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This was a shameless gossip read for me, I'll admit it. My mom was obsessed with the Duggars and their show and would always have it on in the background. Something about it always gave me a bit of the ick so I never watched it with her, but I remember enough about what was going on in some of the episodes so I figured I would give this a read because I like to support people that break the cult cycles of their families.

Hearing the way that she was raised by her parents to always be under her dad's thumb resounded heavily with me due to being raised in a religious family that wanted me to be a good little submissive housewife for someone in the future, and they weren't even involved in anything more than a standard religion. I am really glad that she references that the only reason they have been able to solidly move forward and get to where they are is due to working heavily with a therapist.

I know she said this wasn't meant to be a dirty tell-all, and there is noticeably quite a bit of information left out, but she still needs to protect her peace and she is still hoping to try to be able to have a relationship with her family at some point (on her own terms, obviously), so I can understand why she would not want to get into the deep conversations more and just kind of brush over them.

If you didn't know the show growing up, I don't really know how much this would interest anyone. But for those that are interested in learning more about different cults, she puts a good amount of information on that in the pages. So I can't say I would really recommend it, but if either of those would interest you, I think it'd be a decent read.

Clare Fergusson is a new Episcopal priest in Miller's Kill when she finds a baby in a box on the steps of her church with a note that the baby should be adopted by prominent parishioners who have wanted a child for ages. Russ Van Alstyne is the Miller's Kill police chief. After Fergusson requests a ride-along, the two stumble on the body of a young woman (and presumed father of the child) when patrolling the local hangout where kids go to drink.

Van Alstyne is the kind of officer I normally like in police procedurals, steady and methodical. Fergusson is not. She inserts herself in the investigation in ways that no cop would allow, messes things up, runs off without thinking things through (multiple times) putting people in danger. The reader is lead to believe that Van Alstyne is competent because of his demeanor, but multiple times Fergusson figured out key answers in the investigation that Van Alstyne should have figured out. For instance, somehow the police don't search the victim's residence until much later, and the police questioning of her roommates is half-assed at best.

It's a first book though, so I'll read the second at least to see if the first book flaws are less an issue in book 2. Also, I already have it in my library so I might as well.

I had to keep reminding myself that NO, I did NOT want June to win and come out on top, that she is a despicable selfish person that deserves every horrible thing that she gets.

R.F. Kuang does a really great job at pointing out the toxic things that (some) publishing companies will do to try to make it look like they're all for diversity and for leaving you to really have to stew and think about how far was too far with what Claire does. It was a very uncomfortable read, but in a good way.

Overall, I found this to be a good read, but it did feel like it was just a little too long and the ending threw me for a bit of a loop, and not in a good way. Definitely not mad that I read it, though! Still fully worth the 4 stars to me!

This is a YA novel and it kinda shows on how tidy everything is but also does not shy away from talking about racism & general bigotry. One of the plot lines is about an "ignorant" white teacher who tries to use stereotypes of Indigenous people in her play and somehow miraculously she understands she was doing racism. I didn't quite understand how that leap happened and I wish the author didn't try to pretend that ever happens that easily because it leads children to believe pursuing the teaching of the racist would lead to a better world which is completely opposite to how racism actually gets eradicated (seeing the world as abundant, working with people of other races, having others who correct them when they do racist things, being praised when they do non-racist acts, incentivizing their non-racist acts).

I definitely enjoyed reading it despite that plot line above. Has protagonists who are bisexual as well which was really nice to read.