sarahrahrah's reviews
98 reviews

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

You can't outrun yourself. Not your history, not your fears, not the parts of yourself you're worried are wrong.

I enjoyed this read, even with the "millennial ennui" it brought out in me. I liked the back and forth chapters between "this summer" and the revisiting/slow reveal of how Alex and Poppy's friendship developed and grew. 

If I had binge read this straight through, it would have totally engrossed me from start to finish, and I often did stay up late reading more than intended. I did not binge read it though, and everytime I did come back to it, I often got confused about timelines and plots and would get to the end of a chapter and not fully know if it was a past vacation or present day chapter. I also found the allusions to what happened in Croatia dragged out a bit longer than necessary 



Addendum: the UK published title is You and Me on Vacation?! I kinda think that fits the story waaaaay more than People You Meet. Like it kinda shoehorned in on Poppy's love of travel being the people she met along the way I guess, but really it's about her and Alex through and through 

The Switch by Beth O'Leary

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What a delightful story with such colorful characters and communities! I was equally invested in both Eileen and Leena's journeys, and loved how artfully both romances were developed. Just a 10/10 cozy delight 

Small Country by Gaël Faye

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Heartbreaking and oh so beautifully written (I read the English translation by Sarah Ardizzone, but would like to reread it in French) 

I read the poem by Jacques Roumain that Madame Economopoulos gave me on the day of my departure:

If you come from a country, if you are born there, as what might be called a native by birthright, well then, that country is in your eyes, your skin, your hands, together with the thick hair of its trees, the flesh of its soil, the bones of its stones, the blood of its rivers, it's sky, it's flavor, it's men and women...

I used to think I was exiled from my country. But, in retracing the steps of my past, I have understood that I was exiled from my childhood. Which seems so much crueler. 

Meet Cute by Ibi Zoboi, Sara Shepard, Nina LaCour, Nicola Yoon, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Dhonielle Clayton, Julie Murphy, Emery Lord, Katharine McGee, Katie Cotugno, Kass Morgan, Meredith Russo, Jocelyn Davies

funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

This was a sweet, easy to read, YA anthology. Unfortunately, because I took so long to read them all, I don't really remember specifics of each short story, but I do know that I enjoyed them and really liked getting to read such a diverse set of voices and writing styles. Cute cute cute! 

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I picked this up after hearing Yulin Kuang's interview on the CMBC podcast patreon episode. I enjoyed their discussion on romance movies and tropes, and was eager to check this out. And I'm even more excited to see her screen writing, and directorial skills in the adaptations of People We Meet on Vacation and Beach Read!

In the interview, they talked about the importance of building a believable tension, and I think Kuang did a phenomenal job of that with Grant and Helen in this story.

That said, I had a hard time with how quickly Helen transitioned from hating Grant because of their HS connection with the death of her sister, to so quickly having such a strong attraction and friendliness. It didn't make sense how close and relaxed she was when the flew back to their hometown (even with the hijinks and little blips of attraction before). It was easy enough to ignore this sticky point though, and then the development of their relationship was fun to read. 

Overall, I really liked Kuang's story development, real fleshed-out characters, and fun romance scenes. I appreciated the depth of knowledge she included about screen writing and the process of a writer's room. I also loved how seamlessly she explored the family dynamics and talked about the conflicts and tension between immigrant parents and their children.

But I didn't choose this, she thinks. You decided to move to another country and start a family. You should have known that not fully understanding your own kids would come with that territory.

 The small details really made the difference - the dishwasher drying rack, fighting for a check, food to express the unsaid I love you, etc. 

Helen feels like she wants to cry just then, thibking suddenly of all the fruit and cake and sugar they've exchanged over the years instead of I'm sorry and I love you...

I really appreciate the universality of Helen's grappling with the concept of love at the end. This quote from her

memoir/letters to her sister at the end I think really solidified Helen's development and start of her healing

 

Loving can hurt, and I want to do it anyway. 

Funny Story by Emily Henry

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Holy shit, this book. This one.

Picking up a book was a decision: I'm going to go away. The exciting possibility: I may not come back the same.

From my dear Grandma Kerry's column "The Book Woman" in the Broomfield Enterprise, Best Books of 2023:
"No Two Persons” by Erica Bauermeister—“No two persons ever read the same book” is illustrated by the effect of one novel on its many readers. It's an unusual take on the power of books and reading.

That was the beauty of books, wasn't it? They took you places you didn't know you needed to go.

