I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Annalisa Cappelli is the last one standing - she runs the small hardware store that her family opened during the 19th century. But the arrival of a Carpenter's Warehouse, a chain hardware store, spells disaster. Why does Ed Carpenter, whose family is responsible, have to be so good looking? If only he could be more like GardenerGuy94, her online friend. Perhaps they're more alike than she realises...

Well, this book was always going to have a tough customer in me - I absolutely love You've Got Mail. But you know what? I enjoyed most of it. I'm so relieved to find a romance book that doesn't ignore or dance around the pandemic, but incorporates it into the storyline. Annalisa and Ed were great - but overshadowed by the delightful old guys and Annalisa's nonna.

Now. The big problem. Some lines of dialogue seemed to be copied and pasted straight from You've Got Mail. Mostly tweaked, occasionally verbatim. This was really off-putting to me. If I wanted to experience those scenes again, I could just watch the movie.

Meet Me in Bendigo shines the most when it stands on its own.

​Alphabet Squadron has suffered losses and the erosion of trust in each other, but the final battle between the New Republic and the Empire awaits them. But personal choices and missions stand in the way of their orders and the squadron will only fracture further.

Oh this was a relief. The previous book was so poor that I worried, but it's clear it was just suffering from being a bridging sequel (without being able to stand on its own). This was the conclusion that I was hoping for and I got it. Despite book 2's issues, I would say this trilogy is superior to the Aftermath trilogy (I really wish I could forget those books), even though it has problems. Alexander Freed's strength has always been his ability to write military situations. Creating characters you can barrack for? Hmm, not so much, but I can overlook it because this felt litttttle bit like the EU/Legends books. The influence of those older X-Wing books is clear.

​I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Gwen and her cousins, Trudy and Milo, have been forbidden from practicing magic - all thanks to an ancestor and a spell that went awry. So far they've managed lived on the straight and narrow (no one wants the Council to punish them!). Well, as much as they can. But both magic and drama are about to upend their lives, especially after Gwen's foster sister, Tannith, sends them all a mysterious letter.

I found this exceptionally difficult to get into and I was thinking "oh this reaaaally isn't for me". But once the rough start was over and done with, I started to enjoy the shenanigans in Zenobia. Gwen, Trudy and Milo are great characters - I feel like I know them after all that craziness. But Tannith was a Passions-grade villain (not my thing) and oooh that rough start. That said, A Letter to Three Witches is a bit of witchy fun that may just brighten your afternoon.

Padawan Reath Silas is happiest in the Jedi archives on Coruscant, but his Master has taken an assignment in the Outer Rim and so he must follow. He reluctantly boards a ship, but the Great Disaster sees him stranded at a space station which contains secrets to be discovered - and a darkness in the Force.

Claudia Gray has once again proved that she is the best Star Wars Disney canon author (that title in Legends canon, of course, belongs to Timothy Zahn). Unlike the parent novel (The Light of the Jedi), this book has a coherent storyline and I was able to build up a rapport with the characters. Geode, especially. I love that guy! I think this might be one of the few Disney canon books that I'll re-read.

I'm looking forward to "seeing" Reath again, but I am nervous since Claudia Gray didn't helm the next YA book in the series.

​Two centuries before the prequel trilogy, the Jedi are called to assist with the Great Disaster - an unprecedented accident that has the ability to continue endangering billions of lives. A massive coordinated effort between the Jedi and other members of the Republic ensues - while an enemy lurks through Paths in hyperspace.

First of all, the Great Disaster is pretty cool. Great premise. But there were waaay too many characters to keep track of, much less care about. Forcing so many of them into the front end of the book slowed the pace too much - and this then caused everything following it to feel rushed. Also just how long did that kidnapping storyline go on for anyway? It ran concurrent to other events that definitely felt longer. While I'm happy to dive into this time period, I wish this entry had been stronger.