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sassyread's review
It was fast in the beginning and got very slow and quite boring and the characters are in high school and it didn’t appeal to me much.
ashlislibrary's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Alcoholism, and Rape
aecatec's review against another edition
3.0
Crystal's House of Queers is a book that promises a gut punch of emotions, messy characters, and a house that becomes a home for queer kids, and it delivers on that!
Crystal, Haley and Payton are very distinct characters that have all been touched by drugs, alcohol or abuse in their family lives, and find safety and home within each other. They brought to light how important queer love, whether it's platonic or romantic, is to queer well-being.
I enjoyed the exploration of so many kinds of relationships between women! Mothers and daughters, grandmothers and grandchildren, old friends, new friends, sisters, new lovers, old lovers. There were some wonderful messages about unity and standing up for each other in times of crisis.
However:
- God, so many things happened, and they happened so fast. This is two or three books' worth of drama and trauma in one. Between sick grandparents, multiple instances of sexual assault, the reappearance of long-lost people in more than one main character's lives, breakups, threats, family moving away, and so many secrets, it was overwhelming. And it happens in such a short time span that it makes it even harder to wrap my head around. Too many characters brought in towards the end with little resolution of their arcs. I'll include the brutality of the sexual assault scenes in this section too. It was just too much.
- The treatment of the Native characters. There's only three of them and the two that are the most relevant are trying to keep their white partners around at all costs, and it really didn't sit right with me.
- The dialogue, while having its bright moments, could also lean into unnatural and repetitive.
- Some absolutely heinous, abusive behavior was forgiven because people were nice once.
Overall, this was entertaining read with touching, emotional moments, but too loaded for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
Crystal, Haley and Payton are very distinct characters that have all been touched by drugs, alcohol or abuse in their family lives, and find safety and home within each other. They brought to light how important queer love, whether it's platonic or romantic, is to queer well-being.
I enjoyed the exploration of so many kinds of relationships between women! Mothers and daughters, grandmothers and grandchildren, old friends, new friends, sisters, new lovers, old lovers. There were some wonderful messages about unity and standing up for each other in times of crisis.
However:
- God, so many things happened, and they happened so fast. This is two or three books' worth of drama and trauma in one. Between sick grandparents, multiple instances of sexual assault, the reappearance of long-lost people in more than one main character's lives, breakups, threats, family moving away, and so many secrets, it was overwhelming. And it happens in such a short time span that it makes it even harder to wrap my head around. Too many characters brought in towards the end with little resolution of their arcs. I'll include the brutality of the sexual assault scenes in this section too. It was just too much.
- The treatment of the Native characters. There's only three of them and the two that are the most relevant are trying to keep their white partners around at all costs, and it really didn't sit right with me.
- The dialogue, while having its bright moments, could also lean into unnatural and repetitive.
- Some absolutely heinous, abusive behavior was forgiven because people were nice once.
Overall, this was entertaining read with touching, emotional moments, but too loaded for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Drug use, Alcoholism, Addiction, Child abuse, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, Outing, and Pregnancy
Minor: Death of parent and Excrement
ellliesbooks06's review against another edition
4.0
Parents, you must read this. It is essential that every adult who is tutoring a child read books like this one. It has so much facts that sometimes we all go through that is sad to realize that it doesn't matter wether you are men, women, gay, transgender, etc.
If you are not open minded, don't read it. If you are stuck in old society rules and are not willing to open your eyes please don't read it. If you are one of those parents who care more about others than your own child please don't read it.
To all of you willing to care, listen to this audio book and make a change.
If you are not open minded, don't read it. If you are stuck in old society rules and are not willing to open your eyes please don't read it. If you are one of those parents who care more about others than your own child please don't read it.
To all of you willing to care, listen to this audio book and make a change.
kelleenmoriarty's review against another edition
1.0
I'm stopping this audiobook at 32%.
I was very excited about this book because of the gorgeous cover and the promise of a complex, joyful story about queer disabled teenagers finding each other in their struggles. However, as a person with a learning disability, I was both disappointed and offended by the way that IEPs and disabled high school students were portrayed in this book, not least because the author continually used the language of "special needs." I don't know anything about the author, so it's possible that they are themself disabled, but I personally had a very hard time swallowing this representation.
I also found the inclusion of COVID in the book to be flip and the experience of reading it during the pandemic was haunting and stressful.
The audio performance by Hayley Peterson is strong, lush, and smooth.
Thanks to NetGalley and SkipStone Publishing for the ARC.
