Interesting set up for what's not quite as much of a romance as advertised (no complaints here though!) The story follows the tail end of Becca's senior year in high school. Her parents, who head an entire community of doomsday prepping neighbors, have been throwing her into near-death situations for years in the name of training. Their perfect plan for Becca is for her to follow through on her arranged marriage to Roy Kang and "expand the genepool" for when the apocalypse wipes out the rest of humanity. Meanwhile, Becca's been working on an escape plan that involves a full-ride scholarship across the country to study physics, but only if she can figure out how to help her little sister before she's brainwashed by her parents too.

Wow. After I finished reading this book, I saw that it had been nominated for the Booker Prize Long List and that is well deserved. A sprawling historical fiction that follows the life of a fictional female aviatrix (the character is clearly a composite of several real-life aviatrices). The character development is top-notch and the flash forwards to the Hollywood actress chosen to play our heroine in a current day biopic is masterful. This was an all-absorbing, beautifully written, amazing piece of literature. Now... do go back and read this author's earlier titles!

Great good short read! The story of the Porcelain Ninfa takes you away from the conventional fictional characters to a completely unrealistic personification of a companion for the main character of the book. I enjoyed th ending and how the story ends making me smile and daydreaming of all the possibilities.

I am at a little bit of a loss as to how I feel about this book. I picked it up because of the famous author. It is not nearly as good a s the Harry Potter series. The character development was slow, in fact it wasn't until at LEAST halfway through that I could keep everyone straight in my mind. But eventually I did start to care about the characters, especially the younger ones. And then the end was so depressing! A very sad commentary on the nature of human kind.

A really great book! Found family, a cute romance, and a hint of sci-fi. A perfect fun summer read!

Interesting to learn the history of horse pack librarians and the history of “blue skin” people. This was a sad story of how a young woman was challenged by racism, ignorance, and poverty to not only survive but to make the world (her little horse pack route)a better place. It was frustrating to see how she tried so hard and was beaten down, but inspiring to see how she never gave up and ultimately succeeded.

This is the second time I read this book, and I can't believe how many new things I learned about Sheryl's journey finding her self. I love to hike, so I related to the adventure of a mountain trail, I would like someday hike some of the PCT "Pacific Crest Trails" One of the most enjoyable parts of the book was how well its written and the honesty of the author, how she let us into her life and shared so much intimacy. I love her and I follow her on social media, what a great and unselfish human being.

If you had asked me to rate this book before reading the last ~50 pages, I would have given it 5 stars, easy. After finishing it, I think giving it 4 stars was generous. It was a really great and well-written cold case murder mystery, but the ending was too far-fetched for me to enjoy. Also, why do YA authors always have to kill the pet/animal?! Not cool.

One of my all time favorite fantasy novels. Just the magic system in this series is so unique and silly and even gives me goosebumps at times. The characters are wonderful, the writing is approachable, and the story ends up being so satisfying. The last book in this trilogy comes out in three days, and I am already losing my mind over what might happen.

Saw this book on tape at The Friends of the Library sale and got it because I recognized the title since it had been on the bestsellers list for a long time a few years ago. I knew nothing else about it. Big mistake! I got about one-third of the way through and had to put it down for awhile because there were three very graphic sexual assaults (one very sadistic) described and I was so distressed I didn't think I could read any more. I finally did go back to it and, thankfully, there were no other scenes like that. Of the several mysteries to unravel in this novel I figured two out also in the first third of the book. And though it was satisfying to hear the final mysteries solved, I still would not recommend this book.