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skylarkblue1's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
5.0
Representations: https://trello.com/c/8wNj7gDc/79-the-house-in-the-cerulean-sea-by-tj-klune
Oh man oh man how I wish I picked up this book so much sooner! It's been sat on my shelf now for a good couple years, knowing I'd love it but never quite having the moment to grab it. I now really regret not doing so sooner, and will most certainly read the other books of his I own too as soon as I can!
Linus is stuck in life. He lives in a rainy city. He has a very strict job. The only things keeping him going are his cat and a motivational mouse pad depicting the sea with the saying "don't you wish you where here". Until one fateful day, Extremely Upper Management calls him for a meeting and ships him off to a remote island that no one knows about..
I absolutely adored this book. It's message about love and acceptance, while also learning to love yourself in the face of adversity. The characters where all so incredibly sweet and adorable, I just wanted to pick all of them up and give them a big hug <3
There's not too much plot, it's mainly just about the relationship between Linus and the residents of the island. A lot still happens however, there's trips to the village, adventures and more!I wouldn't really call it a romance though, while yes there is a romantic relationship, it doesn't feel like an absolutely major piece of the story, nor is it a main focus until essentially the very end. It's just a sweet additional story to the overall book.
The inspiration is being pointed out as being "problematic" but in all honesty.. I'm not sure those people have read the book. The book doesn't glorify or glamorise abusive residential "schools" or anything similar to that. In fact it's incredibly explicit about how abusive the system at its roots is. Arthur's home isn't a "if it's ran by someone good then it's ok" excuse. Arthur's home is a tale about strength together, found family and fighting injustice and abuse together. His home lies outside the system.
Additionally if you read the entire interview, the book was already pretty much done by the time he found out about Canadian residential schools so like. What are you all even on about lmao.
Last point, what are y'all on about that it sounds like the author is trying to be English lol. I'm from the UK and it sounded pretty American to me.
Oh man oh man how I wish I picked up this book so much sooner! It's been sat on my shelf now for a good couple years, knowing I'd love it but never quite having the moment to grab it. I now really regret not doing so sooner, and will most certainly read the other books of his I own too as soon as I can!
Linus is stuck in life. He lives in a rainy city. He has a very strict job. The only things keeping him going are his cat and a motivational mouse pad depicting the sea with the saying "don't you wish you where here". Until one fateful day, Extremely Upper Management calls him for a meeting and ships him off to a remote island that no one knows about..
I absolutely adored this book. It's message about love and acceptance, while also learning to love yourself in the face of adversity. The characters where all so incredibly sweet and adorable, I just wanted to pick all of them up and give them a big hug <3
There's not too much plot, it's mainly just about the relationship between Linus and the residents of the island. A lot still happens however, there's trips to the village, adventures and more!I wouldn't really call it a romance though, while yes there is a romantic relationship, it doesn't feel like an absolutely major piece of the story, nor is it a main focus until essentially the very end. It's just a sweet additional story to the overall book.
The inspiration is being pointed out as being "problematic" but in all honesty.. I'm not sure those people have read the book. The book doesn't glorify or glamorise abusive residential "schools" or anything similar to that. In fact it's incredibly explicit about how abusive the system at its roots is. Arthur's home isn't a "if it's ran by someone good then it's ok" excuse. Arthur's home is a tale about strength together, found family and fighting injustice and abuse together. His home lies outside the system.
Additionally if you read the entire interview, the book was already pretty much done by the time he found out about Canadian residential schools so like. What are you all even on about lmao.
Last point, what are y'all on about that it sounds like the author is trying to be English lol. I'm from the UK and it sounded pretty American to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Child abuse, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, and Hate crime
Minor: Homophobia
Fantasy bigotry (hatred from humans towards magical beings for being non-human), Gore descriptionshales_1243's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Grief, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Cannibalism, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, and Cursing
Minor: Drug use
There was no explicit drug use, but there was reference to drugs briefly by a side character.birdeynamnam's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, and Confinement
bookbrig's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
So many friends have recommended this to me, and I finally found the time to listen to it. I loved the audiobook reader, and the writing did such a wonderful job of drawing me into the story. It was sweet and cozy, kind of like a big gay hug, as one of my friends put it. It was a lovely choice for a summer read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Xenophobia
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Confinement
julierambaeck's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I wanted to cry in every chapter because of the wholesomeness! Probably the cutest book I have ever read! Loved it loved it loved it!!!!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Death of parent
lwprice1209's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-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
Such a sweet book! Highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Physical abuse
I added all of those content warnings which make this book sound upsetting, but it’s so lovely and hopeful! Read it!tippettreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Drug use, Murder, and Sexual content
ferdie's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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? Yes
3.75
House on the cerulean sea was so comforting. Even the tension points happened quickly, and it was nice to dive into a world that was fraught, but written in a way that felt safe. There is controversy around the book I heard about halfway through the book, and it didn't really change the way I felt about the story, but more so the author. Look into it and keep it in the back of your mind as you read!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Confinement
Minor: Homophobia
4pmbookstacker's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
This is my current favorite read. It was super wholesome, and the relationships between the characters are so loveable. Had a beautiful happy ending that made me cry. A total must-read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Xenophobia, and Hate crime
Moderate: Ableism and Homophobia
fanboyriot's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Read For:
Fantasy
Slow Burn
Found Family
Idiots in Love
Happy Ending
Think Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children vibes but kinda queer. I just felt kinda neutral about it. The humor was okay, the characters were okay, and the setting was kinda meh. I just felt like I had to force myself to keep reading and if I didn’t already own the book I would have stopped. Also, I thought there would be more queer rep to be honest so that was kinda disappointing. Not to mention the fatphobia.
I wasn’t going to read this given the reviews I’ve been seeing recently, however, I already own the first two books so I figured I’d see if it was as bad as some of the reviews were saying. And honestly, I just didn’t understand the hype about it. Even not knowing what the book was based on it was barely a 3-star rating for me, it just fell flat to me.
However, learning that this was based on the Sixties Scoop and how the author decided to turn what was a cruel and tragic piece of history he read about on Wikipedia about how the Canadian government removed a bunch of indigenous children from their literal homes and away from their family only to be adopted to white, middle-class families and he then took that information and basically turned it into a happy little fantasy where the kids live not in an “orphanage” but a “home” like, dude, why?
This kind of thing is still something native people are dealing with and as a white person, it should not be something you’re involved in like this. In America the Supreme Court literally is going to be voting soon on overturning ICWA so states can regain control to remove Native children from their homes and families, this isn’t just some fantasy. This story could have been written way better and in a way that did romanticize trauma and make light of a literal genocide.
I just wouldn’t recommend this one. There are some links on where I got my information from if you’re interested along with two reviews I think do a better job of explaining this than I did.
Links:
Source: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617930246/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=bookmark-ITBC&xid=0efbabda
Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixties_Scoop
Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4032060130
Another Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3601407534
Rep: Achillean, Queer MC
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Death of parent, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, and Violence
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Death, Animal death, and Blood