emmagrace's reviews
192 reviews

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

While I don't think this "cozy fantasy" thing is really for me, this book was a delightful little read. The food descriptions had my mouth watering, and I had to pause and make myself a latte halfway through. Otherwise though, the low stakes made it feel very surface-level, and I wish we'd gotten more character depth.

Females by Andrea Long Chu

funny reflective fast-paced

4.75

Not only is this book brilliant, but it's also genuinely fun.

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.75

Ithaca by Claire North

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I should have loved this book, but something felt off for me. I think it might be that I don't like when a character's voice bleeds too much into the prose, which this book did a lot.

A Place for Us: A Memoir by Brandon J. Wolf

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

2.25

At times cheesy, this book had all the elements of an incredible memoir, but failed to draw the threads of themes of community and identity together into one cohesive story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

what the hell did I just read

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

adventurous 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? Yes

3.0

all the pregnancy stuff in the first third was a real issue for me, but eventually the ragtag group of heroes won me over

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, and Domestic abuse

Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

1.0

This book was a massive disappointment. I loved the cover and thought the description was right up my alley, but the execution was just terrible. I haven't read prose this bad since I had an active Wattpad account. There are moments when the perspective changes from first to third person, or from past to present tense, and while I understand that this was done to distinguish between perspectives, in effect it just makes the book seem poorly written and barely edited. All the characters sounded the same to the point where I had to keep flipping back to the chapter title page to check whose head I was in. The plot was also very disconnected; it was more a bunch of side quests while the main mystery was forgotten until the end of the book when it came back just to be neatly wrapped up. I hate to be so critical of a debut author but this is just not a quality book, and with book prices as high as they are, readers deserve a book that is worth that price.