Scan barcode
silverhill's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Stalking, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Classism, Colonisation, Bullying, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Mental illness
fatedefied's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Abandonment
kat_smith24's review
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Gun violence, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Self harm
skbat's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, Grief, Gun violence, and Abandonment
Moderate: Torture, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Self harm, Animal death, Colonisation, and Racism
Minor: Sexual assault, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
lingfish7's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
- The book is highly quotable and I found myself in love with the wispy ways she crafted sentences in the narration.
- I loved the story within a story. The main character, January, stumbles upon a book that describes a love story between Yule and Adelaide, two lovers who met at the entrance to a door to each other’s worlds. This story was captivating, but it was the secondary story and not the main one. I don’t think the author intended for this story to come across as more interesting but it did. This made the rest of the story feel slower.
- I didn’t love the main character, January. She lacked depth and was fairly one dimensional and stagnant. I liked her movement from a people pleaser to a rebel but that didn’t feel like real growth, only the author’s attempt at character development. It fell flat, emotionally.
- The author’s description of January being an “in between girl” bordered on racist. Her skin was described as reddish and that didn’t sit right with me given the American indigenous population. I also felt like the author’s attempts to make it seem like January was a subject of racism (the book being set in the early 1900’s) felt off and possibly historically inaccurate. It didn’t feel very real.
- I had to both read the hardcopy and listen to the audiobook in order to finish it because of the many lulls in the story.
- By the end of the book I wasn’t invested enough in any character to desire a happy ending. I predicted it would end happy in a fairly stereotypical way and it did. There was no anticipation or relief once it arrived. 🤷🏻♀️
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Racism
lynsreads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Abandonment and Self harm
Moderate: Racism, Classism, and Grief
Minor: Mental illness
spineofthesaurus's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Xenophobia, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Murder, Pregnancy, Torture, Ableism, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Slavery, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Stalking
twistykris's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I switched back and forth between a physical copy and the audiobook and the story-within-a-story was fantastic, if a little confusing in the audiobook (at first it was hard to tell when the inner story was starting and ending).
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, and Self harm
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, and Grief
athryn's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Moderate: Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Sexism, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Confinement
Minor: Grief, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and War