Rating: 4/5 | The Night Masquerade concludes the Binti trilogy, and I couldn't wait to read it. The first two books were engaging, entirely unique, and full of sociological depth. I was not disappointed by the third. It was an ending that I couldn't have predicted, although now it makes perfect sense. I felt like I grew alongside Binti, understanding her struggles and learning her lessons. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 4.5/5 | The City of Brass has absolutely everything you're looking for in the first book of a fantasy trilogy: a beautiful AU with rich history, languages, politics, magic systems, and longtime oppression; a willful female lead who comes from nothing to rise to badass-ness; a devilishly handsome, super strong warrior love interest who is maybe not the greatest person ever but oh gosh you love him; a corrupt but genius and conniving king who is hard to outsmart; and a young rebel prince who knows what's right and is bound to bust out of his shell soon to help save the world. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 4/5 | This was a great book! Schaefer is compelling, entertaining, and moving. I've read a lot of nonfiction books, and they can often move slowly, even if they are saying important things. Not so with Text Me When You Get Home; I zipped through this one in just two days and truly enjoyed every second of it. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 5/5 | Reading Poor Your Soul was a beautiful, heartbreaking, moving experience. I found myself almost hypnotized by Mira Pitacin's masterful use of language and perspective. One evening, after I'd read a particularly emotional section of the book, I actually crawled into bed next to my husband and said, out loud, "I feel sad. Sad in the best way." (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 3.75/5 | This book was not what I had expected; it was no Girl on the Train. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was more than cliffhangers and suspense; this is a thriller/mystery that also deals with the poignant topics of PTSD, mental illness, alcoholism, loneliness, grief, and more. I chose it as my Book of the Month February selection, and I don't regret it! (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 3/5 | Where to begin? There were things I liked about this book, and there were things that sat awkwardly on my conscience. It was quick and ultra-digestible, and it made me feel inspired to action and hopeful about my professional future, but there were some truth bombs in there that speak to many of the things that are wrong with society today. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 4/5 | Ariel Levy's memoir is a punching account of her roller coaster of a life. I listened to her narrate the audiobook, which is far and away my favorite way to do memoirs, and she speaks as eloquently as she writes. She yanked my heart around and dropped truths that feel like guilty secrets to each of us, but that each of us understands all the same. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 4/5 | If you are looking for a quick read in which every single word is incredibly carefully selected, a read that will really, really tug at your heart, this is a great choice. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 5/5 | The Power was not a light read; it was not comfortable. It was weighty and important composed of layers and layers just waiting to be peeled back. I went into it without any real expectations, but still, I never could have imagined this novel would turn out to be what it is. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 5/5 | The first Binti novella was excellent, and its sequel did not disappoint. I was hooked from the very beginning and remained at the edge of my proverbial seat the entire time. I fell more in love with Binti on every page, as she struggled to find herself and prove that she belongs with her people, all while she knows who she is deep down, and it's someone who can be put into a box. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 5/5 | I don't think it's possible for Nnedi Okorafor to write anything that I (and the rest of the world) don't absolutely love. Her storytelling ability and imagination are just excellent. Binti is no exception. Almost from the first sentence, I was drawn into her world and her character. Even though her time, culture, and experiences are firmly science fiction, they not foreign. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 4.5/5 | I chose this book as my December 2017 Book of the Month pick, and I'm so glad I did! (That was a tough choice, though.) I was looking for something that would hook me from the beginning and allow me to rip through it quickly. That's exactly what this book did. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 3.75/5 | Well, if you had told me when I finished Streaks of Blue (#1) how this trilogy was going to end, I would have looked at you like you had two heads. I still can't believe how much the story evolved and changed course! I never would have predicted that Nikki, whose focus was on averting a mass school shooting in book 1, would be in the place she is on the last page of book 3. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 5/5 | If you’re looking to be inspired, learn something, and maybe also kind of sob like a baby, please read this book (or listen to Joe read it himself as an audiobook, like I did). I loved Joe Biden before this book, but now that gut feeling has been affirmed. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 3/5 | Wow. This book was so, so different from Streaks of Blue (#1), which told the story of Nicole Janicek as she befriended an outcast boy to try to stop him from committing a mass shooting at her high school. In that story, Nikki is a poised, self-confident, meritorious young woman who does the right thing because she knows it is right. In Nikki Blue, three years later, she is no longer that girl. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 4/5 | What Happened is an honest, straightforward, passionate retelling of Hillary Rodham Clinton's experiences leading up to the 2016 election. She tells us why she always loved working in public service, how and why she decided to run for President, the way it felt to have Donald Trump "loom" over her onstage, and her frustration when the media focused on one thing—emails—rather than any of the policy-related things she said or believed. I am glad that I listened to the audiobook version, as she read it herself. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 5/5 | There is little I can say about this one that the rest of the world hasn't already said, and that speaks to how great it was. It absolutely lived up to the expectations set by Six of Crows, which was a tall order! Even though I knew twists and turns in the plot were coming, I never could have predicted what they would be. It kept me on the edge of my seat and guessing the entire time. That ending!!! (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 5/5 | When I finished this book on my way to work one morning, all I could think was, "UGH UGH UGH MY HEART UGH." I then started my workday as a blubbering ball of pure emotion. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 5/5 | Wow. This is the book I didn't know I was waiting for. In this book, Ellen tells the story of how she was repeatedly promised the world and given the gutter at the behemoth venture capital firm where she worked. Then, she spent hundreds of thousands—if not a million—dollars of her own money to challenge the firm in court. She was eventually out-gunned by the firm's greater financial and legal resources, and she lost, but it was close. She had many, many opportunities to settle the case for a significant sum, but chose to surrender her money in order to be able to write this book and tell her story. (Click the post to read more.)

Rating: 4/5 | To no one's surprise, Dan Brown has done it again. All his books follow exactly the same formula, but it's a formula that works and is entertaining every time. I sat down on Friday night intending to spend my weekend on a wild goose hunt with Robert Langdon, with some plot twists, some cryptic codes, a bunch of art history, and a heart-racing ending. And that's exactly what I got! I'm not going to pretend that the predictable formula made the journey any less enjoyable. (Click the post to read more.)