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 Ah, my first 5-star review of the year. Let me tell you, I was supposed to be writing a review for another book today but no. No, this book is stuck in my brain and it refuses to leave. We Used to Live Here started out as a regular haunted house book, and then it evolved into something more. Something sinister and fascinating. I'm not over this, and so I'm going to review it for you. I beg your pardon for rambling, in advance.

After Eve decides to let a random family who "used to live here" into her house for a tour, everything goes sideways. Now if you're asking yourself why on Earth she would do that? Same. I know, I know, it's a typical horror story setup. Our narrator has to make a few bad decisions or there won't be a story to follow. Kliewer is at least kind enough to set up our girl Eve as a hardcore people pleaser, so she has motive. Rest assured though, I did yell at the book and therefore, by default, her.

As I said above, the story does start out as your typical haunted house novel. Mysterious noises, dark shadows in corners, and really REALLY eerie interactions with the family who has invaded Eve's house. The book does an excellent job of building a deep sense of unease. I was unsure of whether Eve was even a reliable narrator. Was she seeing things? Was she losing her mind? That, my friends, is my favorite kind of horror story feeling. There's nothing better than feeling like you can't quite get your footing, and that a twist might be around any corner.

And oh, OH twists there were. I absolutely will not spoil this for you. You have to dive into this book yourself, and let the madness take you. What started out feeling pretty cookie cutter, soon turned into something that I really wasn't prepared for. I was sending updates to my sister as I was reading this and I think one of them was simply, "Things just got WEIRD." and yup, that about sums it up. Kliewer opens up the trap door to the depths of this house's lore, and you just fall straight into the darkness with Eve.

Now I will warn that this book doesn't exactly wrap things up neatly. I know a lot of readers out there like everything explained, and hate ending a book with vague unknowns. We Used to Live Here doesn't care about that at all and honestly I was okay with that. I truly believe it actually added to the whole vibe of the story. If you embrace this fact, I promise that you'll have a good time. Also if you're asking yourself, is this a scary book? Well, I'm a bad judge of that because I read a LOT of horror and I'm pretty desensitized to a lot of things. In my opinion it was definitely unsettling, and very creepy. Your mileage may vary. 

 

I can't deny that it was Mia's ace rep that put Thanks for Listening on my radar. As a book club organizer, I'm always on the lookout for books that highlight all parts of the queer community, to give as recs to my members. The fact that this was a YA book made me especially happy, since it's nice to have a wide range of stories to share with different age groups. It's true that I also saw a little bit of myself in Mia. I too, was the friend who always wanted to fix her friends' problems and would often give us little bits of myself to avoid conflict. I was also the person who was always willing to give advice, but never willing to take it myself. I'm sure this book is going to resonate with a lot of readers out there for the same reason. 

What I really liked though, was that Horan allows her characters to show some realistic growth within these pages. Mia finds a person who helps her blossom, and start to understand that her friendships may not be the healthiest. She learns to stand up for herself, and actually communicate her feelings. Younger me so needed a book like this, and so I see a lot of good here. Especially because Horan's solution isn't to cut Mia off from her issues, but instead to show how she can work on them. 

Now I will say that even though the book is written from the POV of high school, this book is written in what felt like a younger voice. Which felt a little odd, since there are mentions of sex. It also bothered me a bit how oblivious Mia seemed to be about anything related to dating. I know Mia's character was ace, but I find it hard to believe that she wouldn't be able to spot a potential date when she was in high school and best friends with people in a relationship. Still, I can admit that it did make for some cute scenes so I was willing to keep reading on. 

To wrap things up, this was a cute read but it just felt a little younger than I was expecting. I liked the messages about friendship and evolving, and really like Mia. The backdrop of high school theater was so well done. It made me smile more than once! For all those reasons, I'm happy to award this book a solid three star rating. 

 

Okay, here’s the thing about me. I am not afraid at all of a long book. If there’s the promise of a good story inside of that menacing looking tome, I’m happy to dive right in. That being said, even I was slightly taken aback by the sheer length of The Bright Sword. I’m by no means an expert on the subject, but I know that there is plenty of Arthurian lore to pull from out there. Still, what magic could this book hold that required so very many pages? That’s what I was determined to find out.

