ocie's Reviews (413)

Maurice

E.M. Forster

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Do you ever read something that draws all the breath from your lungs and leaves you gasping for more than just air?

Emotional? I cried every other sentence. E.M Forster weaves into this book a message that says "you're not wrong, you're not broken, it's okay to be the way you are, you deserve happiness."

Written in 1913, and it has a happy ending. IT HAS A HAPPY ENDING. No one dies, and the main character gets to live with his boyfriend forever.

A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy

Tia Levings

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

I feel weird star rating memoirs. Rate someone's personal testimonial out of 5 stars? I don't think I can do that.

The dangers of the church and the patriarchy are real and present. Trad wife culture is inherently abusive, as this memoir shows.

This is a story about getting out, about Tia saving herself and her children. I'm glad I read it, and I recommend it to anyone who is or used to be a fundamentalist.

Under the Whispering Door

TJ Klune

3.0

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I'm going to be honest the 2 main characters in this book were too similar to the ones in Cerulean Sea. The story was good, but the plot felt formulaic.

The Darkness Outside Us

Eliot Schrefer

4.5

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Im not sure if horror is the way to categorize this book, but there is definitely horror involved. It's a chilling kind of horror, and what makes it feel so weird is that it's only about 30% of the book. The rest is mystery, sci-fi, and queer romance.

It's not a bad read, and it ends hopefully, if you can get past the existential dread of the first 75% of the book.

Fake Dates and Mooncakes

Sher Lee

4.0

funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This is a cute book, very relaxing read.

Mistborn

Brandon Sanderson

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The writing style bugged me a little bit, but the story kept me reading. A blend of mysterious and dangerous, all in the middle of a brewing class war.
I like the cast of characters, thought they deepened the story quite a bit.

True Love Bites

Joy Demorra

4.0

The Foxhole Court

Nora Sakavic

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

LGBTQIA+: YES
>Demisexual main character
>Gay side character (inner circle)
>Possibly other queer character, unconfirmed

I was mostly surprised how much I enjoyed this book. Sport books--even made up sports--aren't my speed.
I'm not even sure the character dynamics would have compelled me to keep reading of it weren't for the queer aspect.
But somehow, the combination of mafia danger, high stakes, and the tight knit character dynamics kept me reading, and I really enjoyed it.
I will be reading the next book.