Foolish Hearts

By: Emma Mills
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co
Pages: 320

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A contemporary novel about a girl whose high school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream leads her to new friends—and maybe even new love.

The day of the last party of the summer, Claudia overhears a conversation she wasn't supposed to. Now on the wrong side of one of the meanest girls in school, Claudia doesn't know what to expect when the two are paired up to write a paper—let alone when they're both forced to try out for the school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

But mandatory participation has its upsides—namely, an unexpected friendship, a boy band obsession, and a guy with the best dimpled smile Claudia's ever seen. As Claudia's world starts to expand, she finds that maybe there are some things worth sticking her neck out for.

First Impressions

I really enjoyed Mills’ first novel, so I was very excited when I saw that she had this one coming out. The cover is unique and I really like all of the covers. The summary also piqued my interest, more so than her second book. However, I recently read her second novel (like no more than a few weeks ago) and LOVED it. I got even more excited about this one and couldn’t wait for it to come out!

What I thought

This book was just as fun as her previous two books. I think she has cemented herself as one of my new automatic read authors! A bit of a momentary tangent, but after reading (and loving) The Fault in Our Stars, I picked up John Green’s other two novels, Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska. Granted, he was not the first author that I binged after loving a novel of theirs. But, his style of writing was so strong, that I felt like I was reading the same book back to back and burned myself out on his books. When I started Foolish Hearts, I was a bit worried that’s what was going to happen with Mills’ books. Her voice is very unique, and while I loved it, I worried it was going to be overload having read two of her books so close together.

I can happily say, that was not the case! While there is a similar tone and even a bit of a similar theme, they were different enough that it didn’t feel like she was writing the same book but with different characters. I do feel like I can confidently share that Mills has a specific style, but it’s one that I love. Her books are very focused on friendship with characters who have a sarcastic and dry sense of humor. The main characters often feel like they are alone in the world with only one or two people who understand them, until they’re proven otherwise. There also is a male character who is popular, but that they’re not the stereotypical popular guy.

In Foolish Heart, Claudia attends an all-girl high school, while her best friend Zoe, attends the public school. As a result, she’s never found reason to make friends. During the final party of the summer, Claudia accidentally witnesses the gruesome breakup of Paige and Iris. This spirals into Claudia and Iris haing to be partners on a group project, failing terribly, and then being forced to take part in the fall play in order to earn extra credit. Oh, and there’s an all boys partner high school that they put the play on with.

In addition to Iris and Claudia learning how to tolerate each other while working together, Gideon (the popular for unconventional reasons boy) pulls Claudia into his orbit. I loved Gideon so much. His quirky sense of humor and just all around goodness made me smile every time he was in a scene. He might be my book crush of the year.

I also liked that she had a close relationship with her siblings. Her brother Alex is only a year older than her, but her sister Julia is 11 years older. Yet she still has a great relationship with both of them. There’s no pettiness, and during the moments that they need each other, they are there for one another. It was really nice to see, since I feel like a lot of brother-sister relationships, especially when they’re close in age, are not good.

The other thing that I’ve started to love about Mills’ novels, is that while they’re YA, there are storylines that are relatable for adults. In This Adventure Ends, there was the storyline about her father having writers block and struggling with some depression, in Foolish Hearts, her 29-year-old sister is terrified about becoming a new mom. It’s just seems to acknowledge a little bit that YA novels aren’t just for teenagers. There’s a little bit of everything in these stories for everyone, and I really appreciate that.

I loved this book. I devoured it in 24 hours and enjoyed every moment. Gideon is easily one of my favorite characters, and Claudia’s friendship with Iris was great. As with Mills’ previous novels, the sense of humor was right up my alley. If you’ve read her other novels, I think you will love this one just as much. If you haven’t read her previous books, what are you doing?? Go read them now! Honestly, read them in any order because I think I’ve liked them all equally.

New year, New skincare!

In case you haven’t noticed by my lack of beauty posts, I’ve been a bit bored with my beauty routine. Thanks to Liz at sequinsandstripes.com (who is amazing and if you haven't checked her out, what are you going?) and my friend Stephanie (who has been mentioned multiple times on this blog and is one of my fellow book clubbers), I heard about Blue Mercury. Blue Mercury is a higher end beauty store and spa with their own makeup and skin care line. Stephanie had been wanting to go there for a while and also wanted some new skin care, so we took a trip there the other week.

I’ve been having a lot of chin/hormonal acne, so that was the biggest thing I wanted to fix. Steph and I worked with a wonderful consultant (thanks Jo!) who introduced us to the M-61 products. M-61 is the Blue Mercury skincare brand which is gluten free, paraben free, and vegan. Their makeup line, Lune + Aster, is also gluten free, paraben free, and vegan.

I apologize for the set up, but I just had to get the snow in the background!

The first product that I purchased is the M-61 PowerGlow Peel ($28-$11). This is a exfoliating facial peel that is made up of glycolic and salicylic acid as well as vitamin K, bilberry, and chamomile. In the past, I’ve used the Cane + Austin Retexturizing pads with glycolic acid and have enjoyed them, but I haven’t used them in a while. I really like the presoaked acid exfoliators, and my skin reacts to them well, so I was excited about this product. Also, this was one of the holy grail products that Liz had mentioned in her blog post.

In case you are unfamiliar with acid peels, they're an exfoliant that uses acids with various properties as opposed to grainy textures (such as salt and sugar). The benefit of glycolic acid is that in addition to exfoliating your skin, it is meant to reduce pore size, even skin tone, and reduce the appearance of fine lines. If you are an acne sufferer, you are familiar with salicylic acid which is meant to help clear skin and combat acne. It's in a lot of acne specific skin care products. 

The PowerGlow Peel is meant to treat fine lines, clarify and firm skin, reduce pore size, and treat acne. The website also says that the Vitamin K is specifically meant to combat dry, rosacea-like patches, and the bilberry extract is meant to promote an even skin tone. Jo, our makeup consultant, recommended using this 2-3 times a week on our faces, necks, and the backs of our hands. I loved the recommendation of using it on the backs of our hands because that is definitely a part of my body I don’t think about treating with the same care as my face.

I’ve only used this 2 times since buying it, but each time that I’ve used it I’ve woken up with super soft skin the next day. I’ve also already noticed some lightening of some acne scars on my skin. I am really enjoying this product so far and look forward to using more of it! It is a bit pricey, but I’ve learned that good skin care usually is.

The second product I purchased was the M-61 PowerSpot Blemish Lotion ($16). This is similar to the Mario Badescu drying lotion, but doesn’t include alcohol in its ingredients. This product includes salicylic acid, tea tree, witch hazel, cucumber, and aloe. For times when my acne decides to act up even with the use of the pads, this is a spot treatment that Jo recommended for taking care of the spots overnight. To use it, you take a q-tip and dip straight down through the liquid and into the powder. Don’t dip too deep and don’t shake the bottle! Al little bit goes a long way.

I used this product two nights in a row when I had some stubborn spots on my chin. After the first nigh they were visibly reduced and after the second night they were gone! I love that this product doesn’t only have the acid to treat, but has soothing ingredients too.

Hopefully a few new (wonderful) products will help reignite my beauty spark! I’m sorry I’ve been so MIA on the beauty front, but I honestly haven’t tried much that’s gotten me excited. I’ve barely even spent money on new products lately, instead using the products I’ve been getting from the Play By Sephora boxes. Which, I have still been getting, but have just been slacking on reviews. I will try to be better about that in the new year!

Have you ever tried Blue Mercury? Any new products in your life you’re enjoying?

The Midnight Dance

By: Nikki Katz
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Pages: 320

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): When the music stops, the dance begins.

Seventeen-year-old Penny is a lead dancer at the Grande Teatro, a finishing school where she and eleven other young women are training to become the finest ballerinas in Italy. Tucked deep into the woods, the school is overseen by the mysterious and handsome young Master who keeps the girls ensconced in the estate – and in the only life Penny has never known.

But when flashes of memories, memories of a life very different from the one she thinks she’s been leading, start to appear, Penny begins to question the Grand Teatro and the motivations of the Master. With a kind and attractive kitchen boy, Cricket, at her side, Penny vows to escape the confines of her school and the strict rules that dictate every step she takes. But at every turn, the Master finds a way to stop her, and Penny must find a way to escape the school and uncover the secrets of her past before it’s too late.

