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caseythereader
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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.
- Well, you can probably tell from the summary above that this is the book to pick up if you want a good cry, and I can confirm that.
- YOU'VE REACHED SAM perfectly portrays all the confusing ways grief can manifest, ranging from anger to denial, pulling people closer and pushing people away.
- Personally, I don't mind books where the supernatural/magical elements aren't explained in any way: this is just a book that you have to accept the premise going in and simply follow where it takes you. It's worth it, I promise.
- Well, you can probably tell from the summary above that this is the book to pick up if you want a good cry, and I can confirm that.
- YOU'VE REACHED SAM perfectly portrays all the confusing ways grief can manifest, ranging from anger to denial, pulling people closer and pushing people away.
- Personally, I don't mind books where the supernatural/magical elements aren't explained in any way: this is just a book that you have to accept the premise going in and simply follow where it takes you. It's worth it, I promise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Car accident
Moderate: Racism, Violence, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-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:
No
Thanks to Tordotcom for the free advance copy of this book.
- A MARVELLOUS LIGHT is one half magical murder mystery, one half slow burn queer romance.
- Robin and Edwin are a wonderfully mismatched pair, and the world they inhabit is unlike anything I've read in a long time, with an inventive magic system woven into the structure of Edwardian high society we know.
- I did feel like it dragged quite a bit, unfortunately: there necessarily needed to be a lot of speculating and planning happening. One of those books where a thing happens and then we discuss and re-discuss it, you know?
- A MARVELLOUS LIGHT is one half magical murder mystery, one half slow burn queer romance.
- Robin and Edwin are a wonderfully mismatched pair, and the world they inhabit is unlike anything I've read in a long time, with an inventive magic system woven into the structure of Edwardian high society we know.
- I did feel like it dragged quite a bit, unfortunately: there necessarily needed to be a lot of speculating and planning happening. One of those books where a thing happens and then we discuss and re-discuss it, you know?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Alcohol
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
- ACE OF SPADES is a page-turning YA thriller, with plot twists and revelations unspooling just fast enough to keep you hooked.
- Devon and Chiamaka are such wonderful, layered characters, and I was deeply invested in their stories.
- However, as quickly as I tore through this book, I do think some of it doesn't really hold together (SPOILERS from here on out!) Like, I really didn't buy that it would take 2/3 of the book for the only two Black students in school to realize they were being racially targeted (and they didn't even consider that it might be due to their queerness, either. This book also had the same unclear framing as SHE DRIVES ME CRAZY where fear of homophobic repercussions is held over a character to drive the plot but also no one seems to care? At least not in the white part of town, because for some reason only the poor Black people were homophobic? Pretty sure even given the rigid directions they were following, some of those rich white conservatives would have let that slip through). And I didn't believe that after everything they went through and everything they learned, they would even attempt to trust a white journalist at the end. I dunno, maybe all this is just because I'm an adult reading YA.
- Devon and Chiamaka are such wonderful, layered characters, and I was deeply invested in their stories.
- However, as quickly as I tore through this book, I do think some of it doesn't really hold together (SPOILERS from here on out!) Like, I really didn't buy that it would take 2/3 of the book for the only two Black students in school to realize they were being racially targeted (and they didn't even consider that it might be due to their queerness, either. This book also had the same unclear framing as SHE DRIVES ME CRAZY where fear of homophobic repercussions is held over a character to drive the plot but also no one seems to care? At least not in the white part of town, because for some reason only the poor Black people were homophobic? Pretty sure even given the rigid directions they were following, some of those rich white conservatives would have let that slip through). And I didn't believe that after everything they went through and everything they learned, they would even attempt to trust a white journalist at the end. I dunno, maybe all this is just because I'm an adult reading YA.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Thanks to AK Press for the free advance copy of this book.
- A COUNTRY OF GHOSTS is a novella that explores a battle to escape imperialism and build an anarchist society out of what already exists.
- One of the best things about this book was the way Horacki would ask a question about the way something was done in Hron (for example, what if no one wants to pick crops) and the people would look at him like that was such a ridiculous question, and their explanation of their non-capitalist system was perfectly logical and efficacious. It's really perspective-shifting in a gentle way.
- In the author's note, Killjoy writes about how she specifically chose to write about building a utopia inside the bones of an existing society rather than in the blank slate of a new nation, since that's how it would have to go in our current reality. There's a lot to chew on in what at first glance seems like just historical fiction.
- A COUNTRY OF GHOSTS is a novella that explores a battle to escape imperialism and build an anarchist society out of what already exists.
- One of the best things about this book was the way Horacki would ask a question about the way something was done in Hron (for example, what if no one wants to pick crops) and the people would look at him like that was such a ridiculous question, and their explanation of their non-capitalist system was perfectly logical and efficacious. It's really perspective-shifting in a gentle way.
- In the author's note, Killjoy writes about how she specifically chose to write about building a utopia inside the bones of an existing society rather than in the blank slate of a new nation, since that's how it would have to go in our current reality. There's a lot to chew on in what at first glance seems like just historical fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia
emotional
funny
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:
Complicated
Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the free copy of this book.
- I'm discovering that I love a second-chance romance, especially when it's as electric as SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE. Eva and Shane are a couple for the history books. Their personalities and their chemistry just fly off the page.
- I loved how Eva's chronic migraines figured into this book, and how over the course of the story she realizes not only that she deserves to be supported and not seen as a burden, but also that professionally speaking, she shouldn't have to hide when she's not feeling well.
