Another great read by Akwaeke Emezi. I think this is an important read for young people today. The message of community, caring and supporting each other along with caring for yourself. The important of all aspects of a protest, not just the front lines.
Definitely a great book, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Pet. Although the audiobook was amazing, I think one of the reasons Pet had such a bigger impact for me is because I was able to put my own voice and imagination to the magical elements. It just falls under preference.

I highly recommend reading Pet first before Bitter. Pet just won’t hit the same if you already know the backstory to the world. 

This book was so captivating and endearing. I loved the plot, the science elements, the characters. I will admit, at first I was a bit thrown off by the dialogue but it makes sense as Grace is a teacher that he would speak like that. At times I got frustrated when we would switch to a flashback, but only because I was just so invested in the story.

A great book that I wasn’t able to put down, and it will definitely stay with me.

10/10 amazing and so much fun!

I don’t have any problems with this book. I loved the plot, the characters, character relationships, the magic and culture, the MC Amina, the ending. It was wonderful! Highly recommend!

There was really great Muslim and queer representation. I loved how the main cast respected each others religions. We love to see it !!

This was an…..interesting read. I had already heard about how this book was a mess and the problems with character development, so I went into this with 0 expectations.

Thankfully because of the audio, it was still entertaining for me. But yes, it was definitely a mess. The plot, the characters, the relationships, THE ENDING…..all a mess. 

There’s not much more I can say about the character development in this book that hasn’t already been said in other reviews. One thing I will say tho…..Inan wants to be Zuko sooooo bad lol. Amari drove me nuts and Tzain had no purpose. Zélie got a power up every other chapter. Amari commits a disgusting war crime but omg it’s ok cause Zélie fixes it. 

There’s also the ending……I found it  uncomfortable for such a heavy topic to be randomly thrown in for a shock factor ending.

I know I just ripped the book apart, but tbh I enjoy messiness so I found the book very entertaining up until the last 25% lol.
If you want any enjoyment out of this book, I would recommend the audiobook as Bahni Turpin is iconic.

Had a lot of fun with this one but it could’ve easily been a 100 pages less.

This is my first Stephen King, and I can definitely see why people say he can’t write women….or people of color….or children……so 90% of the population lol. I also feel like his writing is pretty stale and matter of fact, it’s the story that kept this book going, as well as some character elements.

I liked the element of being introduced to Tim in the beginning so that it can all tie together in the end. The last 30% of the book had me hooked.

Overall a fun read.

This book was fun as hell but overall kind of a mess lol. Didn’t stop me from enjoying it tho!
All the characters were so much fun, especially the aunties. The first 15% I wasn’t sure about, but after that I quickly began to thoroughly enjoy my time with this book.
I really enjoyed the genre mixing even tho it felt like whiplash sometimes, I would have liked a bit more romance.
Side note, Meddy is very millennial at times and it would make me cringe ”shitballs” “totes chillax”

This was amazing and highly entertaining. I couldn’t put the book down!
F.C. Yee does the Avatar universe and the famed avatar Kyoshi justice, he was the perfect man for the job. His writing is fantastic and fits with the themes of Avatar perfectly. I loved learning more about the different cultures and lore through this book.
Every single character was amazing, the heroes and the villains. Kyoshi and Rangi have my heart <3 
This book kept me engaged the whole time, had me going through a range of emotions and made me cry multiples times. Props to F.C. Yee!!!

I’m in the minority about this book…I highly disliked it.

I had a lot of problems with this book so I’ll start with the positive. The authors writing is captivating, and the beginning and the very end of the book I kind of liked. It was in the middle that was the biggest problem for me. Also, the narration is fantastic and if you are interested in this book I would recommend the audiobook.

It had a strong start but became extremely repetitive FAST. It was also advertised as a funny lighthearted book but it was nothing of the sort….the very beginning has a graphic rape scene which I have heard no one even mention, as well as many other heavy topics.

I love a good feminist women’s book, but oh my god this book was exhausting. I didn’t hear about how the sexism in this era emotionally affected the women….all I heard was monologues and speeches every other paragraph from Elizabeth about inequality. We never hear about Elizabeth’s emotions or personal feelings, just facts and statistics. It is 2023 and I am a woman of color living in the US. Yes, I know sexism sucks and that women are equal. I wanted to be shown about the emotional and societal affects these things had on the women of this era and their relationships with each other, their romantic relationships, ect, but instead it was always a speech. It was exhausting to keep listening to and extremely repetitive. There’s also the fact that there is not a single POC in this book….the only inkling that we get is Elizabeth mentioning “gender, race and class” in one of her speeches…..ok.

Another thing that frustrated me is that Elizabeth is always shocked when a man is sexist…..I am NOT saying that she should’ve sat and taken men’s shit, I’m asking why a women living in the 50s constantly forgets that sexism is a very common thing? This book felt like a fantasy at times, and not in a good way.

There is also the use of tropes….of course the smart female character shows no emotion, doesn’t have a sense of humor, looks down on other women for the first half of the book, and has bad social skills. Of course her daughter is a 4 year old genius reading Vladimir Nabokov novels. 

It was small problem after small problem that kept piling up until I couldn’t really enjoy the book at all. I’m really sad that I didn’t like this book, as I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the story felt very sterile and matter of fact.

A new favorite YA!

This book deserves all the hype it gets and more. Beautiful writing, characters, relationships, representation…..this book has everything. Overflowing with love for Hispanic and Latinx culture.

I can’t wait to read more by Aiden Thomas!

I’m convinced Akwaeke Emezi is incapable of writing a bad book. 

This book was great and the writing was so wonderful and dreamlike, it felt like I was watching a movie. Their writing is truly one of a kind, and I would recommend that everyone should try one of their books at least once. The exploration of grief was beautiful, and the way Feyi and Alim thought of each other was just <3

Although I loved this book, I definitely had a few problems with it but most fall into spoiler territory. One thing I can say though, is that I disliked how the message of the book felt like grief/trauma was an excuse to be selfish and not to think of others. I know that’s not what they were going for, but it’s what it came across as at times.

I also really disliked how it’s never addressed that Nasir and Lorraine forced their dad out of a relationship because of homophobia ??? And it’s very frustrating to me that Alim was willing to let go of his love and choose his children because of HOMOPHOBIA of all things but is willing to put them aside for Feyi??? It just didn’t make sense. And then every time Feyi or Alim bring up the effect it will have of the kids, it’s never actually about the kids, but about themselves instead.

 

Overall, this book was amazing but please be aware that there is some messy activity in this book so if it’s gonna piss you off then don’t read it lol.