First Impressions

A dance book! Woohoo! Dance books tend to go immediately to the top of my TBR list. Add to the fact that it counts toward the Debut Author Challenge that I’ve been failing with this year, and it jumped even higher.

What I thought

This book was super weird.

Set in France in the late 1800s, Penny lives in an estate for ballerinas. All the girls do is dance and learn about topics that are helpful for talking to Lord-like people at events. The whole estate is run by Master and all of the girls are meant to follow everything he says and wants. Penny starts to realize that things aren’t right and she finds out that nothing is what it seems.

This book is sort of a cross between dystopian and science fiction and, like I said, was just a bit too weird for me. There was a lot of science fiction stuff that didn’t feel fully thought out to me and left me confused and with a lot of questions.

Unfortunately, because I was questioning a lot of what was going on, I couldn’t get into the story. I liked the relationship between Cricket and Penny, but everything else was half-developed. It seemed like every time there was a problem, a solution was created instead of being formed from parts of the story that was already there.  

I also spent the final half of the book worried that things weren’t getting wrapped up ad that the book was going to end on a cliffhanger and result in a series. I don’t quite understand why all YA books that aren’t contemporary HAVE to be at least two books, so I was going to be very annoyed if that was the case. While the ending was left a bit open in case of a sequel, it concluded enough to be a standalone. But as a result, the ending felt very rushed and thrown together.

I will say that as a dancer, I was impressed with the dance knowledge in this book. I wish there had been a bit more dance and not as much of this sciencey manipulation storyline. I picked up this book because I love dance stories, and it was a very minor part of the storyline. It setup a reason for the girls to be in the estate but that was about it.

This is a bit of a 2.5 star read for me. I think that if this genre is up your alley you might like it. And like I said, I appreciated the bit of dance knowledge that was in there. Overall, it just didn’t click with me. I was over halfway through and debated giving u on the book because I started not to t care what happened to these characters. I also was so convinced the book was going to end in a cliffhanger that I was willing to just stop reading rather than spend time finishing the book only to be left unsatisfied. Don’t let the cover drag you in like I allowed it to do to me. If the summary doesn’t appeal to you, I’d definitely give this one a pass.

8 Books I'm Most Excited for in 2018

Until I started blogging, I was never really aware of upcoming books, with the exception of books that were a part of a series. Now, I hear about books decently far in advance, so there is definitely a list of those that I start to look forward to. I do love the anticipation of a book I’m excited for, so let me share that excitement with you! I did try to find 10 that I was looking forward to, but I only got to 8. Whoops! At least 8 is my lucky number.

8. The Elizas- Sara Shephard- This is an adult debut of Shephard’s who is the author of Pretty Little Liars. It sounds like an interesting mystery and I did enjoy the first few books of the PLL series (even though I never watched the TV show). I only recently heard about this one which is why it’s a little lower on my list. Publishing in April 2018

7. My Oxford Year- Julia Whelan- I am a sucker for books about studying abroad, especially ones in England. It also seems like it had a hate to love relationship which I am also a sucker for. This is a debut and it is described as being for fans of Nicholas Sparks and JoJo Moyes. While they’re not my favorite authors, I do love the movies based off of both Sparks’ and Moyes’ books, so I’m hoping this one will be fun. It’s also already been purchased to be made into a movie, so it’ll be fun to be ahead of the game for this one. Publishing in April 2018

6. The Way You Make Me Feel- Maureen Goo- This book popped up on my twitter feed and the cover totally sucked me in. It’s about a girl who is sentenced to working on her dad’s food truck for the summer alongside a classmate that she doesn’t like. Remember how I mentioned I’m a sucker for hate to love tropes? Add in summer romance and I am all in! The hate to love is a bit different in this one as it’s with a female classmate, so it’ll be a bit more of a friendship love, but I’m always looking for a good friendship story! Publishing May 2018

5. By The Book- Julia Sonneborn- A modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Anne Corey is working towards tenure until Adam Martinez (her first love and ex-fiance) shows up as the new president of the college where she works. Books, love, and a Jane Austen retelling. Can I ask for more? Publishing February 2018

4. The Wedding Date- Jasmine Guillory- “Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn’t normally do.”- That right there is why I’m excited for this book. It sounds exactly like the beginning to a cheesy Hallmark movie and that makes me so excited. It’s another debut, so I’m hoping that it will add a new author to my list of ones I love. Publishing January 2018

