aliciaclarereads's Reviews (1.25k)

read for Popsugar 2018 Challenge: a book set in a country that fascinates you (Nigeria)

Arimah is a master of short stories. Seriously, these are so freaking good. I discovered this collection after hearing the titular story read on the Levar Burton Reads podcast, and I knew then I had to read the whole collection. Armiah is fantastic at creating this intricate little worlds that I desperately want a full length series in. She develops such fascinating characters and really wonderful character relationships. She also centers women in her stories, which is always what I want.

I seriously cannot wait for more from Arimah.

Also, this collection isn't properly set in Nigeria, mostly because there's many different settings. But Nigeria is a strong influence on her work, and it links all of the stories together, since Arimah is Nigerian herself.

I found a lot of this overly simplistic, which makes sense because this book is TINY. I think this book would be a great thing to give to someone who needs a bit of a primer in feminism, but otherwise it doesn't add much depth compared to other nonfiction I've read. It also doesn't delve too much into any intersectionality, which leaves a lot of women on the margins.

Hmm, I'm a bit conflicted on this. I really liked Adam's story, but the fantasy elements really threw me off. It just felt like it distracted from the story.

I completely gobbled this book up. The writing was beautiful and dreamy, and I felt as swept up in this novel just as the I was the first time I saw West Side Story. I also loved how peppered the book was with French and Spanish, and a part of me wish not everything was translated so that the onus would be on the reader to discover what was being said. My main concern was that I wished the book was longer. I wanted just a little bit more from the romance before the final act kicked into action, and I would have loved more of the magic in this book. However, the mysteriousness of the magic certainly added to the dreamy quality.

This was a really strong debut, so now I'm ready to read a lot more of McLemore.

read for Popsugar 2018 reading challenge: a book with characters who are twins

I can see why this is such a beloved YA novel. It took me awhile to get into this story because Noah and Jude's inner minds were really confusing. They both tended to trail off and imagine things that weren't happening which kept throwing me through a loop. It also read kind of manically, which stressed me out a bit. However as the novel progresses and the plot becomes more intriguing and starts to intertwine, I really started to like it. Nelson tied the threads of this novel together so well (almost too well? Literally everything was resolved

Jude has some series OCD tendencies and Noah had some unresolved anxiety and guilt that I can't believe it all melted away so easily. These two desperately needed therapy

) that I flew through the last third of the book.

I probably won't read any more by this author because I just don't super vibe with her writing style, but this was a really enjoyable read!

I'm a bit conflicted on this one. There were some aspects of this story I really liked. I rarely read books set outside America/the UK, so I loved that this was set in Iran and had so much Iranian culture in it. There was a diversity of characters too which was so great; so many people with different experiences! Also this book is really angsty, which was done really well. I was completely immersed in the characters' heartbreak.

However, there were some things in this book that were really hard for me to get over. Sahar's decision making in this book was just... all over the place. I had to keep reminding myself that she's only 17 which explains making dumb decisions.

I couldn't get past Sahar's obsession with transitioning when it was so clear that sh didn't get how big of a deal this was. Maybe it's just because I don't understand LGBTQ+ culture in Iran, but I was so, so frustrated with Sahar

. We also start the book with Sahar already in love, and I really wish we'd been able to watch her fall in love. Also, the book is written in present tense which I personally don't vibe with.