Love & War by Melissa de la Cruz | Rating: ★★★☆☆

As you all know, one of my favourite YA releases last year was Melissa de la Cruz's Alex & Eliza. For a hot minute, I hadn't realized that it was set up to be a series of novels vs. a standalone. Melissa de la Cruz is perhaps one of my most-purchased authors, so there was really no question that I'd be picking up a copy of Love & War. While I do feel as though its predecessor was far better than this installment, it was still a thoroughly enjoyable read that I breezed through in one afternoon.

Something I love about Melissa de la Cruz's writing is that she is very... light, but still thoughtful and warm. I think that's one of the things new readers will note in the Alex & Eliza series; there's this quality to it that just brings on the warm and fuzzies and I am totally here for it!

As for the least desirable qualities to Love & War: the historical inaccuracies. I did read de la Cruz's note at the end of the novel, however, I'm not altogether keen on altering history to that degree (Alex and Eliza not having children in the way that their real-life counterparts had)--and had similar issues with the Hamilton musical (though it is one of my all-time favourite musicals) taking such liberties. This is a bit of a mundane thing to note though, as Love & War is a fictional spin on their relationship. For some readers, this may make or break the novel.

Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz | Rating: ★★★★☆

Melissa de la Cruz has been one of the most consistent names on my shelves. From my early days of reading every Gossip Girl style series I could find, she has pretty much owned my heart in a way that other authors couldn't. The one thing that de la Cruz did in terms of standing out amongst the genre was make familiar tropes (rich kids doing what they want, stylish scandals, etc) smarter with ditching the fluffy aspects of it. I will always love her work. I always feel good after picking up a new release or an old favourite by her.

Most of my high school years were dominated by her delicious vampire series Blue Bloods and the frothy goodness that was The Au Pairs series. My adult years followed close by with The Beauchamp Family series and more recently (and, apparently, canned) The New Blue Bloods Coven series.

When I heard that she was releasing a young adult historical fiction novel that was inspired by Lin-Manuel Miranda's brilliant play Hamilton (one of my favourite musicals since Rent and Hair) and the real life love story of Elizabeth Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton, I pretty much spun around like a child in excitement. Alex and Eliza wasn't at all what I expected and this is perhaps the best thing about the novel itself.