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The House of My Mother by Shari Franke - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 30, 2025 - ★★★★★

I've long been critical of Ruby Franke, even before the YouTube channel where she endlessly exploited her children went south. I've been a critic of the LDS church much longer than that and its become an even deeper interest of mine ever since I met my husband, who was Mormon for the first ~26 years of his life.

The church places massive expectations on its members' shoulders, often without those members ever beginning to realize it. The world's richest religion wants its members to look perfect, act perfect, all in the name of control, and all these things and more are on display in the Franke family's story.

You can feel how oppressive and claustrophobic the environment the Franke children grew up in was from Shari's writing. She has a candor to her words while retaining an amount of privacy for herself and her siblings that's truly wonderful to read.

This did illuminate some new information for me, but I was privy to a lot of what was told here in this story due to my prior interest, but in the end that doesn't matter, as Shari's perspective of what she and her siblings (and, to some degree, what their father went through, too) brings a new light to the entire story.

I hope Shari and the rest of her family are able to move on from this someday, just as she wished at the end of this novel. I hope they all live beautiful lives and are not defined by the trauma Ruby Franke put them through.

This is a great read and a great look into some of the worst behaviors the Mormon church's teachings can enable. I strongly recommend it to any and all ex-Mormons and anyone else interested in true crime, especially when religion is involved. It's a sad story, but a well-told and honest one. I can only hope it brought Shari peace to write it.

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Sorcery and Other Small Magics by Maiga Doocy - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 28, 2025 - ★★☆☆☆

I think I would have liked this a whole lot more if I hadn't already read a handful of other such Drarry fanfiction-based books like In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan or Carry On by Rainbow Rowell.

And while this has some fun and interesting ideas as far as the magic itself goes, it really unfortunately does feel like that's all this book is: just a Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter fanfic given a new coat of paint.

It could be because I don't like Draco Malfoy, nor was I ever a Drarry fan, but it just didn't feel like Doocy innovated on the idea of this type of relationship or world enough for me to really dig into the world and certainly not the characters.

The idea and reminder of��Harry Potter really bums me out these days, even if it is fan reclamation of it, and I think that just brought the book down for me. I don't think the book would have been any higher than a 4-star read for me in the best of times, though.

It's possible I might read the next book someday after it comes out, but the characters and plot felt a little lacking for me here and, at the end of the day, I just wished I was rereading In Other Lands instead.

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Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 23, 2025 - ★★★★★

Man, this might be Emily Henry's opus thus far. It's going to be at war in my heart with Happy Place for my favorite of hers for years to come, methinks.

Where to begin? While this is certainly still a romance in every way like Henry's other 5 adult novels, this also feels like it goes beyond "just" being a romance. This is also somewhat true of Henry's other work, but I feel like this has the most meat to it that isn't related to the romance.

Beach Read had themes of grief. People We Meet on Vacation and Book Lovers both had themes of balancing your career with your real life. Happy Place had themes of maintaining relationships as you grow older. Funny Story had themes of finding confidence in yourself as an adult. An argument could me made that all of those themes have some overlap with the other books, and I would agree, but Great Big Beautiful Life has all of those themes and more.

The way Margaret's story unfolds as she spins a yarn of her family's past was brilliantly written. Henry swept me up in this decades-long tale and I loved seeing in the end what was true, what wasn't, how those differences affected the themes of family, of legacy, and of loneliness and aging alone.

I loved the romance here, too. The way Alice and Hayden just go together was so lovely, heartwarming and satisfying. They fall relatively quickly in comparison to Henry's other works, but it never feels forced or instantaneous. They build something real while also having believably strong chemistry and intense attraction to one another. I loved how they bonded early through physical touch and genuinely sweet, cheeky conversation, so it makes it work very well when that physical and emotional connection both intensify later in the story.

For a great deal of the story, I was thinking about that think Emily Henry has done in every single one of her adult novels where the couple gets into some kind of spat wherein the guy typically becomes cagey for no reason and they break up at the top of the third act. It's one of my least favorite tropes in the best of times, and luckily Henry's books are typically the best of times, so I usually give her a bit of a pass for it, but I've also grown tired of it.

So I was pretty happy that this didn't have that exact same bullshit all over again. Yes, Hayden and Alice do have a third act break, but it's far more realistic, believable than it's been before. Alice goes home to protect Hayden from the truth. It was the woman being cagey for once! And I was so glad Hayden wasn't keeping a secret from Alice. It could so easily have turned out that he was working for or with Margaret the whole time and I'm so glad it wasn't about that. He was just a heartbroken, lovesick pup who didn't want to get hurt ever again.

I absolutely loved this book and I think it is some of Henry's best writing. Sometimes it's an absolute privilege to get to experience a book and it's true that I felt honored to be in this book's presence. We're not worthy! Henry's lovely mix of romance and literary fiction is at its best here, striking an excellent balance of her two genres, and it was a treat to bask in the glow of this book's Georgia sunshine. As always, I can't wait to see what she writes next!

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Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 18, 2025 - ★★☆☆☆

[read for my book club, Prose and Cons]

Man, this is a huge bummer to be rating this so low. When the Moon Was Ours and Wild Beauty are two of my favorite books of all time, and while I didn't love Blanca & Roja I still found a lot about it to like with McLemore's signature magical realism.

But this? This was so boring. It was basically devoid of magic, both literally and nonliterally. The characters didn't seem to have much that was very interesting going on, and the narrative switched far too often for me to ever be able to get my bearings or really dig into anyone's story.

McLemore is excellent with prose, working their special brand of magical realism into even their most boring work here, and they are more than admirable as always with representation of queer and POC characters...and that's about all the nice things I have to say here, unfortunately.

This was really disappointing, but this isn't the end with me and McLemore's work. I'll read them again, hoping this was just a fluke.

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Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 16, 2025 - ★★★★☆

Cute alert! Cute alert!

This had a lot of elements to it that were paint by numbers, but I think it's books like these that show, sometimes, you don't always have to do something insanely original to be a good time.

The romance here was so damn cute! These two barely even kissed but they were giving me the butterflies for damn near the entire book. I also think the fact that it was only from Riley's POV really helped sell the romantic tension. There are too many dual POV romances these days that just spoil so much of the fun by virtue of knowing how both the main characters feel about one another from the beginning. Instead, here, we get to see Riley and Nathan's feelings for one another grow.

I love a good fake dating story, but I think this was extra good because it wasn't just about getting Nathan with Sophia, but it was also about making Riley's ex, Paul, see that she was okay after their breakup, which isn't super common! It almost always is about getting back with the ex, not about moving past them.

I also really enjoyed the D&D group! I loved the scenes we got of them playing together the most out of any other part of the book and only wish we got more! I loved the whole games store cast of characters, really, such a fun group of people.

This was a cute, fun read and I'll be glad to check out the second book sometime soon!

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Watch Me by Tahereh Mafi - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 15, 2025 - ★★★★☆

Honestly, now all I wanna do is reread Shatter Me.

The spell with this series was broken a bit for me with Imagine Me, and even then Restore Me and Defy Me, while still great, still didn't have anything that matched Warner and Juliette's relationship in the first three books in the series. Mafi even tried to replicate that feeling with This Woven Kingdom, but she's yet to really pay that off for me.

So, I'd hoped this spinoff might be able to reach those heights...and it still might! I remember really being on the fence at first when I read the first book of this whole series, so my opinion could change with time! But for now, I'm not feeling as on board as I was back then.

I think much of that can be attributed to the dual POV. A lot of the tension and intrigue in the first books came from the fact that we didn't know what Adam or Warner were thinking, not at first. Obviously they would come to have their own novellas and dual POV in the later books, but in the beginning, Warner's secrecy was the best.

Knowing how Rosabelle and James feel about one another from the jump (and boy, do they feel a lot, and quickly) really kills a lot of the romantic tension they might have had. They're so hopelessly in love and attracted to one another here that there's never really any fun to it.

I also really miss the more flowery, poetic language used in the earlier books and I think Rosabelle could have been a great reason to bring that style of writing back in full force. And man, this was short! I can't believe I got through it in just one day!

That being said, I think this was a fun introduction to a new chapter in this story and I'm excited to see where it goes! I loved seeing our previous protagonists years down the line and I'm interested to see where they're at by the end of this new series!

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The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 14, 2025 - ★★★★☆

This felt very much like a book I might have read when I was growing up. Not only did it have the simplicity and message of a middle grade story, but it also just felt like something from the early 2000's in style and feel, just with an updated message.

I've only read one other book by T.J. Klune, Wolfsong a few years back. The age gap between the two main characters was extremely uncomfortable and beyond that, Klune's prose, while lovely and containing a strong voice for the main character, needed a lot of work, as it was often repetitive and boring.

I think his work has improved greatly here, and I'm grateful there's no uncomfortable age gaps with any romances here. I think the only thing Klune did better in that book was how strong Ox's personal voice was in that book, whereas here the narrative voice is just a little bit weaker. I felt slightly at arm's length with Linus for much of the book. I always felt like I knew what he was thinking, but not always what he was feeling.

That being said, I enjoyed a lot of this book. I thought the characters were all very charming and well-realized, quirky and fun while possessing a decent amount of depth besides just being silly and eccentric.

If I have one major complaint, it might be that I wished the world had been built out a little more. I would have enjoyed knowing more about the world at large, what the world actually looked like for magical folks in general beyond these homes Linus reported on.

That all being said, this was a heartwarming little read and I'll definitely be reading the sequel, but I hope that sequel has slightly more depth and delves a little more into its own world and rules. Until then, I'm glad I finally got to read this one!

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Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 10, 2025 - ★★★★☆

I've had this book on my TBR for something like 17 years! I added it to my TBR before this very Goodreads account was even created. I've had it set aside for a very long time, and never for any particular reason other than that Moore is one of my top five favorite authors and I just wanted to tuck away at least one of his books for a rainy day.

And really, this wasn't the rainiest of days, but with everything going on in the world, I certainly needed a little more Moore in my life.

This was incredibly silly, and I wouldn't expect any mo(o)re or less from my favorite Author Guy. I sincerely didn't know what to expect from this book beyond silliness and whales, though. I read the first few chapters a very long time ago, so I had the vague memory of an idea of how this book started and nothing else. I couldn't have imagined the turns it would take, and that's part of what makes Moore's work so special!

Because not only are his books topsy-turvy, and silly as fuck, but they're also extremely well-researched, painting a grounded jumping off point that, more often than not, proves truth is typically stranger than fiction.

I love Moore's sense of humor, his absurd, surreal ideas and the way he executes them and I really missed his writing style these past 7 years since I read Noir, which is the last time I read a book of Moore's. One of my favorite things he does is when a character thinks something and then says that thing aloud, verbatim. It almost never fails to get my funny bone. I also love that I haven't outgrown his style, since i found him when I was 13 years old, instead probably appreciating it loads more than I did when I first discovered Moore in 2008.

So, it's probably a good thing I set this aside as long as I did! This has all of Moore's hallmarks: a lovable goofball beta male, a quirky and capable leading lady, a stoner side character who makes his stupidity everybody's—and I mean everybody's—problem, and an overwhelmed yet affable side character herding the dumbass ducklings he's stuck with. And this goes off the rails in a way only Moore's stories can. I wouldn't have it any other way!

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So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 8, 2025 - ★★★★☆

It's been a hot minute since I read a good old fashioned vampire novel! Vampire novels were what got me back into reading when I was a young adult, so I love to revisit my former obsession every once in a while.

And this was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed Harrison's witty, frank prose. It was extremely readable, the dialogue feeling so natural and the internal monologue relatable. I also loved that our main character was in her mid-30's! As I get older myself, it's become increasingly frustrating seeing every goddamn fantasy and paranormal heroine be between the ages of 18 and 21 over and over and over again, so it was refreshing to find that one of the hot new paranormal books of the moment is lead by a 36-year-old woman.

As I already mentioned, I really enjoyed the dialogue in this as well, especially the dialogue between Sloane and Avery. I sincerely believed the two of them were lifelong friends from the way they talked to one another and I loved that they weren't perfect besties for, well, most of the book, but they always loved one another.

I even liked Henry as a love interest quite a bit, his dialogue with Sloane also being very fun and interesting, particularly in their first conversation, when they were playing Truth or Dare. I do wish they had gotten a little more development, but, refreshingly, the romance is not the most important relationship in the book, so it didn't bother me too much.

My biggest criticism of this book is that it gets a little repetitive after a little while. The girls hurt someone—be it by accident or on purpose—Naomi starts drinking their blood, Sloane says, "Naomi, no," and Naomi says, "Naomi, yes," and then Sloane also drinks that person's blood before the two of them flee to another place to continue causing more chaos together.

That being said, this was a really fun ride and I'd be pretty excited to read more of Harrison's work in the future!

Unrelated addendum: I picked this up thinking it was by the author of the Madison Avery books I read back in jr. high, but it turns out that was Kim Harrison. So...that was a funny realization to make! Made me want to look into what Kim has been up to lately, that's for sure!

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Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 7, 2025 - ★★★★☆

I had really hoped I would like this last book at least as much as my least favorite book from The Raven Cycle, which is The Dream Thieves, but it is perhaps since this trilogy is basically spun off from my least favorite book in the original series that this trilogy was simply destined not to live up to the original series ultimately.

That said, there was plenty to love about this book, even if there were things I didn't love about it. I loved Declan's arc and texted my friend multiple times about how sorry I am about all the nasty things I've said and thought about him over the years. I loved getting to know him better these last 2 books and I can't believe how much I've learned to love him these last couple of days after years of thinking him nothing but Ronan's asshole older brother.

I also loved that we got more time with Matthew and Adam here, even if it still didn't feel like enough time, at least it felt like something now that Adam and Ronan at least weren't fighting all the goddamn time.

Some of the flaws were the pacing, while markedly faster than Mister Impossible or what I remember of Call Down the Hawk, was still a little slow, and it felt like Mór came out of fucking nowhere to be threatening and give Declan all her and Niall's worst memories and add basically nothing else to the story beyond this. I really wish those memories had come to Declan in a different way. I understand the function of her and the new Fenian in the story, but it's just a lot on top of a story that is already stuffed to the brim.

I considered rating this a 5/5 because of the butterflies its epilogue gave me, but in the end, I think that's why I can't rate it 5/5: it reminded me how good Stiefvater could be, how good these 3 books could have been.

At the end of the day, this really made me just want to reread The Raven Cycle, and that can't be a bad thing at all, but I just wish this had been included with my all time favorite series. Instead it's a not-as-good cousin to it all, but I'm glad I finally finished it up after all this time.

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Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater - blurrypetals review

originally posted apr. 5, 2025 - ★★★★☆

Call Down the Hawk was one of the most disappointing 3-star reads of my life. You may know The Raven Cycle is a very important series to me, my favorite completed series, so expectations were high for this spinoff series. So high, in fact, that when Call Down the Hawk didn't meet them, I didn't deign to continue this spinoff trilogy...

...until now.

I bonded with one of my best friends over The Raven Cycle and they felt the same way about Call Down the Hawk as I did. However, last year, my friend finally read these final two books in the trilogy last year and urged me to give them a try, so here we finally are, nearly 4 years after the release of this book.

And I have to admit, this is loads more enjoyable than what I remember of Call Down the Hawk, but it's also not quite as good as The Raven Cycle itself. The characters I didn't care about in the first book, Hennessy, Jordan, Farooq-Lane, etc. were all a lot more interesting and/or likable than they were before (I say and/or because Hennessy really wasn't very likable, but she was interesting) and it felt like we got more time with old characters like the Lynch brothers. I still wish we'd gotten more Adam, but I do understand his general absence is in service of the story.

