Later, the author reveals that Shahrazad’s handmaiden, Despina, is pregnant—with Khalid’s cousin—Jalal. This was what I had been expecting, to be honest, because Ahdieh had dropped so many foreshadow-bombs, like whenever she saw Jalal, she would become so flustered when Despina was usually so composed and elegant. At first, I had thought that Despina really liked Jalal, but his reaction to her was one that I contradicted this statement. Jalal had looked at her in confusion, which may have seemed like nothing to anyone else, but when I think someone has an infatuation with someone, I think it is usually who is unaware of it and them. When he reacted like that I was a little confused because that would mean that he knows her personally. This was not the only thing tipping me off; Despina was sick in the morning a lot and she had a lot of trouble staying up right, which I think is weird since she is technically a spy sent by Khalid. I think Khalid would have wanted a spy is at the peak when it comes to their craft, so I wouldn’t think that they would be sick all the time. There was also the poisoned tea situation, which takes the cake, because for a while Shahrazad could not trust Despina which was also understandable cause she served her the poisoned tea.

                There is also the situation with Shahrazad’s Handmaiden, Despina. I totally agree with Shahrazad which is that Despina should tell Jalal about their baby and how she loves him. I know how strong and independent Despina is, so it confuses me as to why she will not tell Jalal about their baby. She is even lying about her feelings for him!!! Honestly, I feel like she’s making excuses when she says” ‘I’m—a handmaiden. He’s the cousin of the caliph” I think it is because our world has different principles and rules that it makes me mad that they cannot be together just because of their different societal positions. Even though it is what to be expected in their society, I can totally tell that they love each other. Even though Jalal is hard to read sometimes, they both have tells that reveal their true feelings of each other

            I kind of find it a bit strange for an individual like Remy to fall so quickly for a guy she met just recently as well. I am unsure how to feel about the development of Remy and Dexter’s relationship. Although they have an incredibly strong chemistry in the story, I feel it is a bit unrealistic that it adds very little to the plot of the story. Right now, Remy is also just doing things she normally does not fairly early in the story in my opinion. However, there was a time skip of roughly a month so I might also be wrong. As a character, I like that Remy is such a intelligent, independent, and caring (at times) person, but I guess the downsides of her a bit less charming which somehow adds more depth into her character. I understand the reason behind Remy’s reluctance towards building close relationships with others to some extent, however, I feel that she goes a little too far sometimes, especially with her brother’s girlfriend, Jennifer Anne.

I will have to admit; my first impression of This Lullaby was not exactly my cup of tea. I didn’t really understand where the story was going and reading it for a while was a little drowning for me because it was just introducing all the characters and building a foundation to tell a story, but it was a bit slow for me. Honestly this book would not have been my first choice, but I was completely content reading it. Francine had given it to me because she no longer needed it anymore and strangely enough the characters and the author’s diction had eerily reminded me of her. For me the story was a bit too cliché and predictable because when Remy was going to reconcile and “tie-up loose ends” with Dexter, I knew from my reading experiences that there was going to be something that Dexter was going to do that would cause them to have another disagreement and I was right; She had misunderstood his intentions and gotten angry at him.

Though I was satisfied with the ending though. Dexter and Remy could clear up any kind of misunderstanding, her mother was able to finish another novel, her fifth stepdad had cheated on her mother and she found out about it, but it also somehow deepened their mother- daughter relationship. It’s good that Remy could be carefree about going to college and not have to worry about her mother. All in all, good things all around for everyone.

I think that it is an interesting choice for the author to do that because if I’m being honest it is something I would have never thought of before and I like that the author is giving us all the facts and providing us with all the information for us, the readers, to make our own conclusions about the story. It kind of reminds me of a television show that I watch, called Criminal Minds because of the wide range of perspectives that the viewers can obtain from the characters and into the mind of the actual serial killers. On the show, the main point of focus is the investigations of the murders or crimes. In the center of all these investigations is a Federal Bureau of Investigation team whom of which specialize in dangerous serial killers and potential threats in the United States. Anyway, from what I understand is that Sadie has gone missing and she is from a pretty terrible background apart from, May Beth, her caretaker and surrogate grandmother. I believe that Sadie has run away home in order to look for her father, but the thing is I do not completely understand because she already has people who care and love her. 

