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ridesthesun's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This was a really really lovely dive into character/personal growth and identity. The prose was simply gorgeous, and the characters are so wonderfully complex and real. I really enjoyed the balance of romance with personal growth and familial/friend relationships. No one's perfect, no one's a villain; we're all just trying our best and failing each other and ourselves sometimes, but we can always grow and do better. We can do best, whatever that looks like for us.
These lonely creatures absolutely stole my heart ❤❤
These lonely creatures absolutely stole my heart ❤❤
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Self harm, Alcohol, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Misogyny, and Mental illness
Minor: Lesbophobia
courtnoodles's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Abandonment, Racism, Alcohol, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Cursing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, and Misogyny
kellyurban's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Transphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, and Grief
Minor: Homophobia
storykath's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was one of those books I had high expectations for based on the hype, and overall I was disappointed. The messages and themes were relevant and interesting, but the way they were executed through the characters fell flat. The characters were believably flawed, but their behaviour and the way they talked wasn't believable. Some of the writing is beautiful, but the prose doesn't slot into a believable narrative.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Mental illness, and Sexism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Sexual content, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Medical content
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
kitausu's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Absolutely loved this!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
averyrembish's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, and Self harm
Minor: Medical content, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia
brookey8888's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I went into this thinking it was going to be a light and cute romance (kind of like what happens in Vegas but diverse) because that’s what people kind of pitch this as. This was a lot more serious then I wanted and I wasn’t in the headspace to read about certain topics discussed in this. I did really like Grace and the growth she went through and I liked her friendships. The romance was so instalove and not a main point at all. I do appreciate the diversity(race and sexuality), but this wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. If this does sound like something you would like then I do recommend you pick this up!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, and Sexism
klor's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Coming of age story for 20-somethings who are suffering from post-grad burnout after a lifetime of education with a side of getting married accidentally in vegas
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism and Misogyny
analenegrace's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Racism, and Self harm
queerolderdaughter13's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
(I don’t think this have spoilers but read at your own risk I guess)
FIRST OF ALL,WOW.
HOLY SHIT.
PLEASE READ THIS BOOK.
This is a wlw book but it focus more in mental health than in the romance but the romance is like super cute and real and the mental health is so fucking accurate and I really related to that as someone with a shitty mental health.
Just wow.
The main character is a black lesbian,who have a PhD in astronomy.The love interest is a Japanese lesbian,who have owns a podcast.
The main character is named Grace and she went to Las Vegas and accidentally married this girl she doesn’t know.Now she’s trying to find the girl while dealing with her own mental health as all her plans for future crash down because being an adult is fucking complicated.
The mental health representation,the racism representation,the lgbt representation,etc etc is just wow.
I love this.So much.
I see this book (in my personal opinion) as a love letter to blackness,to space,to the confusing universe.To those who never give up,and to those who do give up.A love letter to people with bad mental health,to sapphic love,to the lgbt community,to those with childhood trauma,and who were forced to grow up too quickly.To the stars,and to Orange trees,and to nature,to astronomy,to different cultures,to those who struggle with living in a racist homophobic and sexist society,who feel like the world is crushing down in top of them.To those who don’t know what to do with their lives.A love letter to found family,to friends,to mythology,to radio podcasts,to those who have high hopes and expectations for themselves,and to those who were seated those expectations in themselves at a young age and now than they don’t full fill them,and they feel worthless.
A reminder to breathe,let your body and mind rest.Seek help if you need it.
Check tw’s before reading.
(TW’s:
-discussion and depictions of mental illness
-self-harm (scratching skin, nails digging into skin as anxiety coping mechanism)
-past suicide attempt by side character
-depictions of anti-Blackness and homophobia in the academic and corporate settings
-casual alcohol consumption
-minor drug use (marijuana)
-discussions of racism experienced by all characters of color
-past limb amputation due to war injury (side character)
-past parent death (side character) )
(+ some of my fav quotes than maybe convince you to read it?)
“She is okay because she must be, to muster the strength to set up more job interviews. She must be as formidable as the black, swirling universe. It keeps going, and so shall she. She has to.”
“I think lonely creatures ache for each other because who else can understand but someone who feels the same dark, black abyss?”
“No one told her astronomers, the ones that publish research every few months and get tenured at universities and navigate programs at NASA, that those astronomers don’t have sun-gold hair. They don’t have sun-browned skin. Those astronomers don’t have ancestors that looked at the stars as a means of escape and not in awe.”
“It is all in us, Professor MacMillan said of the bits and pieces collected in her office. These things, essentially small rocks and stones now, were once a part of the universe. I know many astronomers think I take a romantic approach to the science, but how can we not when presented with such grand facts? That something so small was once a part of something bigger than what our human brains can grasp?”
“You are made up of stars and the black glittering universe,” she says quietly. “It may be too romantic for most of the people in this field, but it’s true. But you are still just a human. Just a small thing that has to find its way like everyone else in this enormous world. It will not be simple, Grace Porter, and it will not be easy. You may have to make a lot of noise, and the universe’s silence can be oppressive and thick. But you want them to hear you, and they will. So do not, not even for one second, stop making noise.”
“Grace
7:39 p.m.
having an existential crisis. lol text it.
Yuki
7:45 p.m.
[fuckboi voice] wow...without me?”
“Yuki
8:04 p.m.
um excuse me this is what wives are for. in my gay fantasies growing up i always wanted my wife to text me late at night then we’d run away together and join like a circus”
“But it’ll be hard whether you’re in Portland or Florida or the North damn Pole. I don’t want you to stop because it’s hard. I know that’s real easy for me to say, but it’s true. Stop if you need a break, honey, but don’t stop because they want you to. You got too much potential.”
“Grace sighs and stares at her phone. It’s hard to explain that you are tired, bone-deep, rib-deep, belly-deep tired. It’s hard to explain that someone held their hand out to the stars and said all of these can be yours, and you believed it. You believed the climb and the barrier and the gate would not break you. You spent eleven years ignoring that your mind and body said, Stop, breathe, be kind to yourself, and you punished yourself for even thinking it.”
“Even as a child, I wondered why so many of the bad things, the scary things, were women. I asked my grandmother once, and she told me it was the way of the world. Sometimes monsters became women, because women who deviated were monsters. I didn’t understand that until later.”
“This is a story about how deviation from the norm can create scary, monstrous things. What my grandmother didn’t know was that years later, society would still create Yamauba. We would still be seen as dark, terrible things simply for refusing to fit a particular narrative. Perhaps the truly terrifying thing is to step away from what you’re supposed to do and what you have planned. Perhaps you, the monster that you are, find yourself feeding on what you could not bear yourself.
“Perhaps Yamauba were created because we did not want to name something we brought forth with our own hands,” Yuki says. “Perhaps flesh- eating monsters are simply people who break their molds and their boxes, and find themselves demanding all they have been denied.”
“Sometimes people feel ownership over the things that make us us,” Yuki says into the mic. “Sometimes the things that are familiar to us and feel safe to us, remnants of our childhood and old lives, are locked away by someone who wants us to be different and look different and follow their rules. Sometimes lonely creatures are not of their own making.”
“My ‘capitalism is a plague’ radar was going off,” she says. “Figured I’d come join the fun.”
“Everything that is buried will be unburied. Everything that is pushed down will find its way out. It is the way of the universe.”
FIRST OF ALL,WOW.
HOLY SHIT.
PLEASE READ THIS BOOK.
This is a wlw book but it focus more in mental health than in the romance but the romance is like super cute and real and the mental health is so fucking accurate and I really related to that as someone with a shitty mental health.
Just wow.
The main character is a black lesbian,who have a PhD in astronomy.The love interest is a Japanese lesbian,who have owns a podcast.
The main character is named Grace and she went to Las Vegas and accidentally married this girl she doesn’t know.Now she’s trying to find the girl while dealing with her own mental health as all her plans for future crash down because being an adult is fucking complicated.
The mental health representation,the racism representation,the lgbt representation,etc etc is just wow.
I love this.So much.
I see this book (in my personal opinion) as a love letter to blackness,to space,to the confusing universe.To those who never give up,and to those who do give up.A love letter to people with bad mental health,to sapphic love,to the lgbt community,to those with childhood trauma,and who were forced to grow up too quickly.To the stars,and to Orange trees,and to nature,to astronomy,to different cultures,to those who struggle with living in a racist homophobic and sexist society,who feel like the world is crushing down in top of them.To those who don’t know what to do with their lives.A love letter to found family,to friends,to mythology,to radio podcasts,to those who have high hopes and expectations for themselves,and to those who were seated those expectations in themselves at a young age and now than they don’t full fill them,and they feel worthless.
