This is a very rough and honest book. There is a lot of darkness throughout but Mottley's style kept it in balance to allow you room to still root for Kia and her family. The fact that this was written at the age of 17 is astonishing and I cannot wait to see what else Mottley brings to the table.
This is the first fiction book that I have read that actually feels truly real. I kept having to take a moment to remind myself that this is based on an actual investigation that occured in Oakland, but everything else is fictional. The amount of times I reached for my phone to look something up before remembering says it all.
Very highly recommend, just make sure you're in the headspace for some heavy topics before starting it up.
From the internationally acclaimed Inuit throat singer who has dazzled and enthralled the world with …
Actual rating 3.5
3 stars
I'm new to poetry. A lot of it goes over my head, but I do know that styles and subtleties can vary heavily between each poet. The poetry in this seemed lyrical. I enjoyed it and found it beautiful with being able to hear the emotion and intent behind each story portrayed by Tagaq. Highly recommend going with the audiobook so you can hear it, with an added bonus that she does throat singing between the sections. With that said, I did not grasp a lot of what was being told. I felt like I understood it completely but then when sitting down to think on it, I realized I didn't truly get what was being told. I'm not sure if it is due to the story not being meant for me or if I'm just a little too dense for deep lyrical stories.
Two sisters go missing on a remote Scottish island. Twenty years later, one is found—but …
Witchy Gothic Goodness
4 stars
This was a goodie. Thriller, witch trials and burnings, time travel, mysterious creatures known as Wildlings that show up to wipe out bloodlines. I felt like the balance of jumping around in the timelines was just right.
I'm torn on this one. I feel like the information that is presented in this book is helpful to kind of understand some of the thought processes that Naoki has when dealing with traits that annoy or frustrate the neuraltypical people around him.
There's 2 things that really knocked this book down for me a bit, though.
1) The use of "we" when speaking on his thoughts. Now I realize that this was originally published in 2005 and a lot of our understanding of the spectrum has changed since that time. But for people who are trying to understand or learn about autism, I feel like the generalization of "we" will be hard to read by families who have loved ones that are in a different part of the spectrum.
2) I get that Naoki is a very smart kiddo. But I really don't feel confident to …
Ultimately 3.5 stars.
I'm torn on this one. I feel like the information that is presented in this book is helpful to kind of understand some of the thought processes that Naoki has when dealing with traits that annoy or frustrate the neuraltypical people around him.
There's 2 things that really knocked this book down for me a bit, though.
1) The use of "we" when speaking on his thoughts. Now I realize that this was originally published in 2005 and a lot of our understanding of the spectrum has changed since that time. But for people who are trying to understand or learn about autism, I feel like the generalization of "we" will be hard to read by families who have loved ones that are in a different part of the spectrum.
2) I get that Naoki is a very smart kiddo. But I really don't feel confident to declare that he wrote this book at the age of 13. Now, I realize that this book was translated from Japanese and I would be highly interested to see if there were some embellishments added during the translating process.i just worry that for people with no knowledge on this subject will have high expectations for their loved ones that could cause more issues.
From T. Kingfisher, the award-winning author of The Twisted Ones, comes What Moves the Dead, …
I liked this one.
4 stars
I have never read The Fall of the House of Usher, so I cannot comment on references to the original.
I read Mexican Gothic last year and saw people comparing it with this one, so I was not surprised to see the similarities, or to see in the authors note that they were inspired by MG. I did however find this to be more enjoyable. It felt more streamlined and didn't drag on in any areas. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel to see where it goes.
I really enjoyed this. Full 5 stars from me. But the topics were a LOT heavier than the blurb made it out to be. The cover is also deceptive.
I learned about the Tamil people and the civil war in Sri Lanka which I was previously unaware of.
There is a lot of active racism and racially-driven violence through the book, and a lot of detailed recollections of the civil war. My one complaint would be that it took me a bit to grasp the characters because it felt like it was jumping around a little much in the beginning, but that may very well be a me issue. This is one I will likely see about buying a copy of to revisit at a later date.
Years ago, a reclusive mega-bestselling children’s author quit writing under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly he resurfaces …
oof
2 stars
I have a few things to say on this book. I'm going to try to explain these in a way that won't spoil the book.
Overall, I found the book to be fun, easy-going and well paced. It's like an adult version of Willy Wonka but instead of going to the chocolate factory, these adults get invited back to Clock Island (which all of the contestants has previously ran away to) to partake in a mysterious game. This did not bother me. I saw the ending coming from the first quarter of the book, but I still found it enjoyable to get through.
Now I have 2 major gripes with this, and 1 minor one. I'll save the minor one for last since that's the more spoilery one.
First up is Lucy, a teacher's aide; and Christopher, a child in foster care. I could not stand Lucy right from the …
I have a few things to say on this book. I'm going to try to explain these in a way that won't spoil the book.
Overall, I found the book to be fun, easy-going and well paced. It's like an adult version of Willy Wonka but instead of going to the chocolate factory, these adults get invited back to Clock Island (which all of the contestants has previously ran away to) to partake in a mysterious game. This did not bother me. I saw the ending coming from the first quarter of the book, but I still found it enjoyable to get through.
Now I have 2 major gripes with this, and 1 minor one. I'll save the minor one for last since that's the more spoilery one.
First up is Lucy, a teacher's aide; and Christopher, a child in foster care. I could not stand Lucy right from the getgo. It wasn't her character so much, but the fact that she has adamantly told Christopher that she is going to be his mom while she's struggling to even be an adult on her own. This is truly disturbing to me because I could not even begin to think it would ever be ok to make promises that big to a child ever, especially when you're having a hard time just taking care of yourself. She is blindsided when the social worker tells her she should give up on it because she would not be a stable environment for him. So she was making these big plans to adopt/foster him herself and telling him she was going to without actively having a serious discussion on what that would entail and what she would need to do to make it happen. 🤦♀️ I wanted to yell so many times during these moments.
Next up is Lucy and Hugo. Their relationship gave me some ick. Now, it's not the age gap that did it, because really it's not super crazy, it's the fact that he met and interacted with her as a teen and is now lusting after her that just didn't really make me want to root for them. YMMV on this one obviously.
SPOILERY MOMENT
This one is very much just a me issue. So for the minor gripe, it bothered me that Amanda drowned on her way to the island and that it was all wrapped up nicely with NDAs and everything to protect Jack. Now, I know that Jack made it clear that he was not happy with the outcome of that and it's what caused him to stop writing. But it still just didn't sit well with me.
Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job …
Solid 3.5 Stars
3 stars
This was a solid read. Found the premise to be interesting and it has a good flow through the entirety of the book. I also very much did not see the big twist coming. Would have given it a 4, but the moments that the MC Jess suddenly became randomly horny and wanting to kiss any men she saw were really out of place and unnecessary and didn't add anything to the story. Definitely enjoyed this a lot more than The Hunting Party.
Basic cute story. The colors were all perfect for fall, so definitely feel this would be a cozy spooky season read. I just like for my graphic novels to have a little depth and this was just a quick romp through the pumpkin patch with romance as a big driving force.
I have not read a book where I wanted to shake some sense into literally every character. This book spent so much time trying to explain this super close bond that the sisters shared, but the oldest sister moves away and cuts her contact. I kept going through the book because I really enjoyed the moments that Cecelia, Emmaline and Izzy popped up. I feel like a book about those three would have been a lot more interesting and not as frustrating.
I found this to be very enjoyable overall. I was not able to figure out what was going on until it was revealed. I felt it was well-done considering the small spaxe that the ship provides.
The last 3rd of the book really started to drag on, though, so I bumped it down to a 3.5.
This was a very heavy-hitting book. The characters may be fictional, but Wilson does a fantastic job of making it feel like they are real.
This story branches over multiple generations of women from the Dakhota tribe. Seed keeping is the running theme through the book as it ties the ancestry together through the generations, from hiding the seeds as they were being murdered for land, or when their children were being stolen from them, or even using the seeds to help call their families home. I feel this is one that everyone should read. I will be keeping a copy of this for myself to revisit in the future.