The beginning of the story centers on Callum, a young man who is Camelot bound and determined to become a knight of the round table. He was the type of character that I could get behind. Callum was full of grit and grace in equal parts, while still feeling relatable because of his deep worries about actually being good enough to become a true knight. For the first few chapters, I was hooked. I especially loved when Callum first met the remaining knights of the round table. Broken though they were, you could tell why each of them had managed to get to this place of honor and how much they truly loved their former king.

I also really loved the fact that Grossman gives the reader ample time to meet each of the main characters in turn. As a reader, there is nothing that makes me happier than a good backstory. With his signature witty writing style, Grossman unveils the history behind each of our famous knights. We get the opportunity to see what made them the strong, capable, and also of course deeply flawed men that they are today.

However, here’s where my complaints about this book begin. The backstory portions were lovely, but they didn’t really flow with the overall story. There is a constant flipping between present day and the past, but not in a way that feels cohesive. It almost felt like the knight’s stories could have each been their own novella, while the main story continued on with Callum’s journey in the new Britain that is now missing its king. Even worse, and this is one of my biggest pet peeves, it truly felt like nothing these poor, brave men did actually mattered at all. I suppose that does somewhat stay true to the original King Arthur lore. They often set off on trivial quests that seemed to come to nothing. In this context though it just seemed to add a lot of unnecessary length to the overall story.

Which brings me the answer to the first question I had at the start of this book: what could it hold that made it so long? The answer is, a lot of rambling quests, and so very many heavy explanations. The Bright Song started to drag for me about halfway through, and I only kept on because I’d already made it to the halfway point. Happily, things did pick up towards the end again! It just felt like too little too late.

I love Fantasy novels. I love big worlds, sweeping magic systems, solidly written characters and the type of character development that makes you fall in love with the person you’re following along with. Whether the book is only 200 pages or 800 pages, as long as I feel the payoff is worth it I’ll keep going on forever. In this case, it’s my honest opinion that this story could have been much shorter and it would have had a much bigger impact. I’ll still happily award it a solid three star rating. Grossman is an absolutely excellent writer. I just think The Bright Sword tried too hard to pull too much in at once and struggled with the heaviness of it all. 

 

I always love when I pick up a book randomly from my library apps, and it ends up being absolutely stellar. Bluebird Day was on of those picks! It was a bit serendipitous if I’m being honest, because Wylie’s story was the perfect one to take me out of the reading slump that I was in. We meet her at the peak of her mental stress. Filled with anxiety, and unsure what her next move should be, Wylie spoke to me so much. All I kept hoping was that she’d find her way out the other end, and I was willing to follow her through the madness.

First of all, can I please applaud the setting for this book? Being stuck in a small Swiss village at the base of the Matterhorn sounds like the most idyllic accident ever. For Wylie and her mom though, it’s too much closeness to bear. See, the two of them haven’t been on speaking terms for a few years. Both wanting to reach out, both wishing to bridge that gap, but neither wanting to really make the first move. What ensues is a sweet story of two people who love each other very much, attempting the awkward job of rebuilding a relationship.

That’s what I loved so much about this book honestly. It was so realistic, especially Wylie’s anxieties over feeling like she fit in her own life. There was a great conversation about the expectations that others set for us, and the immense pressure that comes form trying to fit into those boxes. I especially appreciated seeing things from Claudine’s point of view as well. This wasn’t just all about Wylie resenting her mother’s expectations, but equally about how Claudine was raised the same way. It showcased how hard it is to unlearn habits to build healthier ones, and bonus points for all the therapy talk too!

Add in a super sweet mini romance, the rediscovery of long lost friends and the making of even more new friends, and this book just stole my heart. I had a lot of fun following along as this mother/daughter duo relearned how to coexist. There were a few parts I thought ran a little long, and I’ll admit that more than once I got a little annoyed at Wylie. But you know… sometimes we are annoyed when we see things that we ourselves have battled and won. So I brushed that aside. All in all this was an excellent read. Would recommend.