First and foremost, my normal disclaimer: I'm a teen librarian and read 99% teen/YA books.

Read:

Clockwork Princess, by Cassandra Clare

Okay, so I actually really, really, really liked this trilogy. I thought The Mortal Instruments was just okay, bordering on meh in books 4 & 5, but I feel like you can see a clear development and maturity in her writing style and capabilities in this trilogy. It has one of the first love triangles - if you can even call it that - that I haven't hated in a teen book series. The story was far more interesting than TMI and I enjoyed it immensely. I loved all these characters and wanted to keep reading about them, and it has one of the best endings I've read in a teen fantasy series. I am not a book crier but I teared up reading the epilogue.

Lady Midnight, by Cassandra Clare

I fell down the rabbit hole of these books, hard. I actually really, really, really, really like this series. Maybe even more than The Infernal Devices. No, they aren't the greatest literature ever written, but they are fun and enjoyable and I really like the characters.

And the Ocean Was Our Sky, by Patrick Ness

This book is super weird and bizarre. It's an experimental allegorical picture book for teens and it just wasn't for me. The concept interested me and I read it in 45 min at my desk, but it was sooooo boring and confusing, nothing was explained or fleshed out, and I do not think this will actually appeal to any real teens.

Currently Reading:

Sadie, by Courtney Summers - I still haven't made more headway on this, it's getting rave reviews but it's all a little dark and rape-y for my tastes.

Lord of Shadows, by Cassandra Clare - ugh, I am so sucked in by this series. Send help.

About to Start:

A Room Away From the Wolves, by Nova Ren Suma

The Boy, The Bird and the Coffin Maker, by Matilda Woods - lack of an Oxford comma in the title notwithstanding, I am super excited to read this. I love magic realism and it has great reviews.

Sadie, by Courtney Summers I flew through this and ended up finishing it in two days, it was really intense I couldn't stop.

I had a surprisingly great reading week. I didn’t enjoy everything I read. Although I was able to finish quite a few books.

Finished:

• Raymie Nightingale, by Katie DiCamillo: I thought this book was wonderful. I really don’t read middle grade books anymore but this one was so beautiful, sad, and lovely. It was a whimsical tale of three girls in 1975. 4/5 stars.
• Girls Like Me, by Lola St.Vil: This was confusing to follow and was freaking boring. I love books written in verse, but this book just didn’t have a point. This book used all of the typical YA cliche. 1/5 stars.
• Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger: I loved this novel! this is the BEST book I have read in AGES! It's a ghost story but so much more. 5/5 Stars
• Sadie, by Courtney Summers: This is such an intense book. I really didn’t think it was going to be as deep and hard to read as it was. I really found this almost unbearable at times. 5/5 stars.
• Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber: This is a predictable psychological thriller. I found it to be kind of boring and not as exciting as the synopsis made it sound. Am I sleeping? Yes because this book is boring. 1/5 stars
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver: A collection of slice-of-life short stories they don’t exactly have a point but I loved them. 4/5 stars
• Radiance (Riley Bloom, #1) by Alyson Noel : This main character was the worst girl I have ever had to read about. She was an annoying brat. Riley is a young girl who died tragically in a car accident along with her parents. It has a plot that ultimately made no sense. I can’t believe I finished it. 1/5 stars.
• Shimmer (Riley Bloom, #2) by Alyson Noel : Meh, this was about as bad as the first one. Nothing ever happened. It was a pointless sequel. I won’t be reading the other two books in the series.1/5 stars

Started:

• Queens of Geek, by Jen Wilde: I don’t think this book is for me. I am not a person conventions so this book is really boring for me. The characters are rather annoying also. I might DNF this book. I am about 20% in.
• The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story, by Hyeonseo Lee: this book is really interesting so far. I am about 10 percent into this book.
• Zenith, by Sasha Alsberg: I’m on page 50 of 534 of Zenith: This is really just all over the place. I really am disappointed in this so far. What is really annoying me at this point is the random pointless italicized words. Ridiculous names and overly complicated solar system. But worst of all the repeating sentence structure and saying the same thing 5 different ways. I am almost asleep.
• Hate List by Jennifer Brown: This book is dark, psychological, sad and angering.It is a book that I can’t read for very long. It is a bout a school shooting. So far I am enjoying it but it is extremely disturbing.

I'm a teen librarian so 95% of what I read is teen stuff.

Last week I finished Sea Witch, by Sarah Henning - it was a pretty great darkish Little Mermaid retelling, with a lot of historical detail set in the real world. If you read To Kill A Kingdom earlier this year, this is very different, though I enjoyed both books.

I also listened to both City of Ashes, by Cassandra Clare and City of Glass, by Cassandra Clare - nothing mind-blowing, but fun and fluffy fantasy to listen to while I'm doing chores or my jigsaw puzzle.

This week I am in the middle of Save the Date, by Morgan Matson and I am listening to both Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland and City of Fallen Angels, by Cassandra Clare. My next physical book I'm starting will probably be my ARC of Sadie, by Courtney Summers just because it has a lot of hype/starred reviews and I like to at least try to read titles that have a lot of buzz because of my job.

I recently finished Sadie, by Courtney Summers and it was harrowing. The formatting was really cool and the story was so compelling. It was a great read.

I'm a teen librarian so I read 99% YA books.

Finished in the last week:

Muse of Nightmares, by Laini Taylor

This is the sequel to Strange the Dreamer, and it was everything I could have hoped for and more. Absolutely nothing I thought was going to happen actually happened, and it continually surprised me as I read. I hunted down an ARC and read the whole thing in under 48 hours. I would have finished it in a day but I had to travel for a huge chunk of Saturday and couldn't read.

Summer of Salt, by Katrina Leno

A very nostalgic feeling YA magic realism novel that reminds me of Practical Magic quite a bit. This book reminds me of YA from 20+ years ago and feels uniquely teen instead of teen but actually marketed to 20- & 30-something year old women. It was a quick and short read, but a nice break from all the "new adult" I've been reading.

City of Heavenly Fire, by Cassandra Clare

I listened to books 1-4, skipped 5, and listened to this book (6) to finish this series. The first trilogy was fun and fluffy, the second not so much. 6 was better than 4, where absolutely nothing happened. I missed nothing by skipping 5 and just reading the plot synopsis. This book ties in a lot of characters from other series in the Shadowhunter world and so is less wholly focused on Clary/Jace and their whiny bullshit.

Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Prince, by Cassandra Clare

This series is already infinitely more interesting than The Mortal Instruments series. The characters are less annoying, the story is less vampires vs werewolves, and there's a cool steampunk edge to it that I like.

Currently Reading:

Sadie, by Courtney Summers

Clockwork Princess, by Cassandra Clare

Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland (I'm listening to this one, and I kind of hate it. I may DNF. The author is not my cup of tea - see problematic issues on Goodreads and Twitter in regards to white people not being allowed to give her books less than 4 or 5 stars because this not being your favorite book ever is clearly racism /s - and treats Native Americans abominably in the book.)

Sadie, by Courtney Summers Audiobook
Daisy Jones and the Six Just meh so far at almost half way mark.
Plan to start The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon once Daisy is done. I'm really excited for this one.

Sadie, by Courtney Summers

Started reading this book as part of a book club I just joined at work. The book club has a running theme on reading horror/mystery type books. This is the first book pick of the new year.

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EDIT: Didn't mention if I was starting or finishing the book.

Finished The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon

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Currently reading

- fiction: Sadie, by Courtney Summers

- audio: Scythe, by Neil Shusterman

- non-fiction: The subtle art of not giving a f*ck, by Mark Manson