☺ WARNING: spoilers ahead!

• the final gambit, jennifer lynn barnes

my very first book of the year! i took so long to read it and maybe that's because i waited several months for TFG to be released that the hype kind of died here - and i had bad experiences with final trilogy books.

to be honest, all of the Eve thing and the Blake family being the very true antagonist detached from the previous two, but it gets clearer - and darker - when Avery makes the conclusion between all those hints Toby left for them. the finale is ENTHRALLING and although it wasn't exactly a happy ending for me (despite everything working in the end - more like bittersweet), i was very pleased with the outcome.

one thing it didn't sit right with me was, of course, the love triangle with Jameson and Grayson (did i already tell how much i hate these names? why did the autor purposefully gave them similar names?). While it was very clear in the second book that jameson was the endgame, it left me the impression that he had lost some of his "essence" in the last book - made no sense for him to become "more responsible" and wanting to protect Avery EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. (getting to the point of LOCK HER IN A CHAMBER SO SHE COULDN'T MAKE HER OWN DECISION?) it was forced and atypical of him. as for grayson, their last scene together was so beautiful - that type when there's a love, but for several reasons they can't be together and you know that it will hurt forever. i cried :( honestly, i liked him more than jameson, but well.

• the atlas six, olivie blake

i definitely regret not reading this earlier. it stood very low on my tbr, but i needed something that could get me back on tracks again after hawthorne trilogy. i just didn't assimilate the fact that it was ANOTHER trilogy - mea culpa, but it kind of depressed me a bit after finishing it.

now to the book: i have NO WORDS for this one? it was the slowest i've ever read in a while, but i needed it to be like this so i could literally savour the academia ambiance, the relationships, all the fascinating intrigues and anguishes and raw desire for power without a single speck of regret. although i admit 60% of the book was relatively simple and nothing spectacular ever happened besides the characters thinking about others and their life, i found it impossible to drop. atlas six basically stuck on me and the end made it SO WORTH IT??? i'm very excited for the second book.

• the wall of winnipeg and me, mariana zapata

i was writing a giant review here, but listography simply ERASED it, so i'll just resume my irritations towards the book into some points.

the protagonists had almost no chemistry between each other and the romance wasn't enough to sustain the plot of this book, which was none. almost nothing happens in the first third of the book and vanessa's multiple monologues about how badly he treated her when she worked for him (and other stuff that could be solved with more action and less pining for aiden) were irritating - why bother coming back then? aiden is blatantly boring during most of the book and doesn't even show a single facial expression. also, he's a jerk, especially because he tells her to shut up many times (while supposedly "pining" for her). his confession at the very end of the book was plain and uninteresting, making the whole thing feel kind of forced and one-sided from her part. also, there's a lot of fatphobia, badly-desenvolved backstories (her friend being a victim of domestic v*** and the subplot being ofuscated by romantic situations) and normalization of sexual h*****, even to the point of joking about it when the person is clearly uncomfortable.

ugh. it got me kind of entertained by the last half of the book, and the author has a good writing, but i wouldn't recommend it and i certainly won't remember about it by end of the year because of the shallow, boring plot.

• gothikana, runyx

i waited so long to read this one! i knew i was going to like it right in the first pages just because it got me enthralled by its narrative and the dark academia atmosphere i love so much. add mysteries, a good (not-so-good) romantic pair with forbidden romance & dark stuff and you have my full attention - no wonder i finished it so fast.

i just got a little desperate by the time i reached 85% of the book because there were too many things left unanswered and i was close to the end. i mean, first of all, what happened with roy? who was behind it if the killer itself confessed not knowing about her? the black ball thing was kind of confusing as well.

vad and corvina were also a nice couple; it just bugged me a little how poetic they could be OUT OF NOTHING. it's like a dark romeo & juliet except that romeo likes to pretend he's dracula and no one has a family to barge in the relationship. also, the forbidden thing gets forgotten too easily as we discover that the entire castle is vad's (more dracula inspiration... kinda meh) and obviously he wouldn't let corvina get expelled.

anyways, it was a very good read and i wonder if the author plans to release a second book to unravel the remaining mysteries.

• the housemaid, freida mcfradden

i read those 328 pages in one, single day - while working and doing some chores. does this mean it was a good book? yeah, not really. (i also have no idea why this happened.) this book promised SO MUCH, starting by the title on KU that said "an absolutely addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist". girl, i don't think so?

the first thing i despised was the way it was written: it didn't scare me, made me excited, made me bite my nails in anxiety of what was coming. it didn't made me surprised by the oh-so-called jaw-dropping twist - in fact, i found it quite simple. the chapters were too short with a dumb cliffhanger on the end; i mean, WHY would you put a cliffhanger on 90% of your chapters if it's a single book and not, like, a fanfic of some sort? it was so poorly written i can't believe it's a "new york times best seller". i've read better fanfics. it had potential to be good. the main character spent the entire book being dumb and enduring abuses and abuses only to fall for a victim, yet the cover sells it like "yeah she'll be a total badass wait for it". the gardener enzo, who helps her and nina, was also poorly written - had so much potential. andrew got what it deserved, but his gran final" was so... bland. the prologue also spoilers what will happen in the end. maybe 2.5 stars will do with this one.