purplepenning's Reviews (1.72k)

An intriguing historical/present day dramedy of two sisters, their great nephew, and the long effects of  midcentury culture and WWII. This one didn't quite work for me. Once I got past the slow start, I was held up by the nonlinear storytelling, and some under-developed reveals. 

As pleasant a celebrity memoir as I've ever read. 

"An intriguing genre-bending story" is what I blandly started to write, which is true but bloodlessly inadequate. This story is stacked and packed with creativity and vitality, with sparkling historical fiction, steamy contemporary romance, time-addling magical realism, dark drama, and characters who are hilarious, powerful, misplaced, wise, awkward, desperate, passionate, generous, and nuanced. It celebrates Black history, Black resilience, Black art, Black joy, and timeless Black love in a tale spun of music, voodoo, lush flowers, fashion, Harlem, leap years, found family, wry commentary, and fated love. Like its protagonist, it may be a bit much for some, but dang — I'm going to be over here thinking and rethinking on it for days and weeks to come, wondering what voodoo allowed Tia Williams to get *gestures expansively* all that into one impressively coherent love story.

I just talked myself into 5 stars. I'm tired of being stingy with minute measures of approval when people are pouring this kind of love, energy, and complexity into their work. 

My favorite of this series so far — and they've all been great! 

Absolutely delightffalo! This the kind of silly-sweet wordplay book I love for the preschool set. BUFFALO FLUFFALO has a great message (about accepting yourself and not pretending to be what you aren't), is oodles of fun, and has charming illustrations that are a cunning combination of paint and woodcut. 

What an absolutely lovely surprise! I've read a fair few Austen retellings — some in contemporary settings, some with diverse or inclusive characters, some with murder mysteries (take that Wickam!), some with dragons, etc. The hardest bit always seems to be keeping enough of the classic beats and characterizations while allowing room for new directions and developments without making the narrative feel too contrived and contorted. Most Ardently walked the line nearly perfectly, with ingeniously redirected plot points and thoughtful emotional truths. 

And what emotional truths! A queer, trans, historical, coming of age, coming out story beautifully handled by a transmasculine author familiar with the history and conventions of the time. Were many of those conventions historically unfair to women and was that a blind spot in this story? Perhaps a bit of nearsightedness there, yes, but every story has a scope, and the sexism of the time was acknowledged if not satisfactorily addressed in this one. (And let's be fair: that nod to discontent is very much in keeping with the original.)  

If I have one criticism, it's that I wanted a bit more emotional depth and development from the Oliver-Wickam-Darcy situation.

More misplaced infatuation, more arch Lizzie Bennet-style disapproval, a more poignant revelation of error, maybe more pining and ardent feelings though the kissing scenes were quite nice.

). But again: scope and length constraints are real. I would never consider a YA novel "less than" (easier reading can require much harder writing) but I also wouldn't expect a YA adaptation to be quite as long or heavy as the original, and the page real estate here was well spent on conveying the joys and struggles of Oliver's life and trans experience.

To conclude a ramble: I would highly recommend this to historical fiction/period piece fans and readers wanting to gain perspective and empathy for trans experiences. It was a pleasure to read and I finished it in a single day.

Also, I can't believe this is the NINTH installment in the Remixed Classics series and the first that I've read — despite having several others on my TBR without knowing they were part of the same series. Guess I'll be remedying that!