bookish_ghost_girl's Reviews (155)

An adorable story!!! I loved that it made me wanting more, while appreciating what was there.

"Take Responsibility for your own unhappiness. If you don't love your life, change it."

"Love isn't going to come find me in my living room."

Short stories aren't my typical forte, but I did enjoy this one. I was wanting more when I finished it! 

It's not often that I give a book 2 stars, but this is one of the few. 

While I appreciate the story that is being told and what each of the characters is going through, the story felt a little flat in someplaces. 

"They did not settle a virgin land. They invaded and displaced a resident population. This is so simple a fact that it seems self-evident." - Francis Jennings, historian

It's been a few years since I last opened a history book for school, from what I remember of them, I feel like they don't tell the full story of how the "Europeans created the 'Doctrine of Discovery' to justify their takeover of any territory they "discovered" regardless of whose home it was. From an Indigenous perspective, European claims to Indigenous lands were not legitimate."

After reading through this book and learning more information, the history that I remember learning now feels a bit sanitized and white washed in the way that it is presented.

Part of what I learned in this books was the fact that the word, 'redskins' came about during a time when the early settlers killed and scalped the Native people and saw that the blood made the mutilated skin look red. Or the fact that the early settlers were basically squatters and that genocide happened whether through biological or chemical warfare.

Something else that I learned, but hadn't really considered before, was the way that the Native people had well established routes, whether water or over land, that they used to cross the country.

"Historian Frederick Jackson Turner believed, wrongly, that Indigenous North American cultures had no real influence on the settlers except as roadblocks to progress. He viewed Native cultures as backward and primitive in comparison to the settlers' culture, which he saw as dynamic and sophisticated."

When it comes to writing or reading a book within a book, it needs to be well done and this fit perfectly. While science fiction is a genre that I don't read very often, I thought that this book was the perfect balance of sci-fi, thriller and fiction. It made me want to have more when the book ended. 

Feminine rage and politics!

This book is a perfect blend of the two, not to mention a love triangle in there as well.

I first heard about this book from the author's Tiktok page, which is very entertaining. After that it took a little bit for me to actually purchase and read the book. Now that I have finished reading it, I'm glad that I did. I don't say this very often about books, but this one is a new favorite of mine and I can't wait to read the second book!

"Compelling fiction often obscures the humble truth."

When it comes to fairy tale re-tellings, I like how this one takes on the story of "Cinderella" and spins it from the pov of the step-mother. One thing that I enjoyed was how it changed the step-mother and step-sisters to be the ones coming from rags to riches in a way, instead of how the fairy tale is generally depicted. Since the step-mother, Agnes, is telling the story, in order to set the record straight, we get to see how she becomes the 'evil' step-mother in the sense that she is trying to stop Ella from becoming a spoiled brat. 

While I already had an understanding on the topic, I did enjoy the fact that it explained more on what I already knew. It also pointed out some things that I didn't know or make a connection between. 

I was a little confused when I started reading. As I was reading, it felt like the main character was sharing the same confusion toward what was happening in the story. What I did like about it is the fact that it takes a small point in history that we have heard about and looks at it in a different lens and in a modern setting. The ending was wrapped up rather well and felt satisfactory. 

As a short novel, it was a nice way to take a quick break between longer books. While it is the last book in a trilogy, it also works well as a standalone book. What I did enjoy about this book is the way that the journey of forgiveness is shown in a short amount of time. Grief also plays a small part in the story as well and how holding onto it can affect us in different ways.