deepbutdazzlingdarkness's reviews
376 reviews

The Stonewall Reader by New York Public Library, Edmund White

4.0

Queer Footprints: A Guide to Uncovering London's Fierce History by Dan Glass

4.0

This Girl's A Killer by Emma C. Wells

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.5

I kind of had the same problem with this one that I did with Between Lies and Revenge (which I DNFed), and it’s that I didn’t particularly care about or root for the main character. Like, the way she’s so ~edgy like oh I mix the blood of my victims with paint to make paintings because I’m an ~artist, the “code” she has of how she can decide whether she’s allowed to kill someone or not…idk. I kept wishing this had been gay and that THAT’S why Cordelia is so overprotective of Diane and her daughter, because it would’ve made a lot more sense and I’d have been way more into it, but alas. It wasn’t bad, but definitely not the best “female serial killer killing bad men” book I’ve read this year. 

 

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the digital ARC, all opinions are my own. 

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

4.0

Then Things Went Dark by Bea Fitzgerald

2.5

Between Lies And Revenge by Hannah D. Sharpe
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.

This should totally have been for me, I normally love suburban thriller type books/books about women committing crimes but I didn’t find either of the main characters enjoyable at all, especially Elle. When she literally says early on: “Usually, I'm equal parts Sherlock and Hannibal, but right now, l'm straight-up, badass Amy Schumer, in any role she's ever played” I was like ???? Are we supposed to take her seriously or not? Like she does seem like the kind of corny ass who THINKS she’s such a bad bitch but it made me cringe so hard and I couldn’t tell if the author was being self-aware about it or not. And Olivia…I’m sorry, I know infertility is a serious thing, but the whole possibly cheating husband, woman who’s desperate for a baby and going deep into debt/lying about it to him storyline is just so cliche and I don’t care. If this was gonna turn gay, I’d probably push through, but both of them seem entirely heterosexual and at 44% I’m just tired of being in these women’s POVs. Maybe I’ll finish it eventually, but for now I’m gonna put it down. 3 stars because I didn’t hate it, but didn’t like it enough to read the whole thing. 

 

Thanks to Rising Action and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

 

Country Queers: A Love Letter by Rae Garringer

emotional hopeful informative reflective

5.0

!!!!!!!!! This was fantastic. I loved all the photos and stories/interviews from people all over the country and from all walks of life talking about their experiences being queer. And I really liked seeing the way this project evolved over the ~10 years since Garringer started working on it. The way they learned more about how to conduct interviews, what to talk about, how they specifically made a point to reach out to a more diverse pool of people after the initial road trip in 2013, etc. 

Not to drag a similar book I read last month, but this is EXACTLY what I wanted Real Queer America to be, and now I want to drop my rating of that one even lower lol. They have similar premises, but I like that despite the fact that I also learned a decent amount about the author in this, they put the focus on the people they were interviewing, and didn’t do a bunch of navelgazing about why cities suck and why all queer people who live in cities are miserable. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Haymarket Books for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Unlike the other reviews, I didn’t have any issues with my NetGalley file, so don’t be discouraged from reading it for that reason, they seem to have worked out the issues.

The Group Trip by Audrey Ingram

4.5

I really enjoyed this. I feel like I can’t rate it 5 stars because I doubt it’s going to be a book I think about a lot going forward, but it was just a super solid summer read. I loved the different timelines, getting flashbacks to when Chloe was in college and how the friend group developed and evolved over the years. Despite the short length (only 230 pages!) the friendships felt so lived in and I totally bought them as found family. I liked the slow reveal about Luke cheating and why they broke up and how Chloe had been trying to make herself fit into his world. 

The tension between Wyatt and Chloe was great and them bonding over both being the poor(er) members of their friend group was nice. I liked that Chloe and Wyatt live in DC like I do now because I got such a kick out of the local aspects of it that I recognize. And I haven’t read Happy Place yet, but I really like that this one doesn’t end up with Chloe and Luke getting back together and it has them moving on separately, but getting to a place where their friend group can remain intact.

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Pageboy by Elliot Page

4.0

Christopher and His Kind by Christopher Isherwood
Did not finish book. Stopped at 3%.

Got 20 minutes in and I’m just bored.