1.84k reviews by:

caseythereader

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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: No

 - Even in their novellas, Talia Hibbert is so good at quickly crafting an entire world and a believable couple within it.
- Nina is a classic Hibbert heroine, a woman with a bit of an edge, but soft and deeply loving once you get past that.
- Even in this barely-100-pages book, Hibbert manages to get in more spiciness than some other full length romance novels have! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

 - THE TIMES I KNEW I WAS GAY is a graphic memoir that looks back over the author's life and begins to make sense of all the times she didn't seem to fit in with her straight peers.
- I think it's uniquely queer experience to look back at an event and think to yourself, "Oh! That felt so weird because I was trying to be someone I'm not!" And contrary to mainstream belief, not every queer person knew they were queer from the time they were a small child. This experience of reframing your whole life is totally real (me, it's my experience).
- I did wish we got a bit more from this book. It's so short and quick that a lot of it felt like a half formed thought, or only pieces of the story. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

 - I've seen a lot of reviews call WHITE SMOKE the YA version of WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING, and I do think that's mostly accurate, but it's also more than that. For one, it was way more creepy and terrifying!
- I loved that Mari wasn't a picture-perfect protagonist (you know I love prickly women and girls), but also that at the same time she was kind of just misunderstood by the adults in her life.
- I don't want to spoil anything, but the way Jackson incorporated real life injustices into the plot was masterful. I hope it gets young kids to read more about it and get involved in righting those wrongs. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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: No

Thanks to Random House for the free copy of this book.

 - DESTINATION WEDDING is sort of a mashup of a family saga and a beach read. It has both the over the top glamour of a fluffy book, and exploration of the real, tough feelings of a family trying to relearn who they are.
- While at times there were maybe a few too many plotlines happening, I found that I really did care what happened to everyone, and in particular Tina's parents. Their stories of moving on after divorce felt so loving and genuine. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

 - I feel like I've lost my ability to write any kind of proper reviews of literary fiction, especially this kind of sprawling family epic variety, but THE ARSONISTS' CITY was too beautiful to leave off my feed.
- I was completely gripped by the stories of every member of the Nasr family. The way the story unraveled between the two timelines was just masterful.
- Also, going in to this book I didn't know there was a lesbian character! Hooray for adult queer fiction! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny lighthearted 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: No

 - Time for a QUEER SCREAMING review! A LOT LIKE ADIOS has two bisexual leads! Second chance romance! Friends to lovers! Workplace romance! Even a dash of fake dating! It's just so lovely.
- I loved the way Gabe and Michelle just fell right back in with each other. Both their deep friendship and their attraction to each other felt so real. Plus the sci-fi fanfic they were writing as teens was just so cute.
- I love a romance where the leads are gentle with each other as they try to figure things out. Gimme that over enemies to lovers any day.
- As one last minor note, I was a big fan of how openly and casually both Gabe and Michelle spoke about not wanting to have kids, and maybe not even ever get married. Love to see a romance with an HEA epilogue where the woman isn't six months pregnant. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Thanks to Quirk Books for the free copy of this book.

 - GEEKERELLA is just about one of the cutest and sweetest books I've ever read. Not only is it a clever CInderella retelling, but also a love letter to fandom and feeling seen by the stories you love. This is definitely a book to read when you want a cozy hug.
- Occasionally the villians were, well, over the top villain-y, but would it even be a fairytale retelling without that?
- I'm very much looking forward to reading the other books in this series, especially since book two is sapphic! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging 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: No

Thanks to Wednesday Books for the free advance copy of this book. 

- If you're looking for a high angst story filled with love and compassion, put IF THIS GETS OUT on your list.
- Not only is this book essentially the boy band fanfic of your dreams, it's also a story about found family learning to support each other through hard times and in the face of unsupportive (and even abusive) blood family. It's a great exploration of how hard it can be to live the life you want to live without alienating anyone.
- Plus, it's also got excellent forced proximity and only one bed tropes. The cover kind of looks YA, but I'd put this in NA due to the fade to black love scenes. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings