alouette's reviews
167 reviews

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.5

"I love you so much it hurts."

the pretty, flowery prose occasionally confused me- but it was fitting for a book packed with so many emotions. you can see grace's perspectives change through the book and the biases of her point of view be unbuilt by her experiences. the pacing was a bit frustrating because i wanted to see much more of her time in New York, but i can never fault a book when it focuses on leaving someone to love them better and taking care of/talking about one's mental health. on that note...

  it still frustrates me a little that yuki says "but you better not leave me again" when i know that space can be super healthy and i thought that's what was to be learned from this book. so to have it end on that note is a little disappointing. especially when grace's own mother lost the happiness in her first love but has found it again in her second. it shows that as people change they may not always fit with each other in the same ways. which is why i much prefer "i'll stay as long you'll have me" over the "promise" that they'll always be together forever.

i really warmed up to all the characters, who are very strong and realistic, and was super proud of grace. when a character i relate to realizes their happiness and health is important? hell yeah! and even if the romance was quite cheesy, that didn't lessen its impact.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Misogyny, Alcohol, Self harm, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Sexual content

Grease Bats by Archie Bongiovanni

funny 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

4.5

weirdly hopeful for all the hardships and hopelessness of the world. an honour to be part of these characters' weird world, even through their mistakes. optimistic nihilism cocktails for everyone! 

Mark of the Thief by Jennifer A. Nielsen

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Spear by Nicola Griffith

adventurous emotional relaxing fast-paced

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

4.0

i don't have much of a point of comparison for retellings like these but! i thought the story was wonderfully told and it really drew me in. while i didn't care much about the romance, the new lore to the old story and the main character's drive and strength was very endearing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Seaside Stranger Vol. 1: Umibe No Étranger by Kanna Kii

adventurous hopeful relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

i think i would need to read this a few times to fully understand what happened (which is the case with me for a lot of shorter books) but the fluff once they got past the miscommunication was pretty top tier even if shun is silly and bad at emotions. i love that it ends with suzu saying "gay", side characters in this deserved more love!

i will continue to think about the screenshot i took where miu returns and the cat noise makes it look like shun's first reaction was to meow at him lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

as someone who grew up with the movie, it was hard not to compare the book to that level of whimsy and the fascinating characterizations. it fell short of the movie's beauty for me, but the book was definitely more focused on the horror rather than character building. it was faster paced and showcased coraline's wit and bravery really well. the ending was certainly more unsettling (though weirdly drawn out) and the audiobook music/singing was wonderfully odd.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

2.75

overhyped, imo! though i understand that some of it is a side-effect of translating from another language, the tedious exposition just made me want to nitpick. i liked the build up of character arcs and overarching connections through the individual stories, but it didn't make me feel particularly emotional and some of their decisions made me feel icky. 

There Are Things I Can't Tell You by Edako Mofumofu

emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.5

i still don't understand BL miscommunication lol. but the characters and plot had more depth than i expected and manga expressions always make me grin!

The Times I Knew I Was Gay by Eleanor Crewes

adventurous funny inspiring medium-paced

4.0

fun book! not incredibly memorable, i just love gay people sharing their stories

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

not going to spend much more time thinking about this book after analyzing it for book club but i gotta say- whether i'm just not a gothic horror person or the characters really are just bland and annoying, either way the plot was very anticlimactic!