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chronicallybookish's Reviews (1.53k)
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Setting: 4.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Disability Rep: 5/5
An autistic changeling faerie. A heist. Found family on the run.
This book has it all—and it was so good!
Seelie is a changeling; she’s also autistic. I absolutely loved this premise, but I’m not sure how best to describe it to you, so I’m just going to give you the little authors note/dedication/epigraph that the book starts with.
Stories tell of children stolen away by faeries, replaced by inhuman look-alikes.
These look-alikes, they say, could be identified by their strange speech or silence. They cried without reason or never showed any emotion at all., and struggled to relate to a world that seemed foreign to them. Folklorists theorize that these stories were early descriptions of autistic children—proof that autistic people have always been there.
But once, they called us changelings.”
Seelie is such a compelling character, and I think the portrayal of her as an autistic character was executed wonderfully—in the way that only own voices authors can accomplish. She simply is autistic. It played a part in every scene, it was woven throughout her internal monologue, without ever being heavy-handed because it was simply who she is, and how she is. Because of this, Housman never needed to point out autistic traits, reactions, and experiences. She didn’t draw any special attention to them. They just were there, a cohesive part of the story and Seelie’s character.
I also really loved Seelie and Isolde’s interactions and connection. I think Housman’s portrayal of a neurotypical-neurodivergent sibling relationship was great. She made sure to capture the overwhelming love and devotion the girls have for each other while still portraying the hardships that can come with that dynamic. Seelie is jealous of how easy things are for her sister. Isolde feels overly responsible for her sister and gets frustrated with her. I loved the acknowledgments on both sides of how that dynamic can be difficult and can evoke strong emotions. It validated both girls’ feelings, and I appreciate how it played out in the end.
I enjoyed the writing and execution of the plot, however I do think that it was obvious that it was a debut. The pacing lagged at times, and while the writing was easy to read, it did sometimes feel repetitive. The only time the repetition got genuinely annoying to me was when Seelie was struggling to come to terms with and understand Isolde’s big decision. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the portrayal of how Seelie struggled to deal with this change in plans and routine. I just think that the execution of those around her helping her come to terms with it was repetitive. Every character had the exact same conversation with her, sometimes twice, and she kept thinking the exact same thing about it. I swear it was almost word for word. I think that the same sentiment could’ve been relayed in different ways each time instead of what felt like identical conversations every chapter for a hundred pages, still allowing Seelie to process how she needed, without the intense repetition of scenes.
I think some of the subplots and plot through-lines got lost in the middle of the story. The biggest instance of this was the compass guy. I think that storyline, and even the story in general, would have been stronger if that aspect had a little more emphasis, a little more page time. I think that aspect would have been a great way to keep up tension and pacing in between confrontations with their trackers, where it often seemed to lag.
Despite these couple of things that I think could have been executed a little bit better, I do think this was great read, and such a strong debut. Ivelisse Housman has so much talent, and I think she has the potential to really make a name for herself. I am wholly invested in the plot and characters of this world she’s crafted, and I cannot wait to see what comes next.
Unseelie was published by Inkyard, a YA imprint of Harlequin. While HQ was bought by Harpercollins, it is not a part of the HCP union, and reviewing its books is not considered crossing the picket line. I stand with the HCP union.
Thanks for reading my review! For more reviews and other bookish content check out my TikTok and my Instagram
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Setting: 4.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Disability Rep: 5/5
An autistic changeling faerie. A heist. Found family on the run.
This book has it all—and it was so good!
Seelie is a changeling; she’s also autistic. I absolutely loved this premise, but I’m not sure how best to describe it to you, so I’m just going to give you the little authors note/dedication/epigraph that the book starts with.
Stories tell of children stolen away by faeries, replaced by inhuman look-alikes.
These look-alikes, they say, could be identified by their strange speech or silence. They cried without reason or never showed any emotion at all., and struggled to relate to a world that seemed foreign to them. Folklorists theorize that these stories were early descriptions of autistic children—proof that autistic people have always been there.
But once, they called us changelings.”
Seelie is such a compelling character, and I think the portrayal of her as an autistic character was executed wonderfully—in the way that only own voices authors can accomplish. She simply is autistic. It played a part in every scene, it was woven throughout her internal monologue, without ever being heavy-handed because it was simply who she is, and how she is. Because of this, Housman never needed to point out autistic traits, reactions, and experiences. She didn’t draw any special attention to them. They just were there, a cohesive part of the story and Seelie’s character.
I also really loved Seelie and Isolde’s interactions and connection. I think Housman’s portrayal of a neurotypical-neurodivergent sibling relationship was great. She made sure to capture the overwhelming love and devotion the girls have for each other while still portraying the hardships that can come with that dynamic. Seelie is jealous of how easy things are for her sister. Isolde feels overly responsible for her sister and gets frustrated with her. I loved the acknowledgments on both sides of how that dynamic can be difficult and can evoke strong emotions. It validated both girls’ feelings, and I appreciate how it played out in the end.
I enjoyed the writing and execution of the plot, however I do think that it was obvious that it was a debut. The pacing lagged at times, and while the writing was easy to read, it did sometimes feel repetitive. The only time the repetition got genuinely annoying to me was when Seelie was struggling to come to terms with and understand Isolde’s big decision. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the portrayal of how Seelie struggled to deal with this change in plans and routine. I just think that the execution of those around her helping her come to terms with it was repetitive. Every character had the exact same conversation with her, sometimes twice, and she kept thinking the exact same thing about it. I swear it was almost word for word. I think that the same sentiment could’ve been relayed in different ways each time instead of what felt like identical conversations every chapter for a hundred pages, still allowing Seelie to process how she needed, without the intense repetition of scenes.
I think some of the subplots and plot through-lines got lost in the middle of the story. The biggest instance of this was the compass guy. I think that storyline, and even the story in general, would have been stronger if that aspect had a little more emphasis, a little more page time. I think that aspect would have been a great way to keep up tension and pacing in between confrontations with their trackers, where it often seemed to lag.
Despite these couple of things that I think could have been executed a little bit better, I do think this was great read, and such a strong debut. Ivelisse Housman has so much talent, and I think she has the potential to really make a name for herself. I am wholly invested in the plot and characters of this world she’s crafted, and I cannot wait to see what comes next.
Unseelie was published by Inkyard, a YA imprint of Harlequin. While HQ was bought by Harpercollins, it is not a part of the HCP union, and reviewing its books is not considered crossing the picket line. I stand with the HCP union.
Thanks for reading my review! For more reviews and other bookish content check out my TikTok and my Instagram
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.5 stars
That was… disappointing. AGGGTM is my favorite mystery book of all time. This… was meh.
I was stressed and I finished this at 11PM and idk if I’ll sleep, but that’s because the premise of being stuck somewhere with a sniper shooting at you is scary. That art was effective. I have anxiety. I’m anxious about it.
The actual twists and reveals and mystery? I figured pretty much all of it out very early on. It was obvious to me, and I usually SUCK at figuring that sort of thing out. Maybe it was because the cast was so limited. I don’t know. But I knew all of it before it happened and so I felt kinda like I was trudging through it. I enjoyed aspects of the interpersonal relationships, but others felt underdeveloped and cliche. Red wasn’t my favorite, either. I cared about her, and I didn’t want her to die, but I felt disconnected from her narration.
It wasn’t bad. It was probably even good. I just am caught up in how far it fell compared to my (admittedly sky high) expectations.
That was… disappointing. AGGGTM is my favorite mystery book of all time. This… was meh.
I was stressed and I finished this at 11PM and idk if I’ll sleep, but that’s because the premise of being stuck somewhere with a sniper shooting at you is scary. That art was effective. I have anxiety. I’m anxious about it.
The actual twists and reveals and mystery? I figured pretty much all of it out very early on. It was obvious to me, and I usually SUCK at figuring that sort of thing out. Maybe it was because the cast was so limited. I don’t know. But I knew all of it before it happened and so I felt kinda like I was trudging through it. I enjoyed aspects of the interpersonal relationships, but others felt underdeveloped and cliche. Red wasn’t my favorite, either. I cared about her, and I didn’t want her to die, but I felt disconnected from her narration.
It wasn’t bad. It was probably even good. I just am caught up in how far it fell compared to my (admittedly sky high) expectations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Gun violence
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
DNF at 27%
I hate DNFing books, but I am just not vibing with this one. I’ve given it 2 chances now, and both times I just felt… bored.
I first picked this up in 2019, read maybe 4 chapters and “soft” DNFed it. I wasn’t able to get engaged with it, but I didn’t want to give up on it completely, so I set it down and said, “I’ll come back to this later.” Close to 4 years later… I still hadn’t felt inclined to pick it up. I stuck it on my “if I don’t read this book in 2023, im unhauling it” shelf, which finally convinced me to give it another shot.
This time I tried the audiobook. This book is narrated as if the MC is telling you a story (her life’s story), and I thought maybe that narration style was part of why I struggled the first time, and maybe it would be better executed via audiobook. It wasn’t.
Because of this narration style, everything was very “tell” not “show”. I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t connect with Tia or the story. Every other chapter is narrated by a bard who in the future came to ask Tia about her life story. I think this was an interesting premise, it sparks Tia to tell us her story. But we kept going back to the bard and future Tia…and for what? These scenes added nothing to the story. They just felt like filler. I think it would have been great to have the first chapter, him asking her to tell her story, be the prologue and then just go into her story and stick with that. Because every chapter from his POV (at least through 30%) is completely unnecessary.
