A Mixed Take on We Were Restless Things by Cole Nagamatsu

well... it's fine   We Were Restless Things★★★★★Cole Nagamatsu This book feels good on paper: an emotional premise, eerie writing, representation, and an excellent ending that ties into thematic ideas. I only wanted more ensemble cast, and maybe a bit less of whatever was going on with the romance.We Were Restless Things follows the mysterious death…

Sequel Syndrome: We Set the Dark on Fire, and book two is there too I guess

the object of my adoration the object of my disappointment We Set the Dark on Fire★★★★☆Tehlor Kay Mejia Who is attacking, and who is dying? 4 1/2 stars. We Set the Dark on Fire follows Dani, a girl being trained in the art of being a wife. In the inside of the wall, men each have two…

The Midnight Lie Messed Me Up (News at 11)

a god tier cover   The Midnight Lie★★★★★Marie Rutkoski It’s a midnight lie... a kind of lie told for someone else’s sake, a lie that sits between goodness and wrong, just as midnight is the moment between night and morning. The Midnight Lie follows Nirrim, a lower-caste girl living in the home of her middle-caste adoptive…

Yes, Jade City Really Is That Good

the cause of my heartbreak Jade City★★★★★Fonda Lee “Expectations are a funny thing,” Wen said. “When you’re born with them, you resent them, fight against them. When you’ve never been given any, you feel the lack of them your whole life.” Emotionally, I feel like I was just hit by an entire truck. In the…

I Am Still Losing It About Crier’s War by Nina Varela, And Here’s Why

  me every three pages of this book about tenderness between rivals, sapphics, and flawed villainy: You couldn’t depend on much in this world, but you could depend on this: love brought nothing but death. Where love existed, death would follow, a wolf trailing after a wounded deer. In the world of Zulla, about 80…

The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante

The Grief Keeper★★★★★Alexandra Villasante The Grief Keeper follows Marisol, an immigrant from El Salvador applying for asylum in the United States with her sister Gabby, who she's attempting to protect. When her asylum request gets turned down, she's given an opportunity to stay in the U.S.: to literally take on the grief of another girl about…

So, You Finally Read Code Name Verity, and It Made You Cry

  Code Name Verity★★★★★Elizabeth Wein When Caitlin from my wonderful local indie bookstore recommended Code Name Verity to me (in the category of ‘historical fiction + kinda gay), she told me that 1) I would be obsessed, and 2) I would want to reread this book as soon as I finished it. She was right about…

Reminder that Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi Is So Good

  Freshwater★★★★★Akwaeke Emezi “You must study the pattern of the shattering before you can piece it back together.” Freshwater is an exploration of how one must acknowledge the mixing of their realities to find peace with themselves. Following Ada, who has multiple gods contained within her, this brilliantly-written little novel goes into the point of view…

The Slight Disappointment of Mayhem by Estelle Laure

  Mayhem★★☆☆☆Estelle Laure 2 1/2 stars. I see what the author was trying to do with this book: the 80s-Stranger-Things vibe, the concept of vigilante justice, the storyline about abuse. I only wish these aspects translated.This book follows Mayhem, a high school junior who has recently escaped an abusive situation with her mother, Roxy. The…

Blog Tour: Lobizona by Romina Gardner

  Lobizona★★★★★Romina Garber Okay, I haven't decided on a four or a five for this one yet. But I do know I'm absolutely obsessed.  Lobizona follows Manu, an undocumented immigrant confined to her home both by ICE and by her starry eyes. When her life at home falls apart, she escapes to the magical world of…

I Have a BookTube Channel Now! (NOT Clickbait) (Also, SapphicAThon!)

Hi friends! This is 50% a post to announce that I have a YouTube channel now, which you can follow here! As you can see, the most recent video is my #SapphicAThon round 3 TBR! The SapphicAThon is running from May 18th to May 25th and my friends Jami @JamiShelves and Tash and I are…

The Good Place Just Ended, But At Least It Wasn’t Supernatural

“We’ll stop beating this dead horse when it stops spitting out money.” -Repeat Stuff, Bo Burnham.  Crossposted with HerCampus. Recently, one of my favorite tv shows, The Good Place, ended. At first, I was really sad about this. The Good Place is one of my favorite comedy shows ever; it shot me between laughing and…

Complicated Thoughts on Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Wilder Girls ★★★★★ Rory Power A group of girls are trapped at an island boarding school as their bodies mutate and change underneath them. In trying to consider why this book worked so well for me, I keep coming back to this: This is one of the most chilling books I have ever read. (If you’re really…

Reasons to Read: The Kind Worth Killing

The Kind Worth Killing ★★★★★ Peter Swanson Two strangers meet on a plane. The man, Ted, begins talking about his cheating wife, Miranda. The woman, Lily, says she deserves it, and offers her help. And they build a plan to kill his wife. Ted, though, might get a bit more than he bargained for when…

Reasons to Read: Maurice by E.M. Forster

Maurice ★★★★★ E.M. Forster The second dream is more difficult to convey. Nothing happened. He scarcely saw a face, scarcely heard a voice say, “That is your friend,” and then it was over, having filled him with beauty and taught him tenderness. He could die for such a friend, he would allow such a friend…