Kelly

Definitely something that needs to be taught, but the author makes an effort in some places to give names and be conscientious of their verbage, but not in others. They give names to two of the enslaved people on the ship who are later mentioned in the trial, but throughout the book calls them and others "slaves" rather than "enslaved". I feel, especially in a book like this, that wording distinction matters; what was done to them is not who they were.

This book had potential, and it just wasted it by not exploring the world, the characters, the trials. Nothing, just "oh there is this issue" quickly followed with "and now, TA-DA, that's solved" and on to the next.

I'm sorry, I just can't seem to find a way to care about Stranger. I think this book could have been so much more, but the protagonist is just the worst. Now if I could get a story about Lucy and how she turns out, I could get behind that!

I think I just wanted more from this book, and I know the genre so romance was bound to happen. I really liked the exploration of "what would you do with the time you have left if you know you're about to die" and I feel like the relationships kind of took over that theme. I also think some things were introduced to be red herrings, but never closed the loop - like the woman who makes the calls, no resolution on that whatsoever. Overall, worth the read, but I don't think I would pass it along like I would have for the first half of the book.

There is just so much slut shaming, especially from the "friends", and this desperate need to lose the "disease" that is someone's virginity. Just not good, made worse by calling itself "sex positive".