CW: COVID-19, child abuse, sexual violence, intimate partner abuse
I was very excited about this book because of the gorgeous cover and the promise of a complex, joyful story about queer disabled teenagers finding each other in their struggles. However, as a person with a learning disability, I was both disappointed and offended by the way that IEPs and disabled high school students were portrayed in this book, not least because the author continually used the language of "special needs." I don't know anything about the author, so it's possible that they are themself disabled, but I personally had a very hard time swallowing this representation.
I also found the inclusion of COVID in the book to be flip and the experience of reading it during the pandemic was haunting and stressful.
The audio performance by Hayley Peterson is strong, lush, and smooth.
Thanks to NetGalley and SkipStone Publishing for the ARC.
CW: COVID-19, child abuse, sexual violence, intimate partner abuse
mockingjayreads's review
2.0
2.5 stars. I DNFed this at 33% percent.
This book had a really great premise, and I was very interested going in. I love a small town with atmosphere, I like queer-centric stories. This is labelled as New Adult so I expected it to cover some hard-hitting topics.
And it does. There's some graphic scenes in this, some violent, some sweet, but it's all very strong. Some of it feels left of reality, some of it is so painfully searing that I want to commend the author. However these emotional moments were ruined for me. The tone flip-flops often, and I feel like I'm reading a younger YA with adult topics. It's quite strange in tone, and it made me feel uncomfortable in a way that I don't think was intended. These girls are teens, and they're very sexualised. Then they talk about how they're sick of men sexualising them. It made me as a reader feel icky. It's a very strange lense to look through at these topics, but I don't think the author ever intends for me to feel that way. There's a missing element of awareness.
The story also contains a lot emotionally, and I was already exhausted at 30%. It tries to shove all of these topics into the story, and doesn't do a great job at handling these topics. It touches on class, female friendship, sexual awakening, coming if age, feminism and male domination, current/recent social and health issues including Trump and COVID (this is the first book I've read where covid is featured, and wow, did that make my head spin), disability, possible death of a family member queerness, trauma, abandonment... And the list goes on. All that, in only the first third! My head is reeling and it makes the story feel like it's fighting itself. I'm getting whiplash, and these topics aren't being given enough time to breathe and to be given care and attention.
I really liked the idea and the writing is clean, the atmosphere is nice. The characters outside of the three girls fall a little flat for me, and even Crystal, the main girl, seems to only have a few personality traits. I think this community and area could've been a really strong setting for a interesting story to blossom, but the tone was just really weird and the story felt unfocused. Ultimately it putters out and left me wanting, and I'm too uncomfortable to finish.
thanks to netgalley for providing me with a copy of this audiobook.
This book had a really great premise, and I was very interested going in. I love a small town with atmosphere, I like queer-centric stories. This is labelled as New Adult so I expected it to cover some hard-hitting topics.
And it does. There's some graphic scenes in this, some violent, some sweet, but it's all very strong. Some of it feels left of reality, some of it is so painfully searing that I want to commend the author. However these emotional moments were ruined for me. The tone flip-flops often, and I feel like I'm reading a younger YA with adult topics. It's quite strange in tone, and it made me feel uncomfortable in a way that I don't think was intended. These girls are teens, and they're very sexualised. Then they talk about how they're sick of men sexualising them. It made me as a reader feel icky. It's a very strange lense to look through at these topics, but I don't think the author ever intends for me to feel that way. There's a missing element of awareness.
The story also contains a lot emotionally, and I was already exhausted at 30%. It tries to shove all of these topics into the story, and doesn't do a great job at handling these topics. It touches on class, female friendship, sexual awakening, coming if age, feminism and male domination, current/recent social and health issues including Trump and COVID (this is the first book I've read where covid is featured, and wow, did that make my head spin), disability, possible death of a family member queerness, trauma, abandonment... And the list goes on. All that, in only the first third! My head is reeling and it makes the story feel like it's fighting itself. I'm getting whiplash, and these topics aren't being given enough time to breathe and to be given care and attention.
I really liked the idea and the writing is clean, the atmosphere is nice. The characters outside of the three girls fall a little flat for me, and even Crystal, the main girl, seems to only have a few personality traits. I think this community and area could've been a really strong setting for a interesting story to blossom, but the tone was just really weird and the story felt unfocused. Ultimately it putters out and left me wanting, and I'm too uncomfortable to finish.
thanks to netgalley for providing me with a copy of this audiobook.
bookishlesbian's review
2.0
4,14 on CAWPILE
The publisher kindly provided me with an arc through netgalley.
tw / sexual assault, homophobia, abuse,
This could have been so amazing but sadly it just wasn't. I think if this was more fleshed out it would have been but not the way this was done. It's the fact that so much happens and this all happens in such little time which makes it totally unbelievable to me. Also people have done horrible things and one "sorry" and all us forgiven, that doesn't sit right with me. Pretty disappointed because I thjnk if not all these heavy subjects were thrown into one story and it took place over a longer period of time it would have been a lot more believable and reslistic.
