Belong with Me, The Tortured Poets Department or The Very First Night were books, you will probably enjoy this book quite a lot. The characters used some language that I wasn't very familiar with as a Tumblr Taylor Swift fan (I think it's Tiktok language), but they were still relatable.

Love Stories releases October 7 2025 from Scholastic. Thank you to Netgalley, Elizabeth Eulberg and Scholastic for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Aurora wants to read 'Valley of the Vikings'

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 06:43:47 -0700

Aurora wants to read Valley of the Vikings by Liz Kessler

Aurora added 'Just One Summer'

Sun, 29 Jun 2025 15:34:36 -0700

Aurora gave 2 stars to Just One Summer (Just One, #1) by Lynn Stevens
bookshelves: own, abandoned, bad-boy
DNF @15%. physically abusive male LI.

Aurora added 'Witch of the Wolves'

Sat, 28 Jun 2025 15:35:55 -0700

Aurora gave 3 stars to Witch of the Wolves (Paperback) by Kaylee Archer
bookshelves: own
Cordelia is used to strange supernatural men following her, but when she loses one and informs her aunt, who she lives with, of the details, her aunt tells her they need to flee. It turns out that the man, Bishop, works for her father, the alpha of a werewolf pack. They attempt to flee, but despite their best efforts Cordelia is captured and engaged to Bishop because her father wants a strong male heir. Cracks begin to show in the leadership of the pack, and Cordelia must decide who to trust and put her loyalty in.

So, I did enjoy a lot about this book. It's well-paced, and the worldbuilding is interesting. I kept on thinking that the plot twist would be that female werewolves actually do exist and Cordelia is one, and that didn't happen, so kudos for that. She's genuinely "just" a lycan witch, but she's not actually "just" anything — she's a kickass FMC. Bishop is also a great love interest and a really interesting character. I didn't buy their romance, since the thing that caused their first kiss seemed kind of random, and suddenly they're in love and jumping into bed together, but I guess that is fairly common for the genre.

I unfortunately have major issues with the way the greater-scope villains were presented. I am aware that if you are reading fantasy as a Jewish reader, due to the roots of the genre, you need to be prepared for at least a chance of antisemitism — but wow, there was way more than just a little bit in this book. The villains have a Jewish last name, are literally called a cabal (a word derived from Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism), steal/buy children and entice women to have sex with demons. I appreciate a little more creativity in my villains, honestly, not just copy/paste of blood libel. Did they really have to use such a stereotypically Ashkenazi Jewish last name? Not to mention, it also has aspects of people from the cabal running away and changing their names to assimilate into British society, and taking British lovers. I'm not advocating for censorship here, just sensitivity in a world where Jewish people are expected to assimilate. It's especially problematic since one of the witches from the cabal is forced into a marriage with a gentile. Archer clearly has a creative flair for worldbuilding, and I am hoping that the second book in this duology shows it better.

Witch of the Wolves releases September 30, 2025 from St. Martin’s Griffin. I received an advance reader copy (thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Kaylee Archer), but my review is unbiased.

Aurora added 'Everything She Does Is Magic'

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 17:18:45 -0700

Aurora gave 4 stars to Everything She Does Is Magic (Unknown Binding) by Bridget Morrissey
bookshelves: own
Darcy is the daughter of parents who own a paint shop and run the Halloween festivities in their small town, but she feels trapped by their plans for her life not consulting her. Anya is a friendless witch who needs to find a mortal to become her protector in order to be initiated into her coven. She's lied to her parents that Darcy will do it — the only problem is that Darcy doesn't believe magic is real and doesn't know her. She ends up joining the fall planning committee to get to know Darcy, only to find herself falling deeper for the other girl in the process.

This was a quick, fun read, but things got a little darker than I expected for cozy fantasy. It feels as if a lot of the dynamics that frankly constitute child abuse (emotional abuse) were glossed over as not that big a deal in the ending. That seems insensitive to me given the number of LGBTQ teenagers who either are kicked out of their family for being LGBTQ or fear that happening if they come out. I still enjoyed the book quite a bit, I just feel that some of the topics could have been handled more sensitively. Even though it wasn't directly based on the girls' sexuality, it's still not okay parenting, and it still comes off as bigotry-flavored even though the parents claim it wasn't based on the girls' sexuality. That's a thing a lot of bigots claim. I also wasn't necessarily expecting a medical emergency as the climax in a cozy fantasy. I was honestly expecting the climax to be Anya's initiation, but that isn't even shown on the page! It was just a little weird to me.

The good aspects of the book (cute town, vivid characters, sweet relationships between the girls and their friends) did outweigh the negative aspects, though. I would recommend this novel to people who like cozy-ish sapphic fantasy, with just a warning that it may contain a bit more trauma than a cozy fantasy reader might expect.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House and Bridget Morrissey for the advance reader copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

Aurora added 'Witchlore'

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 08:18:48 -0700

Aurora gave 3 stars to Witchlore (Hardcover) by Emma Hinds
bookshelves: own, did-not-finish
DNF @ 34%

I found the concept of this book and the worldbuilding really intriguing, it is a well-built urban fantasy world. Unfortunately, I found myself unable to finish the novel due to how unsympathetic the protagonist, Lando, was. They even effectively threatened suicide when a character called them by their full name instead of by their nickname! I understand that they are traumatized, are grieving and have been through a lot of things in their life, but they were rude to absolutely everyone — even people who were trying to help them. They felt like the kind of teenager who grew up on Tumblr, has a constant victim complex and thinks everyone is persecuting them. It really bothered me how much negativity they had about feminism — seeming to assume that all feminism is out to get them because they are nonbinary and currently in a male body. That's not what feminism is about, and it's not a good message to send in a world where women's rights are under attack. There was also a lot of negativity about queer men. Hopefully Lando has some character development by the end of the book. I usually am fine reading books with unsympathetic protagonists, but I just found them so antagonistic and difficult to read about.

Aurora started reading 'Fated'

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 09:45:12 -0700

Aurora started reading Fated by Teri Terry