Mental Health Archives — Melina Elisa

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This was the second book in the Caraval series, an

This was the second book in the Caraval series, and I wasn’t sure how the story was going to continue. Even though the first one ended in a question mark, I was worried I wasn’t going to like it as much as the first one. Especially since so many people so conflicted with this series!
I personally really liked it. While I don’t find Tella to be as likable as Scarlet, I really enjoyed following her in this book. The romance subplot might surpass the one from the first book, mainly because I find Dante to be a much more interesting and complex character.
While this story had some strange pacing, where some points were super fast paced and others were much slower, I still really enjoyed it. I personally wasn’t that invested in the plot point about their mother, but I loved the appearance of Jacks (IYKYK, getting ready for OUABH).
While I can completely understand why this whimsical YA fantasy isn’t for everyone, I’m really enjoying it! 4.75⭐️s

This was a highly rated book by @winstonandbooks,

This was a highly rated book by @winstonandbooks, and I can definitely see why. It’s a perfect LGBTQ+ YA coming of age with a romance subplot. It was a quick read that touched on so many important topics and difficulties that teenagers go through. I highly recommend this one! 5⭐s

This was the release from Elena Armas last year. I

This was the release from Elena Armas last year. I received an ARC for her latest novel, and wanted to catch up and read last year’s. From the summary, this plot didn’t initially intrigue me. It’s a dual-POV, grump/grump romance that follows Adalyn and Cameron. After an embarrassing social media crisis, Adalyn is exiled by her father to manage a North Carolina soccer team. What she doesn’t realize that it’s a little league team, and that the coach is no other than the retired professional football (soccer) player, Cameron Caldani.

At first Cameron is set on running her out of town, but once they start to get to know each other, they realize there is more than meets the eye than their reputation.

While Elena Armas is known for her slow burns, this one is borderline an insta-love story. You can tell immediately that they both attracted to one another, and get immediate crushes. I do feel that this story had a some depth, but not as much as the American Roommate Experiment. I originally rated this 4.25 stars, but since sitting on it for the past month, I’m going to change my rating to a 3.75. It's not that it's bad at all, I actually really enjoyed it, but when compared to my other reads this month, I liked it less than other higher rated books. 3.75⭐

This book was soooo good. I have to lead up with t

This book was soooo good. I have to lead up with that. It was written so well, had a really fun and unique spin on some of my favorite tropes. Did an amazing job talking about grief, and the author wrote it in a way that was so different, that it just made me ache and feel so emotional while reading.

The romance and budding friendships with the characters in this story is so heartwarming. The talk about the pressure of success or trying to be successful was a really great conversation had throughout this book. I honestly think it’s best going into this blind, just knowing it’s a really good book. Highly recommend this one. Another favorite of the year for sure. 5⭐️s!

When I saw all of my favorite people rate this hig

When I saw all of my favorite people rate this highly, I knew I was going to love it. So I didn’t read it for over a year after I purchased it. Sometimes I like to wait for the perfect moment to read a book I know I’m going to love, which is exactly what I did here. This is one of the 2 paperbacks I brought with me when I went to Florida at the end of June, and let me tell you...I devoured it. I think I read it in a day? Maybe a day and a half?

This story had all of the ingredients for a 5 star read. I loved the writing style. It was dual-timeline, which is the best way to create a history between two people. It was a best friends to lovers to strangers to lovers again. Their friendship was so beautiful, I honestly fell in love with these two brothers and Percy. Now, I will say, I kind of knew what negative trope was going to be in this book, because of spoilers online, but let me tell you. Even with me kinda sorta knowing what was going to happen going into this, I wasn’t prepared when everything unfolded. I was beyond shocked. It was worse than I thought it was going to be, and my heart broke in a million pieces.

And even though I’m so happy these two got their happy ended, because these things do happen, and the way this unfolded felt very realistic, I definitely felt a bit conflicted. But that’s obviously me putting my personal opinions on everything that unfolded.

I don’t want to say too much, because I don’t want to spoil anything. If you haven’t read this, I still 100% recommend this, and I personally look forward to reading some of her other books! 5⭐️s