evilplants's reviews
88 reviews

The Haunting of Adrian Yates by Markus Harwood-Jones
Did not finish book. Stopped at 57%.

temporary dnf because life stuff happened and i lost my momentum with this one. i’ll definitely be returning to it later, maybe closer to spooky season. 

Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier

5.0

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

4.5

Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff

emotional hopeful mysterious relaxing slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Puddin' by Julie Murphy

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted

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

3.0

Dreadnought by April Daniels

5.0

Losing Hit Points by Kristopher Mielke

adventurous hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-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

4.0

This was my first read for the Trans Rights Readathon, and it was such a great thing to kick off with!

 

Losing Hit Points takes place all in one night and features frequent cuts to the in-game world. I think the author did a great job with pacing and balance. It’s a fairly short book (under 200 pages), and you can easily read it in one afternoon, which makes it feel super cozy. It’s as if you’re experiencing the game in real time with the players.

 

Obviously, a love story that takes place over the course of one evening is gonna feel a little bit insta-lovey, but the fact that the characters have a history with each other negates that pretty well. And the book isn’t trying to be a slowburn or anything; it’s about two people who already love each other having the chance to work their shit out and come back into each other’s lives.

 

I definitely recommend this one to any queer d&d nerds, I think you’ll have a great time with it!

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Transphobia and Bullying

Wolfpitch by Balazs Lorinczi

lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

I received a free review copy of this book from NetGalley.
 
This was a quick and fun read! Lorinczi does a great job fleshing out the world and characters in a short period of time. And I loved the art in this book so much! The colour palette, in particular, is very pleasing to the eye.
 
My only complaint is that I wish it were longer! I’d love to see more of these characters in the future!
 
I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick, lighthearted read, especially if you’re a fan of monsters, music, and queer stories.

The No-Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall

lighthearted

• 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

The No-Girlfriend rule is the story of Hollis, a high school senior who joins a tabletop roleplaying game to get closer to her boyfriend, and ends up making new friends (and some discoveries about herself) along the way. 

I really went back and forth on my rating of this book. There were lots of things I really loved, but also a few things I didn’t like. To start, this book felt more like a coming of age story than a romance, which I won’t hold against it too much because it’s a marketing issue that a lot of YA books similar to this tend to have. I do wish there was a little bit more development in Hollis’s relationship with Aini, but all the moments between them we did get were wonderful. 

I really loved all the girls in Hollis’s gaming group. They were very diverse and all fleshed out enough to make them feel like real people, and I loved watching Hollis bond with them. 

I also really loved how this book portrayed both Hollis’s anxiety and her fatness. Specifically i think it does a really good job of portraying an anxious, fat girl who hangs out in a group of shitty boys. The feeling of wanting to speak up against bad behaviour but knowing if you do people will probably find a way to humiliate you for it was very relatable. And it was very powerful to watch Hollis slowly learn to stand up for herself. 

I didn’t love the narration style. I do understand the choice to tell the story in third person as it makes it easier to transition between narrating gameplay and narrating Hollis’s life, however at times I found things hard to follow and I think parts of this book would’ve really benefited from being told in first person. There were also a few moments that were brushed over that I wish had been expanded on, especially near the end of the book. 

Overall this was a really fun read and I’d definitely recommend it to any D&D nerds looking for a lighthearted, queer read, especially if you’ve ever felt like you don’t fit in at “traditional” ttrpg tables. 

The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper
Did not finish book. Stopped at 16%.

once again i have started an audiobook and then promptly decided that i’m not at all in the mood for audiobooks. i’ll probably return to this later lol