perthy
5 stars. No, 6 stars.
This book had me feeling things that I can’t even describe. It is difficult to read. It’s hard being in Cranes head as he goes through the pregnancy because it speaks to me so much as a trans man. I know I would feel exactly the same way as Crane. The despair, the discomfort and anxiety. That’s what makes this a great horror book.
I absolutely adored Crane as a character. I saw so much of myself in him and he’s a character that I won’t ever forget. He has so many good lines and moments. Easily one of the best characters in written history. They could never make me hate you, Crane.
The moments near the end, I’m so thankful I finished it at home because I was audibly gasping and talking to myself through that gripping end scene. It’s visceral and insane but it was everything I ever wanted.
This book in general had everything I could’ve ever wanted from a book. Deep character exploration, characters you love to hate, creepy worms, trans horror that makes you want to rip your skin off your body, just.. perfect.
also hearing that the hive has a crazy voice on audiobook?? That’s just compelling me to buy the audiobook for myself lol. I put off this book for sometime even though I knew it would be an all time favourite. Why do I do this to myself?? I could’ve experienced this beauty of a book sooner.
This book says it was inspired by the tv show Hannibal and while I can see that in some aspects with the obsession and yearning of the characters, but it just not done as good unfortunately. I wanted so badly to like this book but the main character in particular seriously makes it impossible.
First of all, the main character? Insufferable. She is overbearing and needy (and uses so many big words almost haphazardly thrown in there, trying to make it seem like she has a personality when shes actually just annoying. Someone, anyone, please take the thesaurus away from Delilah.) and normally that doesn’t bother me if it’s done well but she also constantly oversteps on the boundaries of Ash. And the book makes it seem like Ro is in the right, that she’s justified??? That is something I can’t fathom. One moment in particular that made me so angry is when Ro goes to the farmers market to see Ash. And she acts like she’s not busy helping a customer. Like she is WORKING, she can’t give you her attention 100% of the time. And then Ro has the nerve to feel sad and devastated like Ash hates her and wants her to die, when she just literally told her that she’s busy and will be with her after. It almost made me rip my hair out. Ro is constantly doing this and it’s made to be seen as she’s the normal one when it just makes her fucking weird. If you can’t respect your partners boundaries, no matter how weird YOU think they are, then you leave. It’s so simple that I couldn’t even lay it out anymore plainly. That’s why I don’t have any empathy for her when the book ends. Which makes the book not have any impact on me and leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.
If we disregard the ending reveal, (which I could see from a mile coming, so it has predictable on its list as well) Ro would be one with red flags when she constantly crosses her girlfriend’s boundaries. Very simple and clear boundaries.
Somebody else said that this is a queer romance for straight people and I couldn’t agree more. Where’s the queerness?? The main character constantly brings up men in her thoughts and makes comparisons between them and women constantly and makes it so clear that there’s no queer perspective on this. It’s very “there’s differences between men and women and I need to tell you about them.” Which is so annoying when she is putting men at the forefront of all her thoughts, even in a relationship with a woman. Aside from the fact that it’s two women this book really is a nothing burger about the exploration of someone figuring out their sexuality and their queerness late in life. It had potential, I wish anyone else had gotten their hands on this plot. Maybe not a straight cis women next time though (not to say that straight cis women can’t write queer stories, but that Delilah S. Dawson shouldn’t.)
Hate read this, made me so frustrated. But also I couldn’t look away so there’s that.
Absurd weird little lit fic book and I loved every second of it.
First of all,, can I just talk about this cover? It’s so provocative and well designed, it draws me in immediately.
Next, these characters are unhinged in all the best ways that make it hard to root for but are endearing nonetheless. And these characters are the reason why you keep reading. In a way, Greta is very relatable. That understanding of if you were in a life or death situation, you wouldn’t even save yourself,, hit a little too close to home. She was also super witty and complex.
The tension of the plot and with Big Swiss is literally delectable. It gave me such a rush while reading it. It was hot, funny and weird. And sapphic!!!! Which is always a fun treat.
But at the end of the day this book is about how we process trauma, accountability for our actions. All while discussing control and power dynamics in a relationship. I highly recommend!
And if that doesn’t convince you, the writing is also really good.
Super powerful story about a man grieving. That’s all I want to say about the description of the book because I think it’s better to go into this one blind.
Moreno has such a way with words, the writing was beautiful and being inside Thiagos head was hard to read but I absolutely flew through this book. The narrators voice was really sensational. 10/10.
I loved the first half, second half was good, but the ending was a little confusing for me. However, not enough to truly deter my enjoyment.
I won’t even lie in saying that I need to dive more into this book because many things went over my head. Probably due for a reread eventually haha!
