saifighter's Reviews (253)

I very much wanted to DNF this at several points but I'm really glad I finished this.

Dislikes: I hated the characters, the whole way through. I'm not entirely sure I was suppose to like the characters. I did not vibe with the romance either.

Middle of the Road: Some of the language used in this book feels very older queer person who maybe isn't caught up with the times.

Liked: There are really great scenes illustrating the trans and non-binary experience. I really like the prose, the exploration of vampirisms, death, archiving, fandom, isolation.

IDK. Peeking the author's Linkedln, this low key feels like fan fiction of their own life. Its incredibly personal. And because of that it has its highs and lows.

DNF at 13%. The writing style and tone just isn’t for me. It reads very much like a children’s story book and I just was not enjoying it.

 Half memoir and half popsci essay collection, Imbler has found a way to bridge the gap between the heart and the mind. It does what "Gathering Moss" tried and failed to do and intertwine the scientific with the human experience perfectly. The emotional connection and reflection we see in nature is fully on display, without it getting weirdly spiritual. The science and information part of the book were entertaining and informative without being totally boring. It kept me engaged. I cried. I laughed. It was also really weird at times and honestly a little depressing which I think why I'm not giving it 5 stars. Its good for a quick one day read but I'm not really sure its for everyone. 

Before diving into the Percy Jackson series I had read a lot of online discussion asking "When does the series get good?" The consensus seems to be that book 3 is where the series really starts to get good. I agree that book one is really weak and I had complaints about it: juvenile dialog, paper thin characters, jumpy pacing. Picking up book 2, I expected more of this and thought I would just have to plow through it till book 3 when the series "gets good."

I'm honestly so shocked at how good Sea of Monsters is. All of my complaints from book 1 are gone. The dialog and internal thoughts are emotional and feel genuine. The characters (especially Percy) are now fully rounded and have depth to them that feels like we are just skimming the surface of something deeper. The pacing is still a little off as I found the beginning of the book a little slow, but once it picked up it was perfect. And the things that were good in book 1 are even better here. The world building is still so amazing. Percy's new powers and weapons were honestly just so cool and I loved it. I really love all of these characters and I especially love Tyson. I'm really glad to hear that he shows up more in the series.

As soon as I finished The Sea of Monsters I wanted to immediately start over and read it again. I loved it. Its so good. I'm 30 years old and this absolutely whips ass. Do Not Sleep On Percy Jackson. Read it now. 

The inspiration for Nightbitch is plainly stated on page four as the main character reads "The Yellow Wallpaper" on her phone while trying to Google answers to her problems. But I'm not really entirely sure if Nightbitch lives up to its inspiration.

There were times when it felt like the book was too long but other times when it wasn't long enough. And the book is very on the nose, going so far as to just say its thesis verbatim in the last pages instead of leaving the reader to come to their own conclusion. Nightbitch feels like it wants to be smart feminist literature and its almost but not quite reaching its goal.

In a way, it reminds me a lot of "Tender is The Flesh". Its themes are interesting and the writing is there but it doesn't quite push hard enough. I'm honestly laughing at the one stars saying that this book was "too brutal." It was not brutal enough! I was waiting for her to eat her baby, or her husband, or (staying with the on the nose themes) ripping out her own uterus and eating it like a wild animal as she bled out on the floor, finally claiming her femininity in feral sharp fangs.

Its alright. Good even. But its still no Yellow Wallpaper.

DNF at 23%

Was drawn in on the premise and the twist on the vampire genre. I knew this was a character study and I went in with the proper expectations. But I absolutely can not stand Lydia. She is whiny, meek, and has the spine of a cooked noodle. I kept thinking "what is wrong with this woman? Stand up girl!" Looked at the reviews for some answers and learned that this book falls into something called "Sad Woman"  literary genre. One Guardian article later, and I'm DNF-ing and avoiding this genre at all cost from now on. I absolutely do not have time for sad privileged girl's being sad. Lydia's self pitying and naïve behavior was infuriating. And after reading that first puppet scene, I'm out.

 I have complicated feelings about this one. And I still don't really know if I loved or hated it. I said I would come back to this review once I gathered my full thoughts and figure out exactly how I feel. But I don't see that happen so lets just get into this.