But even the chapters from Tia’s POV were boring. They suffered from the distancing narration style, and there was no plot to speak of. Nothing happened. We had our inviting incident, a mini travel compilation… and then the next 70 pages… nothing. Slice of life, but it’s a boring life. And there was no narrative value of what was happening. It wasn’t going anywhere. The book needed a second inciting incident… but I kept reading and reading and none came.
At this point I’m sad to say I’m putting it down for good. Maybe someday I’ll change my mind, but I know there are better books out there for me, and I’d rather spend my time reading those.
I hate DNFing books, but I am just not vibing with this one. I’ve given it 2 chances now, and both times I just felt… bored.
I first picked this up in 2019, read maybe 4 chapters and “soft” DNFed it. I wasn’t able to get engaged with it, but I didn’t want to give up on it completely, so I set it down and said, “I’ll come back to this later.” Close to 4 years later… I still hadn’t felt inclined to pick it up. I stuck it on my “if I don’t read this book in 2023, im unhauling it” shelf, which finally convinced me to give it another shot.
This time I tried the audiobook. This book is narrated as if the MC is telling you a story (her life’s story), and I thought maybe that narration style was part of why I struggled the first time, and maybe it would be better executed via audiobook. It wasn’t.
Because of this narration style, everything was very “tell” not “show”. I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t connect with Tia or the story. Every other chapter is narrated by a bard who in the future came to ask Tia about her life story. I think this was an interesting premise, it sparks Tia to tell us her story. But we kept going back to the bard and future Tia…and for what? These scenes added nothing to the story. They just felt like filler. I think it would have been great to have the first chapter, him asking her to tell her story, be the prologue and then just go into her story and stick with that. Because every chapter from his POV (at least through 30%) is completely unnecessary.
But even the chapters from Tia’s POV were boring. They suffered from the distancing narration style, and there was no plot to speak of. Nothing happened. We had our inviting incident, a mini travel compilation… and then the next 70 pages… nothing. Slice of life, but it’s a boring life. And there was no narrative value of what was happening. It wasn’t going anywhere. The book needed a second inciting incident… but I kept reading and reading and none came.
At this point I’m sad to say I’m putting it down for good. Maybe someday I’ll change my mind, but I know there are better books out there for me, and I’d rather spend my time reading those.
I don’t rate memoirs. Its just something that feels not right to me. But I did really enjoy listening to this audiobook. The story was eye opening and heartbreaking and gut wrenching and… all the other adjectives. Highly highly recommend.
Thank you to my grandma and my doctor for forcing me to read it.
Thank you to my grandma and my doctor for forcing me to read it.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT
HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT TWO YEARS FOR THE NEXT BOOK
Coming back a few days later to just say… I can’t stop thinking about this book. I genuinely think Tracy Deonn might be the most talented and skilled author I’ve ever read. Her mind astounds me
HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT TWO YEARS FOR THE NEXT BOOK
Coming back a few days later to just say… I can’t stop thinking about this book. I genuinely think Tracy Deonn might be the most talented and skilled author I’ve ever read. Her mind astounds me
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
4.5 stars
I prefer this to The Cruel Prince in terms of book one to book one, but as a series over all I prefer the original trilogy… if that makes sense?
I really liked Wren, but I liked Jude more. I really liked Cardan, but damn does Oak have him beat. I don’t know which *couple* I’ll like better. I like WrenOak better than book one JudeCardan, but I like whole series JudeCardan more than these two.
The plot was fun and engaging. I’m really interested to see how it plays out. But I didn’t like Wren’s personality transformation with the climax and resolution of the book. That felt.. out of proportion and weird to me. It might be one of those things where the reasoning is explained in book 2. Holly Black likes to do that. Make a character do something really extreme and out of pocket, and it’s interesting to read and builds your emotional reaction… but it’s confusing and just weird. But then she explains it in the next book and it makes sense. Who knows? I definitely am impatiently awaiting book 2 tho.
I prefer this to The Cruel Prince in terms of book one to book one, but as a series over all I prefer the original trilogy… if that makes sense?
I really liked Wren, but I liked Jude more. I really liked Cardan, but damn does Oak have him beat. I don’t know which *couple* I’ll like better. I like WrenOak better than book one JudeCardan, but I like whole series JudeCardan more than these two.
The plot was fun and engaging. I’m really interested to see how it plays out. But I didn’t like Wren’s personality transformation with the climax and resolution of the book. That felt.. out of proportion and weird to me. It might be one of those things where the reasoning is explained in book 2. Holly Black likes to do that. Make a character do something really extreme and out of pocket, and it’s interesting to read and builds your emotional reaction… but it’s confusing and just weird. But then she explains it in the next book and it makes sense. Who knows? I definitely am impatiently awaiting book 2 tho.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Violence
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:
N/A
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault
Release Date: 7/11/2023
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Disability Rep: 5/5
Special thanks to Penguin Teen for sending me an ARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
Reading this book while it stormed out made me miss summer desperately. This is a book about a camp for the Deaf and blind that gives the reader an immersive experience of both summer camp shenanigans and Deaf culture. I make it a priority to read books, especially #ownvoices ones, about disabled characters and the disabled experience, so I’ve read many books with Deaf characters by Deaf authors, but I think this gave me the most insight to the Deaf Community and Deaf Culture in general, since not just one character was Deaf, but almost 50% of the cast was.
