emotional funny hopeful lighthearted

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful inspiring relaxing 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

I tore through this thing in 2 days. One of the sweetest, brightest  most uplifting books I've ever read. The love story is so sweet and watching the main character as he grows to love the children is such a treat. This book is full to the brim with joy. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

(As I was not aware, at the time of reading, of the quite horrifying implications of taking genocide on Native American peoples as inspiration about such a rather light-hearted story, this fact is not taken into consideration in my review.)

This book was quite slow and seemed to drag on, but it also seemed realistic. Linus is a man used to routine and a monotonous life. That this might be mirrored in his recountings makes sense. Not having read any other of Klune's works, I cannot say whether this is intentional or not. It also seemed to easy at times: There is a village that hates everyone from the island. But do not worry, they just need to talk to them to understand that they are normal people, too, though they might look different, and voilà - wide-spread acceptance! Linus holds the power of suggesting doing things differently or at all and it all working out in the end as if by magic.

It is great to see Linus become aware of the systematic unfairness of the system he's working in and then actively see him take a stance against it. I would have prefered it if it went beyond
a brief reveal that he took all files to a reporter to reveal how bad the system is à la wikileaks
, but I understand that this is not a story about fighting against a discriminatory system, it's a story about two men meeting and falling in love. The intrigue behind Arthur's identity draws you in and makes you guess along.

Overall, though I had wished for a faster pace, I quite enjoyed this book.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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: Complicated

This is the closest thing to a perfect novel I’ve ever read. I don’t even have enough words to describe it. Just read it, friends. Read it. You will be delighted, moved, stirred, and overjoyed.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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: Complicated

The start of the book was pretty slow and I didn't like Linus at first, but then in the setting of the others, he grew on me. "A Burning Secret" is on the back of the book as one of the plot hooks, but frankly the secret isn't brought up until two-thirds of the way through. That being said, I really liked this book and how much emotion is in it. I'm incredibly fond of Lucy.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings