leahrosereads's Reviews (1.04k)

An absolutely vital read for anyone who wants to learn more about intersectional feminism.  Every one of these essays was incredibly important. I was able to learn so much, while also noting areas that I want to research more of and to find other books that go further in depth.  

This is the first volume in the series that hasn't gotten a 5 star from me, and it's because it's the first with very little Shiva and Teacher interactions.  I know this was necessary to progress the story.  Of course, I now have even more questions with everything that happened in this volume, and that ending!  I need volume 10 ASAP!

Oh look, another 5 star in this series! This was just an absolutely wonderfully gut wrenchingly sad volume.  I absolutely needed tissues for it, and I just don't know what's going to happen in the next one.  But I don't think I'm ready emotionally to find out!

Luster is how I like my books sometimes.  Dark, shocking and horrific.  From the characters and their dynamics to the content, everything about this story was complex and captivating!  I'll definitely be picking up more books by the author in the future!

Look at Cardan trying to out charm Charming!  He's so oddly pleasant here, I don't know what to make of it!  These stories were genuinely so fun to read, and Cardan is my favorite character in this world, so I'm absolutely here for any stories surrounding him.  Add in the stunning art of Rovina Cai that brought each story to life, and you have just a delightfully fun read.

What a quick, cute read but with enough angst to make it a little less fluff! I loved seeing Nick and Charlie a little ways into the future from the comics and seeing how they're doing.   As a couple, they're still working together but having some difficulties communicating (didn't we all at 17/18)?  Of course, with how short this is, anything else I mention is going to be a spoiler, so I'll just recommend taking an hour to read this!

Upon re-read, I have no idea why I almost DNFd this.  Maybe just not in the right headspace, but this is still so amazing!  Everything else I said below is definitely how I felt during this second readthrough.  Bumping this from a 4.5 to a 5!

Well this was a rollercoaster of a read.  I started off almost DNFing it, then became intrigued, then horrified, and ended melancholic.  It was beautiful, frightening, and strangely magical, and also weirdly simplistic and complex.  I feel like I should have been on something to fully understand this story.  It was definitely too smart for me a lot of the time, but I still thoroughly enjoyed what I did understand!

So close to being a five star read for me!  I loved almost everything about this.  The world building was rich and so very fascinating, filled with myths and folklore, and of course, one of my favorite settings - a dark, magical forest.  I loved the characters.  They were wonderfully flawed.  The story was filled with whimsy and the writing was flowery in the best ways.

Unfortunately the pacing was a little off.  While the book started incredibly slow, the building of this world was so necessary, so that worked.  But then the pace either picked up to 100 or back down to 0.  I never found a flow to it.

Still, I'm so excited to jump into the next book in this series!  I've heard it only gets better, and I can't wait to find out what happens next!

Such a stinking cute holiday story!  I really liked the characters and the magical elements here.  Andrew was such a sweet bean!  It was a fun change to what I'm used to reading when it comes to contemporary romance.