This month, I read A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson. This book is about a high school senior named Pippa Fitz-Amobi who wants to solve a murder for her year-long senior project. Five years ago, a popular high school senior named Andie Bell was murdered supposedly by her boyfriend, Sal Singh and then who committed suicide. But, Pip doesn’t think Sal actually did it. Sal was always a kind, selfless person never seeming to have killed his girlfriend. So, Pippa’s goal is to try to find out who truly killed Andie Bell and prove Sal Singh innocent. Yet, someone is sending her cruel messages telling her to stop her research or something will happen to the people and things she loves dearest. What will Pip do? Will she continue her research or face the consequences?

I loved A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder because of the genre and setting. I know the genre is a mystery/thriller and I’ve never read a book like this so I really enjoyed it. I usually read rom-coms so reading a mystery book is way out of my comfort zone and I am so grateful that I tried it out. I am now definitely going to read the second one of the trilogy. The suspense of the book to find out who did it kept me on my toes. Also, the setting of it being with teenagers in high school is what I loved because it kinda gave the vibe of the regular rom-coms that I read. So, the fact that the story took place as her as a teenager with still some teenage problems and fun really helped me attach to this novel. As you can see, I loved reading this story because of its genre and setting.

My favorite character in this novel was Pippa Fitz-Amobi for her determined spirit, intelligence, and realistic personality. Pippa is determined because she works hard and looked at every little detail to get the murder right. She spends most of her time interviewing and finding clues to get her final suspect. Pippa is intelligent because she put all of her evidence together to be the true detective into finding the different parts of the mystery. The knowledge that she has also gets her great grades and helps her do well in school. Pippa lastly feels realistic because she isn’t a professional detective and a high school senior who wants to solve a murder. She also acts like a teenager as she goes to house parties and has sleepovers with her friends. Evidence from the text that shows Pip is detail-oriented is, “ A good detective never overlooks a small detail.“ This quote explains how Pip says she will always look over everything before she makes a decision. This happens a lot in this novel when she decides to check over all her research so she cut down to the real suspect. As you can see, Pippa is my favorite character for her determination, intelligence, detail work, and realistic personality.

My favorite quote from the novel is “ The people you love weren’t algebra: to be calculated, subtracted, or held at arm’s length across a decimal point.” This quote was meaningful to me because I believe that you can love whoever you want or the people that you weren’t supposed to love. Like the author states, it doesn’t need to be totally planned out who you need to love, you can feel free to love whomever your heart desires. Also, the people you love most aren’t always blood related to you.

During April, I read We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon. This story is about an incoming college freshmen named Quinn Berkowitz. Her family owns a wedding planning company called Borrowed + Blue and she plays the harp at their weddings as a bonus to the marrying couple. Her family works with a catering company that has a son named Tarek Mansour who she has fallen in love with and confessed her love to at end of the previous summer before he went to college. This summer, Quinn still has feelings for him but doesn’t know if he does for her. She also has trouble figuring out if wedding planning is for her or if she’s just trying to build and continue her family’s company. She even learns to make harps and finds something for herself but doesn’t know how to tell the people she loves around her. How do you think Quinn will cope with all the emotions and secrets bottled up inside of her?

I loved this novel because I loved the growth of the main character, Quinn Berkowitz. I loved seeing her hardships, ups, and downs throughout the story because they showed who she truly is. For example, the troubles she had with her parents about learning what she truly loves and overcoming her mental health troubles. The connection between Tarek and Quinn was also so cute as love grew at each wedding they helped at together. The way the author described they glanced at each other and how Quinn saw him was adorable. Now you know, I liked this book for the character development and love connection between two of the characters.

My favorite character in this novel was Quinn Berkowitz. I loved her character because she was caring, a perfectionist, and self aware. I liked that she was caring towards her family not wanting to let the down their family business. I enjoyed her being a perfectionist always wanting to be at her parents standards even if she didn’t feel like being at them. Lastly, I love her self awareness as she was capable to tell how others felt and decide what to say to help them in her business and personal life. A quote from the text to describe Quinn’s trait of being emotional, “ That voice. It’s a time machine of familiar longing, tugging me back.” This explains how Quinn feels because she doesn’t want to leave her family and their business behind but wants to follow her dreams. She doesn’t want to leave her family but everything about her family is their wedding planning life. So, Quinn is trying to comprehend how to leave the business but not her family with it. As you can see, Quinn is my favorite character for her perfectionism, emotional side, caring sense, and self awareness.

My favorite quote from We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This was, “ And sometimes the world is terrible, and love stories… They make it feel less heavy.” This quote was meaningful to me because I love reading romance books and reading helps me find time for me when I am too overwhelmed. I love reading as a hobby outside of my regular daily life as it is an escape for me to dive into the stories of different characters. To me it is so fun to try different books and recently I have also been trying different genres.