- Also, Eva's daughter Audre was a riot. Amid all the heavy stuff in this book, it was also hilarious and a joy to read.
- I'm discovering that I love a second-chance romance, especially when it's as electric as SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE. Eva and Shane are a couple for the history books. Their personalities and their chemistry just fly off the page.
- I loved how Eva's chronic migraines figured into this book, and how over the course of the story she realizes not only that she deserves to be supported and not seen as a burden, but also that professionally speaking, she shouldn't have to hide when she's not feeling well.
- Also, Eva's daughter Audre was a riot. Amid all the heavy stuff in this book, it was also hilarious and a joy to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Fatphobia, Racial slurs
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Thanks to Macmillan Books for the free advance copy of this book.
- I love the concept of a YA memoir, especially when it's one as good as A FACE FOR PICASSO. Henley covers so much in this book, and not just her own personal experience: she also writes about ableism, beauty standards, and more in a larger sense in a way that young people might not have access to without books in the YA section like this.
- Henley is quite blunt in discussing not only the physical but also the emotional trauma of her surgeries and their aftermaths, and the toll it took on her and her sister to be attempting to recover bodily while being attacked mentally by their peers and also their own PTSD symptoms.
- This book also touches on ableism in education: how these girls were missing school for lifesaving surgeries and then got punished for being absent, how no one told them the school could provide at-home tutors for them until they were in HIGH SCHOOL, how people assumed they were less intelligent or less capable of athletic activity because of their looks.
- Henley is also one of the most empathetic people I've ever encountered. Each time she recounted a time someone was cruel to her because of her looks, she used her adult perspective (and clearly years in therapy) to point out that these people were hurting for various reasons too, and taking it out on her. I'm so glad to see this lesson embedded in a book for young people (not to mention the extended discussion of what Picasso was really like).
- I love the concept of a YA memoir, especially when it's one as good as A FACE FOR PICASSO. Henley covers so much in this book, and not just her own personal experience: she also writes about ableism, beauty standards, and more in a larger sense in a way that young people might not have access to without books in the YA section like this.
- Henley is quite blunt in discussing not only the physical but also the emotional trauma of her surgeries and their aftermaths, and the toll it took on her and her sister to be attempting to recover bodily while being attacked mentally by their peers and also their own PTSD symptoms.
- This book also touches on ableism in education: how these girls were missing school for lifesaving surgeries and then got punished for being absent, how no one told them the school could provide at-home tutors for them until they were in HIGH SCHOOL, how people assumed they were less intelligent or less capable of athletic activity because of their looks.
- Henley is also one of the most empathetic people I've ever encountered. Each time she recounted a time someone was cruel to her because of her looks, she used her adult perspective (and clearly years in therapy) to point out that these people were hurting for various reasons too, and taking it out on her. I'm so glad to see this lesson embedded in a book for young people (not to mention the extended discussion of what Picasso was really like).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma
Moderate: Child death, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Thanks to Forever Publishing for the free copy of this book.
- Y'all know I love a fake dating romance, and NOT THE KIND OF EARL YOU MARRY is a delightful mashup of fake dating and marriage of convenience.
- Charlotte is a wonderful heroine who seems like a wallflower but is actually a bit of a bluestocking, and she charges forward to meet her goals, social norms be damned.
- William is lovely and sweet, though I admit I soured on him a bit when it was revealed that he was a Tory, and working to advance that agenda in his political career. Let's hope Charlotte opens his mind a bit in any sequels.
- Y'all know I love a fake dating romance, and NOT THE KIND OF EARL YOU MARRY is a delightful mashup of fake dating and marriage of convenience.
- Charlotte is a wonderful heroine who seems like a wallflower but is actually a bit of a bluestocking, and she charges forward to meet her goals, social norms be damned.
- William is lovely and sweet, though I admit I soured on him a bit when it was revealed that he was a Tory, and working to advance that agenda in his political career. Let's hope Charlotte opens his mind a bit in any sequels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexism, Death of parent, Alcohol
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-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
Thanks to Orbit Books for the free advance copy of this book.
- Okay okay okay. I feel like I can't get too much into the plot of THE BONE SHARD EMPEROR because not only will it spoil some of THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER but also OMG SO MUCH HAPPENS. Questions answered! More questions raised!
- This book has a lot more political maneuvering than I typically enjoy in my fantasy books, but I'm so invested in not only Lin but the world of the Empire as a whole that I was hooked on every word. And then, aside from the politics, there are some truly epic battle scenes that had me on the edge of my seat.
- We also see a lot more of Phalue and Ranami, sapphic power couple of your dreams, in this book and I am here for it.
- Please just read these books already and come talk to me about the new developments in this book, and please @orbitbooks_us let's get the third book quickly!
- Okay okay okay. I feel like I can't get too much into the plot of THE BONE SHARD EMPEROR because not only will it spoil some of THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER but also OMG SO MUCH HAPPENS. Questions answered! More questions raised!
- This book has a lot more political maneuvering than I typically enjoy in my fantasy books, but I'm so invested in not only Lin but the world of the Empire as a whole that I was hooked on every word. And then, aside from the politics, there are some truly epic battle scenes that had me on the edge of my seat.
- We also see a lot more of Phalue and Ranami, sapphic power couple of your dreams, in this book and I am here for it.
- Please just read these books already and come talk to me about the new developments in this book, and please @orbitbooks_us let's get the third book quickly!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual harassment