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soulfullyalex's Reviews (383)
Review was originally posted on Soulful Thoughts on October 15, 2019.
This book! This whole book! I was craving some horror and boy did this one give it to me. I will say that it is on the more light horror side. The horror is not as gruesome and brutal as I had expected, BUT everything else about this book was perfection. I mean the whole premise was just perfect. Mermaids are real and they are mysterious and apex predators residing in the Mariana Trench. What happens when they send a ship full of scientists and hired guns to study them? This book is what happens!
The characters were beautiful. They were so diverse and complicated and they felt so real. The amount of diversity that felt completely authentic was incredible. It didn’t feel like diversity was just dropped in for the sake of it. They were complex characters that had flaws and strengths and disabilities and differences and preferences and prejudices and motivations. And I ate it all up.
I also loved the science in this! I am not a huge one for heavy sci-fi, but the science in this made sense and didn’t go over my head. I mean, it’s a book about scientists how can there not be science, right? But it honestly made the book so much better. The reasoning behind the existence of mermaids and the explanation of all the things happening felt so, so good.
This book literally made me rethink my rating scheme for books because damn. The absolute sense of dread! The anticipation and suspense! If you like some light horror, some science, some murderous mermaids you need to read this book.
This book! This whole book! I was craving some horror and boy did this one give it to me. I will say that it is on the more light horror side. The horror is not as gruesome and brutal as I had expected, BUT everything else about this book was perfection. I mean the whole premise was just perfect. Mermaids are real and they are mysterious and apex predators residing in the Mariana Trench. What happens when they send a ship full of scientists and hired guns to study them? This book is what happens!
The characters were beautiful. They were so diverse and complicated and they felt so real. The amount of diversity that felt completely authentic was incredible. It didn’t feel like diversity was just dropped in for the sake of it. They were complex characters that had flaws and strengths and disabilities and differences and preferences and prejudices and motivations. And I ate it all up.
I also loved the science in this! I am not a huge one for heavy sci-fi, but the science in this made sense and didn’t go over my head. I mean, it’s a book about scientists how can there not be science, right? But it honestly made the book so much better. The reasoning behind the existence of mermaids and the explanation of all the things happening felt so, so good.
This book literally made me rethink my rating scheme for books because damn. The absolute sense of dread! The anticipation and suspense! If you like some light horror, some science, some murderous mermaids you need to read this book.
This review was oringinally posted on Soulful Thoughts on September 19, 2019.
This was absolutely adorable. I mean really adorable. I was smiling while reading this. I loved the interactions between the boys and their friends. The characters were so lovely and full and tangible. THEIR PARENTS! There are a lot of YA books where the parents disappear and these parents were absolutely adorable and real and I loved how they interacted with their children.
Another thing I loved about this book was that Ben and Arthur’s parents completely accepted their children for who they are completely. There was no problem with Ben’s sexuality even though his family is religious. I just loved that there was a story where it wasn’t a problem, since there are many where it is. I really just loved all the interactions between the characters, their growth, their wit. It felt so much like a high school summer fling and I was living for it!
To things I didn’t love there were very few. For one, I sometimes found myself forgetting whose perspective the chapter was from. Each chapter switches between Arthur and Ben’s perspective, and at times it was hard to tell the difference. I’m not sure why it was, but sometimes I would forget. The other thing that disappointed me was the end. I will absolutely not spoil it, but there was something I was hoping for that I didn’t quite get.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes Queer Cute Love stories!
This was absolutely adorable. I mean really adorable. I was smiling while reading this. I loved the interactions between the boys and their friends. The characters were so lovely and full and tangible. THEIR PARENTS! There are a lot of YA books where the parents disappear and these parents were absolutely adorable and real and I loved how they interacted with their children.
To things I didn’t love there were very few. For one, I sometimes found myself forgetting whose perspective the chapter was from. Each chapter switches between Arthur and Ben’s perspective, and at times it was hard to tell the difference. I’m not sure why it was, but sometimes I would forget. The other thing that disappointed me was the end. I will absolutely not spoil it, but there was something I was hoping for that I didn’t quite get.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes Queer Cute Love stories!
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The Backstagers: Rebels Without Applause
Jim Campbell, Walter Baiamonte, James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh
This review was originally posted on Soulful Thoughts on September 5, 2019
I absolutely adored this! Jory is such a sweet, confused boy who is pulled into this magical world at his new school. He is taken in by the Backstagers who treat him like one of their own and like they have known him for years. They just take him under their wing. They are his friends and they love each other like the found family they are. The boys are so different and diverse, from a big burly soft boy to a nerdy science wiz, they are all interesting and different in ways that make them special and important to their friends. I can’t wait to continue this series!
I absolutely adored this! Jory is such a sweet, confused boy who is pulled into this magical world at his new school. He is taken in by the Backstagers who treat him like one of their own and like they have known him for years. They just take him under their wing. They are his friends and they love each other like the found family they are. The boys are so different and diverse, from a big burly soft boy to a nerdy science wiz, they are all interesting and different in ways that make them special and important to their friends. I can’t wait to continue this series!
This review was originally posted on Soulful Thoughts on August 29, 2019.
Oooh boy! I was hesitant about this one for awhile. I mean, I’m not a huge sports fan, but I kept hearing reviews of this graphic novel that included the words “queer”, “slow-burn”, and “amazing”. So I HAD to pick it up! I mean, how could I say no? I was not disappointed at all. This was fantastic and amazing and just… I want more. Nicholas is a boy from a poor neighbourhood who desperately wants to fence and be the best fencer he can be. He ends up at a fancy private school (cue all the awkward private school crushes and romance) and let the drama ensue.
Oooh boy! I was hesitant about this one for awhile. I mean, I’m not a huge sports fan, but I kept hearing reviews of this graphic novel that included the words “queer”, “slow-burn”, and “amazing”. So I HAD to pick it up! I mean, how could I say no? I was not disappointed at all. This was fantastic and amazing and just… I want more. Nicholas is a boy from a poor neighbourhood who desperately wants to fence and be the best fencer he can be. He ends up at a fancy private school (cue all the awkward private school crushes and romance) and let the drama ensue.
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This review was originally posted on Soulful Thoughts on August 22, 2019.
I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It was so sweet and cute. I was smiling while reading it. I loved the diversity. There were so many LGBTQ+ characters that were absolutely adorable and so varied. I also loved all the various mythological creatures that were present. Almost all the characters were a different creature with different characteristics and personalities. The art is absolutely adorable and the plot was so interesting. I loved that there were some different formats present in the story and that the plot was interesting without getting to the climax too quickly. The ending left me wanting to know more. I will definitely be continuing this series!
I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It was so sweet and cute. I was smiling while reading it. I loved the diversity. There were so many LGBTQ+ characters that were absolutely adorable and so varied. I also loved all the various mythological creatures that were present. Almost all the characters were a different creature with different characteristics and personalities. The art is absolutely adorable and the plot was so interesting. I loved that there were some different formats present in the story and that the plot was interesting without getting to the climax too quickly. The ending left me wanting to know more. I will definitely be continuing this series!
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This review was originally posted on Soulful Thoughts on August 8, 2019.
This was such a sweet story about family, belief, gender roles, and loving yourself. Aster was an adorable main character and I loved watching his growth and developing passion and confidence. I think this was a great start to the series that let us learn about Aster, his family, and give some character development that leads into the next book.
This wasn’t absolutely amazing, in my opinion. I loved it and thought it was super cute, but I can see me loving the following books much more. The story was very interesting. Girls are supposed to learn magic and boys are supposed to learn shape-shifting, but Aster doesn’t want to learn shape-shifting. He wants to learn magic and he’s good at magic. I loved that so much of this story was about family and acceptance, acceptance of self and of others. It was a great story about family dynamics and making new friends.
This was such a sweet story about family, belief, gender roles, and loving yourself. Aster was an adorable main character and I loved watching his growth and developing passion and confidence. I think this was a great start to the series that let us learn about Aster, his family, and give some character development that leads into the next book.
This wasn’t absolutely amazing, in my opinion. I loved it and thought it was super cute, but I can see me loving the following books much more. The story was very interesting. Girls are supposed to learn magic and boys are supposed to learn shape-shifting, but Aster doesn’t want to learn shape-shifting. He wants to learn magic and he’s good at magic. I loved that so much of this story was about family and acceptance, acceptance of self and of others. It was a great story about family dynamics and making new friends.