An unexpected ginseng page turner, I especially enjoyed hearing about american ginseng and the stories of those who grow it as I genuinely had no idea the US was a big producer of ginseng let alone that we had a native species of it--what a hole in my knowledge! Craig Thompson has been consistently making good stuff since Blankets and I can certainly say this is not a subject I thought he'd be tackling but it's a good one.

Good historical book .

Full of adventure and interesting characters.

Quite a bit is written from the perspective of someone who is a well-known musician & doesn't apply to normal jobs & lifestyles.

the books i read were great

Had to DNF this one halfway through after reading it on my bus ride every morning and falling asleep every single time. I can only describe this book as exhausting. Desperately in need of an editor that could rip the heart out of this book and cut out all the fatty tissue. Has an all-timer bad line in it: "I'm seventy-five and falling apart. My body, not my womanhood, nor my Japanese Americanness." With a line that bad you know this author is not a woman nor is he Japanese-American because genuinely what does that even mean?

3.75 stars rounded up. In the world of Ali Hazelwood, this book was somewhat lower tier and forgettable, but it’s still a fun summer read. I liked the setting (Italy), the audiobook’s dual narration (primarily FMC POV w/MMC speaking), the chemistry and general blend of tropes (age gap, brother’s best friend, handsome rich MMC). I felt like there was an attempt to make this a friends-to-lovers romance but it felt more like a second chance turned instalove, which left me conflicted.

So scary and not what you would expect!

The true story of what it took for a young Jewish boy to survive Holocaust Germany and escape to Switzerland.

It was a very good book for teens and older kids