georgiasbookescapes's reviews
421 reviews

Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-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

5.0

16 year old Ophelia has been best known by her loved ones for her passionate rose garden and for being “boy crazy” with numerous crushes over the years. But when Ophelia gets to know Talia better, Ophelia begins questioning just how “boy crazy” she really is. 

THIS BOOK IS ADORABLE!! A lovely coming of age story of a young queer woman who’s from a Cuban American background! Lots of Spanish is used for when Ophelia is engaged with her Dad which as someone who’s slowly learning the language at a glacial pace - is fun to see what I can understand without translations in the story! The love and acceptance of questioning your identity as queer felt really gently done and beautifully normalised to me. And the roses! Oh the roses! Marie left me wanting my own specialised rose garden! 🤣

Bugs by Whiti Hereaka

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

Bugs is a 16 year old Māori girl. Her best friend is Jez. It’s always been the two of them. Bugs and Jez, Jez and Bugs. Now Stone Cold has started at their school and has taken an interest in Jez. What unravels is varying social commentaries on friendships, class and race. 

This book was rough for me to start with, yes I eat meat, but hearing about animals being murdered is something I struggle with, which occurs to rabbits in this book. What started unfolding became a book I struggled to put down. The expectations of success and failure because of who you were born into the family of, something I struggle to appreciate as different from my white and privileged family I was born into. If you can handle a first person written story from a 16 year old, get onto this book as quick as you can!

Cousins by Patricia Grace

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

Three cousins, Missy, Mata and Makareta spend a short time together as children before going on to live separate lives. Each woman’s story is different and their experiences as Māori women and connections with culture greatly vary. Grace uses these experiences to showcase different social and political experiences of the women. 

I struggled a great deal at the start of this book, unclear of when it was set, whether it was contemporary to 1992 when it was published, or starting earlier, and if so, when. But as time continued I found myself drawn further and further into the story and more connected with the cousins and their experiences. I think this is one that I’ll find more connecting as a reread at a later date hopefully! 

You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-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

4.0

Jasmine Lin is working hard to make more of a name for herself as a Latinx actress in Hollywood, just preferably not in association with break up headlines. Ashton Suarez is famous in Spanish speaking Telenovelas, but wants to break out as a Latinx star in Hollywood as well. Placed together as the new costars of Carmen In Charge, an American take on a telenovela, things begin to heat up between costars…

Okay, first of all - can someone make Carmen In Charge a real show for me??? Because I’m obsessed with these English speaking telenovelas. The family events for both main characters? In love! Who doesn’t love lightly meddling families? Sometimes the character connections could be a bit shallow, but I honestly loved this as a light fun rom-com and now need to devour all of Daría’s backlist! 😍

Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder by Gabor Maté

emotional hopeful informative slow-paced

4.5

Maté is in fact a renowned Hungarian psychiatrist raised in Canada. Maté does great amounts of work in the field of addiction and in this book explores attention deficit disorder also commonly known as ADD. Maté speaks both as a professional and someone who has lived experience with ADD as a human and as a parent to children with ADD. Maté walks through some of the social causes of ADD including attachment difficulties with caregiver and child, and aspects of the brain which may not develop as a neurotypical person. Maté also explores healing methods - supporting parenting styles through family counselling, individual counselling and at appropriate times - which is not the case for all people, medication. Maté states that medication is not a cure all and other healing methods will be required. 

Despite the short chapters - often around 10 pages a chapter, I found myself moving through this book very slowly. I found the start very dense personally and I think this is one I’ll need a re-read to fully grasp the starting concepts about the brain and the impacts of attachment. However, I found the rest felt a lot easier for me to personally grasp. 

If you’re curious to know more about ADD in a more in depth capacity I highly recommend this book.

If Only You by Chloe Liese

challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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

4.75

Baby of the family Ziggy finally gets her love story, with none other than Ren’s bad boy best friend Sebastian. The two have crossed paths over the last two years but barely interacted. When Sebastian needs to clean up his reputation, and Ziggy wants to tarnish hers enough to be seen as an adult who can speak for herself, the two strike a deal. A fake friendship so the others reputation can balance the others. But can a fake friends, with benefits truly last? 

OMG she does it AGAIN! This series is just so DELICIOUS! The banter and representation is once again beautifully done! The redemption arc, the lust, the tattoos 👀👀 yes, yes and yes! Nothing I love more than a strong FMC and a bad boy, whose not really bad, just needs some therapy! Thank you Liese! And please hurry up July 24th so I can get my hands on the final book with the late Australian release 😩😩

Everything for You by Chloe Liese

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-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

5.0

It’s time for Bergman brother 5, 6th in family order, Oliver, to get his story! Starting where we more or less left off in the last book, we re-meet the family this time for a vow renewal for Axel and Rooney. And this things are going even better for Aiden and Freya. Flash forward to two years later when Oliver’s more settled in his career and has been playing with his grumpy neighbour Gavin. Gavin’s 10 years older and long been Oliver’s idol. Now the boys have to learn to get along as co-captains which is going to change everything.

Liese shares in the authors note at the end she was inspired to set this book around Olivers professional soccer career thanks to Ted Lasso. And I can see it in Gavin! 😍 my favourite kind of grump! Grumpy on the outside, softie on the inside did give me flavours of my favourite Ted Lasso character Roy! 😍 and the spice??? 🔥🔥🔥🔥 this book has managed to win itself over as my FAVOURITE Bergman Brothers book so far! The character development for all the family members is just growing more and more beautifully! I could honestly go on at this point about this book for days. So if you haven’t gotten onto this series yet - ya need too really!

Becoming Marlow Fin by Ellen Won Steil

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-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

Everyone knows Marlow Fin, model and actress and about to give the ultimate exclusive interview. She was found aged 6 by the family that came to adopt her. Told from her sister Isla’s perspective who found her and alternating with the current day interview you get to try and know… who is Marlow Fin really?

This was FASCINATING! The tensions, the red herrings! Very well done! I don’t know what I had expected at first, but this took me somewhere else! The main characters begin likeable and all grow to become unlikeable by the end by beautifully crafted narrative! 

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC! 

Still Alive: Notes from Australia's Immigration Detention System by Safdar Ahmed

challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

5.0

Ahmed created this graphic novel and original web comic on the unceded lands of the Guribgal, Darug, Gandangara, Gadigal and Wangal peoples. I read this book on the unceded lands of the Kaurna peoples. 

Ahmed’s graphic novel shares a few stories of some of the people he got to know and befriended while he volunteered at the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre. Australia’s “policies” on people who are refugees are revolting and this book further highlights just some of those disgraces that the Australian “Government” have allowed to occur. Did you know according to the UN Rights of the Human, that Australia signed and agreed to its not illegal to seek refuge from a country your facing persecution from? Did you know other countries don’t place people seeking refuge into detention centres because it’s NOT illegal?? 

Anyways. This book is necessary reading about the way Australia destroys refugees who come to Australia. It’s hard, it’s heavy, and it’s still real right now. Also does anyone else feel sick saying “refugee policy”? 

Bennet & Aubrey: Fall In Love With Me by Willow Winters

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

2.5

Bennet and Aubrey first knew each other a decade ago in high school. 10 years later and they meet again by fluke and fall immediately for each other in this spicy novella.

The whole story at this time is done in 52 pages and as a result, felt quite clunky to me as it was all spice and no connecting. If you want a quick spicy read with a HEA then this will likely be for you!