I also enjoyed the clearer stakes as opposed to the muddy confusion I remember experiencing with the previous book. The looming apocalypse, the issues Ronan has communicating, the issues Hennessy has communicating...all these people failing to communicate, it really makes the emotional stakes crystal clear.

The introduction of sweetmetals really changed things up in a fun and interesting way as well, throwing a nice monkey wrench in the lore Stiefvater crafted so many years ago and making it feel fresh and new all over again. The same goes for the things that did and didn't fall asleep at the end of the novel, the grand reveal of what all is a dream and what isn't.

While I still didn't enjoy this as much as the books in The Raven Cycle, this is at least a marked improvement over what little I remember of Call Down the Hawk. I'm eager to see how this all wraps up in Greywaren! Onward!

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Pageboy by Elliot Page

originally posted apr. 2, 2025 - ★★☆☆☆

 love Elliot Page. I've loved him ever since I first saw him in Juno back in 2007, and I still love him even though I very unfortunately just DNF'd his memoir.

This DNF very much comes down to writing style. The way Page moves between different ages was extremely discordant, didn't seem to have much rhyme or reason to the way we jumped between different times and he would also drop names in the narrative like I was at all supposed to know who they were.

Page has also been through a lot and details as much in the text very thoroughly, sometimes too thoroughly for my taste. The graphic depictions of the many sexual assaults Page has lived through was just too much for me, as was the detailed manner in which he'd describe other sexual moments. I've just personally not encountered that level of detail in a memoir before and it rubbed me the wrong way.

On top of all of this, it was also pretty boring. I felt like the things that were happening merited more emotion in the prose, more introspection, but instead we'd breeze through quickly and without much weight. I really wanted to feel like I got to know Page better through this and in the end, I don't think I did.

That all being said, as much as I love hearing stories from diverse voices, in the end, the story of a trans man's life is not told for me. It's for those who might be struggling just like him, and I hope it resonates well with those it's meant for! What I think doesn't matter at the end of the day!

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A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck - blurrypetals review

originally posted mar. 31, 2025 - ★★☆☆☆

A friend of mine told our friend group about this story because our friend group has about a half-dozen ex-Mormons in it, one of whom is my husband, and this has a Mormon for a main character and that main character goes to hell.

It's that logline that made me interested in reading this, but I think it's one of the reasons why I didn't end up enjoying this story; it didn't have hardly anything to do with Mormonism, not specifically. It's just about that all the religions are wrong, including but not limited to Mormonism.

Despite how short this is, it really lacks a lot of focus. It also didn't help that the audio of this that I listened to was a gal on Spotify who was really not talented, did no editing, reacted to the book in real-time, stumbled over words and constantly mispronounced things. It was really rough and definitely hurt my experience with the story...but at least it was free?

This had a lot of ideas I really enjoyed the concept of and I think it started off fairly strong, but the longer he was in hell, the longer it felt like I had been in hell, too. It just didn't feel like it went anywhere by the end, nor had it effected me much. Horrifying, it was not.

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The Knight and the Butcherbird by Alix E. Harrow - blurrypetals review

originally posted mar. 31, 2025 - ★★★☆☆

So, ya girl thought this was a novel this whole month since I found out about it and, now that I've read it, I kinda wish it had been a whole book. I think I'd have liked it more if it had a chance to really stretch out its irradiated wings.

That said, while I would have liked it more if it had been longer, I did enjoy what we got here for what it was. I think Harrow's writing style is very ethereal, very dreamy, and it lent itself well to the post-apocalyptic landscape of the novel. I enjoyed the lore that had built up in the amount of time since the apocalypse as well with how these villages and their people work.

I really enjoyed the concepts of this, I just wish there had been more to sink my teeth into. Guess I'll have to make my way into Harrow's back catalogue instead!

