grimalkintoes's reviews
140 reviews

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

Stephen Graham Jones’ My Heart is a Chainsaw is a love letter to slasher films. The genre lovingly rips through the pages, grotesque prose splattered in the aftermath. Chainsaw is an emotional tale of trauma and rebirth, the final girl howling through pain and embodied suffering — turning into a howl of triumph, comforting at the bitter end. 

“…now that she's dying she can say it, at least to herself: the reason she needed a slasher to come to town, it was so he could cleave through her dad at some point in the rampage.”

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

funny lighthearted fast-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

5.0

Julie Murphy does it again! If the Shoe Fits is witty, charming, and all around shoe-stomping fun. It’s a delightful mix of rom-com and reality tv with a plus-size character at the forefront of the narrative, taking us along in her suitcase, our bodies pressed up against all the shoes she packed for the trip. 

Cindy is a powerhouse and If the Shoe Fits is a 5-star Cinderella retelling. I bought the book in the morning and finished it by the end of the day. Please read it.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis, the #reylo fic that made it big on #bookstagram, literally couldn’t have been more entertaining. I loved the dynamic between Olive and Adam — chasing their awkward yet charming interactions through the pages as quickly as I could. 

If I had one gripe, it would be a gripe that I have with most contemporary romance novels and it’s this: please stop describing your feminine characters as fragile, tiny, and almost weightless. I live in a plus-sized body and these descriptions do nothing for me besides make me want to put your book to the side. There’s sexier and more interesting ways to describe your characters, I assure you. 

Dagger Hill by Devon Taylor

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Hello, friends! It’s been a few days since my last review & that’s because things in my life have been overwhelmingly hectic. Almost as hectic as the lives of high school best buds Charlie, Gabe, Kimberly, and Sonya in Devon Taylor’s Dagger Hill. 

Taking place in the summer of ‘89, Dagger Hill transports you to a small, sleepy Pennsylvania town where the owner of the local diner knows all, government conspiracy runs thick, and the tender love between two friends will melt your heart. If you love Stranger Things, you’ll love Dagger Hill. 

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I waited SO LONG to get my hands on Eric LaRocca’s Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke which makes the disappointment I feel in the story that much greater. The concept? Impeccable. The execution? Left a lot to be desired.

While I was immediately hooked by Agnes and Zoe’s relationship and the nostalgic feeling of the early 2000’s internet culture, I had trouble connecting with their relationship on an emotional level — making it that much harder when the power struggle between them began.  Who were these women? And why are we supposed to connect with them? What makes us care about Zoe’s manipulation and Agnes’ obsession beyond visceral repulsion? 

On that same note, I think LaRocca’s exploration of the parasitic pregnancy was something that lacked nuance. What could have been said with this story if it had not stopped at the surface-level gross-factor? Give me an extreme horror novel that doesn’t cheap out with body horror/animal violence when things get tough. Horror is a wonderful genre to tell stories like this and has the ability to be transformative, but not if we sell out for shock value and gore-appeal.

All that being said, I did devour this all in one sitting so it earns a star for that. 

Jujutsu Kaisen, Vol. 1 by Gege Akutami

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

5.0

Garlic & the Vampire by Bree Paulsen

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

If you’re an anxious bulb like me, you’ll adore Bree Paulsen’s Garlic & the Vampire. 🧄 This middle-grade graphic novel is a delightful read full of adventure, friendship, & self-actualization. I absolutely ate it up — & not just because our host of characters are lively vegetables in a witch’s garden. 🧺🥕🍅🥬🧅

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

As an avid fungi-lover, it was no surprise that I found myself gravitating towards Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life. Even less of a surprise when you look at my replay stats on Cosmo Sheldrake’s Entangled Life on Spotify. 

Packed with fungal storytelling and an underbelly of branching questions, I will be pondering these pages for months post-read and finding ways to live an entangled existence with the fungi that gives us life. 

“Some trends go viral. I started to reflect on what it would mean to go fungal.”

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

Moonstruck Vol. 1: Magic to Brew by Clayton Cowles, Caitlin Quirk, Grace Ellis

adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing 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

4.25