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caitlins_bookshelf's Reviews (432)

The Jasmine Throne

Tasha Suri

4.5

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-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

set in the former kingdom of ahiranya which is now a conquered state of a larger empire. it follows two women as they become unlikely allies to save their empire. malini is a princess, imprisoned by her brother the emperor in isolation at the top of an ancient temple that was once the source of the magical 'deathless waters'. priya is a maidservant, who ends up cleaning the princesses chambers, trying to keep hidden her identity and her history with the temple in which malini is trapped.

I took my time with this one, as there was a lot going on but in the best way! a lot of politics and the clashing of religious ideology, so it wasn't the lightest of reads. but the world building was amazing! inspired by the history and epics of india, it was very rich and beautiful and different to any fantasy book I've read before which was nice. I still don't fully understand all the history, especially the magical side of things (though it was really cool!) but I'm hoping that will be expanded on in the other books.

the main characters were these great, if morally grey, lesbians, and you know I love a story where it's the strong women that save the day - or in this case try to change the entire empire. I think the only thing I wanted a little more from was the romance between them, though I'm aware that that wasn't really the main event here. it was maybe toooo slow burn for my liking and I think I'd have liked to see it developed a bit more, or maybe earlier on in the book than it did, as I wasn't fully invested. but still, the vibes - trapped princess and maidservant who end up working together to save the empire from awful men - were pretty amazing. and hopefully there'll be a little more romance as the series goes on.

the only reason it's not five stars is that it was a bit slow to start off with, and on occasion I found it hard to follow what was going on. but for the most part it was great, especially the middle section where most of the action was, and the reveals at the end! I've got the second book on my shelf and I'm excited to carry on with the series and see where it ends up!

Interesting Facts About Space

Emily Austin

4.5

challenging emotional funny reflective sad 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

our main character in this one is enid - a neurodivergent lesbian, who is deaf in one ear and has a phobia of bald men. it feels very much like a character study, exploring her relationships with everyone in her life, at a time when lots of things seem to be changing for her. she's a serial dater, but unexpectedly ends up in a much more serious relationship than she's used to. she's trying to bond with her half sisters - who come from the family enid's dad made when he left her and her mum - for the first time. she becomes paranoid that someone is following her / breaking into her apartment. and she starts working through her childhood trauma and learning to make sense of the way she is.

as you can probably tell this book handles some pretty heavy themes so definitely check trigger warnings if you're interested. however ! on the whole it remained a pretty light hearted read. it was written with a lot of humour, which mainly came from enid's reflections on the world around her. I enjoyed how it was made up of quite little passages, which included flashbacks and internal thoughts amongst the main plot. and I loved the random space facts even if I knew a lot of them already.

it was kind of a weird book but in the best way. it was interesting to be on the outside, an objective viewer, of someone struggling so much with themself. I could understand enid, and relate to her at times, whilst also being able to see that her thought processes didn't always make logical sense (remind me of this next time I spiral lol)

I loved reading about her various relationships with her friends and family and hookups, messy as they were, and I especially loved the dynamic between enid and her sisters, and also with her main love interest.

I think maybe that's all from me because there's not loads I can say without spoiling ! but if you're wanting a character centred story with queer and neurodivergent rep that explores mental health and trauma then this is the one !!!

The Secret History

Donna Tartt

5.0

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

finally ! I have gotten round to reading this ! I'd heard such brilliant things, but wasn't sure how I'd get on with it - especially as dark academia isn't really a genre I've read much of at all - but I adored it !! it's told by our narrator richard, as he looks back on his college years in rural vermont, the five eccentric classic students he ends up befriending, and the pretty morally questionable things they end up doing.

very beautifully written, incredibly atmospheric and absolutely perfect for the season. I'm really glad I saved it for autumn, as even when we weren't reading about the autumn and winter months it still had a very dark and brooding feel to it. and very dark themes too. the story was pretty slow, but kept me entranced the whole way through. I loved the little snippets of upcoming events we were given throughout - you get a vague sense of where things are going but not the whole picture - and this made it such a tense read, especially towards the end.

