**spoiler alert** Representation: N/A Trigger warnings: Divorce, pregnancy, childbirth, stillbirth, animal attack and implied physical injury and anima**spoiler alert** Representation: N/A Trigger warnings: Divorce, pregnancy, childbirth, stillbirth, animal attack and implied physical injury and animal death Score: Five out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
Sorry, two stars is too much. One star will do. I've removed a star.
What They Told Me was my least favourite book from Hayley Lawrence by far. I had to buy it since no library had it, and wanted to love this one until I saw the low ratings and realised I've read a novel like this before. I glanced at the blurb, which didn't look that original. When I closed the final page, What They Told Me needed improvement. Skin Deep and The Other Side of Tomorrow were better than this.
It starts with Elliot living in a place called Crooked River with her family in the opening pages, that is until her parents divorce and soon plan to separate, much to Elliot's dismay. What They Told Me started well but after the first few pages it quickly deteriorates. The characters are only the beginning of the issues I saw in Lawrence's latest work, as they were hard to connect or relate with at first, especially Elliot, who I found hard to like. Her dialogue was irritating and she thought it was selfish for her parents to divorce, even though it isn't. Lawrence tried to make Elliot grow on me, and it eventually worked, but Elliot's earlier lines left a sour taste in my mouth. I suppose the author wrote Elliot that way to make it more realistic, but I prefer likable characters. I like that it's character driven (even though it's not literary fiction. It's YA.)
The pacing is slow for a narrative under 400 pages, but removing filler pages could quicken it and improve the reading experience. The plot is easy enough to follow, and I liked the theme of divorce and the message about not being able to control everything, but this is the third story I read about this topic. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I'm tired of reading pieces of fiction on the same subject. The other people, like Elliot's friend, Drake, were mostly in the background, and I wanted to see more of them, but the author didn't dedicate enough page time for them. The flow can get disjointed sometimes with non-linear flashbacks, but What They Told Me could work fine without them. Making the progression more linear would help me enjoy it more. The climax is bittersweet as Elliot realises she can keep some aspects of her life before the divorce, but not all, as her mother moves to a new house, leaving Elliot and her father behind....more
**spoiler alert** Representation: N/A Trigger warnings: Divorce, explosion, death of a person in the past mentioned, bullying Score: Six and a half out **spoiler alert** Representation: N/A Trigger warnings: Divorce, explosion, death of a person in the past mentioned, bullying Score: Six and a half out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
What a unique book. I've never read one like this before. I didn't hear of My Brilliant Plan to Fix Everything by Ben Davis, and assuming no library had it, I had to buy it for myself. I glanced at the blurb, which made it seem intriguing. I read it a few days after my purchase and when I closed the final page, it was flawed, but enjoyable.
It starts with Alex, living with his presumably divorced parents, when he comes up with a plan in the opening pages to turn everything around. Alex's master plan is to return his father to his previous, happier state before he had to work as a post officer and all he has to do is to convince his father not to work for four weeks as long as he finishes the novel he started writing, adding a story within a story, and Alex will work for him. I don't know how that would work, but his father blindly accepts the deal. The overarching message here is you can't go back to the past and you must move on, though that doesn't appear until the closing pages, but the execution is heavy-handed. Davis could've made the moral more subtle to improve the reading experience. The pacing is enough to keep the narrative going, but the writing style is more tell than show. There isn't a lot of detail.
I liked Alex as a character but it was difficult to relate to a desperate boy who would do anything to make his father happy again. Alex's plan leads him on an adventure in the middle of nowhere alone, until he meets another character, Willow, but she was mostly in the background, like other minor characters like Alex's sister, Indie. It felt disjointed to switch from one story to another since one of them was more realistic and the other was more rooted in science fiction. Perhaps having dedicated chapters to each story would've improved My Brilliant Plan to Fix Everything. The conclusion is bittersweet as Alex's father finally publishes his novel, and Alex realises his parents will stay divorced and he must move on....more
**spoiler alert** Representation: Autistic characters Trigger warnings: Bullying, ableism Score: Seven out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on T**spoiler alert** Representation: Autistic characters Trigger warnings: Bullying, ableism Score: Seven out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
I wanted to read this since I enjoyed the previous instalment, Do You Know Me, written by the same authors, so I headed in with high expectations once I bought it. I glanced at the blurb, which made it seem intriguing, and I started to read it not long after. When I closed the final page, the book was enjoyable.
It starts (more like continues) with Tally entering Year Eight (the British version of eighth grade) with most of her friends in the opening pages. I noted that Tally uses the term autistic, and not person with autism, so I'll go with that from there. Surprisingly, Layla leaves Tally behind to move to Florida, much to Tally's dismay, and she already said her life is harder than other neurotypicals because she's autistic, which also applies to Year Eight.
The situation looks fine at first but it quickly deteriorates as Tally finds it hard to adapt and adjust to secondary school as an autistic person, and also deal with ableism and bullying. Unfortunately, everything fell apart from there as Tally felt secondary school was too much so her parents sent her to an alternative school where she can learn without the pressures specific to being neurodivergent in a mostly neurotypical society. I liked the plot since it didn't get too convoluted with unneeded subplots and it's distinct enough that it isn't repetitive. I liked the characters, too, and at last, I could connect and relate to them, and I also predicted Tally would bounce back when everything feels overwhelming, and I was right. The pacing is enough to keep the narrative going, and the writing style is basic, but accessible (I think that's intentional, though.) I haven't read Can You See Me and Ways to Be Me, but I'll get those when I can....more
**spoiler alert** Representation: Implied biracial (half Pacific Islander and half white) character Trigger warnings: Hospitalisation of a child and de**spoiler alert** Representation: Implied biracial (half Pacific Islander and half white) character Trigger warnings: Hospitalisation of a child and death and murder of a partner from a gun shot and other people in the past mentioned, gun violence, blood, grief and loss depiction, physical assault and injury, near-death experience Score: Six out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
Well that was a bizarre book. I got Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor from a library giveaway, and I glanced at the blurb, which made it seem intriguing, but I headed in with low expectations considering the equally low ratings. When I closed the final page, it was only okay, and could've been better.
It starts with River (who has no last name) and Sky, living on a place called Island some distance away from American Samoa in the Pacific Ocean (which they call Ocean) in the opening pages. Everything looks typical until they end up in California, which is new to them. I liked the concept of people arriving at a new place, but the execution had so many flaws I didn't know where to begin. The pacing was slow for a story under 300 pages, which made me disconnect from it at times, and Cantor didn't write the characters well, so I didn't feel any chemistry between Sky and River. Sky only had two attributes: she wasn't afraid to hunt and new to California and River's only trait is the unwillingness to hunt.
The writing style was strange, substituting some words like bathroom tree instead of toilet, which disengaged me from Searching for Sky. Perhaps avoiding word replacement would've improved the reading experience. The flashback of the time Sky found it easy to swim but River didn't was filler and the narrative could do without it, and so was the mystery behind the deaths of some characters in the past. The worldbuilding was lacklustre since it mentioned 'the accident' without going into detail. Putting more detail and answering worldbuilding questions would've made Searching for Sky more enjoyable. The conclusion was unrealistic as some people suddenly appeared and killed River, finishing the fictional work on a low note....more
**spoiler alert** Representation: Asian characters Trigger warnings: Imprisonment and incarceration of a child, death of a brother and murder of anothe**spoiler alert** Representation: Asian characters Trigger warnings: Imprisonment and incarceration of a child, death of a brother and murder of another person mentioned, gun violence, sexism, racism, racist slur, religious persecution, sexual harassment Score: Five out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
Okay. That's it. The Truth About Peacock Blue by Rosanne Hawke is an example of brownface. I can't give that book three stars nor can I support her because of that. Two is enough for now.
Well that was a book that could've been better, but I liked where it was going. The Truth About Peacock Blue was a book from a familiar author, Rosanne Hawke, since I've read and enjoyed her other work, Zenna Dare. I headed in with high expectations, but when I closed the final page, it was worse than disappointing.
It starts with the first person I see, Aster, having to go a boarding school, with negative reactions from one of her teachers and her peers, but she tries her best to do well in the opening pages. Everything changes when the police arrest Aster for breaking a blasphemy law and put her in prison, and that is where she stays for the rest of the story, all while her cousin, Maryam, living in Australia, creates a petition to try to free Aster. I liked that Hawke tried to tell a story about the sexism Pakistanis face, but I've already read about this topic before, so it's not too surprising.
