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bookbeforeuleap's Reviews (863)
This is the story of 13 year old Anna who’s has lost her father and so has to move to Scotland to live with her estranged mother. Anna has Aspergers* and finds very little support in her new home as she tries to fit in and understand her past.
What can I say other than I love this book! Anna was so so sweet and loving and I absolutely love that. I think a lot of the time in literature characters with Aspergers* are shown as quiet cold and hard to get on with and I loved that it wasn’t the case in this book.
There were quiet a few parts that reminded me of Pollyanna and I enjoyed meeting the grumpy bed bound old woman and the old man who had skeletons in his closet and all in between.
This is a fantastic debut from Laura Guthrie and I can’t wait to see what she writes in the future.
Thank you so much to @lovebookstours and @cranachanbooks for my #gifted copy in exchanged for a review
*I am aware the term Aspergers was changed to Autistic Spectrum Disorder in 2013, as is the author but the character, Anna, was diagnosed pre-change and thus uses the older term is why I have used it in my review.
Let me start by saying I can’t believe this is Mendez’ debut, it read so smoothly, This is a coming of age story like no other I have read and I would encourage anyone and everyone to read it.
This is one of a few books I have read recently that discusses the Windrush generation and it breaks my heart every time I read how excited they were to come to the U.K., by invite of the government, to be treated so abhorrently.
The relationship between Jesse and his mum broken my heart, how could she treat her child like that! The scene where the title of the book comes from absolutely broke me as once, when I was a child, my mum gave me gone off milk in my cereal (by accident) as soon as she realised she couldn’t stop apologising. The difference in love we received in our childhood was so upsetting to me.
Jesse was raised in a predominantly white neighbourhood with a white step father and so was never taught his true heritage and culture, and so his ideals of being black were what white people told him. There was no support in schools, no one trained to realised he was being bullied for the colour of his skin.
The sex scenes are graphic so may not be for all but, for me, the author perfectly captured the sexual tension of a 19 year old and exposed how raw and vulnerable Jesse is. I also loved the music element of the story and the accompanying playlist on Spotify is fantastic!
It is definitely going to be in my top five books of the year!
#rainbowmilk
Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.
For me this was a really slow start but once I got into I was absolutely hooked and could not put it down and the second half of the book was definitely more fast paced.
It was fascinating to learn about a side of Philadelphia that you really see represented in the media and the police corruption was written in a fresh way too.
I have been meaning to review this since February when I actually read it, that’s how far back my reviews are backed up
Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.
For me this was a really slow start but once I got into I was absolutely hooked and could not put it down and the second half of the book was definitely more fast paced.
It was fascinating to learn about a side of Philadelphia that you really see represented in the media and the police corruption was written in a fresh way too.
I have been meaning to review this since February when I actually read it, that’s how far back my reviews are backed up
This is a YA mystery with a beautiful love element and I throughly enjoyed it.
The characters are all fantastically developed and my heart was just breaking for Dylan. The love between him and El was raw and consuming but I also enjoyed how strong and fierce his friendship with his with his best friend was.
Hussey has been dubbed as the U.K’s Adam Silvera and I definitely think that of you are are Silvera fan that you will love this book.
Another great thing about this book is that there were trigger warnings in the first page and self help numbers with descriptions of who they support at the back.
This was an incredible debut and I definitely found it hard to believe that this was the authors first book. I thought the descriptions were stunning and I made me feel like I was in the dry dusty canyons of America.
This is a great look into a world rarely covered in novels and I enjoyed following Lucy’s story and really felt for her. I liked that the ending is what you make it as I know there were a few people who had different opinions.
This is a great look into a world rarely covered in novels and I enjoyed following Lucy’s story and really felt for her. I liked that the ending is what you make it as I know there were a few people who had different opinions.
We are first introduced to Barry who, although living with his wife of 50 years, is in love with his best friend Morris. We see the struggles he has with accepting his sexuality, wanting to be with his true love but scared of what the fallout will be.
We then get a chapter from his wife’s point of view, written almost as a conscious stream of thought, from when she first met Barry in Antigua. Up until this point I hadn’t liked Carmel but this made me realise that she had just been a young girl who was looking for true love and that dream happy ending which Barry could never give her.
This book was a true rollercoaster as it had the fun banter between Barry and Morris but also covered some very serious topics such as homophobia and postnatal depression.
I have all the praise for this book, Barry is everything I look for when reading a book with an older character and the storyline was brilliantly written. Everarosto is now officially one of my favourite authors and I cannot wait to get to Blonde Roots!
We then get a chapter from his wife’s point of view, written almost as a conscious stream of thought, from when she first met Barry in Antigua. Up until this point I hadn’t liked Carmel but this made me realise that she had just been a young girl who was looking for true love and that dream happy ending which Barry could never give her.
This book was a true rollercoaster as it had the fun banter between Barry and Morris but also covered some very serious topics such as homophobia and postnatal depression.
I have all the praise for this book, Barry is everything I look for when reading a book with an older character and the storyline was brilliantly written. Everarosto is now officially one of my favourite authors and I cannot wait to get to Blonde Roots!
This was a good paranormal romance with queer representation, the characters were well developed and likeable and I was fully invested in seeing where the relationship went. I liked that they both had their own issues but wanted more for each other. I thought it was also a strong novel in raising awareness of mental health issues, it is one of the first books I have read that mentions intrusive thoughts.
I also really enjoyed learning some theories behind constellations and the suits in a deck of cards as I had never heard that before and will look out for more information on that.
I did feel like there was a lot of unnecessary parts, I don’t feel that the angle character and the parables brought anything to the book, if anything they made me a little a annoyed as it was almost as if the author didn’t think you would understand why was being implied so was spelling it out for you.
I also really enjoyed learning some theories behind constellations and the suits in a deck of cards as I had never heard that before and will look out for more information on that.
I did feel like there was a lot of unnecessary parts, I don’t feel that the angle character and the parables brought anything to the book, if anything they made me a little a annoyed as it was almost as if the author didn’t think you would understand why was being implied so was spelling it out for you.
To Dare follows the lives of three woman, two of whom are connected by a childhood friendship and one who appears to just be a neighbour.
Al the characters felt believable and well developed despite not one of them being likeable and this book hit on some really deep topics such as domestic violence, substance abuse, miscarriage and childhood trauma.
This was a really slow burn thriller that put everything into building the characters up for an intense final few chapters and I think it’s going to be a big hit but I just wasn’t in the right place for it.
Thank you to legendpress for my gifted copy in exchange for review.
Al the characters felt believable and well developed despite not one of them being likeable and this book hit on some really deep topics such as domestic violence, substance abuse, miscarriage and childhood trauma.
This was a really slow burn thriller that put everything into building the characters up for an intense final few chapters and I think it’s going to be a big hit but I just wasn’t in the right place for it.
Thank you to legendpress for my gifted copy in exchange for review.