It's always great to finish up a series. It's an accomplishment of sorts. And if the books are good, it's seeing favorite characters get the endings they deserve. It's finishing with a sense of satisfaction and closure. Hopefully.

Luckily, both of these 3rd books in YA trilogies did that for me.

ALWAYS AND FOREVER, LARA JEAN by Jenny Han and THE ENDS OF THE WORLD by Maggie Hall. Great ends to great trilogies.

I also read two modern Jane Austen retellings. EMMA: A LATTER-DAY Tale by Rebecca H. Jamison, and FIRST & THEN by Emma Mills.

With Emma, it was a book where the characters share my religion. I thought I'd really enjoy this modern retelling, but unfortunately it just didn't do it for me. I had a lot of issues with the book and the characters, and in fact rounded up to a 3-star rating because it's really difficult for me to give lower. I enjoyed FIRST & THEN decidedly more, although calling it a PRIDE & PREJUDICE retelling isn't quite right. The MC likes Austen, and sometimes thinks things using a regency voice, and there could be a parallel made with how she feels about the hero at the start with how Elizabeth feels about Mr. Darcy, but that's where the Austen/P&P similarities end. I did like the book though and it gave me the feels in quite a few spots.

In all, not a bad reading week. What have you read lately?