The publisher kindly provided me with an arc through netgalley.
tw / sexual assault, homophobia, abuse,
This could have been so amazing but sadly it just wasn't. I think if this was more fleshed out it would have been but not the way this was done. It's the fact that so much happens and this all happens in such little time which makes it totally unbelievable to me. Also people have done horrible things and one "sorry" and all us forgiven, that doesn't sit right with me. Pretty disappointed because I thjnk if not all these heavy subjects were thrown into one story and it took place over a longer period of time it would have been a lot more believable and reslistic.
crossyc's review
1.0
This was like the worst of the Wattpad stories I used to read just because they had Harry Styles in them. So cliched, poorly written, and with no real depth. Struggled to finish this.
annas_sweets_and_stories's review
5.0
4.5
Woah. This book is super intense but oh so important. It's a difficult one to process but damn, I really loved it. It's set in this small town in Alaska where three queer girls are just trying to be out and proud and stand up to the abusive men in their lives. This book is SO FUCKING QUEER. It's unapologetic and amazing. Crystal is neurodivergent, as her her brother who is also physically disabled, due to negligence on their absent mothers part during pregnancy. They both live with their grandparents in the small Alaskan town where covid is a myth and queer people don't exist, supposedly. But Crystal is queer and she wants to be with her best friend Haley, except Haley is trapped in a toxic abusive relationship with her boyfriend who happens to be the mayors son. He has all the privilege and power and physically, emotionally, and sexually abuses Haley, out in the open and everyone except Crystal just accepts it. But Haley has finally had enough and she and Crystal end up at Crystals house along with a new girl in town. Payton has just come to town and is out and queer and not afraid of boys who hurt people. She and her younger sisters are on their own after leaving their own abusive situation and refuse to bow down to queerphobia and hatred. Payton is dead set on helping Crystal and Haley learn to "wave their dyke flag" and to fight against all the toxicity in their lives.
This book is heavy. There's on page sexual assault and drug use and emotional manipulation, in addition to covid, pregnancy, and hospitalization. There is a lot to cover but it's done with grace.
There is a lot of outwardly sexual content, which made me uncomfortable at times but that is my own sex-repulsion when it comes to sex scenes with vaginas. It is worth noting for my fellow asexuals that the sex scenes are frequent and detailed if that is also something you struggle with.
as a whole, I definitely recommend this book and was absolutely here for the unapologetic lesbian content. The only reason I didn't do 5 stars was because I felt the focus on sex was a little too pertinent. A casual comment about how physicality isn't necessary to be queer would've been appreciated.
Woah. This book is super intense but oh so important. It's a difficult one to process but damn, I really loved it. It's set in this small town in Alaska where three queer girls are just trying to be out and proud and stand up to the abusive men in their lives. This book is SO FUCKING QUEER. It's unapologetic and amazing. Crystal is neurodivergent, as her her brother who is also physically disabled, due to negligence on their absent mothers part during pregnancy. They both live with their grandparents in the small Alaskan town where covid is a myth and queer people don't exist, supposedly. But Crystal is queer and she wants to be with her best friend Haley, except Haley is trapped in a toxic abusive relationship with her boyfriend who happens to be the mayors son. He has all the privilege and power and physically, emotionally, and sexually abuses Haley, out in the open and everyone except Crystal just accepts it. But Haley has finally had enough and she and Crystal end up at Crystals house along with a new girl in town. Payton has just come to town and is out and queer and not afraid of boys who hurt people. She and her younger sisters are on their own after leaving their own abusive situation and refuse to bow down to queerphobia and hatred. Payton is dead set on helping Crystal and Haley learn to "wave their dyke flag" and to fight against all the toxicity in their lives.
This book is heavy. There's on page sexual assault and drug use and emotional manipulation, in addition to covid, pregnancy, and hospitalization. There is a lot to cover but it's done with grace.
There is a lot of outwardly sexual content, which made me uncomfortable at times but that is my own sex-repulsion when it comes to sex scenes with vaginas. It is worth noting for my fellow asexuals that the sex scenes are frequent and detailed if that is also something you struggle with.
as a whole, I definitely recommend this book and was absolutely here for the unapologetic lesbian content. The only reason I didn't do 5 stars was because I felt the focus on sex was a little too pertinent. A casual comment about how physicality isn't necessary to be queer would've been appreciated.