16 Comments
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Hunter Hirth's avatar

The effort alone that went into this post is incredible. I am so impressed.

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emma's avatar

i don’t know what it says about my wellness that i had a blast. thank you!

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sarah's avatar

didn't read any of these books but i sure as heck read this whole post and thought "yup, sounds accurate"

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emma's avatar

i am so honored

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lindsay ford's avatar

#250 😂

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emma's avatar

don’t even get me started

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Kate Toogood's avatar

I have been spreading my love of ‘Heart the Lover’ far and wide. It feels like one of those books that nourishes you. I smiled, laughed, sobbed. Such a beautiful book.

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emma's avatar

this is the most beautiful (and accurate) description.

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Judith Anne's avatar

Thanks for introducing Lily King’s books to me. I really enjoyed Writers and Lovers and Heart the Lover.

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emma's avatar
Dec 29Edited

i am so happy to hear that!!

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Lily Doyle's avatar

10/10, no notes. except to think about having to rank these makes me sweat 😅 these blurbs get me to want (or not want to lol) read the books more than the synopses on the covers

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emma's avatar

this is the highest praise. thank you so much!!!

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Zoe's avatar

Thank you for your short, snappy, meaningful mini reviews! This has helped me add quite a few to my TBR 😊 Thank you for all you’ve shared with us this year, I truly love reading all of your articles and posts.

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emma's avatar

this is so so kind! thank you so much - joining substack has been the highlight of my year ❤️❤️❤️

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Pash's avatar

I've read 15 of these, and I now have 7 more on my urgent TBR (as opposed to the one I'll never get to!).

I think you are VERY WRONG about Eliza Clark, because she is so deliciously dark (Penance is my absolute fave of hers!), We could be rats is my LEAST favourite Emily Austin (although I still enjoyed it), and Hum would be amongst my personal top 10 for the year.

Looking forward to following your reviews in 2026!

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emma's avatar

i loved penance but i thought the short story collection was such a snooze! these are such fun disagreements. i see the argument for hum, and we could be rats hit me at a really good time!

so looking forward to your reactions to the ones on your tbr. thank you so much as always!

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