A reminder to breathe,let your body and mind rest.Seek help if you need it.
Check tw’s before reading.
(TW’s:
-discussion and depictions of mental illness
-self-harm (scratching skin, nails digging into skin as anxiety coping mechanism)
-past suicide attempt by side character
-depictions of anti-Blackness and homophobia in the academic and corporate settings
-casual alcohol consumption
-minor drug use (marijuana)
-discussions of racism experienced by all characters of color
-past limb amputation due to war injury (side character)
-past parent death (side character) )
(+ some of my fav quotes than maybe convince you to read it?)
“She is okay because she must be, to muster the strength to set up more job interviews. She must be as formidable as the black, swirling universe. It keeps going, and so shall she. She has to.”
“I think lonely creatures ache for each other because who else can understand but someone who feels the same dark, black abyss?”
“No one told her astronomers, the ones that publish research every few months and get tenured at universities and navigate programs at NASA, that those astronomers don’t have sun-gold hair. They don’t have sun-browned skin. Those astronomers don’t have ancestors that looked at the stars as a means of escape and not in awe.”
“It is all in us, Professor MacMillan said of the bits and pieces collected in her office. These things, essentially small rocks and stones now, were once a part of the universe. I know many astronomers think I take a romantic approach to the science, but how can we not when presented with such grand facts? That something so small was once a part of something bigger than what our human brains can grasp?”
“You are made up of stars and the black glittering universe,” she says quietly. “It may be too romantic for most of the people in this field, but it’s true. But you are still just a human. Just a small thing that has to find its way like everyone else in this enormous world. It will not be simple, Grace Porter, and it will not be easy. You may have to make a lot of noise, and the universe’s silence can be oppressive and thick. But you want them to hear you, and they will. So do not, not even for one second, stop making noise.”
“Grace
7:39 p.m.
having an existential crisis. lol text it.
Yuki
7:45 p.m.
[fuckboi voice] wow...without me?”
“Yuki
8:04 p.m.
um excuse me this is what wives are for. in my gay fantasies growing up i always wanted my wife to text me late at night then we’d run away together and join like a circus”
“But it’ll be hard whether you’re in Portland or Florida or the North damn Pole. I don’t want you to stop because it’s hard. I know that’s real easy for me to say, but it’s true. Stop if you need a break, honey, but don’t stop because they want you to. You got too much potential.”
“Grace sighs and stares at her phone. It’s hard to explain that you are tired, bone-deep, rib-deep, belly-deep tired. It’s hard to explain that someone held their hand out to the stars and said all of these can be yours, and you believed it. You believed the climb and the barrier and the gate would not break you. You spent eleven years ignoring that your mind and body said, Stop, breathe, be kind to yourself, and you punished yourself for even thinking it.”
“Even as a child, I wondered why so many of the bad things, the scary things, were women. I asked my grandmother once, and she told me it was the way of the world. Sometimes monsters became women, because women who deviated were monsters. I didn’t understand that until later.”
“This is a story about how deviation from the norm can create scary, monstrous things. What my grandmother didn’t know was that years later, society would still create Yamauba. We would still be seen as dark, terrible things simply for refusing to fit a particular narrative. Perhaps the truly terrifying thing is to step away from what you’re supposed to do and what you have planned. Perhaps you, the monster that you are, find yourself feeding on what you could not bear yourself.
“Perhaps Yamauba were created because we did not want to name something we brought forth with our own hands,” Yuki says. “Perhaps flesh- eating monsters are simply people who break their molds and their boxes, and find themselves demanding all they have been denied.”
“Sometimes people feel ownership over the things that make us us,” Yuki says into the mic. “Sometimes the things that are familiar to us and feel safe to us, remnants of our childhood and old lives, are locked away by someone who wants us to be different and look different and follow their rules. Sometimes lonely creatures are not of their own making.”
“My ‘capitalism is a plague’ radar was going off,” she says. “Figured I’d come join the fun.”
“Everything that is buried will be unburied. Everything that is pushed down will find its way out. It is the way of the universe.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexism and Misogyny