Moving, educational, and funny. Everything I’d hoped for from a JVN memoir. The figure skating anecdotes were perfectly added to lighten a serious topic or bring an important point home. Really loved that!

Said perfectly captured the feeling of never quite being at home, from uncomfortable family dynamics, alienation in adolescent, and the dispossession he and his Palestinian relatives experienced. 

I didn’t expect the memoir to include the upsides of always being out of place, which it did as much as it explored the pain in constant movement and dislocation. I wish more time had been spent on his adult years, especially his academic writings, trips, eventual return to Egypt, developments in Palestine, and threats against his life, but it was interesting to see his early years and some of how his politics developed. With Palestine facing new horrors daily, it was especially heart-wrenching to see the length and variety of impacts of the occupation.  

Couldn’t get past how Eurocentric this was, especially how Pollen described indigenous people as “indians” without any distinction of tribe, and worse, the way he at once claimed that Johnny Appleseed fought them but “Indians” held Johnny Appleseed in high regard as a “medicine man”  and said he “moved between worlds… red world and white.” There were other issues I had, but that line was the last straw.

An honest and engaging portrait of why the USA, a nation of immense wealth and power, perpetuates poverty. Beyond the research, this book includes personal stories and an inspiring call to action. I especially loved that Desmond tied in the economy of abundance from Robin Wall Kimmerer. Highly recommended Poverty, by America, and Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants 

“….Those are what we need to be free together. I’m not sure what it means to be free as a single person — I don’t know if that’s a meaningful concept. We make our decisions together, like you do, even if we don’t use the same methods.”

First contact and climate fiction where the environment was saved before total collapse. 
I found the concepts in this book interesting, but the execution left something to be desired.
I loved how Jewish values and traditions tied into the plot throughout the novel. The different use of pronouns by different human and alien groups was also interesting, though I could have used less of an emphasis on “motherhood.” 
The Interludes sprinkled throughout were fascinating, and I wish there had been many more. 

While the philosophy of Judy and the Watershed Networks was interesting, and the execution of communal living was done beautifully, I didn’t need to hear every word of every decision. If you like sci-fi novels that are mostly dialogue, this probably won’t bother you, but I saw so much potential for a fast-moving and engaging plot, and instead it felt like non-stop dialogue that sometimes changed location. 
The malware/network attack especially was so boring. Each conversation about it went in circles, and it was obvious from the beginning who did it and why. Maybe if there had been multiple POV this could have held some tension, but instead it was repetitive and dull. 
Even when a baby was kidnapped, what could have been a high-stakes scene full of emotion devolved into another rational conversation circle that lasted far longer than necessary.  

By the end, I found myself distracted and didn’t care about how the story wrapped up as I didn’t believe Judy and wouldn’t get what she was negotiating for. 

For other audiobook readers, I loved the Narrator except for a few sentences each section where the dialogue is described with a certain emotion but read in another. For example, a character says something sounding described as having “relished the idea,” but the tone the narrator read it in was very resigned. 

Finally, if inter-species romance is your thing, no judgment, but that was an ick in this book for me.

Finished this book in two or three gos, and I'm gasping for air. In movies or TV shows, I can't get past my second-hand embarrassment, but give me a horrible, cringe, unlikeable, and unreliable main character and I'll eat that book up.
June is truly the worst person in the world, and while the ending of the novel isn't a huge plot twist, I found what came together and what fell apart perfectly balanced, hilarious, and horrific. I typically find when social media or smartphones are included in a novel they're distracting or heavy-handed, but the inclusion of Twitter especially here felt exactly like watching train wrecks on that site with all the giddiness and horror a pile-on can evoke.
The lengths and flips June does to avoid confronting her racism was impeccable. Every detail was gut-wrenching and addicting. The depth we get from every character is also incredible - the way Athena, her mother, her ex, and June's publishers were all flushed-out kept the story feeling so real. 
Just as I felt after the Poppy Wars and Babel, I'm on the edge of my seat for more from Kuang!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, the narration style wasn't for me, but hopefully I'll get to a print version of the book soon as the characters and plot were very interesting.

This really did feel like listening to an old tale in front of a cozy fire on a dark and stormy night. I especially loved getting more depth in the Spirit world and a better understanding of how they exists. A fuller character development of some individual Spirits was really amazing. The human character growth didn’t disappoint either - the way everyone continued to grow and support one another was so beautiful.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After hearing great reviews of Dev’s romances, I was excited to start this one. Lies and Other Love Languages took me a while to get into because the changing POV and jumps from past to present slowed the momentum of the plot lines, but these jumps all came together and I loved how changing perspectives layered the depths of each character. The family dynamics were impeccably done. I especially loved Rani’s storyline, so much that I wish we had more chapters with her. I would love to see how her adult life went from her point of view, beyond what is revealed near the end of the book.

The one plotline I couldn’t get into was Mallika (Mika). It felt like every time I was back in her storyline she was repeatedly complaining about how she doesn’t want to retape an audition for a part she desperately wanted and was anxious about why Rex didn’t choose her over his now-ex. For a woman who was born to incredibly loving parents with successful careers, it was hard to sympathize with Mallika’s career struggles. It was also hard to root for her and Rex. I found his actions with her DNA study incredibly unethical and was a huge red flag to me, but were presented as a loving act. Mallika also refusing to do the bare minimum to ask Vandy for answers Mallika is desperately searching for slowed the momentum of the plot, but I did love coming to understand Vandy's motivations. 

Rani and Vandy’s stories really made me think and reflect. I’m so glad I read this, it's made me even more excited than ever to read Sonali Dev’s other works. 

I flew through this book. The main characters were real and interesting, and I loved that the plot twist or whodunnit of the story was clear without taking away any tension. Often when I can figure the mystery out before the main character it’s annoying, but here it made perfect sense why Safiya believed what she did and made the choices she did. 

Ahmed also did a great job of pulling in many issues and explaining them or digging into them without it becoming a lecture each time. Knowing some of the real life stories Jawad was based on, the book was emotional and difficult to read at parts, but the writing and characters made it easy to pick back up. 

The one place this book really fell short for me was on prison abolition. It was jarring, after how the police and criminal systems were shown to be biased, untrustworthy, and often wildly harmful to minorities, guilty verdicts and prison time were still celebrated. What an opportunity this could have been to show restorative justice. Please see melbev's review to read more about how this shaped the end of the novel.