Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

This had the bones to be interesting but ultimately I was bored throughout the entirety of the novel. 

Stylistically, I disliked a lot of the word choice and felt like it needed another round of edits. For example, “ocular sockets” was used instead of “eyes” and “breaks” was used instead of “brakes”. I also felt like there was too much description and detail. It was paragraphs and paragraphs of detail that felt unnecessary to the story.  The pacing was extremely slow and while it’s possible it was bogged down by the amount of details, I think it was just a slow paced story.

The monster intro was spectacularly cool, and I thought I’d be in for an action packed horror/thriller but ultimately, the action only made up like 10% of the story. I will say, it did remind me a lot of Stephen King’s brand of horror which I think was part of the intent, and it was well executed. Also, while I didn’t like Curtis as a character, I do think he was complex and well developed, just unlikeable.

Thank you to Netgalley for the Arc. All thoughts are my own

I actually had a lot of fun reading this. It was a historical fiction set in New York during World World 2, following E, our English Ph.D holding protagonist. I really liked E and her friends as characters, although I wish her friends and the other supporting characters were fleshed out some more. The opening scene was absolutely incredible and I loved how E was shown as struggling to process her grief. I honestly wasn't sure which direction the plot was going to head, and I thought at first it was a simple murder mystery but it turned into so much more.

There are several small issues I did have with the story though. The book was paced very slowly with me wondering several times what was going to happen next because it felt like nothing was happening at the moment. The language that all of the characters used felt a bit older than the 1940's and honestly felt like belonged in the 1800's instead. I also wish more of E's upbringing was dived into, especially her history with her dad.

All in all, this was an extremely interesting historical fiction and I was very satisfied with the ending and how all of the pieces fell into place throughout.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I was brought in by the tagline as "whimsical and unforgetable", but it wasn't particularly either of those adjectives, nor was the story particularly inspiring to me. While Howl's Moving Castle was a comp title, A Harvest of Hearts was too similar for me to feel like it was a separate story. This was supposed to be an adult fantasy, but it felt very juvenile, and Young Adult at best.

Somehow, Cornelius the talking cat was the best character throughout the novel. I did think the magic system was interesting (stealing hearts to do magic) but it wasn't expanded upon and I wish I saw more done with it.

I disliked both Sylvester and Foss as main characters. Sylvester was a flat MMC. He was described as lazy and beautiful and not much beyond that. There wasn't much of a dive into his background, arguably the most interesting thing about him, nor was there any insight into his motives, or even why he fell in love with Foss. 

Foss is entirely defined by her perseverance, cooking skills, and most loudly, her ugliness. I wasn't moved by her character arc, nor the romance between her and Sylvester. We're told that she loves him because of the bond created by Sylvester snagging her heart, but there's no insight into why or how Sylvester fell for Foss. And really, how much of the romance between the two can be attributed to their own feelings and how much is the (non-consenual) bond?

Style wise, each character does have their own unique voice but there were multiple places the story dragged along and I struggled to keep interest in reading. A lot of the story felt repetitive and the ending felt unearned, like there wasn't enough character growth to justify the happy ending it was too easy and unsatisfying.

I had oomfs super excited for me to read this but I think, unfortunately, it wasn't for me. I just wasn't super interested in this world, as dark and atmospheric as it was. It was super twisty turny, but it got to a point where I was struggling to parse what was real and what wasn't. I had no clue where the story was going so each reveal was interesting and I was constantly surprised, although the reveals seemed extremely blasé and almost unimportant at points. Valdevere, my toxic yaoi couple. Honestly, if I got outed by the person who kissed me first, I too would turn evil. It is what it is though.

This was a cute little YA/middle grade ghost story. This was fun, if a bit predictable. I liked how Japanese folklore was implemented into the story. The pacing was a bit off but not so badly the story was erratic or unimaginable. Solid kids horror story.

This was beautiful and haunting and horrible. Nahr is one of the most complex female characters I have ever met in literature. I loved all the ways the story came together, starting with her solitary confinement, through the journey that led to her imprisonment and finally to her release. The resilience that all the women throughout generations is explored and it’s a haunting account of the oppression that Palestinians and specifically Palestinian women faced under the hands of the Israelis.

This was such a fun read. I wasn’t too sure what the premise was when I bought it (I read the first page of the book and got it bc the cover looked cool), but I’m throughly impressed. I liked how the zodiac and the stars were incorporated into the magic system and religion. I liked the foreshadowing and for an indie debut, the plot was well formatted without being too predictable. I didn’t realize there was spice in this, like three scenes, but it was well written and I didn’t cringe at all while reading it. The pacing did feel a bit off at times, but overall it was an enjoyable read.

