The Lucky List by Rachael Lippincott
This is a fairly recent read for me, meaning I read it within the last year, and I loved it. The whole story was heartfelt and getting to go on a journey of self discovery, especially sexuality-wise, with our main character Emily, was nothing short of wonderful.
Emily and Blake have an instant connection that doesn’t start out as romantic. No, this is something you get to see bloom over time. The progression of their relationship happens pretty quick but it feels very realistic. Which can be difficult to get right in a standalone novel, but Rachael Lippincott is yet to let me down. She’s great at writing realistic characters and relationships.
Synopsis: Emily and her mum were always lucky.
But Emily’s mum’s luck ran out three years ago when she succumbed to cancer, and nothing has felt right since.
Now, the summer before her senior year, things are worse than ever – Emily has wrecked things with her boyfriend, Matt, and her dad is selling the house she grew up in and giving her mum’s belongings away. The only person she has to talk to is Blake, a girl she barely knows since she and her dad moved back to town five seconds ago.
But that’s when Emily finds the list – her mum’s senior year summer bucket list – buried in the back of her closet. When Blake suggests that Emily take it on as a challenge, the two set off on a journey to tick each box and help Emily face her fears over losing her connection to her mum. As she starts to feel closer to her mother, so too does Emily’s bond with Blake deepen into something she wasn’t expecting.
And suddenly Emily must face another fear: accepting the secret part of herself she never got a chance to share with the person who knew her best.
Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare
This is technically a spoiler and also doesn’t happen in this book but I didn’t want to spoil the plot by using the third book. However, Emma and Julian have my entire heart. Their love story is by far the most heartbreaking of all of Cassandra Clare’s books. It’s not just a case of them not being able to be together, it’s the fact that they could literally die if they have a romantic relationship. I’m not going to spoil too much about what actually goes down with them but their love story is childhood best friends to lovers, which is the best type of story for this trope if you ask me.
This is a serious slow-burn, mutual pining type of love so if that’s not your thing, you probably won’t like Emma and Julian. However, there are plenty of romantic relationships happening throughout this series, even though it’s technically a fantasy first and foremost.
I’ve never reviewed this series before as I read it way before I had this blog. Maybe I should do re-reads of them at some point.
Synopsis: The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare’s newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.
It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.
Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn’t lead her in treacherous directions…
Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind—and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn’t recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: Audiobook Review: Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah