Reviews with content warning for Lesbophobia - Kiss Number 8

Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable

18 reviews

marslotus's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

4.75

I really really love the theme throughout this novel of misremembering formative events, such a real thing that can happen so often. I also love how imperfect Amanda is, a coming out story doesn't have to be innocent and the complexity of her relationships is so compelling.

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queenkath32's review

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emotional hopeful mysterious tense

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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clemrain's review

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emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Expressive art, underdeveloped and overwhelming story.

The first third of the book was painful to get through. The second third picked up. And the last third sped through everything.

It took me a month to finish this, and that included me pushing through the first hundred pages over three days, not reading it for a month and completing the rest of the book slowly over two hours.

There was just a lot going on in this story and it would’ve been much better if the story arc spanned volumes instead of just pages of one volume.

I did not enjoy the characters.

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rachelditty's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.25

I really enjoyed this! I didn't know anything about it before reading; I only knew it was queer. I was surprised when the first half wasn't centered around anything LGBT+, and more focused on something strange happening to Mads' family circumstances. But as things unfolded and Mads' worldviews were dissected, I started liking the story more and more. Religion especially was used in a way I'd never really seen before--the main character interacts with members of the church who are bigoted, but still attends mass because she feels it's a place where she is part of a community and things can really feel safe for her. I thought the story was really well done, and even the more disrespectful aspects of the characters' views were portrayed super well and wrapped up neatly. So glad I read this, it was awesome.

Quotes I liked:

"Was it worse to leave him like that or to tell him he was ust part of a sciece experiment? A baking soda volcano, thrown together last minute, without thought. Without care." (p. 237)

"I could have pushed harder, gotten mom to let me stay home. But maybe I wanted to be judged. Maybe I knew the scale of 1 to 10 didn't even come close to being able to rank what I had done." (p. 244)

"Or I can just be myself, and tell people, 'Hey, I'm Amanda! And I happen to be gay!' Maybe even reverse it. 'Hey, I'm gay! And I happen to be Amanda!'" (p. 262).

"Dad was right. Always choose flying over invisibility." (p. 271).

"We don't get to choose who we love. But sometimes we get lucky and fall for someone wonderful." (p. 280).

"Kinda crazy that I had ever thought I was alone." (p. 291).

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