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amandasbrews's Reviews (454)
Creepy and hauntingly beautiful. Riss M. Neilson builds a ghost story like we don't often get to see, full of magic, secrets, complex histories, and family.
For me, the true beauty of this book was the slow build of the world. With each new discovery we're given another layer to the complexities of life. What happens when we learn enough about our history we start to yearn for what we've lost? Especially when that yearning takes away from what is actually in front of us?
What happens when our family tries to protect us from ourselves but we grow out of needing protection? What about when we defy out parents to desperately try to build our connection to ourself and our magic? There's no real answer for any of this and we all handle all of these things differently. But Neilson manages to remind us that these questions are just a part of life and a part of who we are.
History is complex and messy and everyone in these stories are real people. We often do things that we think are best even if they may not be. We hide things from each other in order to protect each other. This may be a ghost story with a pinch of magic but Neilson brilliantly crafts a deeply human story in I'm Not Supposed to Be in the Dark.
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Pre-reading review: I'm such a big fan of Riss for writing very mixed characters in a very magical, solemn, spooky tone. It's delightful, delicious, and wonderful. I'm so excited for this!!
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For me, the true beauty of this book was the slow build of the world. With each new discovery we're given another layer to the complexities of life. What happens when we learn enough about our history we start to yearn for what we've lost? Especially when that yearning takes away from what is actually in front of us?
What happens when our family tries to protect us from ourselves but we grow out of needing protection? What about when we defy out parents to desperately try to build our connection to ourself and our magic? There's no real answer for any of this and we all handle all of these things differently. But Neilson manages to remind us that these questions are just a part of life and a part of who we are.
History is complex and messy and everyone in these stories are real people. We often do things that we think are best even if they may not be. We hide things from each other in order to protect each other. This may be a ghost story with a pinch of magic but Neilson brilliantly crafts a deeply human story in I'm Not Supposed to Be in the Dark.
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Pre-reading review: I'm such a big fan of Riss for writing very mixed characters in a very magical, solemn, spooky tone. It's delightful, delicious, and wonderful. I'm so excited for this!!
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I didn't know how desperate I was for the particular mixed rep where you very clearly know they're mixed but they do not once quantify how Asian that makes them. they just ARE. they are mixed but they are NOT fractionally as Asian.
Thank you Cathy Yardley for ROLE PLAYING.
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Thank you Cathy Yardley for ROLE PLAYING.
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Flight & Anchor is all at once cozy, exhilarating, and full of care. 06 and 22 have an intoxicating energy that makes you crave more of their story and Flight & Anchor does not disappoint. Kornher-Stace finds a perfect balance between human childhood and otherworldliness by making us fall for the myth and propaganda surrounding 06 and 22 while also making them deeply human, if only deep down. A burning ember of humanity in the midst of overwhelming propaganda. An opening to fan the flame.
If you've read FIREBREAK (you should! read my review if you need convincing) you will love this prequel!
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If you've read FIREBREAK (you should! read my review if you need convincing) you will love this prequel!
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In a powerful condemnation of the violence of borders, Jonny Garza Villa writes a soft and sweeping love story full of the beauty of art and young love while unapologetically using a Spanglish that feels just like home
THIS BOOK. It's only March but this is going to be one of my top reads of the year. Absolutely showstopping, I couldn't put it down. To Shape a Dragon's Breath is a blockbuster of a book that you will regret missing. It's sharp, wise, fun, and angry all wrapped in one which makes for the most brilliant mood for a book. Highly recommend this to anyone looking for anticolonialist writing with dragons (which should be everyone, by the way).
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okay I'm halfway through this book and can we talk about how this book doesn't hold back at all? the white people are called the ANGLISH. This book is a loosely veiled story of colonialism and i'm HERE FOR IT. If white men can do loosely veiled medieval England time and time again, indigenous authors can and should do loosely veiled colonization. more of this PLEASE.
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okay I'm halfway through this book and can we talk about how this book doesn't hold back at all? the white people are called the ANGLISH. This book is a loosely veiled story of colonialism and i'm HERE FOR IT. If white men can do loosely veiled medieval England time and time again, indigenous authors can and should do loosely veiled colonization. more of this PLEASE.
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Losing what feels like your only connection to your heritage is something I know all too well and I cried this entire book. The entire thing. I love Marisol to pieces, she is me and I am her and we are both far too angry for our own good. I love her.
I'd Rather Burn Than Bloom touched my soul in places I didn't know needed healing. The angry teenager that I was in high school needed this book so much, and reading it now, as an adult, I realize how long it took me to heal without a story like this in my life. Family is and always will be so messy in ways that are impossible to understand, but it's also okay that our stories are messy.
Grieving a family member becomes so much harder when that emptiness also cuts you off from such a large piece of you. It isn't just a relationship you grieve, it's yourself that you grieve. The pieces of you that you could have had if life were just a little bit different. There is a particular grief in losing that connection that far transcends simple loss and gets tied up in all the complexities of immigration, yearning, and being a teenager.
This book owns my entire heart and I'm so honored that I was able to read it. Shannon CF Rogers has truly given a gift to young adult literature and I am forever grateful that she shared.
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I'd Rather Burn Than Bloom touched my soul in places I didn't know needed healing. The angry teenager that I was in high school needed this book so much, and reading it now, as an adult, I realize how long it took me to heal without a story like this in my life. Family is and always will be so messy in ways that are impossible to understand, but it's also okay that our stories are messy.
Grieving a family member becomes so much harder when that emptiness also cuts you off from such a large piece of you. It isn't just a relationship you grieve, it's yourself that you grieve. The pieces of you that you could have had if life were just a little bit different. There is a particular grief in losing that connection that far transcends simple loss and gets tied up in all the complexities of immigration, yearning, and being a teenager.
This book owns my entire heart and I'm so honored that I was able to read it. Shannon CF Rogers has truly given a gift to young adult literature and I am forever grateful that she shared.
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MORE! VIET! JOY!
I cant wait for more from Carolyn Huynh! She's a champion of giving Viet women the stories they deserve and proving to us all that we are allowed to be joyful, complex, nuanced, full, and most importantly, loved. I cant wait for this!
I cant wait for more from Carolyn Huynh! She's a champion of giving Viet women the stories they deserve and proving to us all that we are allowed to be joyful, complex, nuanced, full, and most importantly, loved. I cant wait for this!
I can't even begin to explain to you how excited I am for this book. I mean look at the cover? The synopsis? The author? I'm screaming!!! You're going to want to pick up this book with me!!!
Do you love haunted houses and secrets and ghosts and revenge? I do and I liked this!!
Delicious Monsters is thrilling and just the right amount of creepy. It's nothing short of difficult to read but it's so important and I'm so glad Liselle shared it with us. At its heart, this is a haunted house story, or rather, inheriting a haunted house.
But I love that the characters kind of just sucked. They weren't doing anything productive to get over their traumas they were just allowed to be angry. I feel like it's so rare that we allow BIPOC characters to just be angry and allowed to cope with their traumas in poor ways, but that's realistic for a lot of people.
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Delicious Monsters is thrilling and just the right amount of creepy. It's nothing short of difficult to read but it's so important and I'm so glad Liselle shared it with us. At its heart, this is a haunted house story, or rather, inheriting a haunted house.
But I love that the characters kind of just sucked. They weren't doing anything productive to get over their traumas they were just allowed to be angry. I feel like it's so rare that we allow BIPOC characters to just be angry and allowed to cope with their traumas in poor ways, but that's realistic for a lot of people.
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