There are things you can't see until you are ready to look.

In this book, we get vignettes of the lives of ten people: the writer, the assistant, the actor, (the Internet), the artist, the diver, the teenager, the bookseller, the caretaker, the coordinator, and the agent. I fell in love with every single character and then some. Each chapter feels like an entire world and story in itself, and I liked the subtle connections these strangers have though their reading of one particular book and also in other ways. I want to reread it already, this time with my own print copy so I can highlight the beautiful prose and annotate all the little clues and connections threaded throughout. 

From the author's acknowledgements: 

A great book is one that you love. May you find many.

Happy Place by Emily Henry

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I devoured this, with tears in my eyes nearly the whole time. Lotta tension and lotta relatable anxieties and insecurities. I really really enjoyed reading it, and the reflections it drew out of me.

Everything is changing. It has to. You can't stop time.

The feeling of being so grateful to have something worth missing.

You are in all my happiest places. You are where my mind goes when it needs to be soothed.

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Blergh, the story was cute enough, if a bit formulaic in the tropes used, but in the end this was majorly disappointing. There were far too many moments where the writing felt overly try-hard with current references or verbal tics that felt jarring and took me out of the story. And too often, the references were so specific but not that culturally universal that I either ignored and read past them, feeling annoyed at my ignorance, or had to stop reading entirely to go look stuff up. I shouldn't have to be googling things for a beach read! It got to the point that about a quarter of the way through, I went back and skim-re-read to sticky note every single instance of these obnoxious references, and continued mark the rest as I finished the book. There were A LOT of sticky notes:

Pg. 5 "I'm young and know how to wear a T-shirt without a bra. That's at least half of what's required, right?"

Pg. 34 "She described it as 'the nose Jenny Nelson wanted and didn't get.'" I have no idea who this is and Google shows results for a painter or a physics professor?

Pg. 38 "Unless something is on fire or I think I've just spotted Zac Efron at Target--for the record, it's never him--I don't call her."

Pg. 42 "...which holds a beautiful set of bright blue RIMOWA luggage..." Just relying on a brand name isn't the best descriptive writing (although I could just be totally clueless of RIMOWA since I breezed past it with other luxury brands)

Pg. 43 "'Vivi. This cost him Baby Driver money." I can infer what this means, but I feel like Baby Driver isn't so obviously ingrained in the culture that you can use it to indicate exorbitant richness? Idk, I've never seen it and am only sorta aware of what it was about

Pg. 64 "The vibe is very White Lotus--all of them stand shoulder to shoulder, smiling in welcome, wearing matching khaki shorts and white polo shirts..." I know White Lotus was a big deal and "everyone" saw it (I didn't) and was talking about it for a while, but this feels like a cop-out. They describe a little, but lean heavily on the reference driving the description. Also, in ten years time will readers remember or know White Lotus? Idk

Pg. 68 "Houston, we have a problem(atic man)." Okay, punny therapy speak whatever 

Pg. 69 "If there was a camera nearby, I'd be looking straight into it. I am flabbergasted." Ugggghhhhh annoying Jim from the Office reference. It's cutesy and clever, but like in a tweet, not a published novel.

Pg. 73 "There's a real Isle Esme feel to the decor (if you know, you know)..." WELL I DONT KNOW, SO NOW IM IRRITATED!  But then it turns out I did know - it's from Twilight. But I shouldn't have to stop in the middle of a sentence to Google this. Also my initial thought was that it was maybe the name of the island in The Menu (which I never saw but am kinda aware of) or something which is an infinitely more interesting of an iykyk than freaking Twilight.

Pg. 74 "If I had to choose between this shower and a date with Harry Styles...I would choose Harry Styles, but I'd hesitate." Yep, okay, everyone is a fan girl for Harry, how relatable, we get it. 

