wren_rainbow's Reviews (451)

The murder and the mystery was inventive and kept me interested. However, the romance was not it! Gabriel is intrusive and domineering. I’ve been trying to keep in mind that this was written in 2004 so it’s reflecting the romance of that time and perhaps also the generational differences of what was considered romance. I could not stand him or any of the romance scenes it felt forced and not genuine. Towards the end I just skipped over the romance scenes. I thought I knew who the murderer was but was taken by surprise. Enjoyed the linguistic aspect of the story and would definitely read a story with Erin and Gabriel but without the romance. 

It was good and will keep it on my shelf! But it has left me with mix emotions. I know it was written in 2017 so I’ll keep that in mind. We already have soo many books where our black boys and men and our lives are written as poverty stricken characters where they have to decide between joining a gang for survival or to overcome but consistently beaten. Soo many books of the same storyline and we’re more than that, we can just thrive and be. But then I think about when I did family therapy  and realize some of my teens and younger boys were going through the exact struggle as Lolly and it was 2020-2021. They didn’t see there could be other outlets. So Lolly’s story is an updated version of the usual tale that I’d definitely recommend for the current young generation who are still experiencing the same struggles. Also the Lego outlet was very creative and didn’t think about Legos as an artistic outlet but would have used it as part of play therapy. I wish I could see Lolly’s creations in real life. Especially his and Rose’s merged creation! I tried so hard to visualize and was so upset that I couldn’t see them they sounded AMAZING!! 

It was okay. Once we started learning the back story of each character and their roles then it became a bit more interesting. However this doesn’t happen until the end. But I did enjoy trying to figure out who is the victim and who is the killer.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!!  I may have cried tears of joy for FINALLY seeing myself, people who look like me, people I went to school with in elementary school and middle school( PWIs thereafter) as powerful, with powers going on adventures, experiencing cool things and attend a “magical” school. The diversity is top tier!! I loved how all cultures are learned and tied into how marvels are practiced and their education. How each culture brings in their own tweaks into their powers and the world. This book means so much to me and I will definitely buy it and preorder the next book when it’s ready. I wish I had this book growing up it’s honestly next to my love for Harry Potter.  If I had to choose between Hogwarts and Arcanun I’m choosing Arcanun Training Institue hands down. Also, the freaking food!!!!! ❤️ I wanted to try EVERYTHING!!! All of it! 

Also, it’s the little subtle things in this book that made me so esctactic for example; the jumping jollof rice scene where various African contrives say their regional jollof rice is better filled my heart up and to weave this into a magical context. Thank you Dhonielle Clayton!! I will be following the Marvellverse as closely as I did Harry Potter when I was younger.  

This book was real and honest for its time. It gave me a better understanding on down low culture, why some men engaged in this behavior and their thoughts throughout. One on side cultural societal pressures leads some to marrying women and having children while secretly engaging in sex and entire relationships with men. If only heterosexual relationships weren’t pushed so heavily as if that’s the default. 

I did feel it romanticized down low culture and that’s not okay. In this story the women were one dimensional and viewed as an object to portray heteronormativity.  However, I do appreciate the raw honesty of Raymond’s story and life. The internalized misogyny, homophobia, bio phobia. So many emotions in less than 300 pages. I will definitely be thinking about this book for some time 

I wish I had this book growing up!! A smart black girl with natural hair (an afro!!!) who is a magician that saves the supernatural world ❤️ My favorite parts were definitely the talking elevators the way I chuckled during these scenes (currently smiling as I write this). The magical world was intriguing and I loved the spins on our “human events” that were actually magical incidents and spin off names such as Galileo. Looking forward to the sequel on August 30th!! 

Cons: The writing was choppy and a bit clunky. I would read a sentence and ask myself if I read that wrong just to reread and realize there was an editing error( happened a few times). A few of the scene transitions were poorly done. It was difficult envisioning a scene when all of sudden we jumped somewhere else - page breaks would work wonders. Also, conversations: how do we Amari having a full fledge conversation with her best friend then all of a sudden a different character joins in but the best friend appears to no longer exist??? This irked me. I probably wouldn’t notice these things when I was younger.

**end of my cons**
 This filled me and my inner child with such joy!!!! ❤️❤️❤️I will gladly recommend to younger children. 

This was a cute and light hearted romance with a main character,Chloe, the deals with chronic pain (fibromyalgia). Our main character is also plus sized which isn’t used as a problem within the plot as most books with plus sized characters would do. Her love interest, Red, wants to learn more and does his research and accommodates her! I loved that for Chloe and want a Red myself! The little bit with smudge made this story more enjoyable. The sex scenes were steamy 🌶. 

Not sure if I’ll read the other two books but this was a cute read with minimal conflict and good communication between the characters.