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yourbookishbff 's review for:
Unfit to Print
by KJ Charles
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This story centers two racialized MCs (a multiracial bookseller cast out by his father's white family in childhood and the starchy British Indian attorney he once knew at Eton), a conflict revolving entirely around London's underground market for "obscene" material and sex work, and a double-mystery involving two at-risk teenagers (one murdered before the story starts and one now missing). And it's fewer than 150 pages, because that's just how KJC rolls. I really appreciate the class conversations around sex work in this, in particular, but I was generally stressed the entire time for our side characters. While I ultimately feel like KJC sticks the landing on the central romance, she kept me sweating with the mystery (and not as much in the fun heist way as in the just-plain-stressed-this-is-very-grim way).
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism