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1.84k reviews by:
caseythereader
- I love the depiction here of River coming out as lesbian and then realizing that label doesn't quite fit, and starting over again.
- I also appreciated the way this book shows how sometimes a family isn't understanding or supportive of queerness, but also doesn't kick their child out. I feel like teen coming out stories are often binary: a fully supporting family or immediate disownment, when realities are often messier than that.
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Acephobia/Arophobia, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Pregnancy
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Classism
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Transphobia
- Alex White is the absolute best at huge, epic, edge of your seat space battles, and AUGUST KITKO AND THE MECHAS FROM SPACE delivers that and more.
- Not only is this a roaring adventure, but also a queer love story and a mystery, too.
- I loved both Gus and Ardent, two people who are drawn to each other, fight a bit, but are still intent on figuring each other out.
- This book is moderately less complicated than White's BIG SHIP books: I could follow it on audio even though it was my first ever SFF audiobook (partly due to narrator Hayden Bishop, who was great at differentiating character voices without getting cartoony).
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, War, Injury/Injury detail
- This book tackles so much heavy stuff: transphobia, religious bigotry, governmental bigotry, poor allyship and more. Somehow, though, it remained a gentle, caring story.
- I had a hard time buying that Spencer would be quite so oblivious as to why Justice's deep closetedness made him act the way he did, but also, sometimes teens don't see the whole picture, I guess. Definitely still a very worthwhile read even if that bit was a little forced.
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Transphobia, Excrement, Religious bigotry
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Addiction, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Racism, Blood
- Okay, look. 90% of this book is totally, completely unbelievable. And yet, it's so candy sweet that I tore through it anyway.
- Maya is a wonderful heroine, unhappy with the life that's been preset for her and pushing against all boundaries, from family expectations to ageism.
- This book also deals with something I've never seen in a novel: what it might be like to be part of a community that experienced a mass shooting several years after the event. I thought this book did a good job showing how something like that continues to hang over everything and have long term impact, even after the initial shock is long gone.
Graphic: Cursing, Racism, Terminal illness, Vomit, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Mass/school shootings
Minor: Sexual harassment
- JUST BY LOOKING AT HIM is at turns both hilarious and serious. It gives readers an unflinching look at Eliot's slide into self-hatred as he burns down his entire life piece by piece.
- I wish this book had leaned harder into the satire/absurd elements. It was there, particularly in the scenes at Eliot's job, but I don't think it went far enough.
- There were also a few passages where the main character just flat out stated the lessons learned or parallels drawn between incidents instead of trusting the reader to find it for themselves.
- All that said, I'm here for books about queer people being messy, terrible people. I'm interested to see what O'Connell writes next.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
- I loved that this book tackled toxic masculinity within the gay community, showing clearly how internalized homophobia and misogyny can embed themselves out of fear of being punished by cishet people.
- A few times it felt like it was verging on Very Special Episode territory, but it's YA, so there's room there. The one thing I simply could not get my head around was exactly how big was this camp?? There are like 19 cabins but everyone fits under the tarp to roast s'mores in the rain? Lol.
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Grief
Minor: Transphobia, Acephobia/Arophobia
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Grief, Alcohol
- It's not only a beautifully told page-turner, but an indictment of the patriarchy and the story of a woman lifting up marginalized people and holding her head high when punished for it.
- Plus, Kaikeyi is explicitly asexual and aromantic, and it was a joy to watch her grow close to her husband while never feeling a need to try to change herself.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infertility, Sexual content