clairebartholomew549's reviews
567 reviews

A Fire So Wild by Sarah Ruiz-Grossman

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

I really wanted to like this book - so few books involving climate justice break into the mainstream consciousness, and the California fires of the past few years are one of the starkest pieces of evidence of where we're headed. But I found most of the characters annoying, even the characters Ruiz-Grossman clearly wanted us to sympathize with, and the book both happened too fast and too slowly. It's definitely a searing critique of capitalism and how those who have the means will always be able to escape the reaches of disaster, but for whatever reason it fell flat for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Mental illness, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Classism, and Death

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I love when authors don’t feel the need to drag out a fantasy series, and I think Ross made the right choice with making this a duology. I adored the evolution of Iris and Roman’s love story and individual character arcs, and I enjoyed getting more of a sense of Dacre’s world. These books aren’t the strongest on fantasy world building - a lot of how the gods work doesn’t make a ton of sense ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - but there’s enough information to make it work well enough. I wish we got more of the side characters - I loved what we got to see of Attie and  Marisol, and I really wanted more of them - but I liked how the story unfolded. Even though this story is presumably set in the 1800s (the god element of it makes the timeline very confusing), it feels contemporary because of the emphasis on warring narratives and people wanting to bury their heads in the sand to avoid the tragedy around them. I really liked these books!

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was pretty much tailor-made for me. Enemies to lovers? Dueling newspapers? Magical typewriters and a secret, unknown correspondence? Themes about misinformation and deliberate misleading of populations? I'm obsessed. The fantasy elements are not super overt - I suspect the second book will delve more into the gods of it all - but I liked how deeply rooted the book was in the day-to-day of war and trench warfare, and the perspective of war correspondents was really interesting. I loved Iris' strength and fortitude, and the chemistry between her and Roman jumps off the page immediately. It was also fun to see how head-on the author took propaganda. I'm excited for the next one.

Sex, Lies and Sensibility by Nikki Payne

emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.0

I liked this book, but I found it kind of overwrought and too much. The Sense and Sensibility-tie-in felt forced and weird at points, and the younger sister (whose name I already forgot, oops) truly felt like a caricature that I couldn't get behind. I couldn't always follow the story, and the plot truly felt shoehorned in. I did like the writing at points, and I love Jane Austen so I think I'll give Pride and Protest a try, but this was disappointing overall.

The Winners by Fredrik Backman

dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I loved this series, and this is a fine ending, but it definitely felt like this book was about 200 pages too long. This book repeats many of the plot lines and themes of the first two books, and although the way Backman describes characters and their motivations will always be interesting and intriguing, I felt a little run down by this last installment.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Sexism, Drug use, Fatphobia, Grief, Medical content, Body shaming, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Classism, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Murder, Rape, Racism, and Sexual violence

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is, as advertised, very sweet and cozy, and it made me feel warm the whole time I was reading. To me, this is a much better version of The House in the Cerulean Sea, which I found to be trite and way too cutesy. Mika is such an endearing character with deeply sketched trauma and neuroses, and every other character is unique and well-developed. The worldbuilding makes sense, and the twists and turns feel well-earned. I appreciated the book's message about giving people a chance and giving yourself a chance to be loved, and I loved that the book didn't try to suggest that it was positive to dispel deeply held suspicions and stereotypes overnight, but that we could try to make the world a little better little by little.

Redwood Court by DéLana R.A. Dameron

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.0

I'm not sure how to feel about this book. I get that it was trying to tell an intergenerational story from different perspectives and time periods, and I loved its depiction of "it takes a village" being lived out for real. But it felt disjointed and slow, and it took me so long to get into it. The back third of the book felt meaningful, and I became attached to Mika's story, but this wasn't very memorable all in all.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racism, Terminal illness, Grief, and Chronic illness

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

During the first half of the book, this was a definite three stars for me. It felt disorienting going back and forth between Ricki's 2024 timeline and Breeze's 1920s timeline, and Ricki's storyline sort of felt like a caricature of sorts. It's also definitely insta-love, but I can usually get over that if I feel like the chemistry is written well - and here, I think it is. I couldn't really get into the book until the second half, when we get a lot more answers and things really start picking up steam. I loved the insights into the Harlem Renaissance, although for some reason Breeze's chapters felt a little detached and devoid of feeling for me, and I appreciated Ricki's connection to her history and her roots. Della and Tuesday are incredibly entertaining and add a lot of color to the narrative, and I was very satisfied by the last third of the book and the way things ended. I didn't like this quite as much as Seven Days in June, but Tia Williams is still a powerhouse author whose books I will continue to read.

Night Shift by Annie Crown

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

This was fun and sweet, and definitely written for me - I love reading romance novels, always have, and in college this would have been an absolute dream. Kendall and Vincent are the definition of cinnamon rolls, and their conversations are lovely and endearing. I appreciated how much of the book is sex scenes, and the sex is really well-written and detailed. My one qualm is that sometimes the dialogue felt so, so forced. I appreciate that this generation of romance writers are committed to diversity and to dispelling heteronormativity and the sexist tropes of past romances, but the way Crown went about it at times jolted me out of the book. No college kid - especially a star basketball player, no matter how well-informed and progressive he is - would, in an introductory conversation about majors, ask whether the school's English department was diverse??? That was baffling. And it was a super weird conversation when Harper announced she was tired of being the strong black woman and Kendall said she was crying white woman tears and had reduced Nina to the spicy Latina. It just didn't feel genuine, and it took me out of it. I respect what Crown was going for, but I think it could have been done a lot more seamlessly.

Royal Valentine by Sariah Wilson

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

This one didn't work me and was a disappointing end to this fun series. Super cliche, the twist made zero sense, and I feel like I've read this same story done much better before.