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somelesbianwriter 's review for:
Every Exquisite Thing
by Laura Steven
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
like The Society for Soulless Girls (which i read and enjoyed last year), i thought this was mostly very well-written. Stevens' atmospheric writing is really well done.
i really enjoyed the first 3/4 or so of the book, i thought the build-up was really well done, as well as the internal exploration of Penny and her relationships with her mother and herself.
i was a bit disappointed by the ending, it felt a bit rushed and not nearly as well set-up as the build-up was. i think this is a common flaw (for me at least!) with horror/horror-adjacent books, with the set-up being far more intriguing and/or chilling than the actual 'reveal'. the last part with themirror/painting/liminal dimension felt like it'd've worked better as a movie or something otherwise visual. it was still decently written, but i definitely enjoyed it less than the rest of the book.
a few other things:
- i'm really gladCatalina was the endgame love interest, soft love felt so much better for this book than the angsty stuff with Davina
- it was good to see discussions of EDs and body image that did directly address and challenge fatphobia
- i did feel Davina wasn't as well-developed a character as i wanted/as she initially seemed set to be.her still being trapped forever by the painting also didn't feel like it got addressed enough
- Fraser was iconic, wish we'd seen a bit more of him (also absolutely called thefact he was a Drag artist from the very first allusion to it)
- Penny was heavily autistic-coded which was cool and definitely seemed intentional, so i'm taking her as autistic rep
- didn't really love the fact there was ateacher/student relationship (between an 18-year-old and a fully-established adult) and the fact that that was shitty and predatory barely got addressed at all, even implying it was more Davina's fault for 'seducing' him.
i really enjoyed the first 3/4 or so of the book, i thought the build-up was really well done, as well as the internal exploration of Penny and her relationships with her mother and herself.
i was a bit disappointed by the ending, it felt a bit rushed and not nearly as well set-up as the build-up was. i think this is a common flaw (for me at least!) with horror/horror-adjacent books, with the set-up being far more intriguing and/or chilling than the actual 'reveal'. the last part with the
a few other things:
- i'm really glad
- it was good to see discussions of EDs and body image that did directly address and challenge fatphobia
- i did feel Davina wasn't as well-developed a character as i wanted/as she initially seemed set to be.
- Fraser was iconic, wish we'd seen a bit more of him (also absolutely called the
- Penny was heavily autistic-coded which was cool and definitely seemed intentional, so i'm taking her as autistic rep
- didn't really love the fact there was a
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Murder
Minor: Animal death, Fatphobia
trigger warning that doesn't technically fit any of the content tags: there's a relationship between a fully adult man (and teacher) and an 18-year-old girl (and student). technically she isn't a minor, so doesn't directly fit the adult/minor relationship tag, but is similarly inappropriate and predatory. this isn't properly called out in the book, which might also be triggering for some people.