Pg. 94 "'I would say we love a short king, but in your dad's case, I'm not sure we do.'" I guess I cant be sooo mad at this because it is dialogue, but the use of the trendy Internet speak again makes me think this is a book that will forever be stuck in the 2024 TikTok era

Pg. 131 "My cheeks are still warm from his praise when he introduces me to Danielle Xiu, the congressional aide and avid Barbie collector... I notice the wedding ring on her finger. 'Where is your Ken? Or your Barbie?' ... I wrap my arms around West's torso. 'My Ken's job this week is Beach.' 'And Drinks'' he says..." What a weirdly specific detail to include about a non-character we meet once, JUST to be able to make a Ken joke ughhh

Pg. 199 "'He gave seed money to a few friends of Alex's when they wanted to start a little website called Twitter--I refuse to call it X.'" Har har it's the same point everyone on the Internet has already joked about

Pg. 206 "'Hey, bestie, same.'" This one I also forgive since she's speaking to a preteen, but still it feels verrry cringe and trying too hard to invoke more TikTok speak

I stared at this sentence way too long, grumbling at the sentence fragment: "'You're right.' He says after a few quiet moments. 'Thats probably easiest....'" There needs to be a comma either after right or after moments. Which bit did he say after a few quiet minutes? And why am I so worked up about this?! lol 

This is a small and stupid noticing, but maybe an editor should have caught it or they should have explained what they meant differently (I think it was included to show they were safe traipsing about in the dark jungle, but idk). On pg 96: "something flies overhead and I remember the conversation material saying we might see fox bats at night, and to simply leave them alone if we do." But on pg 221 when they're sneaking around on their own, "No mammals live on the island, but the trees are full of waning birdcalls and the odd flapping of wings." I felt a bit crazy typing  "are bats mammals" in the search bar, but again it was enough of a detail to take me out of my reading.

Pg. 227 "'I guess now is when I tell you the truth,' I say with quiet solemnity. 'You may have noticed that I sparkle in the sunlight. That my skin is like marble.' I pause. 'This is the skin of a killer.'" More Twilight. Cool.

Also, why does she always refer to her father, who she is very close too, by his first and last name. It didn't bother me for most of the book because it mostly read as a sympathetic "if only he had grown up with a David Green like I did" kind of thing. But then at some point she literally addresses him as David Green while they're having a heart to heart?

The last sticky note I marked is unfair since it's from the acknowledgements, but I still had to roll my eyes at how much it cements this book to the exact moment in time it was published. "So, for any new or aspiring writers out there, please know this: thirty books in and we sometimes still fumble the ball (that's a football reference, but we all know that now--thanks, Taylor)." 

Perhaps all of this is too nit-picky, but that's how much it distracted from my reading experience. This book will NOT age well because of all the pop culture references and internet speak sprinkled throughout - internet trends last like 15 min and then we're on to the next thing. Even the Barbie "his job is beach this week" thing already felt dusty (which yeah, I'm reading this in May 2024 which is close enough to a year after Barbie premiered)

I'm sad because the past 2-3 recent releases from CL have been chock full of these types of annoying references , but I read past them because I've always loved how well they write romance. Also, it was acceptable in The True Love Experiment because that was meant to be a cheeky love letter to romance and pop culture and fandoms, and it matched the character, so it was much easier to breeze past without it jarringly taking me out of the story. But now that this is clearly becoming the trend in their writing, I'm afraid the era of loving my once favorite romance duo is over. It just reads as so cringy and out of touch (and this is coming from a very cringy and out of touch person myself).

Finally, I can't even get into this, but Goddamn.

What You Wish for by Katherine Center

emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book was emotionally gripping and I really enjoyed reading it. The longer I've sat with and thought about it though, the more I've found myself nitpicking or feeling weird about certain plot elements. Overall I still liked and would recommend it. It was especially relevant to me as a former elementary teacher with a family of educators/librarians. 

I knew pretty much right away that Duncan

likely had trauma related to a school shooting, and so I felt a weird tension and dread reading up until the point when this was confirmed. I didn't love all of the ways this topic was treated, and found a lot of the characters' reactions a bit unbelievable. Like when he tells Sam and she's just like, "oh yeah, I heard about that one." Which is a sad reflection of the prevalence of school shootings and reality of our world, but also just seemed like  a weirdly cavalier and tone deaf response to someone telling you they literally experienced it, especially from a fellow educator. And then the way the community were immediately accepting of that being the reason their new principal was acting ridiculous and ruining the school culture and that obviously the best way to "help" him was to give him silly little daily tasks so he could remember joy. Like yeah I guess they also got him to go to therapy but still...

I also had a hard time believing when Sam

reacted to her heartbreak from Duncan's betrayal by just running down the pier and jumping off. I get why it needed to happen for the plot and her own character development, but it again just felt so odd and far-fetched

. 

I think the more I think about it, the more I'll find to tear apart, so I will just reiterate that, looking past all of that, it was a compelling read that I was emotionally invested in, and that overall I liked.