May Wrap-Up

Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out and Lonely - Lysa TerKeurst

Started: March 7th 2021

Finished: May 17th 2021

Rated: 3

Likes: Interesting and Relatable Stories, Author writes and expresses thoughts well

Dislikes: Preachy and Repetitive

Notes: Recommended to me by Elyssa

The Fox Inheritance - Mary E. Pearson

Started: March 8th 2021

Finished: May 22nd 2021

Rated: 4

Likes: Locke's perspective, Twists and Turns, Differences of the Future

Dislikes: Kara because we don't know what her deal is (really)

Notes: Started as an audiobook, switched to physical

Shades of Lovers: Poems - Catarine Hancock

Started: May 23rd 2021

Finished: May 23rd 2021

Rated: 5

Likes: Vulnerability, Raw Emotion, Loves of All Kinds (even the ones that hurt), Shades of Loves

Dislikes: None

Notes: Could possibly be my favorite poetry book of all time

Enchantée - Gita Trelease

Started: May 17th 2021

Finished: May 26th 2021

Rated: 3

Likes: Plot

Dislikes: Not as good the second time around, Camille is annoying

Notes: Reread

Everything That Burns - Gita Trelease

Started: May 28th 2021

Finished: May 30th 2021

Rated: 3

Likes: Plot, Intrigue-ish, Magic Element, Revolution, Camille is less annoying

Dislikes: Twist was predictable, Writing didn't captivate me

Notes: None

Everything That Burns - Gita Trelease

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Please believe me when I say that I wanted to enjoy this. I wanted to enjoy this book after enjoying my reread of the first book. Neither of those really happened. The first book was fine, but any magic (haha get it because the book deals with magic) that I found within the first book, the first time around, completely disappeared once I picked it up the second time. I mostly figure this to be because I am not the biggest fan of rereads, but also because I have changed a lot this reading the first book two years ago. Had this come out under its original title and it's original publication date (May 2020) then maybe this would've been more of a success with me. But here in 2021 it kinda flopped.

It wasn't a complete flop... just enough for me to know, or predict, the twists before they happened and that I was bored by the writing the whole time. What was such a hit the first time I read the first book, kept on and on and on, with no luck of capturing my attention fully. The characters were better in this one. They were fleshed out and had more personalities than in the first book, which I did appreciate. Instead of the focus being solely on Camille, like in the first book, I like how this one focused more on the other characters too.

This book did have good elements, and if you have read the first book recently and enjoyed it, then this one will most likely be a success for you! I'm sad that it wasn't for me.. but that just happens sometimes.

Shades of Lovers: Poems - Catarine Hancock

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This may be my favorite book of poetry I've ever read. I've always been a sucker for love poems, of all kinds; even the ones that tear your heart out of just chest and stomp on it until it's nothing. I know my love and I know how I feel about my loves, but you never really know if what you feel or felt is justified or makes sense. When I read this book, it all made sense. The one I thought was my first love, the ones I shouldn't have loved for a variety of reasons, the one who loved me to hurt another, the one who loved to hurt me, and the one that still has me reeling two years after.

This book reminded me that it's okay to look back fondly, it's okay to hurt, it's okay to acknowledge that wounds still open sometimes no matter how badly we want them to close and to never look at them again. But it also taught me that if we were to try and go back, we would find a grave of what was once our love. That love just dies, no matter how much we don't want it to, sometimes love is out of our control. It also reminded me of the importance of loving yourself. Something I didn't know much about after my last heart break, but I trudged my way back up from the bottom of the abyss and I'm still growing and working on loving me.

I love the shades of love aspect. The colors are something that I never considered but I will definitely think about now.

I want to thank the author for this book. For its raw emotion and vulnerability. I recognize it in myself, but sometimes there is something different about reading/hearing someone else's story. It means a lot to me.