I really enjoyed Lilah as a character, although there were a few occasions where I just felt like she could’ve had a little bit more character development. She was interesting and easy to root for, but there were a couple of interactions and inner monologues that felt a bit two dimensional. However, I think that is very common in debut novels, and it didn’t have a negative impact on my reading experience. I just saw a little bit of unmet potential here and there. Similarly, I wish that the cast of main side characters was fleshed out just a little more. I liked them, but they never felt quite like fully fledged humans of their own.
I also enjoyed Lilah and Isaac’s interactions and relationships. It was a little awkward, a lot cute, and all around adorable. They had great chemistry, and I found their relationship and feelings for each other to be believable. I do feel like some of their interactions, especially near the beginning, to be a bit immature. They’re supposed to be 17/18, but the way they interacted, and the way Lilah was thinking about it, felt a bit more 14/15 year old to me. I believe it is Lilah’s first relationship, so of course there’s going to be that inexperience, but I think its possible to portray that inexperience without making her come off as immature or younger than she is. However, once things start to move forward in their relationship, that issue seems to resolve itself, and I don’t remember noticing it in the back half of the book.
Later in the book, we come head to head with some heavier topics and prejudice—and even violence—against Deaf people (and more generally, disabled people as a whole). At first this seemed a little out of left field. Like, it’s this happy wholesome sweet summer camp romance, and now suddenly, we’re faced with these serious, traumatic issues of ableism and police brutality. It was very shocking, and felt a little out of place at first, but it was really well executed, and it’s such an important topic. I think that shock factor and narrative dissonance when it first happens is actually good. I feel like it gave the scene a more powerful effect. Especially since, it is tied into the rest of the story well in the aftermath, as soon as you get past the shock of it.
This was a wonderful debut, and I can’t wait to see how Anna Sortino grows as an author in the future. I highly recommend this book—it’s the book to keep on your radar for this summer.
Quick Stats
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Disability Rep: 5/5
Special thanks to Penguin Teen for sending me an ARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.
Reading this book while it stormed out made me miss summer desperately. This is a book about a camp for the Deaf and blind that gives the reader an immersive experience of both summer camp shenanigans and Deaf culture. I make it a priority to read books, especially #ownvoices ones, about disabled characters and the disabled experience, so I’ve read many books with Deaf characters by Deaf authors, but I think this gave me the most insight to the Deaf Community and Deaf Culture in general, since not just one character was Deaf, but almost 50% of the cast was.
I really enjoyed Lilah as a character, although there were a few occasions where I just felt like she could’ve had a little bit more character development. She was interesting and easy to root for, but there were a couple of interactions and inner monologues that felt a bit two dimensional. However, I think that is very common in debut novels, and it didn’t have a negative impact on my reading experience. I just saw a little bit of unmet potential here and there. Similarly, I wish that the cast of main side characters was fleshed out just a little more. I liked them, but they never felt quite like fully fledged humans of their own.
I also enjoyed Lilah and Isaac’s interactions and relationships. It was a little awkward, a lot cute, and all around adorable. They had great chemistry, and I found their relationship and feelings for each other to be believable. I do feel like some of their interactions, especially near the beginning, to be a bit immature. They’re supposed to be 17/18, but the way they interacted, and the way Lilah was thinking about it, felt a bit more 14/15 year old to me. I believe it is Lilah’s first relationship, so of course there’s going to be that inexperience, but I think its possible to portray that inexperience without making her come off as immature or younger than she is. However, once things start to move forward in their relationship, that issue seems to resolve itself, and I don’t remember noticing it in the back half of the book.
Later in the book, we come head to head with some heavier topics and prejudice—and even violence—against Deaf people (and more generally, disabled people as a whole). At first this seemed a little out of left field. Like, it’s this happy wholesome sweet summer camp romance, and now suddenly, we’re faced with these serious, traumatic issues of ableism and police brutality. It was very shocking, and felt a little out of place at first, but it was really well executed, and it’s such an important topic. I think that shock factor and narrative dissonance when it first happens is actually good. I feel like it gave the scene a more powerful effect. Especially since, it is tied into the rest of the story well in the aftermath, as soon as you get past the shock of it.
This was a wonderful debut, and I can’t wait to see how Anna Sortino grows as an author in the future. I highly recommend this book—it’s the book to keep on your radar for this summer.