It’s sad that Sadie does not get the kind of life that people her age do. When she was looking for her dad, she needed to look for his son and daughter. They met at a party, so that’s how Sadie had the information to find her stepdad. She was dancing with this nice guy, but she had to let all that go to waste even though she knew that it would have been fun to be with him and just be a normal teenage girl for once. To just forget about it all. She lost all her in high school opportunities just because she was slightly different to her peers and neglected by her mother. She even had to drop out so that she could provide for her little sister and I just find it so unfair that because she is clearly an intelligent individual despite having difficulty speaking; I think she deserves so much because the world was hard on her from the start, barely giving time for her to adjust. The only thing that was really going for her was her sister Mattie and she loved—no, worshipped—their mother more than Sadie. Because Mattie was so young, she never really got to understand how much Sadie sacrificed for her and now she’ll never get to repay her, and Sadie won’t ever get to have the happiness that everybody should at least experience during their lifetime because of this one man. This one man that seemed to make life hell for her. The one who took her Mattie from her. I cried thinking about all of this because Summer’s words were so moving and the depth of them got to me. It’s so unfair. 

Despite how unfair it is, I’m afraid that if she does go through with killing him, she’ll lose a part of her that she’ll never get back, but she is clearly unafraid of that. In her perspective, she already lost everything she had and that was Mattie. I just want everything to go right for Sadie at this point; I want her to be happy and get the experience of being a person. All she has ever been treated as was beneath everyone else and I think no one should feel like that. I admire that Sadie keeps strong despite all her hardships; that she can bounce back is a miracle. 

Already when reading this book, the beginning got me hooked from the start. I know that suspense and thriller books are everyone’s cup of tea, but it is so interesting to me. Right from the start, I was on guard about every little detail, because people who had recommended it to me had told me so much about this book and recommended that I read it. “It’s like nothing you have ever read before. You won’t expect anything that happens.” So, I decided to give this book a try and they were right, but I was expecting Simon to end up dying because the person you least expect is the rule of thumb in these kinds of books. Right off the bat, it was fishy, especially with that whole deal the extra phone that somehow happened to be in everyone’s possession; they did not even belong to them. So, I was guessing Simon was the one who put them there. Because to me, Nate is the person with the least motive to put them there, because that is who everyone would be expecting because he is the stereotypical “bad boy” and always get into trouble. Simon the most likely candidate because he is the school’s ‘gossip’ except he is totally credible. Simon is a bit like Jughead character in the Netflix series Riverdale. They both are very observant, so it makes it easy to gain the information they need; they always try to see everything from an outsider’s view. What I also found interesting was that Jake, Addy’s boyfriend and Addy being one of the witnesses of Simon’s murder, was friends with Simon prior to their freshmen and sophomore year of high school which probably prompted Simon to make an app that exposes everyone’s secrets. 

Bronwyn and Nate are starting to be much closer and I am loving it!! I know that they are so different from each other, but I just cannot help and love their dynamic together. I have a feeling like they just missed their chances of being together. I have a feeling that Nate and Bronwyn had crushes on each other, but now we will never really know now. I think it is just tragic that they could have had something great, relationship-wise. With all that is happening, I think Nate is just the kind of person that builds walls and does not let anyone in. I think Bronwyn is the first person to break through. I sympathize completely with Nate; given that he comes from a family that turned rotten and are just broken now, it is only logical that he would turn out that way. 

After finishing One of Us is Lying, I wanted to read something else that I have been meaning to read since the beginning of the year but have honestly been putting it off for a while. Granted, One of Us is Lying was an emotional roller coaster all the way throughout the entirety of the novel and ended with a bang! I was content after finishing it and I am relatively appreciative of how it ended. I was glad that Bronwyn had stood her ground and did not forgive Nate immediately which I could tell that he did not mind that much. So, after all of that, I decided to read Dumplin’. Many of my friends had recommended it to me—especially my sister Jennie—so I could not resist reading it for myself. I knew a little about this story before I started reading it this year which was mainly because of my English I teacher, Ms. Rodriguez, who had assigned our class to read an excerpt of it to identify its uses of punctuation and sentence structure. Anyway, now to the actual book itself. The main character, Willowdean, has so much depth to her character and I can clearly see the type of development Julie Murphy put into this story. I love her as a character so much because she is totally relatable and so self-assured, but the only thing letting her down is how comfortable she is in her skin around Bo. To me it is kind of difficult to explain, since I have not really gone through it myself, but their relationship thus far is secret—even to her best friend—which brings me to another point. Willowdean and her bestie Ellen have been together since birth because their moms knew each other and lately they have been distant. I think it is partly due to Ellen’s recent progress in her relationship with her boyfriend and her ‘new’ best friend Callie who she made friends with at her part-time job. My heart was broken along with Willowdean’s. Bo had not bothered to tell her that their ‘sparse’ relationship could have been changing because he was moving to her school and Ellen leaving her due to a recent development that she and Willowdean did not have in common. I’m upset with how she dealt her situation with Bo concerning the fact that she did not tell Ellen about them, but it’s understandable considering how there was a breach in trust and insecurity in their relationship.