eloise_bradbooks's Reviews (801)

Masterpiece.

3.5 / 5 ~ Throughout the whole book all I could think was "Aw cute" and "YES! brilliant musical reference!" but also "okay, that was eyeroll-worthy" and then "woah, it's more Becky than Adam really, I haven't even cried once!".
AND THEN THERE WAS THAT EPILOGUE AND OH MY TEARS HAVE ALL GONE.
I'm not okay.
This was good.

As soon as I saw that Peter Darling followed a transgender Peter Pan, 10 years after the story we all know, with a possible Pan/Hook romance, I was sold.
And oh my goodness ... it went beyond expectations.
Austin Chant's stories ae whimisical.

I must say, at first I was a little confused as to who did what in this version of the story "ten years ago" but I realised that we're supposed to be confused. You find out as you go along, who Peter is and what he has been going through, trying to escape, trying to find. And it's so important.

Peter is a transgender boy who only feels happy and accepted in Neverland. His whole journey was beautiful and sad and brilliant to read about.
As expected from an #ownvoices book, it felt so real and raw and I loved it, recommend it, want to talk about it to everyone. Ugh.
Can you tell I really loved this?
I really loved this.

I'm not even that fond of the original story, but everything I hated about that version was non existent in this one, and got replaced with amazing stuff.

The romance, I hear you ask? Well I wasn't sure at first. It was maybe a little swift. But for such a short book, it still managed to be developed enough for me to actually care a lot about them.

So that's kind of the idea isn't it? IT WASN'T LONG ENOUGH. I need moooore.
(The length was actually pretty well suited to the story but I just loved it so much I need more).

One of my faves of 2017

Have you ever read anything more perfect than this story?
No. You have not. READ IT.

One of my faves of 2018.

4.5 ~ This book made me cry on public transportation.
I didn't expect it to be this difficult to read but I'm glad it was.

What's this book about?:
When the "security control" in Moss' school gets out of hand and violence follows, he, with the help of his friends, his ma and his comunity, get together to start protesting.

And damn did it punch me in the gut...
Not only was it greatly important to find a book focused on the expression of police brutality on a horrific level, we also got some brilliant diversity on so many levels : gender (inc. trans & non binary), sexuality (inc. gay, bi, ace, demi, lesbian), race (mostly african-american and latinx), religion (christian, muslim) and even disability (wheelchair user!)...
They literally call themselves a queer family.

Moss, as a character, is very well written.
He's a young black gay kid still figuring things out. He loves his mama, is going through a tough relationship with his best friend, is starting to date a cute guy, and has panic attacks regularly.
The portrayal of his anxiety was amazingly written in my opinion. I felt his sruggle and simply wanted to believe that if I closed the book and didn't read it for a couple of days, he and his friends would be okay. Of course that's not how it is. We don't get to pause life's struggles. We need to face them. Realise that some struggles have the right to cause us anger, and that our anger can be put to good use.

As this is the author's first book, I still think some technical elements aren't perfect. But it didn't matter that much. The goal was to tell a story, a story which so many people have to go through, and one which not many people understand fully until they've experienced it themselves.

The last two lines of this book are the biggest punch and they are so damn important.

I'll put the last couple of paragraphs in spoiler brackets even though it doesn't spoil the story. You can decide whether you want to to read them or not:

Spoiler

"What sould the Oakland olice Department do next?"
Next? Moss thought. [...]
"Stop killing us."
Then Moss walked away from it all.

4.5 I felt fully immersed in Theo Decker's life and my heart kinda hurt when the book ended...

2018 UPDATE: flying through the reread of the series and I keep finding more.things I enjoy. Richard Gansey the Third being high in that list. My boys Adam and Ronan are still bae.

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THIS REVIEW IS IN FRENCH AND IN ENGLISH.

EN : I think the prologue and epilogue of this book are two of the most beautiful chapters I have ever read. They are so peotic and truthfull at the same time, I could read them over and other and just get lost in them.
We get so much out of Ronan in this one and I loved getting to know him in a way we didn't quite get in the first book. I still love the other characters just as much (my lovely Adam was such a distant ass in this one but it's understandable) but this book really is a Ronan-centered story, and I DID NOT MIND.
I'm not sure I have much more to say, really. Just : beautiful. READ IT.

A secret is a strange thing.
There are three kinds of secrets.
And I too, have lived with every sort of secret.

FR : D'après moi, le prologue et l'épilogue sont deux deux plus beaux chapitres que j'ai eu la chance de lire. Ils sont si poétiques et sincères, je pourrais les relire en boucle et m'y perdre.
On en obtient tellement de la part de Ronan dans ce tome-ci et j'ai adoré apprendre à le découvrir, d'une façon qui ne nous avait pas été offerte dans le premier. J'adore toujours les autres personnages (mon Adam est distant et irrité, mais il faut le comprendre), mais ici on se concentre sur Ronan et ça ne m'a absolument pas dérangé !
Je n'ai pas grand chose de plus à dire dessus, pour être honnête. Simplement ça : lisez-le, il est magnifique.

THIS REVIEW IS IN FRENCH AND IN ENGLISH.

FRANCAIS : J'ai tellement adoré cette série de livres !!! Je tiens aux personnages, je me sens comme leur amie, nous, les rois et reines de Henrietta.
Je dois admettre que ce dernier livre m'a laissé à la recherche de quelque chose de plus ... cette fin ... Quoi ? J'ai besoin de lire exactement ce qui s'est passé entre le dernier chapitre et l'épilogue.
Et j'ai besoin de plus de Pynch que ça, allez !!!

ENGLISH : I loved this series so much !!! I cared for the characters like I was part of their gang, the kings and queens of Henrietta.
I must admit, I'm still longing for more content ... the way that ended ... what ? I need to know exactly what was said when those things happened.
And I NEED more Pynch than that. Come on !!!!!

Kinda wondered how they could fall in love online when they never acutally talked about themselves...
But other than that it was cute and Christmassy so enjoyable nevertheless.