My favorite story was Down The Hill.

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH 10000000000000000000000000000000000000/10 LOVE SO MUCH

it was fun

It was good

It wasn't my cup of tea, but I'm not sure if I can quantify why--perhaps it's because I felt the romance was a bit all over the place; as a reader I was rooting for Tian Bai, partially because it felt like that was who Li lan wanted to be with for a majority of the novel. Intellectually, I recognized/knew that Er Lang made more sense for Li lan, but I had not yet fully switched to rooting for Er Lang before the novel ended. The writing also at times felt a bit distanced (emotionally) but that was a smaller concern for me.

I enjoyed it, but I almost felt like Sweetie was too perfect--Ashish was a good, kind person, but he also had some flaws which made him feel more real/natural, whereas Sweetie was presented as an almost perfect person which took me out of the experience. Plus, there were moments where Ashish's romantic feelings felt a bit too intense (as in, the way that Menon described it felt a bit sacchrine). Lastly, I wish Ashish's basketball issue (his lack of balltopia) had more time on the page since the only time it ends up really being mentioned is when they play HORSE and it turns into making out and then at the end when he finds balltopia again (although it's not clear if it was just a coincidence or what)

I liked the pirate theme!

I liked this book because I learned a lot about Abraham Lincoln and how he worked to abolish slavery. I learned how he worked with the northern states to fight against the southern states to free the slaves.

It was little fun

SA Crosby knows how to tell a simmering pot story. This is an excellent one of those.