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Audience: Middle Grade/Young Adult Genre: Fantasy/Magical Realism Overall Content Rating: Clean Content Warnings Overall Review I don't read scholastic books much, and when I found this thick 400-page wonder at Goodwill, I found myself stepping outside of my "comfort zone" in terms of age range. And you know what? I don't regret a thing. With an enticing blurb and a thickness that promised plenty of reading time, I was enthralled with the idea of finding a wonderful middle-grade book of adventure and magic that I'd never heard of before. I didn't have any real expectations going into it, but whatever I had hoped I'd find... well, I found all that and more. I was excited to read it and just as excited to finish it, despite the liturgy being less complex than what I'm used to. From the start, we are shown the life of a young black girl named Amari. We see her life after her brother's gone missing and what steps she would take if only she could get him back. As I started reading, I saw everything through her eyes: the turmoil, the ferocity within the character, and the courage that she exemplified as she stood up for herself and what was right. Every aspect of this story was well-written and so fitting of the genre. It was fast, it was enthralling, and it fulfilled all my eager hopes for what this story could be. Even though I don't read middle-grade books a lot, I do love simplistic wordings in still-charming worlds and this story certainly didn't disappoint. Even as I write this review, I cannot see myself not recommending this to anyone, especially if that person is looking for a clean and yet magical story of courage and sibling love. Through trial by fire, Amari is shoved into a world that she doesn't understand anything about. She never knew it existed. As far as she knew, her brother got involved with a bad circle of people and they're the reason he went missing. What if the reason was much more mysterious? What if it was more dangerous? Throughout most of this book, we're questioning if Amari has what it takes to get her brother back, and it takes a while for anyone to think that she could possibly be trusted with any form of information. After all, she's but a little girl with a little spitfire in her. Who knows what she can do? And when she's revealed as a magician with more magic than she could've dreamed of having, she finds that things can get a little complicated. Is she up to the test? Overall, I adored this book. I don't know if you can tell by this point in this review, but I would definitely recommend this to any middle-schoolers or even any high-schoolers who are looking for a clean read about a courageous main character. I'm not a part of the black community, so I can't say much about the black representation, but I can hope that it's as spot-on as I think it is. For those of you who are a little bit more conservative in terms of the paranormal and magical, the main premise of this book is entirely magic-centered. If you aren't into that as much as I am, then I'm not sure I'd recommend this to you. Not because the portrayal isn't good, but because you most likely won't find it as enrapturing as many other readers may. Ultimately, I hope you guys give this book a chance and let it really shine on your bookshelves because this one is staying on mine for a good long while!

Audience: Young Adult Genre: Fantasy/Fiction Overall Content Rating: Clean Content Warnings Note: Because this is an anthology, I will break down the CWs by story rather than by category. Please note that ALL the stories are classified as clean, so all the CWs are things such as violence and the like. If you do not like spoilers, then suffice it to say that the common themes are magic, death, and blood, but that they are all handled well in each story. Overall Review It's never easy to review an anthology of short stories. Each story strikes you differently, and every part of it deserves its own recognition. The best that I can do is give a summary of each and what I felt that I liked about it. Overall, I think my favorite story was the last one--"When the Night Left"--but they were all enjoyable. "Namakaokahai's Treasure" was hard for me to get through, but I believe that was a lot because of the difficulty I had pronouncing the names. At first, I was tempted to skip over it because I didn't recognize the names--didn't hold any attachment to them--but after adventuring into it, I don't regret trying. I will admit to having been gifted this anthology years ago and having not read it until now, I find myself wishing that I'd read it sooner--and yet also being glad that I'm reading it now. The fantastical elements of each story were so fun to delve into, with each story having its own dynamics and ways of keeping everything in line. But let's delve into the individual stories! "The Gumiho of Dragon River" by Rosie Grymm The very first story of this anthology starts off great. With the first glimpse of it being the inhabitation of someone (we don't know who) by a spirit, it intends to start with some curiosity on behalf of the reader, drawing them into the real life of the characters later on. This is definitely the longest short story of the anthology, spanning about one-quarter of the book (about 40 pages out of roughly 160 total), and it's easy to see why. The complexity of the plot and the character arc of the main character make it nearly impossible to imagine it any shorter. Every piece of the story seems essential and any less would render the story too simplistic to do it justice. "Of Underwoods and Underworlds" by Hannah Carter This one was more of a comedic story than anything, in my eyes. It starts off with a bit of a surprise and the whole story continues from there. I loved the twists the magic took and the character development along the way. The ending itself tied the whole thing together and it was just enjoyable overall. For anyone who likes things regarding Hades and all the things that live down there... this one is definitely for you. "The Breakriver Banshee" by Abigail McKenna I think in terms of stories, this was the one I was the least prepared for. And at least half of that was the fact that I forgot the title promptly after reading it and was thus unprepared when the banshee appeared. Go figure. It was really wholesome, but you can't really tell that from the beginning. It took me until the end to realize that it was really going to come full circle and have a really sweet ending. I really liked this one! The romance aspect of it all really complimented the rest of the story and made it really easy for me to become more attached to the characters. Would definitely recommend this one! "Namakaokahai's Treasure" by Mariella Taylor I'll confess to skipping over this one before coming back, but when I did come back, I was blown away by the scope of the story. At first, I was overwhelmed by the long names and complex cultural structure, but I was soon able to immerse myself in the story. Oh, there were still parts where I was confused, but it was the kind of two-sided, purposeful confusion, where I knew the reader was supposed to pause for a moment and realize the importance of what they read. This short story was and is incredible and I would definitely highly recommend it. It holds love and loss, anger and grief, among many other things and it addresses them with such wisdom from the main character. I loved this piece and I am so glad I did end up giving it a chance. "When the Night Left" by Savanna Roberts Saving the best for last is how I want you to think of this story. By far my favorite of the five stories in this anthology, I loved how sweet it was. There's a lot of emotional pull in this one, and that's what the plot is primarily centered around. Rather than being really aggressive, it's just rather sweet and focused on two main characters who are competing for the same sky. If no other story in the anthology interests you, I'd still say that this one in itself made the whole thing worth it.

Audience: Young Adult Genre: Fantasy/Retelling Overall Content Rating: Clean Content Warnings Overall Review As far as retellings go, I wasn't sure what to think about this one. For all the hype that it garnered in clean book posts, I found it honestly a little bit bland for all the good things they said about it. Entwined is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and anyone who hasn't read the original or any of the other millions of retellings will most likely think it's charming... but I, unfortunately, have read many other retellings and it just... doesn't measure up to expectations on that front. One thing that I struggled with in this book--more so than normal--was my seeming inability to tell the characters apart. Though all the twelve sisters' names were mentioned at some point (all of them alphabetically by age), I couldn't tell the difference between the fell of the various characters, and it made it so hard for me to understand and keep up with things. For at least half the book, I thought there was a love triangle that was making me uncomfortable and it wasn't until the end that I realized that I was mixing up characters and that there wasn't one. The sheer number of girls that there needed to be in the story to make it a true Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling is hard to work with well, but this one just... didn't do it for me. I would've enjoyed it more, I think, with more differentiation between the attitudes of each girl, not just their names. I really can't tell who is who. Ultimately, I'm not really sure what to say about this book that doesn't sound scathing. It was a good book and it kept me occupied, but I don't think I'd really recommend it over any of the other retellings I've read. Most of the book is about the girls woefully going about their day, and the action doesn't come until closer to the end. I didn't hate the book by any means, but I'm really not sure it's worth a reread... And I know there are other clean retellings of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, so Entwined doesn't have the leverage against all these other books with that detail, either. Overall, I just was really disappointed in this book. I think it's been a bit overhyped and that definitely shows in how eager I was to read it--and how much of a flop it turned out to be. The cover is gorgeous, but the story as a whole fell very flat for me. I'm hoping that someone will enjoy it regardless, but I don't know that I'd really recommend it to anyone on the off chance that they will enjoy it more than I did. I'm just sad this one wasn't all it was hyped up to be.

Audience: Adult Genre: Christian Nonfiction Overall Content Rating: Clean Content Warnings Overall Review Did I pick this book up expecting to find a new favorite book? Absolutely not. I picked this book up hoping to learn a bit more about other views when it came to disability in the church, and what I found wasn't just a book trying to shove religion down your throat; instead, while it's a bit based in the church, it shows an individual perspective on things that many non-disabled people think are normal--including ableism. Written by Dr. Amy Kenny, a disabled activist, this book uncovers what it's like to be on the receiving end of ableism day in and day out. From curatives and discrimination to justice and blessings, she shares different aspects of her story, what people have actually said to her, and what her response is as a Christian. It's her specific approach to this that I loved because while I've read many things from the view of people who have been on the receiving end of ableism, it's nice to see that she combats it in her own small ways. From the beginning, I felt invited into her world, allowed to see her struggles and how they are similar and yet different from mine. While there are references to scripture throughout, there's also a lot of mentions of other works--whether books or articles--encouraging side-reading as you work your way through it. I really appreciated the aspects of the book that were specifically catered to non-disabled people, though. She encourages them to look at the results of their well-meaning comments and firm beliefs, but also shows them what it's like to be on the receiving end of ableism and how people don't often look outside their own lives to see that there's an issue with it. My favorite part of this book was that it started by saying that being disabled is not a sin. So many people are disabled for so many different reasons, but she emphasizes that this is not due to any fault of the disabled person. It's not because they sinned or don't have faith, and who says that we'll all be non-disabled in heaven? Yes, we will be made new, without blemish, but who says that disabled people are "blemished"? Isn't it just a difference? This is only one example of the things that Dr. Kenny dives into in her novel. Overall, I'd highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone remotely interested. It's one that I intend to eventually get for myself and annotate as I re-read it, and I'm a person who rarely does that. This book opened up new thought horizons for me and gave me resources to continue the journey, and I hope it does the same for many other people.

Audience: Adult Genre: Amish Romance, Time-Slip/Time Travel, Historical Fiction Overall Content Rating: Clean Content Warnings Overall Review Until Then is a book that came to me as a recommendation, coupled with high-flying praise and forthcoming suspicion on my end. Would it fulfill these expectations now that it was being so highly uplifted? Well, not entirely. When I first started reading this book, the first thing that struck me as unappealing was the fact that there's not much time to get into the story before the action starts. I know a lot of people may like that, but it was just really hard for me to get into because you don't get a real good look into who the characters even are and if they have a good relationship before that relationship is in tatters. I wasn't able to really form an attachment to the characters either, so in my case, I was finding it really hard to care as I read. For a large portion of the book, I was reading it because I felt obligated to, not because it was necessarily a fun read. I really would've loved to enjoy this read, though. With a thread of strong faith representation interwoven through each chapter and each timeline, it gave a very nice grounding aspect and an overarching idea that there's a purpose to each character's actions, one that was more than just based on their whims and wants. However, there were some characters in this that were supposedly "of the faith" that did not act like it in the slightest. Unfortunately, of all the characters in the book, the church leaders seemed to be the worst. In many instances, they seemed to be understanding, but the majority of the moments we see them, we see them acting as condemning ministers who "know everything that is correct and obviously, nobody else knows anything." As characters, they certainly served to establish more firmly the idea of Amish environments that I have—perhaps to its detriment—but not in a positive way. The only way Amish ministers have ever been portrayed to me is as very toxic, controlling, know-it-all people who think that anyone who argues against them is of the devil. This made Vin's desire to not be Amish anymore immensely relatable and Celeste's reliance on the ministers seem quite foolish. Despite this uncomfortable portrayal of the ministers, however, this book does do a good job of addressing the differences in worldviews. In many instances, there are mentions of Quakers, Amish, Mennonites, and a few other groups that I'll admit I can't remember right now, and it seems to respect each viewpoint that they come from. Though there were occasions where each person was questioned about their background, there was a firm layer of respect that was spread almost equally over all the characters we got to see in-depth. As a whole, I believe the highlight of this novel, though, is the time travel itself. Each of the time travel elements—until the answers are revealed in the end—is perplexing, and as a reader, I couldn't figure out just how things were going to work out. Sometimes it seemed mathematical, other times like the thoughts on the person's mind influenced things, but only at the end was the true answer to the equation revealed. All was ultimately handed to God in terms of glorification, rather than to chance or luck, and Vin's ability to provide for his family from the past and the overarching faith aspect of being able to hear the prayers of those they love gave this immeasurable awestruck feeling to me as a reader, not only because it sounded amazing but also because the characters were amazed by it. Ultimately, while this book didn't wow me entirely, it certainly had its moments of pleasure. The mixture of Amish romance and time travel is certainly an odd one, but in this case, it definitely worked!