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Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez - blurrypetals review

originally posted mar. 29, 2025 - ★★★☆☆

I read The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez back in 2019 and wasn't impressed with it at all. I remember having a hard time digging into a narrative where having children was a major crux of the story and, even though I hadn't decided yet to be child free, as that's a decision I wouldn't come to make until my husband and I had been dating about a year.

I remember really not liking that book because the main character miraculously got pregnant at the end and everything was happily ever after despite that being what the whole book was about. I like it even less now that I've decided to be child free.

But, The Friend Zone aside, I've heard so many good things about Jimenez's writing the last few years that I began to be interested in giving her work another shot and, after watching a recent video by Cari Can Read, this became the one I was going to try out.

And, honestly, I really enjoyed it! To a point. I loved Jacob and Briana's chemistry, the way they built up their relationship, and both of their families. I think Jacob's family particularly could easily have been really annoying, gimmicky, and/or unbearable, but they strike that perfect balance where they're quirky and sweet.

I'm really a fan of of the fake dating trope, and it felt like a treat because I didn't think it was going to include the trope when I first started. It didn't end up being anything terribly special in that department, especially because the miscommunication between the characters about their feelings. That said, it was fun and charming enough I didn't mind that stuff.

I was even pretty chuffed by the fact that that Briana mentioned she didn't want kids. As someone who's decided to be child free, it always feels like just about every hetero romance I read ends with marriage and 1-3 kids, so it felt refreshing that she didn't wa—what's that, now? She ends up pregnant at the end? And they get married like a year into their relationship even though Breana asked to take things slow? Jesus H. Christ what a terrible turn of events!

I certainly shouldn't have expected better from the lady who wrote The Friend Zone, but man I really am disappointed at this turn. It's nowhere near as bad as that book's surprise pregnancy, but it still happened to a woman who had decided to be child free, and that's a huge bummer, man.

While I enjoyed a good deal of the book, I couldn't deign to give it the 4 stars I was originally going to give it with how that ending went. Despite the enjoyable characters, the easy, charming dialogue, the way everything played out at the end of it all left a sour taste in my mouth. I really wish marriage and kids wasn't just the default ending for hetero romances and having that be here in this book shaved an entire star off the rating of an otherwise enjoyable book and made me never really want to read Abby Jimenez ever again if this is how she's going to wield pregnancy and parenthood as a plot device. No thanks.

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The Golden Raven by Nora Sakavic - blurrypetals review

originally posted mar. 28, 2025 - ★★★★★

[this review contains untagged spoilers]

I began this review at first by starting to say, "my god, Nora,", but then I decided to reread my review for The Sunshine Court and I started that review basically the exact same way. I also know my other 15 reviews for the first three books on the series have varying degrees of oh my gods scattered throughout.

I simply cannot overstate how happy I am that these new All for the Game books exist. I think the first trilogy is, honestly, basically perfect. That said, it is brutal to read. It is like shattered glass in the palms: agony, then the balm of removal with the promise of healing in the future.

This trilogy, so far, at least, by contrast, is a gentle, beautiful sunflower: turning toward the light, opening up to warmth, healing.

I don't know if I have the words for how much I adored this book, the way Jean begins opening up to Jeremy, Cat, and Laila, trusting and beginning to like his teammates. Realizing he doesn't want to hurt people in effort to make them better, that he enjoys fireworks, that brown is his favorite color, that he can trust Rhemann implicitly...god, does Sakavic know how to write rewarding growth and relationships.

And the reason these relationships pay off so well is because we finally learn in this book what Jeremy and Jean have been through, things we didn't know about them in books previous, and now that we know their pasts, it just makes their kind hearts all the more rewarding.

The family our four main characters form together is, hands down, a top 5 favorite chosen families of all time. The way they all take care of one another, the love these 3 golden retrievers surround their traumatized black cat with, the pain they all feel losing the home they all built together...I definitely cried more over this book than any other All for the Game book.

