Book Reviews, Bookworm Blogging

Mini-Review Compilation #5

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Would You Rather?

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Would You Rather? is a lovely memoir about a woman who grew up in a sheltered, moderately conservative area coming to terms with her sexuality. The reason this is so revolutionary is because, as Katie herself says, there are so few widespread stories about adults realizing they’re gay. So many people say that they always knew, it leaves little room in the narrative for people like Katie, who didn’t always know. Overall, it was an enjoyable read that I’m glad I picked up! My only complaint was that it does meander at times and that the end kind of trails off for me instead of ending strongly.

Rating:⭐⭐⭐.5

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The Body Is Not an Apology

Systems [of oppression] do not maintain themselves; even our lack of intervention is an act of maintenance.

This was a nice read that focused on what Sonya has dubbed “radical self-love.” The messages embedded in it are deeply important and focus on breaking down “the belief that there is a hierarchy of bodies.” It was quite inspiring to read and made me want to work harder on changing the belief systems cemented within our culture. At times, the book felt a little too structured and, well, self-help-y, but it wasn’t really much of an issue. It’s also an extremely fast read. All-in-all, I’d definitely recommend this book as a jumping off point for leaning more into body positivity.

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Children of Blood and Bone

This pretty much lived up to the hype for me and I’m really glad I picked it up! I don’t remember the last time I lost myself in a book like this, I ended up reading for 3 hours straight to finish it and I literally couldn’t put it down. The half star loss was because it took me a bit to get invested in the characters. But once I did, ooooh boy, I was INVESTED. Highly recommend.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

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Book Reviews, Bookworm Blogging

Mini-Review Compilation #2

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A Safe Girl to Love
cw: sexual assault, kink

This was such a lovely collection of short stories, focusing on trans women. Most of the stories had a pretty emotional impact on me, which says a lot about the writing. Each story is fairly quick to get through. While I enjoyed it, a lot of the characters kind of melded together for me and I felt that there was too much of an emphasis on a certain kind of sexuality (almost all of the sex was very rough, which could be triggering for some). I dropped one star for those two reasons.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Rosemary’s Baby
cw: sexual assault

I put this on my TBR after reading a post about it written by Bernadette @ The Spine Cracker and it did NOT disappoint. Bernadette recommended not reading the blurb beforehand, so I went in cold and I’d like to echo that suggestion. Do NOT read the blurb beforehand! It definitely gives away part of the plot and, imo, is a better read if you don’t know. Anyway, it was a great book, spooky without being scary scary. It actually pulled me out of a bit of a reading slump, which was great! Drags on a bit occasionally, but overall very good.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Gena/Finn
cw: trauma, grief

Wow, this was adorable!! Definitely a quick, cute read (that gets surprisingly deep). It’s told entirely through blog posts, IMs, letters, etc. so I’d recommend reading a physical copy, as it didn’t translate well into an ebook version imo! My qualms are really just that it felt a little rushed in places and the end felt abrupt to me. [SPOILER] Finn, Charlie, and Gena are canonically a triad and no one can convince me otherwise, sorry not sorry!! [/SPOILER]

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks for reading! Have you read any of these books? If so, what were your thoughts? You can also find me on Twitter and Goodreads.

Book Reviews, Bookworm Blogging

Mini-Review Compilation #1

The Fate of the Tearling

This is the final book in the The Queen of the Tearling trilogy and I really enjoyed it! I’d probably rate the books The Invasion of the Tearling, The Fate of the Tearling, and The Queen of the Tearling in order of enjoyment. I didn’t like the first very much, but loved the second, and really liked the third! I thought the plot progression was interesting, although I got confused at times, and I love the characters. I thought it was really nice to see more of the background of the Tearling. I’d definitely recommend this trilogy to fans of fantasy stories.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Meursault Investigation

The three star rating is based on my personal enjoyment of the read, not an objective scale. I would 100% recommend this book to anyone who has read The Stranger by Camus. It provides a fascinating contrast and goes to show that there are many sides to every story. I struggled a bit with the meandering, rambling way it was written, but it served a purpose and it was well-done overall.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Their Eyes Were Watching God

This is another instance where my rating is very subjective. This book is great–it’s just not for me. I struggle with classics and with historical fiction and that’s really why this book didn’t work for me. I also think I would have enjoyed it ten times more if I had read it in a class, as that helps me get the most out of books I wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed (see: The Awakening and Austerlitz). What I’m saying is, this rating is just for me and stars mean nothing.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Thanks for reading! Have you read any of these books? If so, what were your thoughts? You can also find me on Twitter and Goodreads.