Audience: Young Adult/Adult Genre: Memoir Overall Content Rating: Unclean Content Warnings Overall Review Elena Vanishing is a true story about Elena Dunkle's battle with anorexia. Having read this book before in high school, I can decidedly tell you that the impact of this novel has not changed over time. The mother-daughter authors of this book did an impeccable job turning what could've been mundane events into a story that meant something to the reader. Everything mentioned in this story has a meaning, and it has an impact, and it made me want to read more and more and more until I was crying and then the story was over. But the ending was worth the pain. Telling the tale of anorexia is hard, there's no straightforward "ok so this, this, and this happened." No, instead she has to tell us about the ins and outs, the thought processes, the pain she went through. Elena has to be raw and vulnerable with us and tell us about every little aspect of what influenced her for us to understand why she made the choices she did. It's something that has me in awe every time I read it. My favorite quote is a quote from the beginning of a book, where the Dunkles write: "Anger is honest. Hatred is a backhanded compliment. Envy is the best compliment of all. But let them turn you into a victim and you're labeled for life. Pity is the sea you drown in" (pp. 2, 2015). Already from that quote, I was hooked and I realized that there was an amount of emotional depth that would be shared. There are moments in this book, however, that were questionable at best. There's a good amount of cursing and name-calling, a few mentions of alcohol and smoking, an abortion mention, a miscarriage, and a few other things. But that's not why I want to give a warning. That warning could've been summarized only in the CW up above. No, I want to talk about the idea that this book could be hard for you to read, not because it's badly written, but because the content is hard to think about at times. For someone who struggles with anorexia or food-related thoughts, please be careful with this book, because it quite literally goes into the inner thoughts of Elena as an anorexic and her path to recovery. By the end, we see what happened as a result of her anorexia-related choices, but from the beginning, I don't want anyone to be harmed by this book for lack of foreknowledge. But by the end, we could see the grave seriousness of anorexia and the death toll, even in the way it impacted Elena's life, but we can also see that it can be recovered from. Perhaps not wholly, not in the way that some may dream of being recovered from it, but it can be mostly absent, even in the hardest of times. Overall, I loved this book just as much as I did the first time I read it. It's a story that's impacted my life so much in not only my lifestyle but also my hopes and dreams for the future. For those out there who are interested in reading this book despite the content warnings, I'd highly recommend this one.

Audience: Adult Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery Overall Content Rating: Somewhat Unclean/Unclean Content Warnings Overall Review Having read this for school, I'm certain that my appreciation for some measure of what was written in this novel was dulled somewhat. However, out of all the books I could've chosen for my reading project, I'm glad I chose this one. Written in times both present and past, this story takes us through the journeys of three women--Joséphine Murant, Margot Bisset, and Genevieve "Evie" Black--and shows how their stories are, interwoven in the most peculiar of ways, even though they seem entirely different on the surface. Starring side characters like Hugo, Evie's son; Clément, the museum curator; and many more wonderful characters, we see the impact that past people can have on the present if only we let their stories have a chance to shine. I loved reading this book for many reasons. It shows the impact of grief, it shows the brutality of the treatment of those in work camps in WWII, and shows how we can respect those whose stories are left untold, even if they aren't known to the whole world. The content that is in this book was handled tastefully, which makes the "unclean" label on this book so devastating to me. For the first half of the book, I didn't find anything questionable beyond a few words, but by the end, multiple tiny scenes needed mentioning and made the overall rating much harsher than I believe this book deserved. If you're looking for a book that shows the harshness of the work camps and the people governing them while also providing some present-day reprieve with a tiny bit of romance and mystery, I'd highly suggest this book. This book spans 1939 - 2004 from the "past" perspectives, and then it continues from roughly 15 years after that to the present day. There are no real dates given and I'm basing this off of what I know from the character's ages, so I could be quite wrong but this is just my rough guesstimate. I did notice one inconsistency, but that's just something minor. At the beginning of the book, Hugo is said to be eighteen, but at the end of the book, they say he's seventeen. Pretty sure that was just an accident that got missed but just something that I found when reading over my notes. Overall, though, this book was really well-written and engaging and I'd love to read it again when I have the time!