Did I mention Aster's username is Peacock Blue to avoid discovery? The pacing is only one of the many issues, as it's slow, even though it's below 300 pages because of filler, which Hawke could've removed for a better reading experience. Like another novel, Yellowface, The Truth About Peacock Blue heavily relies on social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, wait--Twitter is now X, and also mentions CD players and Skype. It's outdated now. I liked the characters and could root for them, but if Hawke wrote them better, they would've been more relatable, too. I like the easy to follow plot, since other subplots don't detract from it, because there aren't any. It only focuses on Maryam trying to free Aster from prison, but I didn't like the conclusion, since it was too open, and there's nothing satisfying about that. Perhaps writing a finish where Aster is free from prison would've been a better choice.
Worst of all is the cultural appropriation since the author doesn't match Aster's attributes. A Pakistani author would've done a better job, and please read Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed for a better fictional creation on this subject.
Addendum: This book supports To Kill a Mockingbird. Really? To advocate for white saviourism is a blunder....more
**spoiler alert** Representation: Black, Asian and First Australian characters Trigger warnings: Near-death experience, racism, racist slur, death in a**spoiler alert** Representation: Black, Asian and First Australian characters Trigger warnings: Near-death experience, racism, racist slur, death in a car crash and other people, military violence and war themes, colonisation, World War Two, Vietnam War, refugee experiences, displacement, PTSD Score: Five out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
Okay. That's it. Between Us by Jackie French is an example of brownface. I can't give that book three stars nor can I support her because of that. One is enough for now.
Well. This one was bizarre. I got this one at a library giveaway, and glanced at the blurb, making Refuge seem intriguing. However, I headed in with low expectations considering the equally low ratings. When I closed the final page, it was hard to enjoy Refuge because of all the issues, especially cultural appropriation.
It starts with the first character I see, Faris, on a boat with other people, escaping from a war-torn country (whose name remains unknown) when a wave tosses them into the sea, but surprisingly, Faris survives in the opening pages. The plot thickens when he discovers other characters from different countries, but, most notably, different times, like the time system is broken, allowing for stuff like this to happen.
Unfortunately, the pacing slows from there, and that is only the beginning of the problems Jackie French could've addressed to improve her creation. The characters also lack depth and sometimes can be hard to read with irritating dialogue, making me disconnect and find it harder to relate with them. I liked where the author was going with a story on the many peoples of Australia and showing how some refugees made it, but others didn't, but the execution could've been better. The plot is strange and challenging to wrap my head around, because Faris landed on Australia, but something is off about it based on the description, which describes a house next to the beach with some native animals. I think Refuge tried to combine fantasy and realism but it didn't work out that well. The supporting characters are only diverse to tick boxes and not do anything meaningful, and there were too many (removing some could improve the reading experience.) Could the author at least name the country Faris came from and not leave it up to interpretation?
The worst flaw of Refuge is the cultural appropriation since the author doesn't match the characters' attributes. An author more similar to the characters would've written a more enjoyable story. I'm so underwhelmed. At least the conclusion is a high note where Faris escapes the realm and arrives at the genuine Australia....more
**spoiler alert** Representation: Biracial (half Black and half white) and Black characters Trigger warnings: Forced marriage, death from an animal att**spoiler alert** Representation: Biracial (half Black and half white) and Black characters Trigger warnings: Forced marriage, death from an animal attack (snake) and a partner in the past, sexism Score: Five out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
Okay. That's it. The Butterfly Heart by Paula Leyden is an example of blackface. I can't give that book three stars nor can I support her because of that. One is enough for now.
This book was awful. What was this? A library gave away some novels and The Butterfly Heart was one of them, so I picked it up and glanced at the vague blurb, which made it seem intriguing, and there was a note saying Amnesty endorsed it. However, when I closed the final page, it underwhelmed me. Scratch that. The Butterfly Heart was worse than underwhelming.
It starts with the first two people I see, Bul-Boo and Madillo, both biracial, living in Zambia, concerned over their friend Winifred and feel something is going on. They call upon this magic snake person, Ifwafwa, to help them, introducing an element of magical realism into the narrative, but calling it a fantasy is a massive stretch since The Butterfly Heart has mostly realistic roots. I liked the setting since there's only one work of fiction I know set in Zambia, but I had issues with everything else. The characters lack depth so it was hard to connect or relate to them. Adding more depth could've solved that problem.
