readingpicnic's reviews
475 reviews

I read this for Sue since it was her favorite

THE sexcapade book. I think if you’re like a trans punk dyke from the 90s, you would get all the references and eat this up. Robin was the most intriguing character for me; wish they were in this more.

What a genuinely hilarious book. Gotta love some queer siblings navigating some messy relationships and situationships. Such a lovely emphasis on family (including found family and adopted family) in this book that makes me wish my family was closer. Being gay and neurodivergent is the norm!! 

I thought the main character was pretty insufferable and was not captivated by the writing style at all. The time skips were a bit jarring. HOWEVER, the story really picked up about 70% through and I was glad I didn't DNF it earlier. I stayed up past my bedtime to finish this last night! An unsatisfactory but realistic ending, I suppose. I don't think that the author dove into the trauma olympics that Bodie was doing on Twitter, nor fully examined Jerome in a critical light like I would have wished. It was giving too much "people think anything is abuse these days!" for my comfort. There were some strange discussions about the age of consent and power dynamics in age gap relationships. And in the end, I do think it felt like a white savior story.

What a wild ending! I’m not sure what happened tbh, but the pace really picked up and the final art spread was beautiful. I could stare forever at that two page spread of those ladies smooching while drowning the bozo. The color pages are so so gorgeous. I love her equally as much as a princess and a creature!!

God Briar means the world to me. It’s so upsetting that

Alix is still paying more attention to Catherine in the end and ignoring/putting her autistic daughter second.

This book was so stressful to listen to, but I would get so overjoyed at the narrator’s voice acting for Briar. Alix is a freak! What the heck is wrong with her!

I’m still confused about what she wanted her relationship with Emira to turn into since her obsession was bordering on romantic/sexual, but maybe she just got a kick out of Emira being dependent on her? What a freaking weirdo!

I think I could have done without the zooming into Emira's future at the end like "here's where she is now!" and that the story could have ended sooner.

I did watch the movie before reading the manga, and they adapted it so well!! My poor little codependent gay girls :(

Such a sweet romance, but also an emotional journey of Vivi trying to reconnect with her mom’s family in Vietnam. I loved the process of her puzzling things together with Lan to find her family, going off only a photograph and the help of Lan’s connections and food stall community in Sài Gòn. My main issue with the audiobook format is that Vivi’s voice actress read the chapters pretty quickly, while Lan’s voice actress read much more slowly, which made me struggle to find a good speed to listen to this at :’) 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Flatiron Books for a free digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'm disappointed to say that I just don't think Julia Armfield's writing is for me. I wanted to like Our Wives Under the Sea, and I didn't really, but I thought I would still give Private Rites a chance. This book was incredibly slow, and I felt like I was slowly sloshing through most of it, hence why it took me over a month to finish it. The world building was admittedly super cool--the water rising higher and higher throughout the novel as the rain almost never stops its endless pouring; the feeling of hopelessness so present in this society where the wealthy are able to climb higher in buildings tall enough to withstand flooding, while the poor experience flooding similar to that scene in Parasite. Compared to the slow pacing of the whole book, the ending was way too fast, events happening so quickly in the final 5-10% of the book that I couldn't even tell what was transpiring. Cults? Sinking? I couldn't tell you. It kind of reminded me of the ending of Night in the Woods, but more confusing. My favorite part of the book by far was the troubled relationship between the sisters as they halfheartedly try to get along with each other, but ultimately just get on each others nerves at every turn, or perhaps don't like each other that much. It reminded me a lot of my brothers and I, and I related heavily to Irene as the sibling who feels stuck in the anger of my childhood, which is how my family will always view me. If you like reading about messy sister dynamics, this is for you.

Okay I love this genre of woman punishing men for their abuse, in the realm of Sadie and The Female of the Species, but this one being more new adult/adult. I absolutely did not see the twist coming halfway through

with Scarlet and Carly being the same person, and I was truly flabbergasted, slack-jawed, distraught even.

I knew that dumbass

red diary

was going to screw things up, but I’m so happy with the ending. They’re adorable <3 The audiobook narration was chilling.