3. The Queen of Hearts- Kimmery Martin- This book was actually brought to my attention when I was asked to review it. It’s about two woman who became best friends in medical school. They’re now married and enjoying their lives until a secret is unearthed from their past. Friendship plus a little bit of mystery just sounds intriguing. And for some reason, even though I have a decent amount of review for the beginning of the year, this is the one I’m most looking forward to. Publishing February 2018

2. The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hynotik- David Arnold- I have greatly enjoyed two of Arnold’s previous novels (Mosquitoland and The Kids of Appetite) so this was added to me list before looking at the summary. Then I read an interview he gave about the book and was hooked. It sounds so different from anything that I’ve ever read and I don’t think Arnold will disappoint. Publishing May 2018

1. Save the Date- Morgan Matson- Yay!!! A new Morgan Matson book! She is one of my favorite authors and I was beyond excited to see she was coming out with a new one in 2018. It’s about a wedding that is pretty much pure chaos. Honestly, I don’t care what it’s about. It’s by Matson so I know I will love it! Publishing June 2018

That’s my list of books I’m looking forward to for next year! Anything that you’re looking forward to? Are any of these books on your list?

Play! By Sephora December 2017

Play! By Sephora is a monthly subscription box by Sephora. It costs $10 a month and you received 5 beauty and skincare samples plus a perfume sample each month. Previously, you needed to put yourself onto a wait-list and wait to receive an email before you could subscribe, as they were rolling it out to limited quantities.

In addition to the products, Sephora includes a booklet that includes information about the product, the brand, and then tips of how to use the products. Also at the back of the book is a Play! PASS. This Pass gives you a complimentary one-on-one session with a Sephora artist as well as an extra 50 Beauty Insider points when you scan the pass at the register with any purchase. If you have the Sephora app, you can also scan the images of the products to learn more about them.

When the subscription first started, it seemed as though everyone received the same box. Now, it seems as though they have a handful of box varieties that everyone receives based on the survey you fill out at the beginning and their theme. This month’s theme is Glam Straight.

Smashbox Cover Shot Eye Shadow Duo in Golden Hour (Full-size $29)

This is a sample of two eyeshadows that come in their Cover Shot Golden Hour eye shadow palette. I LOVE Smashbox eyeshadows, so I was very excited to get these. Smashbox is one of the brands that first got me into higher quality makeup and I still think it’s hard to beat the quality of their shadows. These ones are beautiful and go together perfectly. The first color is a beautiful pinky/gold (think eye shadow version of NARS Orgasm blush) and the second is a purple/brown. I don’t often buy palettes as I feel like I can’t justify the price, but these are relatively inexpensive and still contain 8 shadows!

Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in Rose Wood (Full-size $22)

A beautiful nude pink, this soft lipstick is perfect for the holiday season if you’re not into bold lips. I haven’t tried it on my lips (yet) but it feels like it will be moisturizing. It’s definitely a “your lips but better” type of color. I’m hoping to try it soon (maybe on Christmas day) and see how it holds up to the wear and tear of the holiday meals!

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara (Full-size $23)

This mascara is one of those that you hear a lot about in the beauty community. A lot of people LOVE it, but I have yet to try it. One beauty guru that I trust has tried it and isn’t crazy about it, which is why I haven’t been too tempted in the past. I am excited to try it out though, sine I never would’ve spent the money on it. Now, do I really need another mascara sample? Definitely not, but at least it’s one I haven’t tried before!

Bumble & Bumble Thickening Volume Hairspray (Full-size $29)

A bit pricey for a hairspray in my opinion. This is meant to lift your hair and make it appear full and voluminous. While also keeping your hair in place. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ll play around with it for sure. My hair does tend to fall a little flat right at the roots so we’ll see. If not, I know some people who would love this!

IT Cosmetics Confidence in a Cream Transforming Moisturizing Super Cream (Full-size $48)

So this cream claims to do a lot of things. Sephora says that it was developed with plastic surgeons and contains ingredients meant to moisturize, reduce the look of pores, discoloration, and signs of aging. It also claims that the concentrate is activated upon contact with the skin. The main ingredients listed are collagen, hyaluronic acid, peptides, and ceramides. The only one I’m super familiar with is hyaluronic acid which is a super moisturizer. The collagen is meant to support skin elasticity, the peptides to reduce appearance of wrinkles, and the ceramides to restore the skin barrier. If this product does what it claims, it is a great deal! $48 for 2oz of a good moisturizer is not bad at all. Fingers crossed this will be a holy grail product! Only downside is there is no SPF involved.

