booksandfin's Reviews (123)

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory

4.5

emotional funny reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Oh how I love this series! I loved this short story and only wish it was longer 😭 I’m always itching for more Murderbot content and getting this new perspective was chefs kiss. I didn’t know I needed it!

Funny Story

Emily Henry

4.5

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Despite this having some of my favorite tropes, I didn’t love it as much as other Emily Henry books I’ve read.

I love how Miles and Daphne grow and become friends as time passes. I also love Ashleigh and Daphne’s friendship. It felt refreshing and necessary for the story. And this book definitely had me kicking and giggling my feet. I just almost wish that the fake dating had been a slightly more prevalent thing since I feel like that was a large part of the marketing.

I feel like this one got real cheesy toward the end. I feel like I just missed some of the more gritty personal details on this one. That and Daphne’s dad and Starfire just felt a little uninspired or grasping for straws.

Content Warnings

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout

Laura Jane Grace

4.25

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

I was super late to the game with Against Me! but I fell in love with their music late 2023 and a friend recommended I pick up Laura Jane Grace’s memoir. I enjoyed listening to this and found it to be extremely insightful and honest.

My only complaint is Laura using the word “female” to refer to women when unnecessary. Like “the first female I kissed”. It just felt off and is one of my least favorite uses of language. Otherwise, I felt like this was a good read and would recommend to other fans of the band or to fans of Laura Jane Grace in general. I loved how raw this was and how she didn’t shy away from her own faults or failings.

Content Warnings

You Between the Lines

Katie Naymon

DID NOT FINISH: 10%

If I have to read about a woman saying how much she hated rich white men while being SO privileged one more time… I’ll lose it.

Also… there’s no tension in this book. I’m sorry but if her problems are contingent on her parents separating while she’s a grown woman? Grow up. Everyone (except William) acted 5 years younger than they were. There was no difference in character voice from when Leigh was in high school to her MFA program. Just. Yikes. Strong premise, can’t stand the writing or voice of the story though.

Blood Over Bright Haven

M.L. Wang

4.5

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This one’s hard for me to rate. While I loved the world building, Thomil, and the way the author wrote, I was never surprised by anything that happened despite going in blind.

I don’t need to be surprised to enjoy or love a book. The themes discussed were extremely relevant to today and a lot of the dialogue (like actual dialogue) around the subject matter was handled realistically.

Sciona, oh I love her and hate her. She’s a great example of how privilege and oppression are not just a scale of black and white, much like the ‘otherrealm’. She’s racist and bigoted while clinging to her religion as a shield, pretecting and deluding herself from doing wrong or evil. Obviously this changes over the course of the book, but she is never absolved completely and that’s so so important.

Controversial take on subplots:

I found Sciona and Thomil’s relationship to be fairly genuine. While I may have preferred it if they had remained uninvolved (either just yearning or platonic), it is also human nature to search for something more especially in the face of evil and what feels like (or is) the end of the world.

Content Warnings

Starling House

Alix E. Harrow

4.5

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really loved this book more than I expected to. At times Opal is unbearable, but she’s also so deeply flawed and raw that it works. Arthur quickly became a character I was obsessed with and I loved every scene with him in it.

I also am quickly realizing how much I love books featuring houses that are characters in of themselves. Starling House, in so many ways, reminds me of my own childhood home.

I wish the ending had more of a wrap up. It worked, but there were just a couple things that felt rushed in my opinion. That being said I’d love a novella of Arthur and Opal just living their lives and Jasper coming for holidays.

Content Warnings

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Bryan Stevenson

5.0

challenging hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

While I find it hard to rate nonfiction and memoir books especially, this was a wonderfully constructed book. Stevenson did a great job narrating. Every explanation of terminology or the history behind the cases presented were succinct and accessible.

While not a comprehensive overview of injustice in America, this is an incredible read and introduction. I have a lot of things I want to research further and look into.

Content Warnings

Ghostroots

‘Pemi Aguda

4.0

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Honestly I almost dnf’d this whole collection after the first story. That one needs a list of graphic triggers that I just didn’t have.

The on screen killing of the dog made me want to skip it entirely, but I pushed through and it just didn’t have any point.

That being said, the rest of the stories were amazing. Dark and twisted and lonely, but beautiful. I learned a lot reading this collection as I often had to pause to look up words and cultural references that were outside my knowledge.

Girlie was definitely my favorite story, but I think Breastmilk, Masquerade Season, and Imagine Me Carrying You made me cry the most. I wish I could unread Manifest.

Content Warnings

Record of a Spaceborn Few

Becky Chambers

4.0

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I’ll always love Becky Chambers books. Sunny might be my favorite side character we’ve ever gotten lol. I love how Chambers builds their worlds. They don’t shy away the dark side of things, but at the fabric of it all are values I hope we embrace as a people and species in the future. That future could be today.

Sawyer was definitely my favorite character. I had a horrible feeling throughout his POVs but I didn’t see his death coming. But it worked and it made the rest of the story tie together in a way that felt thematically relevant and impactful.

Content Warnings

A Study in Drowning

Ava Reid

5.0

dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I’ll never doubt Ava Reid. This book tore me apart in the best ways possible. When discussing survivorship, this book encapsulates so much of my own experiences and experiences of other survivors I know.

I’ve been chasing the sickly high I got from Juniper and Thorn since I read it years ago and I’m happy to report this one achieved just that same sickly high if not more so. It’s actually impressive how closely I could relate to Effy.

I can see myself rereading this book and I’m so thankful the sequel comes out later this year.

Content Warnings

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