howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)

I was pretty excited for this one based on the artwork—which is absolutely gorgeous from start to finish, no doubt—but sadly, the art is kind of where my love for this manga ended. The plot is just okay, the panels are a bit hard to follow at times as things jump around and characters' motives are hard to understand at times (mainly Dan's—he frustrated me to no end), and the relationship definitely has some toxicity issues (Christian's threats of stalking, Dan's "prank" at the end, etc.). The biggest thing that annoyed me is that Christian keeps "waking up" from events, so it was hard for me to know what all actually happened and what didn't.

Bottom line is: the art is gorgeous and the author has definite potential, but this story needed cleaning up. I'd definitely give this author another try in the future, though!

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

oh no, indeed.

I wasn't familiar with this webcomic aside from seeing one or two bits here and there, but I had liked the ones I'd seen, so I thought this would be cute. It turns out, in fact, that the sense of humor the creator utilizes gets old for me... very fast. :(

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Oh. My. God. Y'all, my freaking RIBS hurt. I've always loved Sarah's webcomics, but this collection was the best of the best and I seriously laughed so hard through the entire book. Sarah and Stef remind me SO much of myself and my spouse, and I literally was just making my poor spouse look at so many of these comics like, "Look! It's us!" If you can't relate to the way these two act around each other, you might not find it as hilarious as I did, but I honestly think anyone will be able to find something to love here.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Life at Innovations Academy seems great to Mena and the other girls: the men might be controlling and expect very high standards from each of the young women, but that's normal, isn't it? And if one of the girls were to step out of line, a punishment would be expected, because that's just how life is for 'exemplary' girls like Mena.

Boarding school setting, men being trash, and girls loving and supporting other girls: if you didn't already guess, I was super here for this one as soon as I heard about it. Then, once I heard that it was being reckoned to the infamous The Handmaid's Tale, I knew there was just no way I could miss out on this book.

"Only beautiful things have value."

First of all, this book is terrifying. It takes place in a very near future—near enough that it feels like modern times—and has a slight dystopian element, but it's done so well that I felt like it completely subverted everything most YA readers have come to expect from the subgenre. Girls with Sharp Sticks felt like such a supremely original and unique storyline that I think it's going to be a tremendous breath of fresh air for a lot of readers.

"You'll find that out there ... people won't appreciate your opinions. Hold your tongue and listen. It's a good lesson for all young women."

The thing is, the awful part about this story is how plausible it feels, and how close it strikes to home in ways. The men in this book are horrible, disgusting, perverse, cruel, wicked monsters, and you should know ahead of time that you will spend so much of this book absolutely enraged by the men and by the circumstances they have created—but it's a good rage. A righteous rage, if you will.

We needed each other—still do. No one else could ever understand what we've been through. Together, we're strong. Flowers sharing roots in a caged garden.

On the other hand, when you aren't spitting acid over how awful the villains here are, you'll probably be spending the rest of your time doing what I did: falling irrevocably in love with these girls and their friendships with each other. They are all so wonderfully supportive and kind to one another, and they care so much. Mena is such a refreshing heroine because, despite her tenacity and ridiculous amounts of internal strength, she's also such a caring, worrisome, sweet soul and all she really wants in life is for herself and her loved ones to be free and safe.

I am at the mercy of these men. Of these horrible, terrible, abusive men.

Beyond what I've already said, there isn't much else I can say, because every time you think you've got Girls with Sharp Sticks figured out, there's another twist thrown in to complicate things further, and these twists were SO GOOD. I literally gasped out loud at one of them because I really never saw it coming, and that ending had me reeling! I am so glad this is the beginning of a series, because I definitely need more time with these characters and I can't wait to see what curveball Suzanne Young throws us next.

Content warnings for misogyny, rape culture, victim-shaming, assault (of every variety), murder, grieving, PTSD, ableism, body-shaming, talk of infertility, body horror

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Simon Pulse for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The art style took a little while to draw me in, but I LOVE the message of this little book! Children need to be celebrated and to be given the tools to help them love themselves in this world where society is constantly telling them otherwise, and books like this do a great job in helping kids learn how wonderful and unique they are. This was such an inspirational and sweet little book and I think any child's home or library's collection would benefit from having it.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Hem wanted to branch out on his own, to leave his father’s tech company behind for good, but when he gets a call that another company is attempting a takeover of everything his father has worked towards, he comes home to help. Meanwhile, Mina must take on the role of his legal counsel in hopes of appeasing her greedy uncle and boss. All she wants is to get the job done and become a partner, no distractions—but what can she do to say no to the beautiful Sikh man wooing her now?

There are a handful of things I look for in romance novels: first and foremost being diversity and focus on consent, but beyond that, I’m such a sucker for a businesswoman as a heroine. There’s something about a strong, bold, sometimes angry woman who isn’t willing to hear the word “no” ¬from anyone that just sucks me in so fast, so I was pretty pumped for The Takeover Effect.