I seriously don’t know where to start with this review. M. L. Wang, I was unaware of your game. I loved the magic system. I loved this idea that you could type spells and map out where to get the energy for them. I think for a standalone, this had fantastic world building. 

I had an instantaneous understanding of the gender, race and class structures and the systems of oppression that prevailed in Tiran. I think the themes of oppression were a little bit heavy handed but it was a credit to the world building and plotlines. I found it interesting that Sciona was looked down on for following a different branch of the main religion. I loved how Thomil challenged the religion and history of Tiran in comparison to the history and religion of the Kwen. I loved how he put the future in Carra’s hands as the youth are the ones who have to live in the future. 

I enjoyed the academic passion and the way that the academics are portrayed as doing everything they can to pursue knowledge even if they harm others (Brigham) and academics who relish in pursuing knowledge that will cause pain because they love the power of it (Renthorn). My only gripe is the relationship between Sciona and Thomil. I hate oppressed x oppressor, and I found it especially heinous in this case because Sciona only saw him as human like 4 days before she kissed him. All in all, M. L. Wang has become one of my instant read authors.

This is absolutely an insane debut. It was really emotionally charged and I needed several breaks while reading before I could finish. Morrison’s writing style is interesting and different and there were multiple sentences where I needed to step back momentarily to take in what she meant. Even the opening line was extremely powerful.

I don’t even know where to even begin when discussing the themes. Maybe internalized racism? The juxtaposition of Pecola and Freida & Claudia? The parallels between Pauline and Pecola?

Pecola is told how ugly she was her whole life, she’s treated as subhuman by those around her, for example with the shopkeeper trying to keep from coming into contact with her hand, so she strived for this assimilation into whiteness as seen by her hunger, her desire for blue eyes, as she was constantly surrounded by the white beauty standard (specifically shown by the prevalence of white media like Shirley temple in the book). If you combine that with the inherent violence that girlhood and womanhood bring, Pecola suffers an extremely intersectional form of oppression from those around her, even in comparison to Frieda and Claudia, who are loved and uplifted and safe enough in their family to reject whiteness and traditional female roles like motherhood (Claudia destroyed her white dolls and didn’t like Shirley temple the same way that Frieda and Pecola did, nor did she want to be a mother or play as a mother with her dolls as was normal for girls her age).

Violence and shame are also extremely prevalent throughout The Bluest Eye. Cholly felt emasculated and shamed for being exploited by the white men who forced him to have sex with his “one true love” in front of them. The violence and shame Cholly felt got passed onto the relationship he had with Pauline, in the way he beat, raped, and cheated on her, and in the way that Pauline justified the abuse that she underwent, as well as the justify the rape that Pecola was forced to deal with. Pauline essentially martyred herself for not living up to white beauty standards and passed down that shame to Pecola, the same way that Cholly passed violence to them both.

Morrison also has an interesting take on Christianity. Pecola tried to rationalize what happened to her as an act of God as opposed to an act by evil man, and Pauline also similarly falls into Christianity, and it’s as if they creat a dual sided god or Jesus, “Christ the redeemer”  versus “Christ the judge” which have two very different connotations.

Morrison wrote at length about the violence that black girls and women undergo as victims of racism and patriarchy and the dehumanization they face, especially at the hands of white people, for example Pecola being compared to a horse when she was in the hospital by a doctor, which furthers the point Morrison was making with the shopkeeper, that black women are treated as subhuman.

This was intense and beautiful and entertaining, but not positive entertaining. My attention was rapt the entirety of this book and I cannot wait to recommend it to others.

This was such an interesting look into class designations and marriage in the 1880s. I think it’s really cool that it was based off of Jack the Ripper and I wonder if it’s one of the first thrillers based off of a real serial killer, especially because it was decently recent after the attacks (30 yrs or so). 

I thought it was interesting that Mrs. Bunting was the one investigating her tenant Mr. Sleuth and she was juxtaposed against the incompetent Scotland Yard as the smart detective, which seems a bit feminist for the time it was written (1911). 

I also found the fact that it was a psychological thriller interesting, especially because most books would’ve focused on the killer, yet we’re seeing the effects of the killers on Mrs. Bunting and her community instead. I also like the analysis of class relationships because Mr. Sleuth was Mrs. Buntings tenant so there was a sort of master/servant relationship there, and he was the one whose funds were keeping Mr. And Mrs. Bunting afloat, yet Mrs. Bunting ignored all relevant social structures to investigate him. This was an extremely progressive novel for it’s time.