Last week was a pretty eventful reading week for me. On top of finishing _The Berrypickers, Toxic Bloodlines _& Opaque, I also spent some time diving into several books that I haven't finished yet, including _House of Frank by Kay Synclaire, Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and Children of Anarchy and Anguish by Tomi Adeyemi. _Additionally, I also had the incredible privilege of being able to read the finished manuscript of Daughter of Danray, the third installment in the _Flowers of Prophecy _Series by Natalia Hernandez.

So yeah... i've been READING this week. Lol. So let's talk about the books I finished!

_**The Berrypickers by Amanda Peters: **_I don't know the last time a book made me cry, but the Berrypickers came ready for me. That's all I can say. This is one of the most emotional books I have ever read.

Joe is the second youngest in an indigenous family who spends every summer in Novia Scotia picking grapes for a wealthy white family. Early in the book, Joe's younger sister Ruthie goes missing, with him being the last to see her. Throughout the book, we watch him struggle with the loss of his sister and the part he fears he played in losing her.

In Maine, our other Main Character--Norma--grows up wrestling to cope with her parent's overprotective love and the dreams that have plagued her since she was a child. She becomes more and more certain that her family has a massive secret. One that takes nearly her entire life to uncover.

This book is about loss, love, grief, family and fighting for healing. I don't want to spoil too much, but this book deals with heavy things life grief, and what it looks like to spiral in the face of it...and to find hope again on the other side of it. It was both soul-wrenching and healing in a weird way. And it balanced the concepts of grief and family so beautifully that I couldn't help but fall in love with Amanda's writing. I am a fan for life!

_**Toxic Bloodlines by Emmanuel Ossai: **_Toxic Bloodlines is set in the small town of Seventh Heaven. Soon after several meteorites strike, a group of young people begin to experience a series of mysterious and terrifying encounters. Monsters, cultists and mysteries they can't explain. It becomes clear very quickly that this town--and their parents--have been keeping secrets that they won't part with easily. And in order to survive, these kids will have to figure out what horrible history the older generation is hiding so they can find a path to escaping it themselves.

I started this book a while back and had put it down for whatever reason, but when someone suggested it for this month's book club, I picked it back up and happily gave it another shot. I found the story itself very interesting and was pretty satisfied with the story's conclusion, but this one was a little bit of a rough read for me. In general, culty horror stories don't really do it for me, and this one had some rough edges on top of the genre not being my favorite. There were a few times where the story jumped in ways I wasn't understanding, and that was pretty jarring for me. I wouldn't say the writing was bad. It was just a very layered story and didn't quite land all of the connections for me.

_**Opaque by Calix Leigh Reign: **_Another hard read for me, but for different reasons.

The book follows two young people. Adam and Cally. Adam is a senior in highschool and is struggling with his identity. He finds himself having some very inapropriate thoughts about his mother, which lead him to believe he is a monster who is unworthy of love. And as a result, he finds himself on a very dark path. Until he meets Cally, who reveals that he is actually the last known member of one of several Russian bloodlines who have been hunted for centuries because of their unique supernatural abilities. Together, the two of them must find her missing parents and join in the fight to end the secret Russian agency that has been hunting them, so that their families can finally come out of hiding and live like everyone else.

The story itself was pretty interesting. The writing was good as well. But I struggled with the inclusion of his attraction for his mother. It is explained chemically in the book, and I'm not going to condemn the author for the inclusion, as she did not lean into anything abusive between the two. But it, as well as some other darker themes that served no noticeable purpose, were just not for me.

As far as the writing, there are moments where the story's POV is not entirely clear, and that was a bit disorienting. But like I said above, overall, I thought the story was interesting and the writing was good. And I am curious where the story goes from here, so I will probably finish the series at some point.

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What are you guys reading? Let me know in the comments!!! I am currently finishing the books I listed above as well as hate reading Manic Pixie E-girl with Naomi Darling! Expect some content at the $5 tier tomorrow and throughout the week! I am about 120 pages into it and...it's as upsetting as you are probably expecting! If you don't already have access to that tier, go ahead and upgrade so you can hate with us! And when I'm done with this one, I'm onto fourth wing!

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