Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, is a story about four friends from college navigating their way through life, overcoming their past traumas, and the one special person that connects them all. It’s very hard to get into the details of the book without spoiling it, so sorry if that explanation is very vauge. I’m nearing the end of the book and I’m loving it so far. I personally enjoy character-based novels a lot more than those focused on plot, but I can see the writing being very tedious for others. Rather than following one specific storyline, the story instead jumps around throughout the characters’ lives over decades describing their life experiences. The author takes her time setting the details of the story, making sure to describe every little detail as thoroughly as possible. I don’t think I’d recommend this book, despite how much I’m enjoying it, to anybody who thinks they may get turned off by this long, slow, and descriptive writing style. It also gets into some incredibly upsetting and disturbing content later on, and I cannot exaggerate enough how much I recommend looking into it before picking it up.

Jenny Han’s It’s Not Summer Without You was a good book. After reading the first book in the trilogy, readers are easily hooked, wanting to know what will happen to Susannah, along with Belly and the boys. After Susannah’s death, the vibe of the book shifts. There is nobody to console the boys or act like a second mother to Belly. After finding out Conrad and Jeremiah are going to lose the summer house due to their dad they have to fight alongside Belly to save it. A lot of tension arises after finding out this news, which further strains everybody’s relationships.

All of the characters become more and more complex as the book shifts perspectives every few chapters or so. Overall, I really recommend this read to anyone who likes an easy read and would like to be hooked into a good series of books.