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giulsfloris's reviews
72 reviews
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I picked this book because of the beautiful cover and was initially disappointed to find out that this wasn’t a fantasy novel as I believed, but I eventually decided to keep reading and… well, let me tell you why I’m glad I read this book!!
Plot:
This mystery ya novel isn’t really based on a true story, but it does feel like it.
Daunis, the protagonist, is the daughter of the late Levi Firekeeper Sr and his former white girlfriend, Daunis’s mom, making our protagonist half-native and half-white.
Daunis was only a few months old when Levi Firekeeper Sr had a son with a young woman named Dana.
When Daunis, her brother Levi, her best friend Lily and the new guy in town, Jamie, all go to a party together, everything falls apart…
Why I stayed:
This novel is beautifully written.
It took me a while to read the first few chapters, mostly because I was waiting for something magical to happen (yeah, I was so sure this would be a fantasy book) and was disappointed when it didn’t, but then, as the story progressed, I literally couldn’t put it down.
The pace was amazing and the information and details that Angeline Boulley inserted were just enough to let me know more about the Ojibwe culture without confusing me (I’m white, and English isn’t my first language).
Daunis has to face several challenges and she does it with deep compassion and thoughtfulness. I appreciate the author so much for bringing this story to life and I am grateful I got to read it.
Trigger warning: r*pe and se*ual as*ault
There was a moment in particular that triggered my ptsd and made me uncomfortable. I was expecting it because I checked the trigger warnings, even if this one was mostly listed in the “moderate” section and not the “graphic”, but I’m thankful I checked.
The author wanted to highlight the lack of justice whenever crimes are perpetuated against native women and how the native community is neglected. This is a perspective we rarely think about and isn’t talked about enough.
Plot:
This mystery ya novel isn’t really based on a true story, but it does feel like it.
Daunis, the protagonist, is the daughter of the late Levi Firekeeper Sr and his former white girlfriend, Daunis’s mom, making our protagonist half-native and half-white.
Daunis was only a few months old when Levi Firekeeper Sr had a son with a young woman named Dana.
When Daunis, her brother Levi, her best friend Lily and the new guy in town, Jamie, all go to a party together, everything falls apart…
Why I stayed:
This novel is beautifully written.
It took me a while to read the first few chapters, mostly because I was waiting for something magical to happen (yeah, I was so sure this would be a fantasy book) and was disappointed when it didn’t, but then, as the story progressed, I literally couldn’t put it down.
The pace was amazing and the information and details that Angeline Boulley inserted were just enough to let me know more about the Ojibwe culture without confusing me (I’m white, and English isn’t my first language).
Daunis has to face several challenges and she does it with deep compassion and thoughtfulness. I appreciate the author so much for bringing this story to life and I am grateful I got to read it.
Trigger warning: r*pe and se*ual as*ault
There was a moment in particular that triggered my ptsd and made me uncomfortable. I was expecting it because I checked the trigger warnings, even if this one was mostly listed in the “moderate” section and not the “graphic”, but I’m thankful I checked.
The author wanted to highlight the lack of justice whenever crimes are perpetuated against native women and how the native community is neglected. This is a perspective we rarely think about and isn’t talked about enough.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Rape, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Death of parent, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Violence, and Addiction
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.75
This book was well-written, fast-paced and deep. Check the content warnings because this does contain a lot of mature and potentially triggering situations: eating disorders, anxiety, depression, abuse, death, and so on…
Thanks to this book I was able to dive into the unhealthy side of unwanted fame and success. Jennette truly deserves to be appreciated for how she opened up about her struggles, I genuinely believe that she deserves the happiness she wasn’t allowed to have.
Thanks to this book I was able to dive into the unhealthy side of unwanted fame and success. Jennette truly deserves to be appreciated for how she opened up about her struggles, I genuinely believe that she deserves the happiness she wasn’t allowed to have.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Vomit, Alcohol, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Addiction, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Religious bigotry, and Cursing
In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.5
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for letting me read the eARC copy of this lighthearted sapphic romance!
Morgan Ross is an over-worked and stressed-out event planner. One night, as she’s preparing for one of her biggest events, her life gets turned upside down.
She flees LA and decides to go back to the town she escaped from when she was younger: Fern Falls.
As she struggles to get her life back on track, an old flame is rekindled and she falls for her high school friend, Rachel Reed, once again.
What I liked about this book:
- sapphic romance, finally some cute representation of a wlw couple!
- hallmark-movie-like setting with a lot of Christmas vibes!