Audience: Middle Grade Genre: Adventure Overall Content Rating: Clean Content Warnings Overall Review In The Discovery, Korman writes about four kids chosen for an internship with a dive company, but none of them know what they're planning on doing with them. A photographer who's never photographed professionally in his life, two divers that barely know what they're doing, and one cripple who's the only experienced diver out there are sent into coral reefs looking for caves. Or so they're told. But when they find resistance and an anchor from an old sunken ship, they find much more than they thought they were getting into. This book started very quickly, with a "diary entry" from a captain's boy before it got into the modern-day action. Ultimately, it leaves you either gripped from the beginning or putting the book down because you simply don't care, which is nearly what I did. The con of things starting so fast is that there's no time for you really to become engaged in what's happening. There's no time for you to understand who the characters are. In fact, there was barely an introduction before the story began in earnest, which made it hard to get into. However, there is some to say about that being good for a kids' book, especially for those who like to read but need action quickly before they lose their interest. One thing that I did find that I thought might cause a problem in younger audiences, however, was something that was an issue from the beginning. This problem was honestly just the wordings that the author used, not just in normal paragraphs but also in the kids' dialogue. I'm not saying there was anything profane—far from it—but I am saying that some of the terminology that they used was far too technical even for me, who knows nothing about diving. It makes no sense to me that they would not describe these terms for kids who may know even less than I do, but such is how it was written. I suppose the details weren't too necessary to the plot in the end, but it would've been nice to fully comprehend what was happening in each scene. Another thing I didn't appreciate was how rude some of the characters were. From the beginning, and throughout a lot of the book, the four kids seem to be at each other's throats and the adults aren't setting a very good example, either. A lot of them are grumpy and irritable, even outright lying to them and leaving them behind when they were supposed to be guiding them. Overall, there was a large dramatized portion of this book where everything seemed unnecessarily elevated. That said, I haven't read a young kids book in a while so maybe that's how they've always been written and I've just forgotten. Ultimately, this wasn't a bad book by any means, but I'm not sure I'd necessarily recommend it to anyone either.

Audience: Young Adult Genre: Dystopian/Science Fiction Overall Content Rating: Clean Content Warnings Overall Review This book came a long, long way for me to not love it as much as I'd hoped. Having gotten it from a friend a few years ago, it has sat on my shelf, waiting to be loved but... I don't know that it'll ever hold more than sentimental value for me. Unfortunately, having grown up with famed dystopian novels such as The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) and Divergent (Veronica Roth), among others that were less famed but still quite good as far as I remember (such as The Choosing by Rachelle Dekker), I went into this hoping that it would live up to not only the hype that my friend had filled me with when I first opened the gift but also the anticipation of reading it that multiplied within me as time passed. However, while I was disappointed by a few things, I wasn't completely heartbroken over how this book turned out. Colors by Olivia Arndt is a dystopian novel that takes place in a sci-fi world. With various people settled into a caste system, it reminded me greatly of The Selection (Kiera Cass) at first, but in the end, it became all its own world, with all its own systematic elements. With terminology used in the book such as Outsiders, Insiders, Standards, and Opulents, I found myself astonished by how clear and easy-to-understand the terms were. Even on my first read-through, I found myself able to understand most of the terms first-try, and when I didn't understand, I found a small detail added later on that helped me understand a lot better without completely rehashing what was being talked about. The characters themselves and their motivations were pretty good, and there were a few times when perhaps I should've known what was coming, but didn't. By the end, everything seemed to fall into place too easily and just wrap up simply, but there's the possibility that that could've been simply because I have read so many dystopian/sci-fi novels of this type. What I really liked about this story--and what I believe was a lot of the premise of this story--was what I think disappointed me the most. The main character, Tethys, has a special ability to see people's emotions in the form of colored clouds above their heads. Later on, she finds someone else who has the same ability. Despite both these characters interacting in various places, though, they never seem to address anything more than what those color clouds seem to have in relation to who's going to die next, which I found incredibly saddening because the concept just struck me as super interesting and something that I'd love to know more about--especially with how this author seemed to want to portray it. Overall, this was a pretty decent book. I liked it well enough, and I may recommend it to anyone who wants a simplistic and clean dystopian novel that doesn't have too much violence and gore--because this book doesn't have as much as many other dystopian and sci-fi books have--but I definitely wouldn't go around raving about it as much as I would many other books that I mentioned above. Definitely worth a shot if you're looking for a clean read, keeping in mind that the only real thing keeping me from calling it positively wholesome is the violence and death involved in the various portions of this book. While I didn't mind reading it, I probably wouldn't read it again.

