shane_the_reading_rat's Reviews (1.21k)

i want to reread this physically at somepoint, as i think audio was (for me) not the ideal way to experience this story. it was still beautiful though! the intro and outro music was awful though. sounded like youtube premiere music.

quick review due to needing to pack for a road trip, but: liked Green and Lane, it was rough being in the pov of such a homophobic person, and it felt like Jen was mostly used as a prop in this story. didn’t like that at all, was weird. i didn’t get the connection/symbolism/whatever between her and the other characters. Lane is an absolute saint for dealing so much with Green’s mom.

i was missing a lot of the lingo and cultural context for this book (i have a mental list of words to google so i can understand what they mean), but that doesn’t change the fact that this was an amazing romance. i honestly loved how barebones the prose was, it was not really flowery at all and i have massive respect for that.

god, all the blue tones in this were gorgeous. i’m also amazed Deb JJ Lee is still in contact with their parents. incredible memoir, wholeheartedly recommend. the world does not have enough graphic memoirs

man i have had such bad luck with horror recently, cause i can already tell i’ll hate this. it’s very much a shock value horror book (particularly sexual shock value, judging by what i’ve read of it and reviews i’ve now checked), and shock value/splatterpunk is very very very not for me. glad i gave this a chance at least.

the romance was deeply not for me, but otherwise i liked this pretty well (

i love zombie fungus in media!!!

). planning to continue with the series just to see where it goes, + i often like a sequel better than the original

god it was sad seeing Jessie go back to Levi again and again and again after he just keeps treating her like shit. she needs to discover riot grrrl music it would heal her so much
no but seriously, i have basically the most thoughts i’ve ever had on a book who’s rating is basically just “fine”. i wanted to hear more about Jessie’s family! i wanted to see how her trip to Palestine went! i wanted more about her siblings! basically in my mind this book was a little TOO focused on the romance(s). also i will be so honest, i did not like hearing about just how much these 14 and 15 year olds wanted to have sex. not comfortable with it now, and a few years ago when i was that age i still wouldn’t have been comfortable with it.
this book was entertaining enough to listen to while cross stitching, but overall i just have a lot of issues with it.
(it also hit my pet peeve of using the phrase “female autism”. gross. autism presentation is not based on sex/gender, it is based on how people are socialized, raised, and treated.)

this was super interesting, but some of the editing/formatting decisions just don’t make sense to me. often chapters would veer off from what they were originally discussing (particularly noticeable in the chapter supposedly about swallows that actually discusses toads for most of the chapter). along with this, the divisions into different parts was odd, as i noticed no large differences that would warrant dividing it into parts. so overall, cool book but strangely edited.

it’s hard to even find the words to describe this one, i love it so much that i’m just not sure what to say. amazing, loveable characters (including one of my favorite parents in YA ever), conflict isn’t just annoying and doesn’t feel like it’s only there for a third-act-breakup-esque snenario, and it’s a story about a trans girl in sports (which i’ve never really seen before)! i highly highly highly recommend this, if you read one singular YA book this year make it this one. it’s extremely timely and also extremely good

Avery feels like the most realistic depiction of a teenager i have seen in my entire life