ellytheskelly's reviews
117 reviews

Piece by Piece: The Story of Nisrin's Hijab by Priya Huq

4.0

“If I can’t be safe, then can’t I at least be proud?”

Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick

0.75

Korea is all of these people just as I am not one thing or the other. I am complicated and contradictory and I don't know how all of it can coexist, but it has to because these versions are all me.

I can't speak on the struggles of an adopted child. I've heard that part of this story is accurate, and I'll take that.

However, when reality (people being rude to adoptees) is so outlandish, WHY make your plot so contrived and crazy that it makes it feel like the very real struggles are also made up and contrived??? 

The main character, Hara, is irritating. She repeats herself constantly and asks questions with obvious answers like "how did you know I was American?" (BESTIE, you're speaking ENGLISH and you do a blank stare when they speak Korean to you. YOU LOOK AMERICAN.) She asks this question and gets the exact same response, verbatim, twice in this book. Also the trope of "oh a cute local will just teach me the language 3 days into my trip abroad teehee" trope bothers me a LOT. Like please just take some time to learn some basic words and phrases. Write them down! Why did she wait until day 3 to download a translation app????

And now it's time for SPOILERS.

SHE HAD SEX WITH HER STEPBROTHER.... TWICE????? AT LEAST ONE OF THEM KNOWINGLY????? AND THEN THEY HAD THE AUDACITY TO JOKE ABOUT HOW "it could be worse, we could be actually related" I LITERALLY DRY HEAVED.... Yujun was the FIRST FREAKIN MAN you encountered you can move on!!! YOU MET HIM LIKE 7 DAYS AGO YOU CAN MOVE ON!!! Bro literally what happened to her whole no strings attached vacation boyfriend thing?

Spy x Family, Vol. 7 by Tatsuya Endo

3.0

Includes missions 38 to 44. 

The highlight for me was seeing Anya and Becky play with their sheep keychains like barbies

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

5.0

Cultish is about the way that language defines groups (or cults, if you will), from the devious to the mundane. 

This took me a looooong time to read because it is so dense with information and sometimes felt like it was circling around the same ideas for a while, but all of it was fascinating to me. I am a total language nerd, so this was right up my alley. 

I read all of the book, but I listened to the audiobook for Part 5. This makes a great car listen imo. 

My favorite part was Part 4, Wanna be a #BossBabe?
I wish that Part 6 talked more about celebrities. In the early sections of the book, it was hinted that we would hear about pop culture icons and I felt like I didn't really get that.

See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

I was really concerned by the synopsis of this book that things would get stale from repeating the same day over and over. But that never happened! I'm really impressed by the way that Solomon felt out the exact points where as a reader things felt too same-y and had the character feel the same way, so she changed it up! A LOT! The cultural elements were cool, and made me learn new things about Jewish traditions. These characters really carried this story, and I think that it wouldn't be nearly as good if the characters weren't all so real feeling. It felt like no one got left behind, which I really appreciated. 

I can't give it a 5 because of the ending. It felt really contrived to cause drama? I think the story would have been stronger without that. It felt like the ending really fumbled the ball and then it wasn't able to recover after that.

Ghost Roast by Shawneé Gibbs, Shawnelle Gibbs

adventurous fast-paced

5.0

This was such a fun read!! I love that it embraces the setting and all aspects of that setting. (It sent me down a rabbit hole to understand things about NOLA I didn't know before!) I was a little bit concerned about where things were going with the ghost, but by the end all concerns were handled! Such a well done story!

Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

5.0

If <i>Jennifer's Body</i> was a graphic novel with werewolves.... 

I LOVE THIS! The art is impeccable (and some of it might be my new IPad wallpaper), the story is a refreshing and interesting take on some tropes, and I just generally really really fell in love with these characters. I just wish there could've been a continuation to this, these characters are so cool! 

Spy x Family, Vol. 8 by Tatsuya Endo

4.75

Cruise arc-

Really loved the focus on Yor! She’s such a good character 

Heavy Vinyl: Riot on the Radio by Nina Vakueva, Carly Usdin

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This was everything I wanted from a YA comic book about a Vinyl Store Girl Gang! <3 Loved it

Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

5.0

"I was alive, but I wasn't living. My mother, my father, my brothers, my sisters, my home. I couldn't go back to them now. Not ever."