though brilliant in a number of ways, the highlight was the characters. they were all awful, selfish people, yet something about the way they were written meant I often forgot this. I couldn't bring myself to fully hate them. there were these occasional little kindnesses they showed one another - gifts and thoughtful exchanges and the like - that highlighted how close they were as a group, just how human they all were, and made them seem all the more real too. at different times I both felt like I knew them intimately and not in the slightest. every now and again someone would do something surprising, and I felt like I was rediscovering who they were the whole way through. I felt my heart aching for them at times and I guess the contrast between this and the awful things they did, and how they justified them, is what makes it such a compelling read.

it took me nearly two weeks to read it, mainly because I've been pretty busy, but it felt good to take my time with it and get fully engrossed in the setting. it feels kind of weird to be done with it now and I'm sure it's one that'll be on my mind for a while 😌

Back in a Spell

Lana Harper

3.5

lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

the third book in the witches of thistle grove series, this one follows nina (witch) and morty (normie). in an attempt to get over her ex fiance, nina's best friend encourages her to use a dating app, where she finds morty. their date is ridiculously awkward, made worse by the fact that nina's family has been trying to buy out the cafe owned by morty and their family. but then morty starts to develop magical powers - something that usually only happens to commited romantic partners who are 'witchbound' - and nina has to find out why.

this one had a lot going for it! I really enjoyed the plot and the mystery side of it. I wasn't sure where it was going and it made for a good quick paced read. it's a really fun, interesting world and despite my issues with this book, which I shall get into, I am still interested in reading the rest. it's the perfect level of witchy fantasy and romance, and of course just the right vibe for this time of year.

I didn't love nina (she was kinda annoying at times) but I really liked the relationship between nina and morty and the way this was developed. I also liked the way it explored the differences between their two families and their dynamics.

my main issue with this one is the very disappointing non binary rep ! morty is introduced as being non binary, using he/they pronouns, and yet after one initial short conversation about this where it's established that they're happy being referred to as he (though it's made clear that either is good!!), it's not mentioned again for the rest of the book and not a single character refers to him using they/them pronouns 🙃 obviously being non binary can mean something different to everyone, and there will be so many non binary people out there who are very comfortable with binary pronouns. but in this book it just felt very much like an afterthought, and I'm left a bit baffled on why the author chose to do this ?? sort of feels like morty was written as a cis man and then at the last minute this was lazily changed.

basically just a real shame because this could have been such a good book. as I've already said, I enjoyed pretty much everything else about it but I've dropped it a star because of how frustrated I felt whenever I remembered how morty's identity was just brushed over. idk, as a whole the book still felt pretty queer as both characters were pan but maybe just don't advertise your book as having non binary rep if you're not actually gonna properly commit to it ? 🙃

Our Wives Under The Sea

Julia Armfield

5.0

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Blue Sisters

Coco Mellors

4.5

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this one is a story of four sisters. avery, a lawyer in london. bonnie, an ex boxer now working as a bouncer in la. lucky, the youngest, working as a model and currently living in paris. and their beloved nicky, who died a year ago and is the reason the three remaining sisters return one by one to their family home in new york.

and it was so brilliant!! something about the writing was just very readable and drew me in immediately. the book starts with a prologue giving a background on all the sisters, so right from the start you feel like you know them quite well already. the whole book is very character centred, pretty much just focusing on a few weeks of these women's lives and the way they're all coping a year down the line from nicky's death. and understandably they're not doing too good ! they are all messy in a lot of different ways, and at times they were all a little infuriating. (if you've read it, I feel so bad for chiti!!!) but they were so real! it felt like I was reading about real people dealing with real problems, and it was so fascinating to slowly learn about their relationships with each other, and with their parents. there were also occasional snippets of their childhood which only added more depth to their characters. I think I've rarely been so engrossed in a character focused book, so if that's your cup of tea I definitely recommend it on that front

it covers a lot of deep topics - loss and grief of course, mother-daughter relationships, sisterhood, chronic illness - and all pretty beautifully. and a large focus is on the ways that the sisters struggle with addiction in a variety of different forms (goes without saying that you should definitely check the trigger warnings if you're interested in this one!). but the whole thing was written so exquisitely it didn't feel like too hard a read for me. it was also queer which I had no idea going into, so that was a very pleasant surprise!!

it was quite slow - mainly because of what a deep dive it was into these characters I think - and while I enjoyed this for the most part, it did start to drag a little in the middle which is why it's not quite five stars. however ! on the whole I really loved it, and I liked the epilogue where we get to see the sisters ten years down the line. big big recommend!!