This one hurts a lot because I relate it to my personal life so much. In a sense, I was Nick and they were my Charlie. Anyway, the representation of Anorexia in a young adult book is so important and im so thankful for this book for existing. Especially with the resources at the end. Also everyone is still so cute and this just develops their characters even more. I’m actually nervous to finish heartstopper next because I only made it to here on the first read. I just love these characters and I want the best for them haha 😭
Finished this in one day!! it’s such a fast paced read with an extremely endearing main character robot that is just a little too relatable. Prone to anxiety, murderbot is super witty and being stuck in its head is a treat.
This was my first science fiction in a while and it was super accessible in terms of the language and the world but I wish it was flushed out more!! but because it was so short I can see how it opens us up to the next books in the series (of which I will be continuing)
I’m ordering 1000 of them!!
It could be how long i waited to finish this series but this was rough to read. The supernatural aspect just did not hit for me. Normally I’m cool with it and I even enjoy it but this felt like it came at left field. This feels like a completely different story than the rest of series and that made it fall flat. I think the characters are still fun to read about but for a final book in the series I would say that I didn’t care about what happened to them as much and I understand I’m the minority on this.
I just didn’t really care about this whole thing. The writing was good because it was King, the ploy that Brady came up with was fine, but other than that,, I don’t know.
Okay, I have a lot to say about this book.
Firstly, love the feminine rage aspect of it. I truly felt like I was in Mary's mind, but I also loved that the serial killer is still the typical bad guy by convincing Mary to do things she doesn't want to do.
Second, I actually liked the huge switch of plot by the end. I liked that it had a cult plot, I thought it was exciting to read.
As for the characters, they were not lovable, but I don't really care that they weren't though. They weren't people to root for, but they are a bit complex and interesting to read about. Especially Mary.
As a young person, I can't relate to perimenopause, but I'm glad that this book has helped me understand it better. And it's the first time I've really seen a book talk about it. Even if it was written by a man — I still think his intentions were pure, and he really seemed to tackle these topics with grace.
It was a bit slow to start, but it certainly builds up in the end.
However, I don't like the ending that much. I feel it's a little in bad taste for Nancy Diaz to be presented as a villain, though I guess I understand it comes from the cop mentality towards people of colour,, my mind is very mixed on this..
Overall, my conclusion is that I liked this book. I thought it was visceral and gory but it also had a decent story (lol) until that ending point which I'm still debating on.
This book has been collecting dust on my shelf for a while and I finally got around to it. Well.
I wish I hadn't. This book is 200 pages and reads very fast but it almost took me two weeks to get through. The reason for this? It's supposed to be young adult but it reads much younger. The actions and language of the main character was like that of a 10 year old, which would've been fine if she was actually that age. I understand that she technically grows as a person by the end of the book but I thought it was still hard to like her.
She is an absolute dick to Greg, one part in particular made me really upset when he's talking about his dad and how he knits him things, and Shelby's best friend says that “guys don't knit” and “knitting is for women” - Greg obviously disproves this stereotype and SHE gets mad at HIM for “picking a fight with her best friend”
GIRL. LISTEN TO HIM AND WHAT HE IS SAYING. He is disagreeing and making a very valid point, not fighting with her 🤦♂️I was so angry.
There was also a moment at the restaurant with her dad that made me cringe, it was very “and everyone clapped” if you catch my drift. It had me shaking my head in class.
All respect to people who like this book, it tackled Sexual Abuse and Pyromania (I don't think it tackled it in a particularly good way but whatever) but this just was not for me.
I dont even think I really liked any of the characters except for maybe Greg and even his dialog was hard to get through..
I was going to give this a two star but as I'm speaking about this book I'm just getting angrier and I'm realizing that I really didn't like it so 1 star! Maybe 1.5 at most.
Had this one on my shelf from when I purchased it at a scholastic fair for all my Canadians out there.
I believe I've read the first book in this universe but that may call for a reread.
This was so cute, the art was incredible and it managed to make characters very memorable in the short amount of time. I love these characters so much!!
The talk about bullying, culture, change was handled really well and made me tear up a little bit by the end.
I recommend for a nice and relatively short middle grade graphic novel :)
A nice and thoughtful observation of some important topics. Covid, relationships with our family, technology, a poignant story. This was also the first time I've seen ARFID depicted in a book. So that was really cool.
Lerner really has a way with words, almost too intelligent for me. I felt at some points some things were kind of going over my head but he really ties it together in the end.
a book comprised of 3 weird short stories!
I personally loved the story with the pregnant sister and the first one was enjoyable too!
The last one was good up until the ending which completely confused me unfortunately.
It was odd and uncomfortable in spots in a good way. And I liked the writing in some spots and other times it fell flat.
Pretty decent!
This book took me way longer to get through then I would like to admit,, I started this book in January (💀) and stopped for awhile but came back to this story recently in April and absolutely flew through the rest of it!! Maybe the start was a little too slow to begin with?? But it really gets gripping later on which is why this needs to be rated high.
I really appreciated learning about what life was like for Asian Americans during the 1950s. The authors note made me have such a high respect for Lo, for her research and care. Super important to learn about and very well researched.
The bits where it focuses on Lily's mother and aunt were a bit boring and I wish they were interwoven into the story a bit better. Especially with her aunt.
I also wished that maybe I would've connected with Lily just a bit more, even though I love her as a character. There are some things missing. Maybe I'm just being nitpicky!
I loved the club scenes, I loved the romance scenes and the desire and passion with it. It made me so happy for them.
And then the pain with Lily's family, knowing they'll never see you the same and how you aren't their definition of “good” anymore,, ouch 💔
This was beautiful, I highly recommend.
I had such high hopes for this one and while there were good moments, it ultimately fell flat for me.
The concept is great, and the actual horror had a pretty big scare factor. But these horrifying moments were interrupted by pointless meanderings of the main character that completely killed the vibe it was trying to set up. I'm not familiar with T. Kingfishers characters so I don't know if these sarcastic comments are common. I even enjoyed some of the thoughts too but when you're in a scary scene, I kinda want it to stay scary..
Dog was great, Foxy was great.
But the pacing? Way off. I was pretty bored until the second half but I didn't even care much about the ending either.
Still had its moments for sure though!! But I wish I liked it more.
A small book that packs quite a punch. It's young adult while being mature in some aspects.
This book is really important but I found that I wasn't the target audience and so I'll definitely be recommending to teens.
I loved Justyce as a character and the actual story was very moving and I was invested from the moment I started reading.
However, there were some plot holes and I didn't love how it ended but over than that, really good.
Honestly really cute and I can definitely see why this book is recommended to Before The Coffee Gets Cold fans.
I unfortunately enjoyed this a little bit less. Don't get me wrong, the food descriptions were absolutely fantastic, I wanted to try every single thing mentioned in this book.
But for me, the characters in BTCGC pulled on my heartstrings more and made me cry. The actual chapters are basically cut up into two chunks. First is the customer arriving to the restaurant with the dish they want the Kamogawa Detectives to find, and second is the tasting of the dish. In between that we get no info of Nagare finding ingredients besides what he tells us.
The chapters are all like this, very formulaic like BTCGC. Maybe I just wished for more of the journey behind the meal in descriptive form??
Oh and the cat that's on the cover? Not a prominent figure in the story by the way. That honestly confused me but not a big deal.
It's genuinely really cozy and has great vibes if you're looking for description of Japan in winter and spring. I found it's also a very quick read! Less than four hours, I finished it!
So, first of all, I started this in January and it is now the end of March. It's safe to say that I was one of the ones that thought it was slow to start, I made it 40 percent. But then, I transitioned to audio plus digital, and it all just clicked for me.
I read the rest in one day and I loved it.
The book is based of the true stories of the Dozier School for Boys in Florida. The topics were horrific and devastating but important to read and learn about. Heed the content warnings but I definitely recommend this book even as a person who never really gravitates to historical fiction books.
The great thing about a longer and slower book is that you get to spend so much time with the characters. The personalities of people are well fleshed out and that leads you to truly care about the ending for these characters.
The last 30% particularly sticks in my brain as it put me on the edge of my seat.
I see people complaining that this book is not a horror book but I would definitely argue that it 100% is. Yes, there are ghosts, but that doesn't make it horror (The ghosts themselves are not scary). The real horror lies in the depraved things that actually happened in history. People like Haddock existed in history more commonly than people think. Many men never faced justice, and many kids never got their justice.
Unfortunately in this climate, we are seeing that America still holds these values against communities and it becomes apparent that history is repeating itself.
It may be hard to confront these tough topics but give it a shot, it deserves it.
Thank you to Book Sirens and to the author for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.
This book is extremely difficult to put to words but I am attempting to try for the sake of the review!
First of all, this is my first book from this author but I was completely drawn in by this stunning cover. 10/10.
This book is written non chronologically which took some getting to used to but once I did, I really enjoyed the format.
The actual story itself is carried by these very interesting to read about characters that are complex and relatable. I felt myself feeling seen as a trans and queer person. I thought it explored topics such as identity, relationships, and love extremely well and felt really hard hitting to someone who is currently experiencing a breakup.
The writing style was fun to read. For just a little example of a quote that I loved...
“You can break things off, but you don't just turn off your love for the person you were ready to spend the rest of your life with, right? Emotions aren't a faucet. Even if that other person managed to turn off their love faucet for you.”
This book honestly just speaks to me.
I will probably continue to read the authors backlist because I loved what I read!