skudiklier's Reviews (647)

Self-Portrait as Jesus

whentheresteeth

fast-paced

For non-book records, review text and ratings are hidden. Only mood, pace, and content warnings are visible.

Content Warnings

And Yet: Poems

Kate Baer

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Kate Baer's poetry is always so good, and I was so excited to hear about this book! I read it in less than 24 hours because I just couldn't put it down. Something about her writing--on motherhood, living in such weird times, womanhood, everything--just speaks so indescribably well to something inside me. I'd recommend this to anyone! Thanks to Harper Perennial and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Content Warnings

The Membranes

Chi Ta-wei

DID NOT FINISH: 46%

It was kind of interesting but I just couldn't get into it. I got halfway through and then lost interest and had too many other books I wanted to read more.

Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency

Chen Chen

5.0

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

God this was amazing. Chen Chen's writing never disappoints, and this collection just blew me away. I was excited to see a couple poems I already knew, especially "Winter (big smelly bowel...)"--I think of that one all the time, and loved seeing how the feeling of reading it changes in this context too.

Content Warnings

Nevada

Imogen Binnie

4.75

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is really engaging and reflective! I'd definitely recommend it to people who liked Detransition, Baby. I wasn't ready for it to end, especially because my copy had an afterword, so it felt very sudden. But I really appreciated the afterword as well for some context from the author after some time had passed since she wrote it.

Content Warnings

Harlem Shuffle

Colson Whitehead

4.75

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was really engaging and interesting! It almost felt like it had a couple different stories inside it, but in a way that completely worked.

Content Warnings

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

Kelly Barnhill

4.75

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book was really sweet, and I loved the way it was written. It touches on some really important ideas and I'm glad I'll get to talk about it with others in my book club. I'd recommend this to fantasy fans, and people who want a complicated but mostly heartwarming story about love and found family.

Content Warnings

Honey and Hellfire

Scarlet King

5.0

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I was so excited to be able to read an ARC of this book, and it did not disappoint. My only wish is that I could read the second book now--

that cliffhanger was so painful!

I haven't read the Revenge duet, so I went in knowing nothing, and I found it easy to follow. However it did reference things from past books just enough to make me curious--I might have to read that series while waiting for Sugar and Surrender!

I'd definitely recommend this to romance fans, while making sure people pay attention to the content warnings and preface.

Content Warnings

Light from Uncommon Stars

Ryka Aoki

4.5

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I feel a bit torn when it comes to this book. On one hand, I was very engaged with it and wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen. I liked the mix of characters and perspectives, and even some of the surprising things (that at first felt like a mix of too many genres) ended up feeling natural and fine.

However, I also feel like I ended the book missing some of the point. Like, there was just so much going on, and I'm not sure what my takeaways were supposed to be. Also, there was just so much transphobia that Katrina had to deal with; it was hard to read and felt like some of it wasn't totally necessary? Idk. I get that that can be real but it's not like every single trans person has to go through all of the things she did, and it just was so rough to read. Between that and the racism and violence, I would definitely recommend checking out the content warnings before reading this.

Content Warnings

Wicked Beauty

Katee Robert

4.75

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I think this is my favorite in the series so far! At first I thought it would be weird since I love The Song of Achilles so much, but I was able to separate these characters from those surprisingly easily. I loved their dynamic and this one was really fun with the hunger games-esque aspect as well.

Content Warnings

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