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tw: racism, deportation, graphic mentions of animal slaughter, vomit, microaggressions, the mention of the r-word.
i loved this book so much. I adored the writing and getting to see the world through the eyes of Deming. Deming wasn't a perfect character he's far from it. His life was a whole theme park of roller coasters. His mom disappears one day with no warning nothing but his memories of her. He ends up resenting her as his life moves forward without her as he's adopted by a white couple. This books follows him and his mom throughout the span of 20 ish year in an nonlinear timeline.
I loved that this was a character study of two shitty and morally gray characters. Deming and Polly are both lowkey selfish and they don't change much by the end of the story. I actually like that this left off with a kind of open ending with enough of a happy-ish ending. This was just all around a great book and wow i'm so glad that i was right in my high rating predictions. I cant wait to read whatever else Lisa Ko releases.
tw: gangs, drug abuse, drug dealing, violence, and murder
thank you netgalley for the e-arc in exchange of an honest review.
honestly wtf was this. so much happened in only 98 pages. the author tried to pack so much in such a small graphic novel. i didn't get the chance to truly connect to the characters. heck i found some of them so annoying. mariana(badass latina queen that just wants to play major league baseball) and angel (a dominican boi with a speech impediment) were the only ones i actually liked. i liked the diversity and the hard truth of living in the hood in miami. i wish the authors expanded in this story and made it much longer so the reader could connect better with the characters and understand the story line.
this is own voices for the latine rep especially the dominican rep.
(spoiler)
there was a character that died and i just stood there like damn okay...
tw: death of parent, car accident, death, murder, microaggressions, racism, ptsd and anxiety
this is hands down a new favorite book. i love it so much. it was so nice to see a kickass queer black girl in the forefront of a fantasy novel. i saw pieces of myself in this. this is why we need more diverse fantasy books where people like me can feel like we can be heroes and not just backup or side characters.
i'm personally not a huge fan of romance in books but y'all
tw: racism, microaggression, police brutality, and classism.
THIS. BOOK. YALL!!! I can't believe I've been sleepin on this book and Renee Watson for so long.
This is a novel about family, friendship, women empowerment. But most importantly, it's about the difficulties of being a black young woman that is wanting to succeed when so many odds are stacked against you. Jade was a fantastic character to read from, definitely one of my new favorites. I loved how passionate and caring she was. Her development from being soft-spoken and preferring to remain silent instead of speaking up. To the Jade that spoke up and defended herself when no one else did chefs kiss. This is a book I will be picking up to reread as soon as possible.
i randomly decided to pick this book up just because i really love yamile's writing in furia and i just wanted to check out her picture books to read to the kid i tutor. and i kid you not i cried. this was so beautiful, from the illustrations to yamile's writing. stories like these are the ones i wish i had when i was a kid.
there's this one quote that made me so emotional.
“from this land where our ancestors built a home for all, even when they were in chains because the color of their skin”
that's beautiful y'all.
tw: police brutality, racism, suicide attempt, drug use, mention of rape and violence
i don't know how i feel about this book. i audibly read this and loved the audiobook. it was narrated by the author and he did a phenomenal job bringing this novela to life. but i think i just don't vibe with novelas and short stories because i always end up wanting more. in this instance i wish there was more explanations with the powers ella had. there were also some times where i was so confused because we would go from point a to point g in a minute. it just left me confused yet wanting more. on the other hand, i loved how onyebuchi weaved in science fictional elements with historical instances of police brutality and the black experience in america. i do recommend everyone to give this book a try.
tw: child abuse, toxic relationships, sexual assault, eating disorders, mental illness, self-harm, sexism, suicide, trauma (thank you to amanda and the publishers for including trigger/content warnings in their books :))
hands down my new favorite amanda lovelace poetry collection. i lowkey cried while reading this one. as someone who isn't completely interested in marrying or having children, this made me feel so seen. this is a collection that i will be passing to my sister to read so she can also feel empowered also. also, the illustrations in this were GORGEOUS!!!