radhikag's reviews
72 reviews

A really sweet and touching story. I think I’m only not giving it 5 stars because I’m trying to be discerning and The Good Part (also by Sophie Cousens) made me feel awake and alive and like I want to live!! This book was sweet and sentimental and special. 

My own parents met in Jersey and also have a

less than ideal love story as we learn about Laura’s own parents

. So it was sweet and I imagine someone who grew up in or knows Jersey would extra enjoy it for all the details, kinda how I felt with SF in Malinda Lo’s books. Anyways I’m going on a tangent so let me say this: 

Laura is a hopeless romantic but also seems to just be unlucky in love. Her parents have both passed but she holds onto their love story as the ideal and proof of what can happen when we let ourselves be romantic. She convinces her boss to let her go to Jersey, where her parents met to track down details from both their story and her father’s grandparents: both couples (Laura’s parents & her paternal great grandparents) have a connection to a coin from Jersey, that was split then reunited and split again and that Laura now carries with her daily, as one of the many tokens of her parents love story. What should be an idyllic weekend goes south very quickly when she realizes she’s picked up the wrong bag from the airport. A closer look, however, reveals the mystery owner of this suitcase might be her soulmate. They have the same taste in books, in music, and their mothers even like the same perfume! 

What follows is a hectic weekend: Laura trying to balance her demanding boss and making sense of her own family history all while trying to track down her mystery man. With a cast full of characters from her cabdriver turned tour guide, Ted, his father Gerry, and their neighbors Sandy and Illido, Laura’s weekend getaway turns into something far deeper: a lesson on memory, loss, and that we get to write our own stories. 

Very sweet, I cried but I always do! Would prob read this again esp if was with a friend in a buddy read! Esp if they were from Jersey :D 

Lovely book & great guide! I know I’m biased probably as a queer person and WGS student but I say 4 stars because this is very much an intro. I would have loved a small list of resources for further learning or even maybe referencing where n how these dimensions of power named in the book came about for Alok. It reminded me of some of what’s spoken about in Suarez’s The Power Manual. Again this is an intro and does that — I just hope folks take it upon themselves to dig further / deeper! 

My heart feels so tender and pure. I love this book and I’m so happy it was my first read of the year. Love is so tender and sweet and soft n lasting!! I loved reading about Aria’s story, so much of it reminded me of i guess my first proper ~queer~ situationship and also made me ache for the how sweet it might have been to know n explore and presence this part of myself when i was younger, like Aria here or Lily in last night at the telegraph club. 

I’m so happy these books exist, I can’t wait to re read them time and time again. I think everyone should read these but esp queer Bay Area people lol because it’s beautiful to see all the details I recognize and know about my home and city and just ugh!! Too good! 
— 
Some quotes I love: 

"You can't worry about other people's feelings about what you're creating," Joan said. "That will suffocate you. You have to do what your heart desires." 

Joan and Steph were so focused on their conversation, it was as if I wasn't even there. 

"What if what your heart desires hurts someone else?" Steph asked. 

"Sometimes you can't avoid that," Joan said, "because people have feelings, and other people's feelings aren't always congruent with ours. But here's the important thing when it comes to art. This is what I've learned: The art is greater than you and your feelings. You have to serve it. It is not you. Some people will never understand that, but you need to surround yourself with people who do understand it. And you need to understand it yourself. Whatever you're creating may come from within you and your life, but then —almost like a child, it comes out of your body and it grows up and walks away. It walks away and affects other people you don't know and have never met. That's the beauty of it, and the reason I keep trying new things. 

You never know who it will affect." 

(170)

“[Her] physical body may be gone now, but who she was is not gone. She was more than her body, just as we are all more than our bodies. She was connected with all of you. You influenced her, and she influenced you, and that influence continued.” 
The urn was beautiful. It had a round belly and an elegantly curved neck and a perfectly fitted kid, and it had been glazed in some way that left brilliant sea green steaks and dark blue flecks on the surface. As if the sea had been burned into the clay. 
My stomach was a hollow inside me. 
“Everything [she] taught you goes on. The thoughts that arise in your mind when you think of her are still influenced by her.” 
The hollow was growing. I would become a sinkhole. 
Susan Douglas lot a candle on the altar. A thin trickle of smoke rose from the march. “Earth returning to earth, fire returning to fire, wind returning to wind, water returning to water.” (309)

Went back to school and left this at home / couldn’t bring it. Will read properly some time when I’m at home! 

I got this because I wanted to read / listen before I saw the movie. I also learned I have ADHD this year and have yet to start meds properly so maybe it’ll be different then but basically I’ve realized audio books are not for me. I tend to tune them out. Maybe if I got a hard copy!  It I saw the movie and it was okay! I know the book is better so hopefully I’ll revisit some day but we’ll see.

I loved this book sooo much. When I finished i sent a message to the group chat saying “have u ever read a book that just like idk rly makes u want to stay n be alive” because this really did do that! I read it on NYE and I don’t have things figured out but that feels okay. This book made it feel okay!! As corny as it may sound. 

I can’t wait to read this again and again. I love you Lucy Young! I’m so proud of you. <3 

Everyone go read this, cry, then come back n let’s discuss.

Love!! Every kid needs to read this but also every adult, too. Beautiful illustrations and a gorgeous story. Was lovely to recognize the author in the illustrations as well! Glorious! ✨

This was really well done. I did not see the twist coming though I probably should have.. couldn’t put this down towards the end and already want to read more! This was different from the Guest List and the Paris Apartment in how closely entangled everyone was before the fateful trip / event but I appreciated the same style of switching timelines and POVs.. all together makes for a v interesting story! 

Sweet trip down memory lane lol this was my fave series years ago 

This book was a quick, easy & good read! I also wonder if this is what prompted me to finally watch big little lies on HBO lol idk similar themes in a way? Characters ish? 

Enjoyed this and while I kinda wish there was a different end, I think it was pretty good overall.