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emilykatereads's review against another edition
4.0
This book packs a punch that I wasn't expecting.
It's a short, fast-paced read, but it holds weight in the topics is tackles. Trisha goes to the gym to practice Muay Thai and fighting to escape her home, a violent home. After her dad dies, there is uncertainty about her family, and questions to be asked. But she sees her home fall back into the same pattern when her Mom's new boyfriend shows up.
Trisha is angry, and that anger is felt in this book's writing. It really conveyed the emotions she was feeling, and made it easier to step into her shoes. It perfectly conveyed how she was handling the situation, and it made you feel some her anger and frustration. We were also left asking the same questions that she was asking.
The pacing of the story was great. Sometimes with shorter books, I feel the end comes at you really fast, but this felt complete, and it felt like it all came in good time. My only issue I sometimes had with pacing was getting confused about the timeline. The story moved pretty quickly, and I just needed to take a step back to keep up with it.
Plus, being Canadian and reading a book that takes here is always fun! As someone who frequents Toronto, I loved reading something with a setting I can vividly imagine.
*Book received from OLA event*
It's a short, fast-paced read, but it holds weight in the topics is tackles. Trisha goes to the gym to practice Muay Thai and fighting to escape her home, a violent home. After her dad dies, there is uncertainty about her family, and questions to be asked. But she sees her home fall back into the same pattern when her Mom's new boyfriend shows up.
Trisha is angry, and that anger is felt in this book's writing. It really conveyed the emotions she was feeling, and made it easier to step into her shoes. It perfectly conveyed how she was handling the situation, and it made you feel some her anger and frustration. We were also left asking the same questions that she was asking.
The pacing of the story was great. Sometimes with shorter books, I feel the end comes at you really fast, but this felt complete, and it felt like it all came in good time. My only issue I sometimes had with pacing was getting confused about the timeline. The story moved pretty quickly, and I just needed to take a step back to keep up with it.
Plus, being Canadian and reading a book that takes here is always fun! As someone who frequents Toronto, I loved reading something with a setting I can vividly imagine.
*Book received from OLA event*
emmreadsbooks's review against another edition
2.0
I'm so disappointed with this book because I wanted so badly to love it. It had so many things that I usually enjoy in a book - mixed martial arts, a female protagonist devoted to her dreams, and a thriller subplot - but something about it just fell short for me. It's possible that it was just due to the length, as 272 pages is fairly short to accomplish all of these elements, but it's more likely due to the disordered eating that such a sport involves. For me personally, that's a trigger and I wouldn't have read it if I'd known it would be treated in this way.
*Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*
*Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*
theredband's review
1.0
i- what? what the actual fuck was that ending? did i like it? who decided to publish this book? wHAT???
lilibetbombshell's review against another edition
4.0
Real Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
This review isn’t going to be a long one; not because I didn’t enjoy this book (because I did), but because I feel, as an American white woman, I don’t want to take up space which could be put to better use by voices that don’t normally have major publishing house releases targeted toward POCs and their ethnic heritages.
Trish, AKA Lucky, (our FMC) is Trinidadian-Indian but lives in Toronto with her mother. Her father lives most of the year back in Trinidad and only comes up to see her mother for a little while every year. Being Trinidadian-Indian made her and her mother each a minority inside of their own country, and even in diverse Toronto, being Trinidadian is something to be fetishisized. So Trish, having grown up seeing nothing but pain from men in her mother’s life since she was young, doesn’t date: she’s a Muay Thai fighter. And she’s good at it. She lives, eats, and breathes for the fight.
The best pieces of this story are about the inter-relationships between the females in this story. There is a subplot or two that, if they had been handled more adeptly, could’ve been woven in to add more tension and suspense, but the manner in which they were handled in the book came across as less-than-subtle and therefore dragged the story down just a little bit.
This book doesn’t pull any punches (no pun intended), which is very refreshing for a YA novel. It lets you in on the violence, the paranoia, the abuse, the hate, and the fine line between kill or be killed that even a teenager can feel in the heat of a moment. It’s a strong novel for both strong women and women that need to find some strength. I highly recommend it, especially if you’re interested (as I am) in reading books about other cultures and their traditions.
This review isn’t going to be a long one; not because I didn’t enjoy this book (because I did), but because I feel, as an American white woman, I don’t want to take up space which could be put to better use by voices that don’t normally have major publishing house releases targeted toward POCs and their ethnic heritages.
Trish, AKA Lucky, (our FMC) is Trinidadian-Indian but lives in Toronto with her mother. Her father lives most of the year back in Trinidad and only comes up to see her mother for a little while every year. Being Trinidadian-Indian made her and her mother each a minority inside of their own country, and even in diverse Toronto, being Trinidadian is something to be fetishisized. So Trish, having grown up seeing nothing but pain from men in her mother’s life since she was young, doesn’t date: she’s a Muay Thai fighter. And she’s good at it. She lives, eats, and breathes for the fight.
The best pieces of this story are about the inter-relationships between the females in this story. There is a subplot or two that, if they had been handled more adeptly, could’ve been woven in to add more tension and suspense, but the manner in which they were handled in the book came across as less-than-subtle and therefore dragged the story down just a little bit.
This book doesn’t pull any punches (no pun intended), which is very refreshing for a YA novel. It lets you in on the violence, the paranoia, the abuse, the hate, and the fine line between kill or be killed that even a teenager can feel in the heat of a moment. It’s a strong novel for both strong women and women that need to find some strength. I highly recommend it, especially if you’re interested (as I am) in reading books about other cultures and their traditions.
_blueberry's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
annacfunke's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
josb's review
3.0
A wild ride. I left this book a little more confused and lot more paranoid than when I started.
justcallmegeekyg's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0