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4.19 AVERAGE

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Jewish MCs (several gay MCs); mlm side relationship 

wow.

my heart is aching.
adventurous dark emotional informative lighthearted sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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
adventurous dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I liked the story, dont take me wrong, i enjoyed the look the author gave this time period, that im fairly sure i havent read before. my biggest issue with the book lies mainly in the language used. large portions of the text included words that i simply didnt know and would have to refer back to the glossary to find. and considering that i was reading this all online and that the glossary was six pages long, it kinda ruined the reading experience for me a bit. the story didnt have the flow i wished it would have considering how good i thought the story was

The City Beautiful? More like This Book Beautiful. This Book Bittersweet...
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

I have FEELINGS about this book lol - both good and bad :) but mostly good tbh
In terms of good, this book was absolutely beautifully written and I really enjoyed the storyline - it was a lot darker and closer to horror than I usually read but I’m glad I finished it and got to find out what happened 
I felt like the mystery made sense and the way they concluded it was really satisfying - also of course by far my favorite part and the reason I read it in the first place was the Jewish representation and the fact that it was just such a truly Jewish story and setting and just everything - it was amazing to see that because I literally never see that 

In terms of stuff I didn’t love:
Obviously like I said this was a lot creepier and I’ve even heard some ppl on booktok describe this as horror I think (edit: not horror but it’s usually described as a thriller which close enough) which I can definitely see and that’s smth I usually avoid
But really my main issue with it was how it almost veered towards Jewish trauma porn in the middle- end bit. This esp made me uncomfortable because from interviews I’d read with the author it seemed like they weren’t Jewish but also reading their authors note it seems like they are? So ya idk - that aspect would made me way more uncomfortable if they weren’t Jewish so if they are then I’m more comfortable with it I think but still
Either way- personally as a Jew some of those bits were really intense to read as a character or two just go into such specific detail of how they hate us and use slurs over and over and ya 😬 
But overall I really loved this book and would recommend it esp for the Jewish rep and the murder mystery storyline which was well done imo

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious tense medium-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

Damn. This book dealt with so much pain and violence but the characters are wonderful and I was tense the entire time hoping they would make it through. You absolutely MUST check the content warnings. Things are rough. But also so good. Love these boys. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense 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: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings