papercraftalex's Reviews (368)

I'm going to be honest, I don't completely know how to rate this book. It's much more of a freudian character study than the romance I thought it would be. Certain parts of it were so disturbing but I couldn't put the book down; it was like watching a car accident. The writing was so well done and there were quotes that truly radiate through, but the plot was just lackluster, especially the ending. It falls into the "no happy endings for queer/mentally ill people" trope as well as a weirdly incestual mother fantasy and penis envy that makes Freud smile up at us. I wouldn't read this again but I truly don't know if I enjoyed it or not.

Ayurvedic head massage was not a topic I had even heard of before, let alone been interested in, but the cover grabbed my eye and I'm glad I read it! It's broken up into 4 sections: Basic Principles (where you learn about the basics of this practice and key practices like doshas, chakras, and marmas), Before You Begin (where Arrieta tells you the best way to do your massages and the different types of massages involved), Herbal Hair Oils, and then the Massage Rituals. It was organized in a very precise manor that was easy to understand. The illustrations are quite cute and helpful. I tried a few of the self massages and they were honestly amazing! My only issues with the book were a few typos that I'm sure will be fixed before publishing and I wish there was a reference section in the back for more resources.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a wonderful poetry book. The way Chisala weaves her words is truly art. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the collection  "Maybe we carry our mothers' traumas in our bones, our fathers' grief in the blood,"  "I don't want to be less of me if that's the only way I'll get more of you," and  "your body is not a burial ground for the insecurities of others." This is a book everyone should read.

This is a refreshingly modern fairytale. Lovelace manages to weave fantastic pieces of poetry with flash fiction and blurbs from the character's big sister while creating an overarching and beautiful story. The advice is something I wish I had gotten from an older sister when I was younger. The book has a great use of white space that emphasizes the importance in each slice of wisdom. The poems are empowering and magical. The artwork sprinkled throughout is gorgeous. It balances feminism and spirituality with empowerment and truth. I recommend this book to any feminine being that needs to reclaim their power.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really unique take on the 12 sisters story. The writing was vivid and beautiful; I truly felt like I got to know each princess's story even in the short chapters.

I liked the idea of this book, taking an idea people see as concrete and exploring how we can make it individual to our crafts and journeys, but the book did not hold up. First of all, it's rife with antisemitism, anti-science, and cultural appropriation (I put specific examples below in spoiler tags). Secondly, it is not well edited. The book does not flow well, there are really random anecdotes and a lot of the book seems irrelevant to the overall point being the wheel of the year. She doesn't start taking about the wheel of the year until halfway through the book and a lot of the information felt basic and not original. It's hard to tell which level of practice this is targeted to; it's confusing for baby witches, but doesn't add any extra substance for more seasoned witches. 

For specifics, Alden uses the term Judeo-Christian throughout the book. She first uses it to describe her Christian upbringing, which makes no sense, then uses it to talk about witches worshipping angels, specifically Michael, when Islam also worships angels, including Michael. She references "Qabalistic" magic (kabbalah is Jewish closed magic and the misspelling is western appropriation) and golden dawn (which have very antisemetic roots). She has a spell to call upon Lilith, which is cultural appropriation from Judaism, and put Yom Kippur in her wheel of the year, which is also cultural appropriation from Judaism. That's not the only culture she appropriates from though; she suggests using Cascarilla powder for a witch's ball and, in the appendix, mentions how it comes from hoodoo and Santeria, but doesn't seem to care how it's not appropriate for her to use. The quote "Not only did they [the original Wiccans] take these holidays out of their original context with the original gods, but they gave no credit to the cultures and origins of the festivals" which I find very ironic with the golden dawn references. She also uses the term "Indian summer" which I'm not familiar with but seems to have racist roots.

She writes about birth control and hormones in an anti-science and bioessentialist way. She says that birth control disconnected her from nature and suggests others shouldn't use them without any care for people who medical need them. Also, automatically associating estrogen with womanhood and testosterone to manhood is ultimately transphobic. Another instance of anti-science is found in her section about climate change. The section started out well by saying that global warming changes our connection to nature and our seasons, but then says that it's a naturally occurring event and not a manmade phenomenon that can and needs to be stopped. 

In her section about Litha, she talks about shadow work without mentioning its origin and presents it as releasing the attributes you don't like about yourself, which is a gross misunderstanding of how shadow work works. 

There were a few things I enjoyed. Her section on plastic witchcraft and smudging were pretty good, but they did feel out of place. I also thoroughly enjoyed the quote "witchcraft is in the heart of the witch-not in the tools or supplies. An experienced witch can get more done with a paper, a pencil, and their will than an imitator can with all the supplies in a metaphysical store."

Ultimately, the bad outweighs the good and I am disappointed in this book. I wouldn't recommend. 

This is overall a really good book for beginner witches. The artwork is adorable, it's very inclusive, it explains concepts very well, and it has a great variety of spellwork. I only docked half a star because some of the spells require a lot of ingredients without mentioning substitutions and because the author used the term Judeo-Christian to describe their Christian upbringing.

I really, really wanted to like this book. It has such a sweet premise and the artwork is stunning. However, there is an issue with cultural appropriate and stealing from closed practices. There's a particular spell that calls upon the goddess Oshun, which is from the Nigerian Yoruba religion. If you call on her when you are not apart of that religion, it won't be good. 

Shen does a very good job of exploring all kinds of women. Most of the books I've read in this format starred only cisgender, heterosexual and mostly white women in England and America, but this book manages to collect important women in history from many different walks of life. There were quite a few women I had sadly never heard of while reading, and I'm glad that I now know their stories. I also really appreciate how Shen doesn't stray away from morally gray or even downright bad girls in this book.