- noticeable character development
- spicy scenes
What I didn’t like:
- The romance felt a bit rushed. Morgan and Rachel hadn’t seen each other for years and yet they fell in love in a very short period of time.
- The drama. This book contains alcohol abuse and a parent’s death, but these two heavy topics are barely talked about. They are used to further the plot for a few pages and I have to admit I would have liked it more if I didn’t have to read through those scenes. They were supposed to add tension and other emotions, but I personally felt a bit… bored?
Overall, this book was a nice getaway from the heavy high-fantasy worldbuilding I was reading.
I’d say that if you enjoy reading a cute sapphic love story, then this is definitely the book for you!
Morgan Ross is an over-worked and stressed-out event planner. One night, as she’s preparing for one of her biggest events, her life gets turned upside down.
She flees LA and decides to go back to the town she escaped from when she was younger: Fern Falls.
As she struggles to get her life back on track, an old flame is rekindled and she falls for her high school friend, Rachel Reed, once again.
What I liked about this book:
- sapphic romance, finally some cute representation of a wlw couple!
- hallmark-movie-like setting with a lot of Christmas vibes!
- noticeable character development
- spicy scenes
What I didn’t like:
- The romance felt a bit rushed. Morgan and Rachel hadn’t seen each other for years and yet they fell in love in a very short period of time.
- The drama. This book contains alcohol abuse and a parent’s death, but these two heavy topics are barely talked about. They are used to further the plot for a few pages and I have to admit I would have liked it more if I didn’t have to read through those scenes. They were supposed to add tension and other emotions, but I personally felt a bit… bored?
Overall, this book was a nice getaway from the heavy high-fantasy worldbuilding I was reading.
I’d say that if you enjoy reading a cute sapphic love story, then this is definitely the book for you!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Addiction
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
fast-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
4.0
This book was fast-paced and can definitely be classified as a well-written book about how crazy the life of “rock-stars” could become when exposed to drugs and alcohol. There was basically only dialogues and very little descriptions. Sometimes it seemed as if I was watching a documentary instead of listening to the audiobook and that’s probably what I liked the most: the way it all felt real and palpable.
Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne’s relationship was enthralling and every character’s story was captivating. Nobody was left behind.
Even though I really liked this book, I have to say that I could have lived without reading something like this. It’s a good book, but overall it doesn’t feel like a life changing novel for me.
Could I have lived without knowing these characters? Totally.
Am I happy I read it anyway? Yup.
Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne’s relationship was enthralling and every character’s story was captivating. Nobody was left behind.
Even though I really liked this book, I have to say that I could have lived without reading something like this. It’s a good book, but overall it doesn’t feel like a life changing novel for me.
Could I have lived without knowing these characters? Totally.
Am I happy I read it anyway? Yup.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Infidelity
Moderate: Abortion, Abandonment, and Pregnancy
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Did not finish book. Stopped at 41%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 41%.
This book was slow, the protagonist Zetian was annoying, too arrogant and too focused on revenge.
I liked Shimin (male love interest) as a character, but I didn’t get to find out if I could like him more as the story went on because I decided to DNF the book.
I knew about the relationship that was supposed to happen and I couldn’t wait to read about it, but the story is too slow paced for me to continue reading.
This novel is supposed to be feminist and yet it felt like quite the opposite. The protagonist is a woman and she uses harmful sentences towards women that are already mistreated enough (she says things like “he died like a girl” just because she knows that this kind of sentences will make the patriarchal society very angry for comparing a man to a woman), she also never talked to another woman for more than a few seconds if I recall correctly. Therefore I’m not even sure this book passes the Bechdel test to be honest. It barely did in the first part of the story…
Soooo yeah, I was bored and eventually called it quits but I might try and read it again in the future.
I liked Shimin (male love interest) as a character, but I didn’t get to find out if I could like him more as the story went on because I decided to DNF the book.
I knew about the relationship that was supposed to happen and I couldn’t wait to read about it, but the story is too slow paced for me to continue reading.
This novel is supposed to be feminist and yet it felt like quite the opposite. The protagonist is a woman and she uses harmful sentences towards women that are already mistreated enough (she says things like “he died like a girl” just because she knows that this kind of sentences will make the patriarchal society very angry for comparing a man to a woman), she also never talked to another woman for more than a few seconds if I recall correctly. Therefore I’m not even sure this book passes the Bechdel test to be honest. It barely did in the first part of the story…
Soooo yeah, I was bored and eventually called it quits but I might try and read it again in the future.