shereadytoread's Reviews (806)

When we think of diverse books, we usually think of diverse characters. This book not only has diverse characters but has a setting that really diversified my bookshelf. Set in Rhode Island (home of the author), this book really shows the diversity of the area that I wasn’t aware of.

But it also tells an amazing story! It deals with my grief and how this group of friend reveals themselves in a plan to resurrect a member of the group. I enjoy how each members culture and support system (or lack of) played a part in their character and their choices. At some points, their choices were infuriating, but I liked that you see the "descent" into madness as they are all dealing with the grief and fallout in different ways. 

One of the biggest themes that kept coming up for me was consent. Throughout the book we see how magic changes people's lives and bodies without their consent, but that the main characters believe their intentions are what matters. At some points, I was really upset with the MCs but overall, I understand that the grief and unmet needs were driving them to some dark places.

I received a free finished copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book continues to deal with grief and coming of age in such a great way as the first one. This book focuses on the second member of the group, Coco. I found this one a little more interesting because we got to see multiple perspectives versus the single perspective of Ollie from the first book. The only drawback for me was I thought the secondary plot/villian was a bit convoluted and I wish there was a little more explanation on why/how these kids came to be. The book within the first novel served as a lot of exposition, so I understood the background but this one fed more into the returning characters than explaining their current circumstances. Overall I really loved it and I'm looking forward to the next book!

This book is red herring after red herring and it’s exhausting. Otherwise it is pretty fast paced and enjoyable.

This book was a wild ride. It is a very SPECIFIC exploration of a woman’s disordered eating, toxic family relationships, religion and sexuality. The MC’s distortions about herself, her body and her relationship with her mother were very interesting. The kink piece of the story sometimes took me out of the plot because it was so front and center that I couldn’t really focus on what was actually happening. I would say a few TWs include fatphobia, ED, homophobia

I can say I’ve also read a lot of other peoples feedback to this book and I can recognize that an obvious by product of exploring extreme calorie restriction and the association of issues rooted in fatphobia. I could agree that these negative conceptions were never really refuted and that the connection with Miriam did come off a bit as fetishization at some points. Honestly this book seemed to throw so much at me, I couldn’t make heads or tails of it at some points.