→ L I K E S :

Mina had seen her fair share of beautiful men, but the Singh brothers were in a whole different league.

Luckily, Mina fills that role pretty well. I’ll be honest, I didn’t always understand what she was going on about—there is a lot of business-y and legal jargon in here, if you’re someone like me who has no clue about most of that stuff—but I liked the way she put herself across and I really appreciated how headstrong she could be (except when it came to Hem, most of the time).

Hem, meanwhile, is such a softie I can’t even stand it (in a good way!). He’s this huge, hulking, scary, slightly angry dude, but then he gets all emotional and love-y and cute, and it’s fun to watch the transitions between his alone moments with Mina, and the rest of the time, when he’s yelling at people or fussing with his brothers.

It doesn’t hurt that the plot is super intriguing, too, and I was genuinely in suspense for a while over who the culprits were and how certain things would go down; however, if I had to pick one favorite thing about this novel, it’s easily the representation of Mina’s and Hem’s cultures. There is so much talk of food and tradition, cultural celebrations, and even some commentary on religion. They speak Punjabi to each other and get all gooey and mushy, and it’s just so sweet and lovely.

→ D I S L I K E S :

There were just a few minor issues I had, and these were why I couldn’t quite give The Takeover Effect a full 5 stars: first, the romantic dialogue often didn’t feel natural to me. I think it’s because I didn’t feel like we got to spend much time in the buildup of their relationship, so it felt weird sometimes.

Second, I think the sex scenes needed work. The first sexual encounter in the book is really awkwardly timed during a super serious/stressful discussion, and it kind of comes out of nowhere. There’s also some weird stuff regarding sex without condoms, and Hem not explicitly getting Mina’s permission to stop using them? It didn’t feel non-con necessarily, but I would’ve liked to have seen the author take just a paragraph or two to address the consent issues there beforehand.
Those two issues were pretty small and didn’t affect my enjoyment too much, but the biggest reason I knocked off a star is just that Hem is really pushy and that’s always a little bit of a turn-off for me with romance heroes.

All of that aside, I liked so much more than I disliked about this book, and I can’t justify taking it any lower than 4 stars because, frankly, this is 100% a book worth picking up, and I can’t wait to read the second installment in the series!

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Avon Impulse for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Art of Taxidermy has a lot going for it: beautiful writing, excellent crafting, and a look at grief that is nothing short of raw. Lottie's mother has passed, and Lottie has taken up an interest in science and death; specifically, she is captivated by dead animals and taxidermy. Her father indulges her, appreciates her scientific mind, and it's entirely possible that it's an interest she would have taken up with or without the grief she's experienced, but something about the obsessive nature of her thoughts leads me to think there's an implication of something fractured in the way she views the world without her mother in it.

There's also a bit of chat about indigenous people, with a side character, Lottie's friend, being an Aboriginal boy. I didn't actually realize this book was set in Australia at first, and I've never read a book featuring an Aboriginal character, so I really appreciated that as an addition.

The drawback to the entire book, though, and what made it impossible for me to give this more than 3.5 stars, is that I was bored. It sounds like the sort of story that should be innately interesting if only due to its gruesome nature (and it is gruesome, friends! Steer clear of this one if you're bothered by descriptions of dead animals), yet honestly, so little happens, and what does happen feels repetitive and somehow shallow. These are sad topics, yet I found it nearly impossible to feel anything about them, and I think that may be because Lottie is unfazed by anything that doesn't involve taxidermy.

This will be a great book for a lot of people, but sadly, I wasn't one of them.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was very cute and inspirational, and taught a lovely message of selflessness and friendship. The art was stunning and the rhyming text had a flow to it that would work well for reading out loud and for new readers. I'll definitely be adding this one to my acquisition list for our children's department and can't wait to recommend it to my patrons!

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Wow. Just... wow. I have a new favorite modern poet, full stop. Never has any poetry book resonated with me quite as hard as this one did. It's so unapologetically feminist, bold, brave, body-accepting, queer, rape-decrying, angry, broken, beautiful and I never wanted it to end. I can count eight poems I would tattoo on my body right this very moment. Wow.

Whether she was talking about eating disorders, surviving sexual assault, or coming to recognize her own love for other women, I related so damn much to every bit of it. And I wish I didn't, and I wish she didn't get it, because nobody deserves to go through the things that we and so many other people on this planet have been through, but it feels so good to be seen.

I don't even have words. I'd rather just offer you some of Blythe's.

This is not female privilege,
this is survival of the prettiest.

We are playing the first game
we learned how to.

———

I have run out of compassion for wolves. I have run
out of compassion for anyone who isn't outraged.

———

Watch me build an empire from the ashes
of everything that tried to destroy me.

Content warnings for rape, abuse, misogyny, eating disorders

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Button Poetry for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was absolutely adorable, and who doesn't love unicorns? I enjoyed the theme of friendship and acceptance surrounding the "impostor" in their group, and I thought the little song at the end was really fun and would work well for a storytime read-along.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!