Dior Miss Dior (Full-size $94)

This fragrance is described as having top notes of bergamot, middle motes of grasse rose and may rose, and base notes of rosewood and pink peppercorn. I (surprisingly) have never actually smelled Miss Dior before. It’s really not bad! I like the mixture of floral and spice.

Overall, a great box to end the year on! I’m honestly excited to try every product in this box and hopefully won’t be giving anything away.

The Deal of a Lifetime

Before getting into my review, just wanted to apologize for the few days of silence. The holidays always throw me off a bit with blogging. You'd think by now I'd have the hang of it, but somehow they still always sneak up on me and I don't have anything prepared. Plus, I figure most people are spending time with those they love and not reading blogs :) Anyway, on to the slightly festive mini-review!

By: Frederik Backman
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 65

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): It all begins with a father telling a story to his son on Christmas Eve. But this isn’t your typical Christmas story. The father admits to his son that he’s taken a life but he won’t say whose—not yet.

One week earlier, in a hospital late at night, the man met a five-year-old girl with cancer. She’s a smart kid—smart enough to know that she won’t beat cancer by drawing with crayons all day, but it seems to make the adults happy, so she keeps doing it.

As the man tells his son about this plucky little girl, he slowly reveals more about himself: while he may be a successful businessman, idolized by the media and his peers, he knows he failed as a parent. Overwhelmed by the responsibility of fatherhood, he took the easy way out and left his wife and little boy twenty years ago to pursue professional success. Now he is left wondering if it’s too late to forge a relationship with his son, who seems to be his opposite in every way—prizing happiness over money, surrounded by loving friends in a cozy town where he feels right at home.

Face to face with the idea that something is missing, the man is given the unexpected chance to do something selfless that could change the destiny of the little girl in the hospital bed. But before he can make the deal of a lifetime, he needs to find out what his own life has actually been worth in the eyes of his son. And so, he seeks him out and tells him this story…

First Impressions

A short Christmas story by Fredrik Backman? I’m in! I love the cover too, so I was in without even reading the summary.

What I thought

This was kind of a weird, depressing story.

Backman starts the book with a letter to readers, almost warning us that this is going to be a bit weird. It’s a short story he wrote about life and death and what it would mean to have never existed.

Unlike Backman’s full-length novels, this one has illustrations. There are beautiful pictures every few pages that add perfectly to the story. Considering this novella is only about 60 pages, I don’t have much of a review. I don’t know if I would recommend this as a Christmas story, but it’s an interesting perspective that I thin would make for some great discussion amongst friends.

If you like stories that can cause an existential crisis and you like Backman’s writing, you should read his latest novella. Maybe wait until after the holidays, but it’s worth a quick read. I don’t often recommend what type of format you should read in, but I’d recommend reading this in physical book format and not e-reader. The pictures are just too beautiful to not see in color.

Book Club December 2017

Final Book Club of the Year! This month, Stephanie picked Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

By: Gail Honeyman
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: Viking- Pamela Dorman Books
Pages: 327

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Meet Eleanor Oliphant. She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully time-tabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. 

Then everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living--and it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

What I thought

Honestly, I had heard about this book throughout the year and it never caught my eye. The name and the cover just didn’t do it for me. I don’t think I ever even read the summary, so when Steph picked it for book club, I was curious.

The tone of this book reminded me of Frederick Backman’s books, specifically A Man Called Ove. Considering how much I’ve loved his books, I was immediately drawn into this one.

Eleanor isn’t initially a likable character. She’s odd, a bit of a recluse, and a bit of an alcoholic. She is grumpy and judgmental of everyone around her and has no friends. I’ve learned over time though, that a lot of the time with characters such as these, they typically have a reason as to why they are acting they way they do.

Eleanor’s life is slowly changed when she’s leaving work with her coworker Raymond. Now, I’ll clarify that she was not leaving with him as a choice. They left at the same time and he happened to be going the same direction and started talking with her. While they were leaving, an older man fainted across the street. While Eleanor assumed he was a drunkard and was going to leave him, Raymond ran to help him and brought Eleanor along with him. After this interaction, Eleanor finds herself with two friends and isn’t quite sure what to do with herself.

