WOW. This book was brilliant! I loved every moment of it, from the characters to the gentle chaos to the full-blown chaos within the walls of a prestigious ballet conservatory. The writing style was beautiful, at once heartbreaking and concise, with incredible worldbuilding and description. The idea of a picture-perfect group of ballet dancers each hiding dark secrets was executed just right. The characters definitely weren't the flawless images they project onstage. There were so many issues and topics covered in this book, but they kept the pages flying fast and my suspense mounted high. Truly a stellar book with a cliffhanger that nearly killed me (and someone else in the book...). I can't wait to continue this journey in the sequel.

An absolutely breathtaking book! The worldbuilding in Shadow & Bone was fantastic: a rich tapestry of friends, foes, kingdoms, language (I loved the language influences so much, they really established the vibe of the story), and magic. I haven't read a solid fantasy book in quite a while, and this book reminded me of how lovely and well-crafted they usually are. This story follows a poor, overlooked girl (Alina) who accidentally reveals her world-changing powers and is whisked away to a palace to start her life anew. While this isn't the most original storyline, it was executed well, and I liked that while romance wasn't the focal point of the book, it complemented it in a way that it carried the plot. The development of Alina and the Darkling's relationship, in juxtaposition with Alina and Mal's, was so electrifying and uncertain that it felt like standing on top of a skyscraper and nearly falling at every moment. The ending was what truly had my heart racing, and it took all my effort to put the book down in the dark of night.

An absolutely breathtaking book! The worldbuilding in Shadow & Bone was fantastic: a rich tapestry of friends, foes, kingdoms, language (I loved the language influences so much, they really established the vibe of the story), and magic. I haven't read a solid fantasy book in quite a while, and this book reminded me of how lovely and well-crafted they usually are. This story follows a poor, overlooked girl (Alina) who accidentally reveals her world-changing powers and is whisked away to a palace to start her life anew. While this isn't the most original storyline, it was executed well, and I liked that while romance wasn't the focal point of the book, it complemented it in a way that it carried the plot. The development of Alina and the Darkling's relationship, in juxtaposition with Alina and Mal's, was so electrifying and uncertain that it felt like standing on top of a skyscraper and nearly falling at every moment. The ending was what truly had my heart racing, and it took all my effort to put the book down in the dark of night.

I love books about middle school, and this book looks scintillating, from the title to the summary! I would also love to read a book whose co-author is a head writer from SpongeBob SquarePants, one of my favorite childhood shows. Thank you for this opportunity.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if there is one this year :(

Truly a spellbinding finish to the bestselling Heroes of Olympus series! Rick Riordan flawlessly combines emotion, suspense, description, high stakes, romance, character development, and humor into five hundred unputdownable pages. I truly could not stop reading; each chapter starts off with such a darkly humorous sentence—"Dive-bombing a volcano was not on Reyna’s bucket list," for example—that it's impossible not to get all the way through. The tension just keeps mounting until the ball finally drops and the event we've been waiting for for five novels finally happens. Everything is so ridiculously satisfying, and the aftermath of the main climax point at the end feels so warm with a note of melancholy, truly perfect for this particular series. When I first started HoO, I didn't expect to like all of the seven demigods chosen for the prophecy; if three's a crowd, then seven's a population. But every one of these characters is so multifaceted, with their own fears, strengths, and weaknesses, that it becomes nearly inconceivable not to resonate and empathize with each of them. Even the characters who were not part of the Seven, like Nico and Reyna, captured my heart in this book. Truly a worthwhile read.