Audience: All Ages Genre: Poetry Overall Content Rating: Clean Overall Review The thing about poetry is that it's hard to review. It's hard to say "you did a good job with ____" when you don't know what the purpose was. And really, such is the case with all writing, but poetry is just harder for me. That said, this poetry collection was really hard to read for a few reasons in particular. First and foremost... the formatting was all over the place. First, it's left-aligned. Then, it's center-aligned. Then there are pictures with full paragraphs following where it looks like a prose poem and yet not. There were no titles and I couldn't tell if each one was a different poem in the same section or if every time there was a format change, it was the same poem. I think that they're a bunch of poems put together, but really, I know nothing. I could be entirely wrong. Ultimately, that in itself gave a very cluttered feel and I didn't much like it. I was more confused than anything, which made it hard to enjoy the actual work itself. However, all that said, the images that are interspersed throughout the entire piece are gorgeous and each one has quotes that also are striking in their own way. One of my favorites said "Darling, don't you know? You don't have to hold your breath any longer." All in all though, I wasn't entirely impressed by the poetry in this piece. While it was pretty, I wasn't struck by anything profound. Which I suppose is a little harsh, but if you're looking for something you've never heard before, I highly doubt you're going to find it in this collection. However, if you're looking for a reminder of who you are in Christ, then this may be the book for you!

Audience: Young Adult Genre: Medieval Romance Overall Content Rating: Clean Content Warnings Overall Review From the very beginning, I was caught in this story. Admittedly, it wasn't for the first time. Having reread this book time and time over the past five years, it's never lost its shine for me and it's with pleasure that I get to write about it here. An Uncertain Choice is a book about Lady Rosemarie and her journey to find love despite what she had expected for herself for years before. Having been told that the only path for her was to go into the convent when she turned 18, she's approached one month before her birthday by the Duke of Rivenshire (practically an uncle to her), who tells her that if she falls and love and marries for love before her 18th birthday, she doesn't have to go to the convent. But can she find someone she truly loves in just one month? Unlike many regency romances, there are not a lot of moments where things are questionable. If you read through the content warnings, you can see that the major thing was the violence, but primarily, this violence was caused by one person, who is revealed by the end. There are instances of jousting and such, but only for sport, and nobody gets injured. The only true injuries are caused by various events of torture, which Lady Rosemarie is directly against, and the mystery is who is disrespecting her commands. Over the years as I've read through this, I've appreciated the gentle way that they approach God. Even the Abbot himself isn't forceful about his religion, instead guiding Lady Rosemarie through what he believes is best for her. But perhaps what he thinks is right isn't so right at all...

Audience: Young Adult Genre: Fantasy/Contemporary/Retelling Overall Content Rating: Clean Content Warnings Overall Review This book is one of those books that's impossible to summarize in one word. It's too incredible, too magical, too openhearted and raw, too... everything. This book was absolutely incredible. Coral is a tri-POV (point of view) book written from the views of Coral, Brook, and Merrick. It's a journey through depression, anxiety, and loss. Over the course of the book, the three of them all have to find themselves despite the intense turmoil around them and Ella created the whole workings of the story beautifully. When I first opened up the book, it was a bit hard to get into. I can't say this was due to the story itself being boring, but instead, it got into the hard topics so fast and I wasn't mentally prepared for it. This book took me over nine months to read when I usually finish books in a matter of days. If that doesn't say something as to how hard this book might be to get through, I don't know what will. The truth is, anyone who struggles with suicidal ideation, with depression, who has dealt with loss in any way—particularly if you've dealt with loss by suicide—I'm going to warn you, this book is going to hit you hard. You may be like me, who thought that they could handle it. It wasn't real, they were past that. The truth is, we're usually not 'past' everything we think we are. I know I sure wasn't. My favorite part of this book was the insane plot twist near the end. That was just so masterful and while I won't say much because of spoilers, from a writer's point of view, that blew. my. mind. Another thing I loved was the sheer vibrancy of the feelings, the raw pain that managed to be so beautiful, and just how everything was so authentic. Overall, even though this book took me so long to read, it was so worth it. Every last bit of pain, every last bit of struggle, every last moment of my time that I had to set aside and just push myself through it. It was worth it to me. This was such a good book. I will say, though, that if you're going through a hard time, maybe don't read this book. This one's going to pull you under, and if you aren't ready to deal with that, don't read it. It's not a matter of strength, it's a matter of what you've had to go through. And if you've gone through a lot, no matter how strong you are, it's going to hit you hard. Even those who haven't gone through this may cry or have to set this aside. It's a heavy book, and if you can't read something like this, that's okay! Just because this was a stellar book doesn't make it ideal for everyone. Author's Note: This book review was originally posted on my other blog, TheFrogBlog. It was edited to meet the criteria of this blog, but if you would like to see it in its original form, please read: https://www.thefrogblogandfriends.org/post/coral-by-sara-ella