wren_rainbow's Reviews (451)

Cute, fast paced romance. Didn’t feel particularly strong about the main characters but did become attached to little Jack. Would recommend. 

This was much better than the first book! The characters have more substance and the stories and backgrounds are flushed out a bit more. This was a fun journey to go on and I appreciated that our heroine although powerful she does have moments of doubt and fear. Every time I start to read it feels like being submerged into this alternate universe of where I live and I love it! For some reason her love interests seems to always fall flat to me. Looking forward to the last book in this trilogy! It’s a fun read, that isn’t too serious but has the right amount of tension.

Enjoyed learning about the world below London, it was an interesting take. What I particularly enjoyed was meeting new characters and learning a bit about their species and some history. Other than that the book wasn’t too interesting and wouldn’t recommend. 

I’ve read Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman a year or so ago and loved it so would definitely try another book by him. Just not this one 

The story telling just drags me in as if I’m sort of hovering over it and often have to remind myself that this world is not my reality. The first book felt like an introduction to the shadow world and bigger magical world that takes place in Brooklyn and I’m here for it! I love that the story is based in real places and even the routes are real( I’ve traveled where they’ve traveled and have vague ideas of where some scenes have taken place) and perhaps that’s what drags me in. I’m intrigued enough to continue the series and see what it becomes despite the low score. My justification: there could have been more explanation and some of the characters were just…there.. no real attachment to them but maybe they’ll be flushed out a bit more as the series continues. 

“So, who’s our real enemy?!” Eren is asking the right questions. This volume was pretty good! The story telling and the reveals are so well done. The art work has improved significantly 

This was a short read yet it told so much yet, so little. Haven’t quite figured out my thoughts but looking forward to watching the movie in the next few days. Maybe I’ll be able to put my thoughts into words after watching it. Though for sure I wish we didn’t have such an ambiguous ending!!

Update 11/20/21: The movie was well done! My biggest con is that you can tell that the actresses are certainly not white passing despite the black and white look. I appreciated the film work in locations where they are passing for white they look lighter whereas in other places where they aren’t, they appear darker. There was a part of the book that went over my head that I finally understood after watching the movie. “We are all passing for something” is not only referring to being black and passing as white but also the main character passing as straight hence the lack of sex and sex being a grand joke statement from the husband.

This book acts a good resource and starting off point for mental health within the black community and introduces the conversation very well. You can tell, at least initially, that the author put a lot of research into this and provided readers with the references of where the information came from. However, this book was geared more towards black women with families/ women from Baptist - Protestant faith. It starts of as mental health focused then transitions towards using your religious faith in conjecture with licensed mental health workers. 

As a social worker/ therapist, it provided insight and tools to better assist black women with families from a religious background. BUT, the description and title is a bit misleading and needs to say who the book is ACTUALLY geared towards.

Now I did take alot out of this such as being INTENTIONAL in embracing my culture and seeking experiences and community that affirms who I am as a black woman in America when so much in this country tries to tell us differently.

2.5- I was good not bad but also not exactly mind blowing. A lot of cliches for one the spells rhymed…often, “so mote it be”. There was the huge build up to battles to come but you only experience 5 minutes of it but at least the timeline was realistic and the death toll- this weighed heavily on me while reading, death and loss. The first book of this trilogy was by far the best.

11/5/21- randomly thought about this book again and remembered how annoyed I was with its simplicity. The first book started out so well and the trilogy was promising. Marked it as 2.5 instead of a 3 and will keep it at 3 stars just to be nice.

4.5 - It’s honestly refreshing to have Black youth love stories that’s not wrapped in oppression, black trauma, being degraded, etc. I hugged this book for a minute or two and sighed happily. My teenage self wish I had something like this growing up! I appreciate all of the authors for this work and representation of cultural backgrounds, sexual and gender identity, skin color, and body positivity. The representation was..refreshing. Now if this gets turned into a movie- I’m down!

For now this is my review- I’d like to sit on the warmth and positivity this has brought to my being.