I liked where the author was going with The Butterfly Heart, a story about forced marriage and women's rights violations, but the execution could've been better in many ways. First, why is there a magical snake person to solve Winifred's predicament when community action could've led to the same result? There is no exploration of the intersectionality between race and class, instead it sent a message about people mistreating women and stopped there when it could go further. The writing style is disjointed sometimes when it switched to first person protagonist to third person omniscient POV, but sticking to one POV would've been an improvement.
The pacing is slow even though it's 200 pages, but removing filler would've increased engagement, and the tone is so preachy I thought Paula Leyden used a sledgehammer to get her point across. Don't treat the reader like they need force-feeding, instead let them figure it out. The worst aspect of The Butterfly Heart is the cultural appropriation, which made me only give The Butterfly Heart five out of ten. A Black author would've done a better job. The conclusion is dramatic as the snake person kills the antagonist and finishes everything. I can't believe Amnesty endorsed this one. I'm so disappointed....more
**spoiler alert** Representation: N/A Trigger warnings: Military violence and war themes, explosions, blood, grief and loss depiction, death of a siste**spoiler alert** Representation: N/A Trigger warnings: Military violence and war themes, explosions, blood, grief and loss depiction, death of a sister in the past in a body of water and a mother, physical injury, conscription, hospitalisation, panic attack Score: Six out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross was overhyped. So overhyped. I wanted to read this one ever since it won an award for the Best Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction book in 2023. No library had it at the time so I had to buy it. I glanced at the blurb, making it seem intriguing, but when I closed the final page, I thought it was only okay.
It starts with Iris Winnow and Roman Kitt, living their separate lives amid a war between two all powerful beings, with Iris sending letters to her missing brother while working as a reporter at a news company. Unexpectedly, Roman, intercepts those letters, which is eventually the start of a relationship between the two, even though he was Iris' rival. The story promised an enemies-to-lovers romance set in a historical urban fantasy setting akin to World War One, but it felt more like a typical romance. Divine Rivals tried to do too much, detracting its plot with so many subplots I didn't know what it was about. Focusing on one storyline would've improved the reading experience.
Roman wasn't a rival nor an enemy, nor did he have any grudges with Iris, making the blurb slightly misleading. The characters are okay, but lack depth, and I didn't feel like Roman and Iris had any chemistry and the relationship felt shoehorned, not genuine. If Ross wrote more depth into them, she'd convince me that the two central characters have chemistry. I prefer to read fantasies with little to no romance and not a romantasy, which may explain why the worldbuilding felt like a wasted opportunity. The fantastical aspects were barely there, and how could Roman and Iris live like the war doesn't exist? Plot armour? Perhaps. Expanding the world would've made me enjoy Divine Rivals more. The conclusion is abrupt, leaving me hoping the next and final instalment, Ruthless Vows, will be better....more
**spoiler alert** Representation: Black and Asian characters Trigger warnings: Death of a father in a car crash and cheating in the past, sexism mentio**spoiler alert** Representation: Black and Asian characters Trigger warnings: Death of a father in a car crash and cheating in the past, sexism mentioned, sexist slur Score: Six out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
I wanted to read Check and Mate (the winner of the Best Young Adult book award in 2023,) hoping it would be an improvement over Ali Hazelwood's debut, The Love Hypothesis, but no library had it at the time so I resorted to buying it instead. I glanced at the blurb, which didn't seem up my alley, but I gave it a try anyway. When I closed the final page, it was okay.
It starts with a prologue spanning a few pages, with Mallory unexpectedly beating Nolan in a chess match, then the plot begins with those characters living separately at first, with Mallory not wanting to play chess because of some events that happened. The first few pages are slow until Mallory and Nolan meet and then start a relationship, all while Mallory plays the game she didn't want to play again, chess. I hoped Hazelwood would resolve the problems I had with The Love Hypothesis in Check and Mate, but I was wrong, since I couldn't connect or relate to Mallory, Nolan or any other character, but that was only the beginning of the issues I saw. Perhaps adding depth to them would've improved the reading experience, since Mallory and Nolan had no chemistry, and the romance felt shoehorned in (they only bonded together over chess and nothing else. Really?) I used to like Mallory until I read some irritating lines when she didn't speak about her family kindly, and even though that was a one off, that left a sour taste in my mouth.