There were a few moments in this book that I wanted to hit Eleanor upside the head because I would think to myself “there’s no way someone could be this stupid,” but the best part was, she often realized that herself after a short amount of time! I really appreciated that, as a lot of the times characters don’t realize when they’re being stupid and need another character to point it out to them.

Raymond is a nice balance to Eleanor. While a bit awkward (at least according to Eleanor), he is just a truly good and kind person. It was so refreshing to read a story with a character like Raymond. He was never cruel to Eleanor and never had any ulterior motives. He was just nice.

This book also tackles some mental health issues and I feel that it does it in a good way. Some of it seems a bit exaggerated or too quick, but for the sake of the story it works. The only issue I had with the book was the ending. It seemed like it ended very quickly. I think I would’ve liked either a few more chapters or an epilogue.

If this book has been on your radar, I'd recommend it. It's a delightful, easy, read that I think a lot of people would enjoy.

What Book Club Thought

General consensus was that this was a good choice! It took a few of us to get into it a little more than others, but in the end we all really enjoyed it. It was also fun to talk about a lot of the funny moments as well as those that bothered us a bit. We didn't get into a hugely deep discussion about this one, but we did throw it back since Reese Witherspoon's production company has purchased the rights for this book. We discussed which actors we could picture as Eleanor and Raymond. We agreed that we would like Eleanor to be played by an unknown (someone mousy and unassuming) but that Raymound would be played by someone better known. Stephanie came up with someone who was similar to Jack Black when he was in The Holiday and we all agreed that would be perfect. 

Series Summary- Jackaby

I recently finished the Jacakby series, which consists of 4 novels. Instead of writing individual reviews for each book, I figured I would just do a round up of my feelings on the series as a whole. I often find that there are series (trilogies especially) that I LOVE after the first book but then my feelings wane as the series goes on. Sometimes even to the point that while I couldn’t recommend the first book enough, I no longer recommend the series itself.

I've included the summary for the first book below, followed by my summary.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary--including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police--with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane--deny.

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre

Back to my summary :)

The Jackaby series follows Abigail Rook and R.F Jackaby. Rook is a young woman from England who has come to the US to find adventure. Jackaby is Sherlock-Holmes-esque in that he is a quirky private detective. However, he has the added bonus of being a Seer, someone who can see auras and supernatural creatures. As a result, the cases he investigates are the ones that are more than what they seem. Shortly after arriving in the US, Rook takes on the job of becoming Jackaby’s assistant, so the series follows them on their adventures.

The first two books I flew through. I loved getting to know the characters and the way that they saw the supernatural world. I also liked that they were a bit simpler in that they are kind of procedural. I enjoy crime procedurals, so I liked following Jackaby and Rook as they solved their crimes with a bit of a twist.

Every character in this series is so much fun. Jackaby is odd, but loveable, Rook is strong and curious, and every other character that gets introduced (that isn’t evil) is just loveable. I also wasn’t able to figure out a lot the twists because of the supernatural elements, so that was fun.

The second two books take on a bit more of an overarching story that involves battels between good and evil. I tend to struggle with books that are the searching kind of adventure. Sort of like The Hobbit, where it’s just a long story about trying to get to the final destination. I also don’t do well reading battles. I find that I get bored with all of the descriptions and confusion and I just want to know who lives and who dies and who wins in the end.

While the third book was still a quick read for me, the fourth one took me a long time. It wasn’t because it was bad, it was just not a book that I could read for long periods of time. The final book was also a bit more supernatural heavy than the first three, so I think that made it a bit harder to read as well. I did like the way that the series ended and am sad to say goodbye to these characters.

If you’re someone who likes a bit of supernatural and enjoys procedural stories, I think you’ll like this series. Just beware that the last two books get to be a bit heavier. I still enjoyed them, but I just preferred the style of the first two books in the series a bit more. I honestly could’ve had a series of 10 books in the style of the first two. I get why the second two books went the way they did, and like I said, I’m happy with the ending, but I still would’ve liked more of the procedural side with characters I loved. I would also gladly read a prequel with Jackaby and even a check-in with Rook later.