This book is weird and campy and fun. It also made me really uncomfortable. There is rape in the book. There is a lot of sexual horror which I am not a huge fan of. This book is just horny for no reason sometimes. This is definitely a character driven book and plot feels irrelevant honestly. Which sucks because I didn't like any of the characters (I'm not entirely sure I'm suppose to). I don't think I am familiar enough with splatter punk or post apocalyptic genre to say if this is good or not.

I don't think this book was for me. I don't really think it was written for me either (cis/queer/female). I think this book is probably good, just not good to me. Its probably really good for the audience its meant for which I think is trans splatter punk fans. 

DNF at 27%

Can't stand the dialog, the writing, the internal monologuing. The two main characters are COMPLETELY unlikeable. And I agree with other reviewers, this is NOT how a restaurants works. Had to stop after Logan dragged Xavier into the office and yelling at him for answering his question. There is NO WAY I am I'm pushing through 32 chapters of this. 

I really wanted to like this.

Its weird that the author felt the need to attached this story to Gatsby. The characters, themes, and plot are so divorced from the original novel. Self-Made Boys more closely resembles a mid day melodrama than the source material. Its not even really written in the same spirit of The Great Gatsby. This book has absolutely nothing to say about America, the American dream, class, love, or marriage. It did set up some other themes of race and gender in the 20's but it also ended up not saying anything significant about those themes either. Which is really disappointing because it would have been really interesting.

Outside of Gatsby, just as a LGBT themed historical fiction, it also feels like its falling short. There is this convoluted plot about a necklace and debutante ball. Not to mention all the he said she said nonsense. I absolutely can not stand romance stories that fall victim to the "if they just talked to each other this would all be fixed" nonsense.

I will say that the prose in this book are really beautiful. I think I might pick up something else by this author. I'm sure outside the space of a remake they write perfectly fine. But Self-Made Boys belongs back on whatever fan fiction site it spawned from.

2 stars since I didn't absolutely hate it and liked the writing.

This is my first time reading any of K.J. Charles work so I wasn't exactly sure what I was expecting. But a 1920's queer mystery sounded like fun so I went in with almost no expectation.

I mean we sure are told its the 20's. But it doesn't really FEEL like it is. K.J. Charles spends maybe one chapter with set dressing and that's about it. The reason I picked up this book was because I was interested in a queer book in this particular setting. But honestly this story could have taken place anywhere or any time. You could have made Will a veteran of Afghanistan and you would barely have to change anything. If you are gonna make historical fiction, the choice of setting and time should have more impact I feel. I think out of everything, this is the thing I'm most disappointed about.

Will and Kim are likable enough but at times they feel one-dimensional. I'm kind of hoping we get to know their character's a little more intimately in the other two books but I'm also not holding my breath. I'm wildly thankful that Phoebe and Maisie are in the story. I think sometimes with MLM romance, authors tend to forget woman exist or just treat them terribly. Both Phoebe and Maisie are great characters. I'm honestly more excited about the possibility of learning more about them then Kim and Will.

The plot is interesting at first but the predicaments Will started finding himself in started to feel a bit reputative. I trust Kim, I don't trust Kim, I trust Kim, I don't trust Kim. Over and over. Around the 70% point it really started to drag. Often times it feels like we introduce ideas and then abandon them with out fully developing them which was incredible frustrating.

In fact, all of this all feels incredible undercooked. Its like the book needed 100 extra pages to explore setting, characters, and plot more in-depth. But then I finally figured it out.

Slippery Creature is romance first and everything else second. If the sex scenes were a little more detailed it would be a full blown bodice ripper. And let me tell you, this book is horny on main. Anyone who thinks this is a slow burn romance is off their rocker. Will and Kim's entire relationship is sexual and they are tearing off each other's clothes by chapter 6. Its all dirty talk and blow jobs. And you know for all that, the actual sex scenes are all described post-coitus.

It just really feels like Slippery Creatures is having an identity crisis. Does it want to be popcorn mystery historical fiction or does it want to be a passionate smutty friends to enemies to lovers spy thriller? The book is on the fence which makes what's presented feel half baked.

What we get is just kind of okay. Nothing really offensive but nothing awe inspiring either. 3/5 middle of the road light reading. Might pick up book two to see if it picks up a little bit.