Fandom, social media, and binge-culture helps us fall head over heels for public figures whether they're actors, activities, on-air personalities, or influencers. We don't know all the sides of them, but we feel more connected to them than ever. Having become notably famous through Gay of Thrones and Queer Eye, Jonathan bursts the door down of what we perceive of him from co-hosting Queer Eye on Netflix. Talking to readers like a friend but also with straight-forward honesty and clarity, we learn how the road to being who he is on television today wasn't an overnight glam session where waking up with a bubbly personality is automatic. Like anything in life, loving yourself is kind of hard work, especially when you've faced so many things in your past that makes you feel unworthy. From his love of ice skating and gymnastics to being bullied as a teenager, drug and sex addiction, we learn of the many parts that exist within him. While the book might seem boundary-less by what Jonathan shares, anybody who is a fan of a celebrity must learn that we have to be respectful of their space - just because we learn of who they are on deeper levels doesn't give us permission to expect anything of them or feel entitled to who they are and what they do. By the end of taking us through his darkest days, he shows us that to see the light at the end of the tunnel, he had to learn to know his boundaries, accept who he was, and make amends with every part of himself. Like every episode of Queer Eye, which I feel like this book represents the most, he leaves you with the inspiration that you can do it too.

I binge-read this for the past 3 days. It's not a genre I typically read - gruesome, visceral, a rollercoaster of emotions, something I picked up at the library but not something I actually intended on reading. And then once I started, I couldn't put it down.

To say the least, the book is not for the squeamish. Trigger warnings for murders, sexual assaults, burglaries, rapes - anything sinister, you name it. Despite it not being a genre I typically read, it became a book I'll never forget - and that's 100% because of Michelle as a personal and objective writer. Her fascination with unsolved cases, especially this one, pours out in every chapter. Her ability to flow between composites of crime scenes, geographical layouts, detective's investigations/interviews, the GSK's crimes, the victims is seamless - the detectives don't feel like tropes, the victims' stories are heard with disheartening, empathetic clarity, the gruesome details of GSK's crimes are painstakingly revealed instead of gratuitous or excessive. Throughout, I was glued to her search as much as she was - the truth is hard to stomach but it's something you have to live with in order to find it, which is how I guess I made it reading this cover-to-cover though at times I felt squeamish, stressed out, anxious.

When Detective Paul Holes, Michelle, and other detectives over the years thought a new piece of evidence finally helped them nab the killer, they allowed themselves a victorious fist bump in the air - before the evidence turned out to be a false alarm. I think of the book and Michelle's writing in the same way. However honest the revelations of GSK's crimes against humanity simply are, Michelle's ability to lay out what happened over the years never felt baseless - there's always an intriguing next piece of the puzzle that you want to discover, something that you feel is going to take you one step closer to who the GSK is - there's a sense of loss by the end of the book, when at the time of publication, justice never seemed like it was going to be solved but there was still a nagging hope of 'maybe'.

A brief memory of seeing the GSK's arrest earlier this year vaguely lingered in the back of my mind while reading this, but I didn't have the heart to find out what happened until I finished reading. I couldn't believe it when I read that the GSK was arrested earlier this year shortly after this was published, 2 years after Michelle's death, almost 40 years after the first crime was committed. Not gonna lie, I felt a sense of relief for the tireless work for the police departments, for the victims, and that Michelle's work helped bring this to a close. Even though humanity shows one of its worst sides, hope, when all hope seems to be lost these days, still manages to be possible.

I'm not a poet, nor familiar with poetry, but considering how Rupi's words have become renown around the world, must mean that it pleases some poets and artists as well as connects with people who fall in love and out of love, survived sexual assault/violent relationships, who learn to love themselves. I'm definitely in the latter category. That said, in the beginning, I felt her poems were distinctive and vulnerable in expressing the traumas she experienced. This is probably where I made a general update that this should be required reading in women's studies classics because it deals with the assault she experienced as a young child and teenager, how it affected her, how she recognized her pain. While I wouldn't take back this plea necessarily, the poems began to feel bland, almost like the internet's saturated passages that I've read online before on Pinterest and Tumblr. I don't believe a poet is meant to hit an emotional current of feels every. single. time. My favorite authors don't boggle my mind or tug on my heartstrings with every sentence (so I feel like some of the reviews on here are a little harsh....) About a half a dozen, maybe a few more, poems struck a chord with me. What is evident throughout the book is Rupi capturing an essence of being a woman - someone who endured heartbreak and came out a stronger person who loved herself and recognized sisterhood in other women. Her vulnerability is the real gem here.

Check out Book vs Movie comparison of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at my blog and share your opinion! http://www.pottertalk.net/2014/03/book-vs-movie-half-blood-prince.html


In the sixth installment of Harry Potter facing off against Lord Voldemort, Dumbledore becomes a stronger leader and grandfather figure to the boy who lived than ever before. Perhaps the most suspenseful mystery that brings them closest together comes from the most grueling and devastating circumstances. To understand how Tom Riddle came to the inexhaustible hatred that lingers where his soul would be (if he had one), the beloved Headmaster reveals to young Potter a series of important memories connected to Slytherin's heir. The prophecy stated "neither one can live while the other survives", and in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, we finally figure out why.

Rating The Book
The violent and relentless mystique of Voldemort's motivations explored throughout the book comes to close without losing an ounce of oomph. The revelation of Tom Riddle's parents and childhood is a major page turner - perhaps the biggest story since Prisoner of Azkaban. After all the murders and manipulation Riddle commits in order to become the immortal heartless Lord Voldemort we've been hearing about in the past five books, the stakes are raised to its most pain-inducing loss so far.

Half Blood Prince may be Rowlings most sharp and balanced novel of the series. Her prose equally balances all the hormonal ranges of the characters without becoming redundant or exceptionally pervy. The story sustains mystery while revealing all of Lord Voldemort's skeletons in his closet. I would have preferred if some of Riddle's history hadn't been so restricted to Dumbledore's longwinded speeches and continuously jumping into the Penseive, but those are just nitpicky complaints.

Perhaps my biggest complaint for the book is how two-sided Ron Weasley is in both the books and films. It's no secret that his transformation to the big screen would be almost intolerable if it wasn't for the splendid subtle acting by Rupert Grint. However, on that note, I felt like Rowling really tried to keep Mr. Weasley in a box while the rest of the characters had ample opportunities to show different sides of themselves and evolve. Every brilliant choice or action Ron made, or could've made instead of dumbing down his personality and abilities, was usually swept under the rug or disregarded....

In what may be Rowling's best constructed novel of the series, her prose and focus of the storyline does not wander too aimlessly through side storylines or scenes that don't push the plot forward. The prolonged quarrels between the golden trio, or Hermione Granger's stubborn efforts to get S.P.E.W. off the ground doesn't infinitely absorb numerous chapters like in Order of the Phoenix or Goblet of Fire, respectively. While much of what Rowling provides is pitch-perfect for delving into her world-building, sometimes her plots lose focus. With Half Blood Prince, ninety-percent of the character interactions serve a purpose to either push the overall story forward, or their own. It's entertaining and engrossing without going all over the map (Order of the Phoenix finale, anyone?).

As Queer Eye's culture expert, Karamo has a unique ability to connect with the show's guests - all of the external changes that the other fabulous four implement won't matter if there's not an internal change too. To help them face their fears and embrace themselves, one would have to have experienced a deep range of trials and successes. Similar to Jonathan's book (as its the only one I've read so far), Karamo helps us understand the challenges he's overcome by opening up about his past of drug addiction and abuse as well as becoming a father and celebrating his sexuality. Even though I truly admire Karamo's honesty while telling his story, the overall focus of the memoir is more or less a chronological inventory of experiences he's faced. The writing is simple enough to breeze through, but it's also too similar to other lifestyle memoirs that offer various vulnerable details but also skims the surface. The style isn't exactly distinct or engrossing. Since Karamo is a licensed social worker and psychotherapist, I'm surprised that the book didn't add little sections of empowering guidance for readers to make changes in their own life - every chapter could've offered unique advice for addicts, abuse survivors, LGBTQ+ community, etc. and would've elevated the book a little more. Sometimes hear someone's story is enough to help people through their own struggles, so I commend Karamo's ability to use his experiences to bond with people on the show - I just wish that the book didn't feel so one-sided.

Because I'd seen Love, Simon before reading the book, I thought I'd easily fall in love with this... but was surprised by how much I really didn't. I quickly learned to not judge a book by the movie, but also that a movie can be better than the book. The most important credit I can give is that it's a charming and endearing relationship between two teenage boys who navigate coming out and falling in love. But when I pull back the layers from their relationship, the writing and story structure feels like a traditional hetero young adult romance applied to gay characters. The first person perspective is so casual, it doesn't build the story or supporting characters at all. Essentially, everything falls flat - he's blackmailed by Martin, but nothing really develops between them except Martin ends up getting pissed / reveals he's gay and their falling out almost resolves on its own; Leah disappears for more than half of the story and is mostly there to be jealous over another female character; the parents had more dimension in the movie. As an overall account of Simon's day to day life, I didn't quite feel a lot of interest or sympathy towards him except towards the end. Quite a few quips don't capture awkward teenage humor, but are just straight-up offensive (lesbians are for straight guys to objectify on tumblr, Simon referring to Blue's Jewish culture/heritage as 'your people' YIKES) or random revelations of Simon's identity that aren't explored (Simon describing Gender Bender days at school 'being straight isn't proof of masculinity' to talking about liking to dress in women's clothing as a kid but also finds it mortifying to do so). Simon's perspective is really just written in a wave-away gesture, and comments or thoughts like the ones I mentioned might not be anything deeper, but they were certainly a missed moment of him coming to terms with his sexuality or internalized homophobia within the LGBTQ community. For a book with so many characters, their arcs or personalities are not well-defined - (in one chapter Simon hates Martin one second and then a few lines later starts considering him to be a good friend) or massive contradiction (Simon being rightfully pissed that Martin steals his coming out moment but then tries to make Blue come out when he's not ready). Overall, this book is quite weak in a lot of ways, to the point I could tell it wasn't written in an #ownvoice, and I'm surprised by how popular it is and is so well-regarded. Because they certainly weren't regarded as anything meaningful having to do with coming to terms with his sexuality or internalized homophobia within the LGBTQ community. By far in contrast, I felt like the movie gave this book a personality exploring moments that were almost non-existent or actually non-existent in the book such as Ethan as the other openly gay character and Simon coming out to his parents. Sometimes adaptations are lost in translation from what the book offers, and I think this time it's the other way around - the movie is far superior.