The writing style and pacing are enough to keep the narrative going but the latter can be slow at times with nothing much happening. That kind of progression only works when there are well-written characters, but, unfortunately, there aren't any. At least the plot is easy enough to follow. Hazelwood's second latest creation (at the time of writing) has a narrow target audience of either chess enthusiasts or romance fanatics. I'm not particularly into either of them, which is why I didn't enjoy it as much as I could've. The climax is bittersweet as the couple break up, and an epilogue follows, abruptly finishing the fictional composition. Perhaps I'll give this author another shot by reading more of her stories, but my expectations are low....more
**spoiler alert** Representation: Implied Brown and Asian characters, character with a physical disability Trigger warnings: Military violence and war **spoiler alert** Representation: Implied Brown and Asian characters, character with a physical disability Trigger warnings: Military violence and war themes, fire, building collapse, death of people, blood depiction Score: Five out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros doesn't deserve three stars. One will do.
Oh, look, the second part of the Fourth Wing series. Like Fourth Wing, I wanted to read Iron Flame, but so many people placed a hold on it at the library that I had to buy it instead. I was hoping that after reading the dumpster fire that is Fourth Wing, Iron Flame would be better. Unfortunately, the latter was worse than the former.
It starts (more like continues) with Violet recovering from the battle during the graduation ceremony, so she's a second-year cadet, and everything will get more challenging for her as long as she keeps working at Basgiath War College. Everything wrong with Fourth Wing is still here in Iron Flame. I hoped the author fixed the flaws in the worldbuilding and characters, but she didn't. For some reason, the new commander, whose name I don't remember, wants Violet to break up with Xaden. Why? I don't know. It's another plot hole. I used to like Violet and Xaden, but now I feel disconnected from them and can't relate anymore. Nothing much happens for the first 600 pages until the conclusion leaves me on a cliffhanger. I'm undecided whether I'll read the third instalment when it comes out.
To summarise, Iron Flame looked like a promising improvement over Fourth Wing, but in the end, the author underwhelmed me again with her latest piece of literature, leaving me wondering if her works were worth my time....more
**spoiler alert** Representation: Implied Brown character, character with a physical disability Trigger warnings: Fire, explosions, animal attack and d**spoiler alert** Representation: Implied Brown character, character with a physical disability Trigger warnings: Fire, explosions, animal attack and death, death of parents, friends and others by falling, physical injury, near-death experiences, poisoning, blood, grief and loss depiction, murder, bullying, self-sacrifice, emesis Score: Five points out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros doesn't deserve three stars. One will do.
So this one won Best Romantasy and is the novel on everyone's radars. When I tried to get Fourth Wing at the library, so many people placed a hold on it that I had to buy it alongside the following instalment in the series--Iron Flame. Did I mention Fourth Wing will be a series spanning five parts long? Unfortunately, when I read and finished Fourth Wing, it underwhelmed me.
Fourth Wing starts with the first character I see, Violet Sorrengail, conscripted to be part of the Riders Quadrant rather than the Scribe one, all because her mother forced her into it. Why? It's not clear since it's a plot hole. If I made a list of all the imperfections in Fourth Wing, it would go on for so long. The author has put more effort into the romance than the world itself. I must also credit Rebecca Yarros for creating memorable and likable characters like Violet, but I cringed at Fourth Wing at times, especially when Xaden calls Violet 'Violence.' Really?
I was not expecting that one spicy scene to happen toward the 400-page mark, and after I read that, it disgusted me, but there are more of them. Violet is the underdog, as the author portrayed at Basgiath War College, a school of dragons that doesn't care about its students' lives. It's like The Hunger Games with dragons. No one cares if one person in the college murders another. However, in some chapters, Violet doesn't fight off cadets alone. Instead, another friend poisoned Violet's opponents to increase the odds for her. I'm unsure how I feel about that, but I understand how that would be necessary, considering Violet's condition. The worldbuilding isn't there. There's no reason as to why everything is the way they are. I struggle to comprehend how Basgiath War College came to be or why they care about dragons. I'd have preferred if Rebecca Yarros created names by herself instead of stealing and mispronouncing Gaelic words. The conclusion is a high note.
