dbguide2's Reviews (863)

I... might have cried a bit while listening to the last chapter. Review to come once I've stopped MY HEART FROM SCREAMING
just read this book pleasepleaseplease

review to come, but i did love love this so much!! This was my first book by Holly Black and I can't wait to carry on with the series

Link to blog: https://dbsguidetothegalaxy.wordpress.com/2017/07/01/oh-arc-my-arc-alice-the-wanderland-chronicles/

This is actually my first ARC I was approved for and I’m so glad that it was a good read, because if I had to have a bad read for my first approved ARC, that would have bad memories, but anyway, let’s carry on.

So this book is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland and it has bloody zombies, what more could you want from a story? I love retellings, or at least good retellings, and this one was definitely well done. From the amazing characters to all the wonderful references and then of course the best: the gruesome parts – which I loved as *spoiler alert* the first sentence of the book was literally someone’s head exploding – like, hello, could we get more books with someone’s head exploding?

As much as I did love the inclusion of Dinah, as most Alice retellings do not really have Alice’s sister in them (or at least the ones I’ve read, which aren’t actually a lot, so that reminds me to read more of them – but actually, I shouldn’t, because then I’ll probably start having ideas for an Alice in Wonderland retelling, and really DB, you have more than enough book ideas). But I’m pretty sure that Dinah is Alice’s cat. I can’t exactly check in my copy as my sister stole it when she went over to America (how rude), but I did check the movie and apparently the cat’s name is Dinah – and on that note I’m sad that the cat doesn’t go with Alice to Wonderland.

The characters were amazingly written. They were real and made you care for them. And I loved all the Wanderland names – mostly Chess, for obvious reasons.

So one obvious reason for reading this book is all the references – so definitely read it in order to catch all of them (which I love to do). Even if there were some unintentional references or references that the author chose to put in, hoping that someone would catch the very small reference – I got them – or at least I hope.

So is momerath the singular term or is it like moose?

Quotes:

Always protect your queen

Please let’s have this on a t-shirt because I would sell a family member (I have thousands of cousins, it’s super easy) to buy this.


The Max Recovery overrides the desire for frivolity and refocuses the brain on what basic instinct requires.

OK but I’ve studied the basic needs and things (thanks, Maslow) in communication and psychology and know that the bottom of the hierarchy is, yes, hunger, but there’s also water, warmth, rest etc. – so if the Max Recovery does put the focus on the basic needs, then the momerath should not only focus on the hunger, but also on their other basic needs.

https://dbsguidetothegalaxy.wordpress.com/2019/07/28/running-with-lions-review/

Title: Running With Lions
Author: Julian Winters
Year Published: 2018
Publisher: Duet Books (imprint of Interlude Press)
Genre: Young Adult ~ Contemporary ~ LGBT+ Characters ~ Romance ~ Sports
Stars: 5

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc through the author in exchange for a free and honest review. The image header and the quote edits used are my own and the link in the book’s details is to the book’s Goodreads page. The summary is my own (well, I summarised the Goodreads description). All opinions expressed are my own.

So there’s this high school guy named Sebastian Hughes, right? He’s also a disaster bi, the best character you can get secondhand embarassment from, a soccer player, and also a really good friend.
The book starts off with Sebastian and his two friends (Mason and Willie) attending a summer soccer camp. And they know most of the other team members, having played with a few of them before. But there’s a new team member this time – well, not new for Sebastian – as it’s actually his ex-friend (Emir Shah), and of course he doesn’t stay an ex-friend for long…

So, I first read this book…maybe 2 something years ago (as a beta reader)? And I just fell in love with it instantly – as Julian is that good of a writer (and such a good person too). So excuse me if I go on and on about how good this book and the characters are. Or rather don’t excuse me since I should be talking about how good the book is.

The thing with the really good books is that it’s difficult to say exactly why you loved them so much and why everyone should read them. I mean I could say that I just want to set up tables at literally every single bookstore in the world and just hold the book up so people will buy it (I mean, have you seen the cover?? Is it not just absolutely fantastic???).

But no, people want coherency and bullet points. Why, people, why? So I’ll try my best – with the coherency and bullet points. Or maybe just a bit of the coherency – like 2 percent coherency.

So
Running With Lions is a:
cute, coming-of-age story following Sebastian Hughes (who exemplifies the term disaster bi, but we love him anyway).
He’s a part of this soccer team (Lions, hence the title).
His team is just the best?!

Like we need more of this in books? A diverse team, with characters who care for each other and are so affectionate with each other like I just die because they’re all so cute with each other – and THIS IS WHAT WE NEED!! We’re used to seeing girls be affectionate with each other – open hugs, warm touches – but in this the guys are so loving and affectionate with each other – and we need more of this!!

The characters found in this book are the type of characters I want to see more of and even be able to write more of. These characters who truly, truly care about each other and who are funny as well as make you care about them – because I did do that – I cared a lot about these characters (which is not all that difficult to do).

Another thing that this book tackled really really well was body positivity (this was especially my favourite scene in the book) and just positivity (of himself). Sebastian had moments where he didn’t think of himself as a good soccer player or wasn’t content with himself or his body and by the end of the book he’s more positive about himself and more confident about his soccer skills. That was something that was extremely important, as so many readers feel exactly the way he does and deserve to feel good about themselves and about their skills.

Emir and Sebastian are very very cute and I just loved them together. They complented each other well and they had an easy-going romance. That’s something that I like seeing a lot of in books – where it’s clear to see why the two characters are together. Listen, we need a whole bunch of short stories that delve in deeper into the book – like I just need more of this book!

The supporting characters were some of my favourites too (I just had a lot of favourites in this book, okay). Mostly Grey, I loved anytime she was mentioned or showed up, but I thought that she could do better than Mason and I didn’t like that side of him. Like I said earlier, I liked that the team and the coach was very supportive of everyone and didn’t try to change anyone (well, just help them with their soccer, I guess). Sebastian’s mom was really cute too, and we always need more supportive parents in teen stories

Link to my blog: https://wordpress.com/post/dbsguidetothegalaxy.wordpress.com/255

Warnings: Homophobic language. Offensive language. Offensive remarks towards drag queens. Racism.

Note that I have expressed some thoughts towards drag queens. Now, as I am not a drag queen, nor do I know any drag queens, the opinions I express about them are solely on a general thought and not exclusive towards drag queens.

Ok, so I needed a cute read to get me over an arc that I dnf and about halfway through this book I so wanted to dnf as well, and then I decided to keep on reading it, to see how the ending would be. The title and description of this book are what drew me in and while I love a Cinderella retelling, a gay Cinderella hits all the right buttons. And I thought it would be this book. And then it really wasn’t. Well, it was like a quarter of what I wanted.

I like that it changed from the usual two stepsisters to a stepsister and –brother. But then they fucked that up by making the stepbrother a total douche, and the stepsister mostly annoying (she had some redeeming qualities).

I was confused about the title. It seemed like there would be an emphasis on the drag queen (Coco), but even though there was a greater emphasis on the fairy godmother than usual, I’m still confused as to why the title was more about Coco than Chris (so proud of myself that I actually remembered his name).

So let me get this straight (ha) – Chris, the main character, just decides to fucking leave with this random person (Coco). Nahuh hun. Didn’t horror movies or your parents or literally your fucking conscious teach you anything? YOU DON’T FUCKING GO OFF WITH A RANDOM PERSON. WEET JY WAT GEBEUR? JY SAL FOKKIN’ GEMOER WORD (Do you know what will happen? You’ll get fucking murdered – there’s no actual translation for gemoer, but the closest it is is an extreme version of being murdered. That’s why I love Afrikaans). And Chris also lets a random person (still Coco) into his house. How bloody American of him. I see that apparently you guys just let pizza delivery people in, like nee man, disse reg nie. Like, please, guys. Stop just willy-nilly letting people into your house. That’s why you have so many horror movies.

So Chris is mean to be like 17…but he acts more like the 12 year old I look after.

There are tons of homophobic comments, most of them coming from Chris’s supposed family – which they later try to justify by saying they only said those comments (which were homophobic, I might add) as a way of showing him support. The English language is failing me right now, so I’m going to switch over to Afrikaans. Wat die absoluut fok is hierdie boek? Watter sort kak is díe? Hoe is ‘n mens verondestel om daai sorte comments te sien as enigiets anders as fokkin’ verkeerd? Translation: What the absolute fuck is this book? What kind of shit is this? How is a person supposed to see those comments as anything else than fucking wrong?

And then the whole introduction of Duane/Coco to Chris and as a matter of fact, how the entire book treats drag queens was very offensive. From assuming that just because Chris knows what gender Duane was assigned to at birth, that is the gender Duane wants to be known as (which means Chris using he/him pronouns when Duane is Coco – like no please, correct pronouns).

All in all, there were good quotes about lgbt+ and all that jazz, which did in fact, make me want to give the book two stars, but then I decided on one star after I saw how the book treated its drag queens. There are also a few times where Chris explains a view of gay (all about emotional connections and being gay doesn’t go away) that is great and all, but then he mucks it up by saying that being gay had certainly never made me want to dress or look like a woman – which just sets his previous arguments about gay and what it means back like a few paces. Then there’s another quote about drag queens that really irked me: Coco slipped a gloved hand between me and Special Kaye, looking up into her much taller friend’s heavily made up face. “Bitch, you are one pair of scissors away from going drag queen to transsexual, understand?” – that, that quote nearly made me put the book down. YOU DON’T MAKE A FUCKING JOKE ABOUT TRANS ISSUES!!!

Ooh and continuing with drag queens – there’s a scene where Duane tells Chris this: I haven’t been to bed yet. But Kevin – that’s Special Kaye’s real name… - real name, like the persona of a drag queen is just for kicks.

There’s also this part where Chris asks Duane if he’s bi (because he’s drag queen) and I think I had to exit Kindle for a few minutes and go read Sterek. Because wat die absolute fok soort a vrag is daai? A person isn’t bi because the way they dress. Similarly, they are also not gay or lesbian due to the way they dress.

The next paragraph involves a quote that I was super upset about it as it implied something extremely rude and I’m not sure as to whether it was what I thought it was or just an actual joke (note that I will be ranting a bit on this). So it follows on the previous paragraph (Chris asking Duane if he’s bi because he’s a drag queen) and Duane replies that (and I quote) the only fish I eat is at Red Lobster. So because he reveals that he is in fact, gay, does this quote mean he thinks of women, or rather their genitals and how it supposedly smells like a fish. Listen here, bra. You can’t say something like that about a woman (this is where I was wondering what gender the author was. I guessed male. I was fucking right) when you possibly have female characters – now how are they supposed to feel good about themselves and their bodies when you write such a shitty quote – which is fucking is, I’m very sorry (actually not) but it is. And if it turns out to be that this quote is meant to allude to vaginas, I will scream and write a long paragraph.

- This paragraph, not counting this sentence, is over 200 words. Trust me, I will do it.


In conclusion, no I most do certainly not recommend this book and if anyone does know if that fish quote does allude the female genitals, please tell me and I’ll happily write various lengthy paragraphs. Some might even be in Afrikaans.

I’ve watched Neil from Youtube so I was happy to see this book on the Read Now’s on Netgalley (aka also the worst place to be if you’re terrible at restraint like me. It should be renamed to something like People who can’t restrain themselves – but that’s too long, so we can shorten it to PWCRT – we’ll have to work on the pronunciation or even rewrite the renaming).

I read (well in this anthology it mentions) that he wrote some of these while on the road and I can just see that – waiting at a petrol station or in the queue at a coffee shop and just furiously scribbling on a notepad or the back of a receipt. And I love it because it’s so raw – which is something that’s a theme with him – rawness in his writing. He writes poems that are to the point, ones that are real.

What I love about poetry (and slam poetry in particular) is that different people can find different meanings in the poems. I think it’s so important for writers to talk about mental illness and to not treat it like something that should be stashed away in the corner. It shows that it can and should be commonplace, it should be showcased, it should be discussed.

Favourite quotes:

The Ballad of Fuckknuckle Jones:
He’s the kind of guy who, when he says you’ll be fine, is probably right. The end isn’t coming soon, just what’s next.

All Ages:
What’s more punk rock than living despite all that which has tried to make you not?

Psalam 12, In Which the Author Alienates His Audience, Part 2:
Your cat is the best thing that happens in your day; your cat is the best thing that happens in your cat’s day.

Going to Wales:
…right now I’m inventing castles and in one of them is a dragon.

The Future:
I know tomorrow is going to come because I’ve seen it. Sunrise is going to come,
all you have to do is wake up.
I saw the future, I did, and in it I was alive