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mothie_girlie's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
As always thank you to publishes and Netgalley for a free arc in exchange for an honest review.
Let me first give kudos and praise to Lynette r Freeman, your voice is absolutely gorgeous! I genuinely enjoyed this book, the characters were dynamic and the variety of plot points were revolutionary. This book has so many much needed conversations about race, disability justice and sexuality. If you’re someone that appreciates additional, meaningful additions to romance novels you will genuinely appreciate this one. The romance between Glory and Parkie was so raw and real in so many ways. Unfortunately where this novel fell off for me was the pacing, at the beginning I was extremely engaged but somewhere near half way in, it just felt stagnant and I didn't want to pick it up anymore. Ultimately this is a wonderful novel and I hope the author and editors' styles advance in the future.
Let me first give kudos and praise to Lynette r Freeman, your voice is absolutely gorgeous! I genuinely enjoyed this book, the characters were dynamic and the variety of plot points were revolutionary. This book has so many much needed conversations about race, disability justice and sexuality. If you’re someone that appreciates additional, meaningful additions to romance novels you will genuinely appreciate this one. The romance between Glory and Parkie was so raw and real in so many ways. Unfortunately where this novel fell off for me was the pacing, at the beginning I was extremely engaged but somewhere near half way in, it just felt stagnant and I didn't want to pick it up anymore. Ultimately this is a wonderful novel and I hope the author and editors' styles advance in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Sexual content
Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Ableism
servemethesky's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-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? Yes
3.5
Thank you to Roxane Gay Books and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is a tricky book to rate! I enjoyed Lush Lives. Surprisingly, I found the plot more engaging than the characters. Glory and Parkie were interesting (though frustrating at times), but the dual plots of 1) figuring out the story behind the unpublished manuscript found in the brownstone and 2) the Flagg auction at Cuthbert's really held my attention more.
Sometimes the plot felt a bit meandering, with things thrown in unnecessarily. For example, we hear about Parkie's ex a bit, and toward the end, she reunites with her and they have a long talk about their relationship and choose not to hook up. Cool? Truly something I did not need closure on.
One of my main complaints about this book is it feels like it's trying very hard to be ~woke~ (a word I hesitate to use since it's basically meaningless at this point, but not sure what else to call it). It comes across as a little fake, or like reading a manifesto, rather than reading two realistic characters having a realistic conversation. There are interesting points being made about race and class and art and operating in our current capitalist society, but it's written in a way where it almost feels like the author is trying not to get canceled. Intersectionality is all around us, we get it! The novel would've been stronger if it just let the characters and story speak for themselves rather than getting preachy at times.
For a book that tries so hard to get it right when it comes to race, class, queerness, etc, some parts still somehow felt problematic to me?! 1) Manya Shaw is bi and is portrayed as the stereotypical slutty/greedy bisexual, which rubbed me the wrong way. Eventually we come to see her as a good friend and smart business ally, but how she was presented for most of the book was kind of icky. 2) Nicholas is written as a very stereotypical gay man and it didn't feel authentic. 3). OMG SO MUCH DIET CULTURE GARBAGE. That bothered me. Constantly talking about the calories in the crumb cake Glory's brother-in-law is eating, how many servings of ice cream Parkie indulged in that she shouldn't have, etc. For being such intelligent, empowered ladies, would've loved to see them not hung up on calories.
All that being said: the plot was riveting. I'm interested in art and you could tell the author really knows her stuff/did her research when it comes to the NYC art world. I loved picturing the brownstone full of art and hearing about Lucille and her lovers back in the 40s. That was a cool storyline, I would've loved to see more of that!
Ultimately, I feel like this book could have used some editing (prose was so verbose), but it was an enjoyable time!
This is a tricky book to rate! I enjoyed Lush Lives. Surprisingly, I found the plot more engaging than the characters. Glory and Parkie were interesting (though frustrating at times), but the dual plots of 1) figuring out the story behind the unpublished manuscript found in the brownstone and 2) the Flagg auction at Cuthbert's really held my attention more.
Sometimes the plot felt a bit meandering, with things thrown in unnecessarily. For example, we hear about Parkie's ex a bit, and toward the end, she reunites with her and they have a long talk about their relationship and choose not to hook up. Cool? Truly something I did not need closure on.
One of my main complaints about this book is it feels like it's trying very hard to be ~woke~ (a word I hesitate to use since it's basically meaningless at this point, but not sure what else to call it). It comes across as a little fake, or like reading a manifesto, rather than reading two realistic characters having a realistic conversation. There are interesting points being made about race and class and art and operating in our current capitalist society, but it's written in a way where it almost feels like the author is trying not to get canceled. Intersectionality is all around us, we get it! The novel would've been stronger if it just let the characters and story speak for themselves rather than getting preachy at times.
For a book that tries so hard to get it right when it comes to race, class, queerness, etc, some parts still somehow felt problematic to me?! 1) Manya Shaw is bi and is portrayed as the stereotypical slutty/greedy bisexual, which rubbed me the wrong way. Eventually we come to see her as a good friend and smart business ally, but how she was presented for most of the book was kind of icky. 2) Nicholas is written as a very stereotypical gay man and it didn't feel authentic. 3). OMG SO MUCH DIET CULTURE GARBAGE. That bothered me. Constantly talking about the calories in the crumb cake Glory's brother-in-law is eating, how many servings of ice cream Parkie indulged in that she shouldn't have, etc. For being such intelligent, empowered ladies, would've loved to see them not hung up on calories.
All that being said: the plot was riveting. I'm interested in art and you could tell the author really knows her stuff/did her research when it comes to the NYC art world. I loved picturing the brownstone full of art and hearing about Lucille and her lovers back in the 40s. That was a cool storyline, I would've loved to see more of that!
Ultimately, I feel like this book could have used some editing (prose was so verbose), but it was an enjoyable time!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident, Homophobia, Death, Sexual harassment, Racism, and Chronic illness
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