To summarise, Fourth Wing is a high fantasy story that looked so promising, but when I accomplished reading the narrative, it disenchanted me and left room for improvement. Maybe romantasy isn't my cup of tea yet....more
Representation: Latina characters Trigger warnings: Death, murder, physical injury and assault, sexist slurs, dead bodies Score: Six points out of ten. IRepresentation: Latina characters Trigger warnings: Death, murder, physical injury and assault, sexist slurs, dead bodies Score: Six points out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
Oh look, another novel I have but haven't read until now. I didn't realise my first read of 2024 was part of a series until I checked the facts. Initially, Black Notice looked promising until I examined the ratings and reviews, consequently lowering my expectations. When I finished it after I had to pick it up and read Black Notice, it was only okay. It starts with the first character I see, Kay Scarpetta, or Kay for short, who picked off after solving her last mystery when, only after a few pages, discovers evidence for a new investigation. Kay finds a body in a box at a port, and she initially finds it unclear why it is there, but the reasons reveal themselves soon enough. Black Notice's biggest flaw is its characters because I couldn't connect or relate to them, and it didn't help that they weren't enjoyable to read either, as they were irritating. The pacing didn't work either, as even though it clocked in at over 400 pages, it read like it was longer than that. However, removing the filler pages with nothing much happening would work in Black Notice's favour. It can't even function as a standalone, making it more unsatisfying, but unfortunately, no one I know has the previous instalments. Incredibly, this series is still ongoing. In the conclusion, Kay finds the murderer, colloquially known as 'The Werewolf,' finishing the narrative....more
Representation: N/A Trigger warnings: Sexist and other slurs, physical injury and assault, blood, grief and loss depiction, murder, death of people, diRepresentation: N/A Trigger warnings: Sexist and other slurs, physical injury and assault, blood, grief and loss depiction, murder, death of people, dismemberment Score: Six and a half points out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
So this one is the last ever novel I read in 2023, and simultaneously, I finished it in the early days of 2024. All the libraries closed temporarily and I burned through all the other fictional works I owned, except this one. Now I had to pick it up and read it because this story is the only one left I haven't read. Did I mention I had it for years, but I left it untouched until now? It's also lengthy. When I finished it, I thought it was enjoyable, but it has flaws. A Glimpse of Stocking starts with a prologue set in the 1970s with a message from Christine explaining why she had to kill some people to protect Annie, but then it cuts to the late 1940s where Annie is unknowingly about to start her career as an actor, but in the opening pages, Annie lived through her childhood life. 200 pages in, Annie began her adult life and began her career as an actor for a seatbelt ad out of everything. Afterwards, another significant person, Damon Rhys, offered her an opportunity to act his movie, A Midnight Hour, leading to Annie's success. People even said she is the new Marilyn Monroe, which was surprising.
I liked the stars of the narrative, like Annie and Damon, but I don't understand the need for other POVs from insignificant players in the fictional work. The pacing was A Glimpse of Stocking's biggest drawback, as it was an unnecessary drag, clocking in at over 600 pages. I understand that the page count allows for deeper character development, but the piece of literature would be better without any filler. Also, splitting A Glimpse of Stocking into two would be a much needed improvement, as combining them would bloat it. After an incident, Annie spends time recovering from it; following that, Damon hires Annie to act in his last movie, The Fertile Crescent. Her character dynamic with Christine is intriguing, but the spotlight is mostly on Annie. That ending was dramatic....more
Representation: N/A Trigger warnings: Bullying Score: Seven points out of ten. I own this book. This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.
Someone IRepresentation: N/A Trigger warnings: Bullying Score: Seven points out of ten. I own this book. This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.
Someone I know had this novel, but she passed it to another person, who then passed it to me. I put it off for a while until I ran out of reading material, so I finally picked it up and read it. When I finished it, I didn't realise it was part of a series until I checked the facts. Unfortunately, this instalment is the only one I have, and no one else has any other ones. It starts with the first character I see, Elizabeth Allen, or Elizabeth for short, returning to school after some time. Initially, during her first year, Elizabeth had a distaste for school after some events branded her as the naughtiest girl, but she hopes to change that. Elizabeth arrives at school for what I assume is her second year at an institution called Whyteleafe. Everything looks typical at first, until an incident occurs involving some of the students, and that calls for the student council. I don't see many schools having councils with that much power like that, since they can decide sentences like a court; usually the principal or teacher does that. But not here. I don't think Whyteleafe, run by students, would be orderly for long. Here's where the flaws surface: Though I liked the characters, I couldn't relate to them, which might be either a one-off problem or a recurring issue in this series, but I'll know when I read the rest of it. I also liked the mood; it never got too dark or emotional, and the conclusion hit the nail on the head. I hope the first part of the series will be as good if not better than this one....more
**spoiler alert** Representation: Asian characters Trigger warnings: Death of a daughter and friend from choking and a father from suicide in the past,**spoiler alert** Representation: Asian characters Trigger warnings: Death of a daughter and friend from choking and a father from suicide in the past, racist and sexist slurs, cultural appropriation, physical assault and injury, blood, grief and loss depiction, near-death experience, hospitalisation, suicidal thoughts, emesis, gaslighting, bullying Score: Six out of ten. I own this book. Find this review on The StoryGraph.
