biblioleah's reviews
409 reviews

Numamushi: A Fairy Tale by Mina Ikemoto Ghosh

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Bluets by Maggie Nelson

reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
Did not finish book. Stopped at 51%.

I started off loving this SO much but the characterization was just so poor in the end. Specifically the dynamic and relationship between the main two characters felt so ridiculous and immediate to me that I couldn’t take it seriously at all, I have truly never seen insta-love done this obviously before. There is no reason these characters like each other, they don’t KNOW each other and they have no emotional or chemical connection whatsoever. The setting and world building however was marvelous but in the end I still needed to DNF half way through because the writing for these two characters was just so flat and unsatisfying.

When to Pick a Pomegranate by Yasmeen Abedifard

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

When I Arrived at the Castle by E.M. Carroll

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

did i get it? no. did i still kinda love it all? yes. 

The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington by Leonora Carrington

dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.

yeah so that was some of the most unbearable writing i’ve read in a while

The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

K. Ancrum has a marvelous grasp of the vignette form. As with all her books, I am just so in love with the kindness and empathy of the characters, the intimacy of their friendships, the warmth of their existence and emotions. I will say this cast did not grip me as much as her other casts have- as Hollis and Walt were wonderful but did not grip me by my heartstrings as much as I would have liked. My main reason for not giving this book five stars however was how much like side characters the side characters felt. The two best friends just faded in and out of my memory in a way I didn’t necessarily care for, and I found myself annoyed by Annie and Yulia more often than endeared by them. The story focused intensely and intimately on Hollis and Walt (which makes sense as their interiority is so private and central to the plot) but it did make it so the outside world fell flat. Even if this was more of a miss for me in the end, I still found it special and kind and I will forever be reading K. Ancrum’s wonderful stories. 

Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.

completely on me for not knowing the content would be too much for me. could see myself returning one day especially since emezi’s characters and writing was phenomenal as always, i just need to be in a very specific and different headspace than i am currently.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

adventurous funny reflective slow-paced

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

3.25