Do I have a crush on Rapinoe? Yes, yes I do. Did that crush go up after I read this book? Listen I am a human woman attracted to other human women of COURSE my crush got bigger. This book is powerful primarily because it is written with such conviction. It is clear by her actions and words that Rapinoe is doing what she believes is write. She says multiple times in the book that her reason for writing this is primarily because she feels that, with the platform she has, she must speak. She reminds the readers that she is coming from a place of privilege and thus has a duty to speak up for those without. I love how she is honest about her own flaws and those of her loved ones. I just think it is so important to read about athletes who are working hard for causes they believe in. 

It sucks that this was such a miss for me, but it never clicked. I didn't like the narrative voice at all, I never really understood the tone of the thing or the way that the characters thought or interacted with the world around them. I couldn't tell you what I was supposed to get out of this story or how it was meant to make me feel I'm mostly just spent the book feeling annoyed at how badly it was written.  Considering the hype around this book I was really hoping for more but I'm pretty disappointed. 

Please read the trigger warnings at the beginning of this book. I love the narrative style of this, I love that it is a mix of poetry and stories that all connect and weave into one really great story. It is a powerful and moving and real story. It's a different kind of book for Gill but also familiar in so many ways. Gill is easily one of my favorite modern poets and every time I read her I'm reminded why. 

This week is "read books by authors my friends turned me on to" apparently. I am so glad CJ told me about this poet because every single poem in this book is just incredible. Moving, powerful, passionate, it really takes over me as I'm reading it until I don't particularly want to do anything else but keep reading. It always surprises me to get to the end because I get so swept up I forget I'm reading. 

I was so looking forward to this book and I'm delighted that it did not disappoint. I was a little disappointed that I guessed a good chunk of the plot but I'm actually kind of fine with that as it doesn't take away from the quality of the writing nor the intent of the story. Also, the very last twist in the book made me go WAIT WHAT and was delightful. It feels very Sherlock and Holmes but better because they are treated as equals to each other. I would love to consume more in a series of these two. This story is perfect for a fun, thoughtful mystery that doesn't take the fact of the time period to be racist or homophobic. 

I'm not sure what I don't love about this other than that it just isn't my particular brand of poetry. It's not inherently bad but the style isn't for me and most of it is a little too on the nose for me. There were a handful that were fantastic but most of them were just so-so. I think it is probably the structure of the poems themselves that I found off-putting. 

I cannot even with this series, I love it so much. The second book is better than the first and I love Cabal so much. Such good world building! So funny and smart and with so many fun and smart things to say. I can't believe I've waited so long to get into this series and I'm glad I let Anna talk me into this series.

This is a hard one to really write a review for because, after awhile, it became a real struggle to keep reading. There is a lot of sexual violence in this book and it is explicit. So much so that I skipped a good chunk of the scenes because I couldn't cope. I'm a sucker for Russian historical fiction and I'm not saying this book isn't true to life, but I could have done with less graphic sexual violence. I really can't stand reading super x rated depictions of rape and this book has it in spades. whatever joy or enjoyment I might have otherwise gotten out of it is completely overshadowed for me by this. Was it an interesting story? Sure. Would I ever recommend it to anyone? Not at all.

A cute, fun story that is very fun for the age group. It's not anything overly special but it's not bad either. It's just a fun story about a girl who can't stop turning into strange animals. I like the humor, I like the story, I like the world building such as it is for such a short book. Overall I just really enjoyed the playfulness.