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discarded_dust_jacket's reviews
266 reviews
The Beauty of Your Face: A Novel by Sahar Mustafah
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Racism, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, and Infidelity
Minor: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Vomit, and Pregnancy
Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones
This was my introduction to Jones’ poetry and I am not in any way shape or form qualified to make interpretations or analyses, but I will say, with a laymen’s understanding of poetry, I found this truly moving. It made me want to read his memoir as well.
One part that I read over and over was:
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
“If You Cry Hard Enough, Any Grief Can Be the End of the World.”
This was my introduction to Jones’ poetry and I am not in any way shape or form qualified to make interpretations or analyses, but I will say, with a laymen’s understanding of poetry, I found this truly moving. It made me want to read his memoir as well.
One part that I read over and over was:
“I’ve hurt many people but it’s the unintended wounds I claim now as children. They stand beside my bed in the dark each night, a row of injuries asking me to wake up because they can’t sleep.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? No
4.75
The Twenty-Ninth Year by Hala Alyan
“…tried to meditate but kept humming that song instead, and I eventually gave up and watched the birds, hundreds of them in formation, a dark V that swooped and pirouetted against the rose-pink dusk, and for a moment I finally shut up, prayed only that something so beautiful would know that it was.”
“I’m keeping my wedding dress. It’s the sick girl in the coat closet.”
So all in all, this took some effort, before I purposefully shifted the way I approached it, but I’m glad that I did. I’m sure reading poetry is a muscle one has to exercise, and I’m just a bit out of shape, but I want to make it a point to read more poetry this year.
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
I’m not someone who gravitates toward poetry. I often struggle with metaphor, and have trouble identifying the meaning behind things when it seemingly comes so easy to others.
At first, when I started reading this I was immediately frustrated and wanted to put it down saying, “see this is why I don’t read poetry,” because some of the pieces do read as very opaque and intentionally obfuscated, and my first impulse was to get hung up on understanding the thing. Making sense of it.
But I pushed on, and tried to focus more on simply enjoying the ride, and asking myself “How does this make me feel even if I can’t identify what it’s explicitly trying to say? What emotions is it evoking?”
These poems felt like… simmering rage. They felt like grief, like complicated nostalgia, like a syrupy sort of lust, like self-deprecation at times, quiet hopefulness at others. I took to highlighting simple phrases that I found particularly evocative. Phrases like:
“…went to the library after hours to bang on a door I knew was locked.“
“Sometimes I want to drive all the way to Connecticut and sneak into someone else’s empty pool, sit at the very bottom like a teacup.”
At first, when I started reading this I was immediately frustrated and wanted to put it down saying, “see this is why I don’t read poetry,” because some of the pieces do read as very opaque and intentionally obfuscated, and my first impulse was to get hung up on understanding the thing. Making sense of it.
But I pushed on, and tried to focus more on simply enjoying the ride, and asking myself “How does this make me feel even if I can’t identify what it’s explicitly trying to say? What emotions is it evoking?”
These poems felt like… simmering rage. They felt like grief, like complicated nostalgia, like a syrupy sort of lust, like self-deprecation at times, quiet hopefulness at others. I took to highlighting simple phrases that I found particularly evocative. Phrases like:
“…went to the library after hours to bang on a door I knew was locked.“
“Sometimes I want to drive all the way to Connecticut and sneak into someone else’s empty pool, sit at the very bottom like a teacup.”
“You made me up, all heels and mascara. You love the instrument you refuse to play.”
“…tried to meditate but kept humming that song instead, and I eventually gave up and watched the birds, hundreds of them in formation, a dark V that swooped and pirouetted against the rose-pink dusk, and for a moment I finally shut up, prayed only that something so beautiful would know that it was.”
“I’m keeping my wedding dress. It’s the sick girl in the coat closet.”
“…this world brightens with or without us. Recognizing the miracle becomes the miracle.”
So all in all, this took some effort, before I purposefully shifted the way I approached it, but I’m glad that I did. I’m sure reading poetry is a muscle one has to exercise, and I’m just a bit out of shape, but I want to make it a point to read more poetry this year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Alcoholism, Addiction, Eating disorder, Infidelity, and Miscarriage
Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore
It also highlights, quite powerfully, how the bad thoughts and emotions that we attempt to suppress will only reinsert themselves with more force the more we refuse to deal with them.
The chapters started to feel like “open with ‘the thing about living with ADHD is…’, maybe interact with friends or adults, then the world floods, colors everywhere, Lore/Bastián encounter one another mid-flood, the water recedes, rinse, repeat,” until finally around the 65/70% mark new things started happening and I felt reengaged.
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.5
What worked: the thing I’m discovering about Anna-Marie McLemore is that their use of language can be so disarmingly beautiful—like I’ll read a sentence and audibly gasp—but not in a way that feels inaccessible. I’m not looking up every other word or anything, I’ll just think to myself: “what a lovely way to phrase that!”
As someone who is neurodivergent and non-binary myself, I also really identified with a lot of the descriptions of both Bastián’s ADHD and just the overall discussions of gender from both Bastián and Lore’s perspectives. There were so many times that I highlighted things just because it felt like I was reading something that had been taken out of my own brain.
(I’ve also never read a book where dyslexia was described so thoroughly, which I found really helpful because I know very little about how that feels for a person living with it.)
I appreciated that this was a story about accepting the parts of yourself that you wish you could expel. If you’re someone like me, who makes a habit of ruminating on all your bad days or moments, and allowing them to convince you that you’re irredeemable, then you will absolutely resonate with Bastián and Lore.
But what makes this story so powerful is that it reminds those of us with brains we have to put effort into working with, that our bad days are part of us too, and that doesn’t make us any less worthy of love.
“So many of us are haunted by versions of ourselves we wish we could exile. But the pieces of our beings don’t pull apart that easily. If we try to unweave ourselves, we unravel at the edges. So we all do the work of reconciling who we are now with the ghosts we once were.”
It also highlights, quite powerfully, how the bad thoughts and emotions that we attempt to suppress will only reinsert themselves with more force the more we refuse to deal with them.
Now here’s what didn’t work (for me): I struggled with the jumps between chapters more than a few times. The chapters are relatively short—sometimes less than a page long—which is not a problem at all, but the thing is, between chapters the story often jumps rather abruptly, and it wouldn’t be clear how much, if any, time had passed. You wouldn’t be sure if it was just a horizontal jump through space but not time (just a perspective shift from one character to another) or if you jumped forward in time as well.
The second big thing is the pacing lagged. I’d say for a large chunk of the middle part of the story, it didn’t feel like very much was happening and it got repetitive.
I hope that doesn’t sound overly critical or put anyone off. Like I said, the language and the descriptions are lovely, and I think the book has a ton of value, especially for neurodivergent people and the folks who love them. Plus it has a ton of important commentary about racism (one really powerful quote that stuck out to me, was “I’m brown, and trans, and I have a learning disability. My sheer existence is as much nuance as I get to have. Who I am uses up all the space the world is willing to give me, and even that, I have to fight to keep open. I am already a living confrontation. My story doesn’t get to be complicated.”)
It’s a message that I think bears repeating again and again:
“Once you get past the fear of being seen, you can get to the part where you know you’re not alone.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, and Transphobia
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Violence
Work for It by Talia Hibbert
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
3.0
This was solid. It didn’t blow me away (which actually came as a surprise; I thought I’d devour this). I think my issue was I didn’t realize this was part of a series (???) and if it’s meant to work as a standalone, I’m not sure it succeeded. There’s a lot about Olu in particular that I felt like I was missing. Parts of his character and his story where I felt context should have been given and it just wasn’t.
Again, that’s probably because I was reading out of sequence, but if the book is meant to be a spin-off capable of standing on it’s own, those things have to get explained on page? Idk, maybe I’m being unfair (like those people who make huge changes to online recipes then comment to complain it turned out bad).
But other than that, I enjoyed this! There were a lot of really beautiful, tender moments, and I think that’s where the book was really strong. I highlighted so many quotes that had me swooning and even getting a bit misty-eyed at times. I appreciated the focus on Olu’s depression and I loved the way that Griff handled him with such care and gentleness.
Again, that’s probably because I was reading out of sequence, but if the book is meant to be a spin-off capable of standing on it’s own, those things have to get explained on page? Idk, maybe I’m being unfair (like those people who make huge changes to online recipes then comment to complain it turned out bad).
But other than that, I enjoyed this! There were a lot of really beautiful, tender moments, and I think that’s where the book was really strong. I highlighted so many quotes that had me swooning and even getting a bit misty-eyed at times. I appreciated the focus on Olu’s depression and I loved the way that Griff handled him with such care and gentleness.
“I raise a slow hand toward his side, and when he doesn’t flinch or stiffen or go cold in front of me, I touch him. Press my palm against his body and wait patiently for an answer. That’s me: patient. I’ll be so fucking patient for you.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Mental illness
Moderate: Outing and Suicide
Minor: Pregnancy, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
adventurous
emotional
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? No
3.0
This was a well-crafted, accessible and engaging story. I enjoyed the writing and the way that the tradition of passing knowledge and wisdom from generation to generation through oral storytelling was interwoven into the narrative.
I appreciated the commentary on the lecherous nature of white supremacy and the colonizers who act in service of it.
I had to pace myself and take longer than usual to work through this book only because I don’t naturally gravitate toward stories that center around crime-solving, but I knew that going in, and in spite of it, I can still recognize that this is an incredibly well-written novel. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA thrillers with an element of magical realism.
I appreciated the commentary on the lecherous nature of white supremacy and the colonizers who act in service of it.
I had to pace myself and take longer than usual to work through this book only because I don’t naturally gravitate toward stories that center around crime-solving, but I knew that going in, and in spite of it, I can still recognize that this is an incredibly well-written novel. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA thrillers with an element of magical realism.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Grief
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Animal death
Mercy by Ian Haramaki
Did not finish book. Stopped at 14%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 14%.
It’s not that I think the writing is necessarily bad, but this book would benefit from a few more rounds of editing. The author has definite potential, but this story needs some work, and I didn’t want to continue forcing myself to push through.
The anachronistic language took me out of the story every time. It’s supposed to be set in the 1920s but the characters use modern day colloquialisms. The dialogue in general just feels a bit odd and forced, sometimes even downright cringey.
The narrative pushes forward at a pretty quick pace right off the bat, but it isn’t really properly contextualized through any meaningful worldbuilding. I couldn’t get a solid grasp on the religion in particular. Who are the hunters? What and why are they hunting? Why does Ilya keep referencing a time when he “burnt out his eyes” as part of some ritual, without giving any further explanation?
Now granted, I did give up after only 45 pages so maybe these issues would have resolved themselves, but nothing about what I read thus far incentivized me to continue further.
The anachronistic language took me out of the story every time. It’s supposed to be set in the 1920s but the characters use modern day colloquialisms. The dialogue in general just feels a bit odd and forced, sometimes even downright cringey.
The narrative pushes forward at a pretty quick pace right off the bat, but it isn’t really properly contextualized through any meaningful worldbuilding. I couldn’t get a solid grasp on the religion in particular. Who are the hunters? What and why are they hunting? Why does Ilya keep referencing a time when he “burnt out his eyes” as part of some ritual, without giving any further explanation?
Now granted, I did give up after only 45 pages so maybe these issues would have resolved themselves, but nothing about what I read thus far incentivized me to continue further.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Death, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, and Cancer
Mickey Chambers Shakes It Up by Charish Reid
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
3.0
This was sweet!
Thyroid disease runs heavily in my family, so I appreciated the hyperthyroidism rep in this. The commentary on how Black women aren’t taken seriously by doctors—with their symptoms getting systematically dismissed and improperly treated—was also notable.
Overall this was a solid contemporary romcom that I would recommend to anyone. It has a grumpy/sunshine relationship dynamic if that’s your thing, and one of the protagonists is a widower, so the topic of grief and opening oneself back up to love after loss is also a key component of this story.
Thyroid disease runs heavily in my family, so I appreciated the hyperthyroidism rep in this. The commentary on how Black women aren’t taken seriously by doctors—with their symptoms getting systematically dismissed and improperly treated—was also notable.
Overall this was a solid contemporary romcom that I would recommend to anyone. It has a grumpy/sunshine relationship dynamic if that’s your thing, and one of the protagonists is a widower, so the topic of grief and opening oneself back up to love after loss is also a key component of this story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Cancer, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, and Violence
Scheme by Colette Rhodes
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Eeeeeep, this was adorable!! I couldn’t put it down.
This book (along with The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson) handles the omegaverse with a nuance that I think really adds something to the broader conversation about how omegaverse fiction as a whole explores gender, sexuality, and biology.
For example, here we have characters that actively resent the things about their respective designations that society calls desirable. They reject the expectations made of them to seek a mate above all else. They view their own biological imperatives as a hindrance more than an advantage.
Overall, this was a genuinely fun reading experience.
This book (along with The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson) handles the omegaverse with a nuance that I think really adds something to the broader conversation about how omegaverse fiction as a whole explores gender, sexuality, and biology.
For example, here we have characters that actively resent the things about their respective designations that society calls desirable. They reject the expectations made of them to seek a mate above all else. They view their own biological imperatives as a hindrance more than an advantage.
Overall, this was a genuinely fun reading experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Death and Grief
Minor: Sexual assault