How come Yellowface by RF Kuang won Best Fiction and not Maame? A Black author would win a Goodreads Choice Award if Maame won. I wanted this after seeing it. I had to buy it after many library patrons placed holds on it.
I enjoyed it, but it could've been better. What is this story? A satire? A thriller? A critique of the publishing industry? A discourse on social media? A piece of literary fiction or metafiction?
It starts with authors Athena Liu and June Hayward. It works as a work of metafiction because Kuang wrote about authors' publishing experiences. Everything else didn't work well. After Athena passes, June steals her manuscript and publishes it as hers after some edits. It was about the Chinese in WWI titled The Last Front. She believes no one would see it if she didn't release it.
The characters were the beginning of the issues I saw in Yellowface because they were flat. The thoughts I had were that June is racist since she wrote about Asians even though she's white, and Athena, the Asian, did nothing wrong. That is untrue. I didn't give Yellowface three stars because of the unlikable characters. I could bear with them. I gave it that rating because of other problems.
June rides high on her success, but questions arise, and gets caught and cancelled online. Yellowface relies on social media, creating layers of self-awareness. It includes reviews, BookTube, Bookstagram, BookTok, Goodreads, The Choice Awards and literary discussions on Twitter, sorry I mean X. Did I mention Twitter changed to X? Yellowface is outdated.
June calls Athena's prose frustrating and inaccessible. That perfectly describes the writing style that uses unfamiliar words like praxis and anti-miscegenation laws or anti-interracial marriage legislation. The only commentary Yellowface provided me is that racism is unacceptable. It has nothing else to say.
I appreciated Yellowface for exposing cultural appropriation. Still, it could've used more nuance by concentrating on POC besides East Asian Americans like Asian Australians, South, British and Southeast Asians rather than focusing on the first group.
The most imperative question is who can write. Can a white person write outside their culture? Kuang thinks not. She used sledgehammer-like responses to answer the inquiry. They felt preachy and heavy-handed. I heard thoughts from the author like, 'No, it's racist!'
Why is Athena like a Kuang self-insert? Athena is so similar to Kuang. Yellowface doesn't work as a satire because it's too realistic. It's too slow to be a thriller.
Yellowface critiques the publishing industry well when it exposes tokenism, appropriation and the difficulties POC authors face. However, it missed the class aspect. June annoyed me when she said publishing was a meritocracy. June stated Athena is successful because she's Asian. Athena's well off because she's rich. The narrative forgot to mention that.
As for the social media discourse, Yellowface could've done better as it looked at a terminally online person. It's a successful literary fictional composition because it belongs to no genre.
I've covered almost everything about how Kuang could improve. Let me know if I left out anything....more
Representation: Jewish characters Trigger warnings: Military violence and war themes, death of a person, grief and loss depiction, amputation, explosioRepresentation: Jewish characters Trigger warnings: Military violence and war themes, death of a person, grief and loss depiction, amputation, explosions Score: Six points out of ten. I own this book.
This novel was hiding on my shelves but I put it off for a while but when I ran out of reading material I got from the two libraries I visited, I didn't have many options left, so I finally picked it up and read it. When I finished it, I thought it was only okay, but it does have its strengths, and it aged well considering the circumstances.
It starts with the first character I see, Lesley, whose last name I forgot, living in 20th century Canada and everything looks typical at first until only a few pages in, her family announces that they will travel to Israel to stay there for a few days, much to Lesley's annoyance. Despite Lesley pleading to stay in Canada, her efforts fell on deaf ears and she goes to Israel anyway. Lesley arrives at a place called a kibbutz (after some research, I discovered that it's like a community everyone contributes to) which takes up the middle pages of the narrative. Here's where both its strengths and flaws surface: Lesley is a realistic character because she wasn't likable at first but eventually, through her development, she grew on me. However, the other people in the story didn't have as great of an execution than Lesley and the author missed an opportunity to write those characters well also. Soon enough, the Six Day War starts, and afterwards, Israel won, and Lesley has a realisation that war is not as great as it seems. The ending is a low note. It's also unclear if Lesley returned to Canada (or I forgot that.) ...more
Representation: Implied Black characters Trigger warnings: Adoption Score: Six points out of ten. Note that I got this book and now I own it. This revieRepresentation: Implied Black characters Trigger warnings: Adoption Score: Six points out of ten. Note that I got this book and now I own it. This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.
The library I got this from held a giveaway with this book being one of those they were donating because they were too old and few people read them. So, I picked it up and finally read it, but when I finished it, I thought it was only okay and I can understand why the library would remove it (most likely to make room for new ones.) It starts with the first character I see, Emma Freke, or Emma for short, but here's the point: Emma doesn't like her surname. At least how people pronounce it as they pronounce it like the word freak and the full name sounds like Am A Freak (her height and red hair also factor into that name.) But other than that she seems typical to me and she has no other problems I know of and I don't consider her unconventional family as a problem that affects Emma. Like in other novels, the characters missed the mark as I couldn't relate or connect to them. Nothing much happens for the first half but the second one is where the plot thickens as Emma is invited to a family reunion somewhere in America which she attends. Everything looks typical at first (did I mention they pronounce Freke as Frecky?) until one of the family members stirs conflict (but that ended swiftly) and afterwards the conclusion is a high note....more
Representation: Biracial (half Black and half white) and Black characters Trigger warnings: Disappearance of a child, death of a father in the past ScorRepresentation: Biracial (half Black and half white) and Black characters Trigger warnings: Disappearance of a child, death of a father in the past Score: Six points out of ten. I own this book. This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.
I am glad to say that the author didn't commit cultural appropriation. It's authentic. I never saw this novel before the library giveaway, so I picked it up. I put it off for a while until I had to get it again after I burned through some other novels and finally read it. When I finished Camo Girl, I appreciated some of its strengths; it was only okay. It starts with the first character I see, Emma, whose last name I forgot, who lives in a predominately white suburb near Las Vegas and goes to a PWI. She's the only biracial girl (scratch that! She's the only biracial person, given the circumstances) at school for the first few pages. Ella's only friend is a person named Zachary, who is neurodivergent, with an implied learning disorder/disability and, most prominently, a wild imagination, much to his detriment as no one wants him except Ella. Only a few pages in, another person, Bailey, arrives at her school as a new student (making him the only Black person in the institution), and everything is going well for Ella, but soon enough, the cracks surface. The characters are likable but not the most relatable. Bailey is the antagonist because he tries to convince Ella to be prevalent by not being friends with Z. Other than that, he doesn't seem that bad. The central conflict is whether to listen to Z or not. She chooses the latter, and towards the conclusion, Z gets lost, but fortunately, the other characters find him, finishing the narrative on a high note....more
Representation: Asian character Trigger warnings: Racism mentioned Score: Six points out of ten. I own this book. This review can also be found on The StRepresentation: Asian character Trigger warnings: Racism mentioned Score: Six points out of ten. I own this book. This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.
This novel was one of many that took part in the library giveaway, and I got this one alongside others, but I put it off for a while until I burned through some of the books I own, and I had to pick it up and read it. When I finished it, I only thought it was okay, but it has its strengths, and it is one of the more enjoyable reads I read. Gaz Takes Off starts with the first character I see, Gaz, whose last name I forgot, living in Australia until there is a trip his school organised to New York in America, but that's where the situation goes awry. Gaz boards the wrong plane, and resultantly, he goes to France; here's where the flaws surface: I can't connect or relate to the characters, as with other fictional works, but this time, Gaz Takes Off compensates by adding some humour (that's funny for once.) Gaz has such a unique dialogue; I've never seen any other character who talks like that. I liked the characters despite their drawbacks. Gaz stays in France with other characters whose names I forgot. Then, he travels to Canada out of all places, where he dwells for the latter half of the narrative. In the conclusion, which took up the final pages, Gaz returns to Australia, finishing the piece of literature (if you can call it one!)...more
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