alltheradreads's reviews
1804 reviews

our march pick for #alltheradreadsbookclub was such a treat — i didn’t know much about this one and was so pleasantly surprised by it! it’s a well-done blend of mystery, fantasy, magical realism, a little love story, family drama and found family dynamics, cartography, adventure, and hijinks, and i enjoyed it so much. no one element was too heavy-handed, but it was all mixed together in a way that felt really unique— my only critique was i wanted more from the second half of the book once things got really juicy!

as one book clubber said last night — this one took something pretty dry and boring (cartography) and made it really fun and exciting, and i really liked it! 

read this library book the day i checked it out! and i hadn’t ever heard of it! look at me go! 

i just wish i had liked it more…🙃 it’s about four friends on a reunion trip to hike a mountain in norway, but then weather threatens, shady characters cross their paths, back stories emerge to tangle the storylines, secrets get messy, and not everyone survives it. the bones were there, it just didn’t wow me or fully hook me ever, and felt a bit too disjointed and far fetched to totally immerse me. 

gretchen is a fake spirit medium who channels really good research and genuine empathy for her clients into her work, guided by a rule that she only will share what helps them. she gets hired to go to a farm and figure out what’s been haunting it, and she’s surprised to find that not only is the owner NOT an elderly man but a hottie farmer, and that there in fact IS a ghost and she CAN see him. maybe she’s not a fake after all?!

shenanigans ensue, of course, and gretchen has to convince hottie farmer charlie to stay or the curse that’s kept ghost everett haunting for the farm for nearly 100 years will befall him too.

DON’T WORRY— she has a few weeks and naturally, that’s enough time for her to become bff with the ghost and to fall in love with the farmer!!! oh, and also help birth some bebe goats and sell soap at the farmer’s market and totally become a new person at the same time. because of course.

but in all seriousness, this is a cutie read and it’s charming and fun and sarah adler writes delightfully earnest and tender stories that i will read every time!

i don’t how to describe this one except to say it’s very much t. swift-inspired, with notes (lol, get it) of the show nashville, or the movie begin again, or music and lyrics, or daisy jones and the six sorta. but like, in a watered down way? where the MMC has essentially no personality and their spark is... hardly there. it just felt flat to me, and didn’t even really SCREAM swiftie magic in the way it could have (and tbh would have been better if it had). sorry to all the girlies!

she did it again, folks!!! emily henry, you are a queen. your banter is unmatched! the way you write romance IS the blueprint. the heart! the wit! the warmth! it truly is unmatched and in a league of its own, and i loved this story dearly. reader, i cried. (of course i did). i swooned. i laughed. i want to reread all of my other henry books now, just to live in the world of her words even longer. it was a TREASURE.

miles was engaged to petra. peter was engaged to daphne. petra and peter were best friends (UH HUH, SURE THEY WERE). bet you can guess what happened here...

and EVEN WITH a predictable couple swap, fake dating that led to real love, a third-act break up due to miscommunication, and other reliable tropes, nothing (and i repeat, NOTHING) about this felt tired or old. every page sparkled with emily henry magic. and the side characters?! amazing in their own right!

gah. a gem.