And a lot of those tears were shed not only because of the house fire, Jeremy's past addiction and his brother's death, the multiple attacks Jean survived, both past and present, or the attempt on Andrew and Neil's lives at their match with the Ravens, but also because of Rhemann defending Jean, Jean admitting he deserves to get better, Cat, Laila, and Jean sleeping over at Jeremy's house, Jean playing a good, clean game with his new teammates...I could go on.

I loved getting to see the Foxes more in this than we did in The Sunshine Court, of course. The news story Jeremy watches after Neil and Andrew's injuries was an absolute riot. I'm glad we got to see Thea there again, too. I really would love to get to see more of her and Kevin together. Their relationship is so interesting to me! Give me a little more, Nora!

On top of that, it was great getting to know more of the Trojans as well. I felt like we got a small taste of just the floozies in The Sunshine Court, but here we get to actually know so many of them, floozies or not, and watch Jean form bonds with them even without Jeremy, Cat, or Laila facilitating it.

I was also so glad to get some Exy in this one! Obviously we got a little bit of practice here and there in the last book, but getting a full match really hit the spot, even if it was followed by one of the most brutal scenes in the whole series.

This has major potential to be my favorite book of the series, competing closely with The King's Men, which has the edge by virtue of being a finale and because I've read it 4 more times than I've read this book. I have a feeling, though, that the next book might take the cake.

Sakavic's writing has only gotten better, not that it needed improving upon in the first place. I can't properly express how much I love and care for these characters. I want the absolute best for them all and I'm terrified for the pain that lies ahead, but I know there will be peace when all is said and done...at least there better be!

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Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins - blurrypetals review

originally posted mar. 24, 2025 - ★★★★★

[This review may contain spoilers for the entire Hunger Games series as well as this new book]

"We already saw Haymitch's games in Catching Fire. I just don't know how it could possibly be surprising or new to get a whole book about it." - some dummy called Sara, probably

But sincerely, I really didn't know how Suzanne Collins was going to make this as exciting and great as the original trilogy and, especially since I didn't like The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I was worried Collins could have lost her touch and I wasn't going to find much to love about this.

And boy, I'm so glad when I'm wrong like this.

Immediately in the first chapter, I didn't anticipate getting to see more of District 12, getting to see glimpses of Katniss and Peeta's parents long before they were twinkles in their fathers' eyes, youthful and friendly, relatively trauma-free. The same can be said of an utterly lovesick young Haymitch, getting to see him living his life for a day, seeing him so relaxed about his birthday and Reaping Day the way a teen in Panem absolutely should not be really tells a lot about his personality as a young person right off the bat.

I also really enjoyed seeing characters like Mags, Wiress, Beetee, and Effie in this. Unlike Ballad's dumb weird references to the original trilogy, this feels like a natural way to involve characters from the original trilogy. Like, of course former winners would be there. That's how the games go!

I think this book also recaptured the good pacing I loved the original trilogy so much for, but it's still a little slower, striking a balance I felt Ballad was sorely missing. It's what I was really hoping Ballad would be like, with Haymitch not only working to survive the games in general, but also having this secondary mission he must keep secret from his closest allies to try to keep them safe. I love the layers this adds to the story.

And speaking of which, I can't believe I thought we'd gotten the whole story just because we saw the recap tape of Haymitch's games in Catching Fire. Of course they would be a heavily-edited mess that is not at all indicative of what happened in the arena! It's such a great play on Collins' part, and I love how timely this feels as well with how easy it is to alter facts to suit a narrative these days.

The last part of this book was also suitably heartbreaking, almost moving me to tears, both sad ones for the final chapter as well as hopeful ones for the epilogue.

This was an excellent return to form for Collins and it was not what I was expecting it to be, in the best way. The writing is Collins' best on a technical level, the characters are all so loveable, which makes watching some of them die extra heartbreaking, whether you know they're going to die or not. Sometimes you think you know how a prequel is going to go, and other times you get ones like this that surprise you in the best ways.

I know I'd love to see Suzanne Collins work on something unrelated to The Hunger Games next, but if she keeps writing related stories like this, I know I'd be a happy camper about that, too.