grimalkintoes's reviews
140 reviews

Fake Blood by Whitney Gardner

funny mysterious

• 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

Throw your vamp teeth on, tease your hair, and darken your eyes — it's time for an episode of "am I cool enough for my crush yet?"

Whitney Gardner's Fake Blood is middle school woe spiced with a dash of middle school delight. Full of preteen antics and just the right amount of Twilight references, readers of every age will enjoy this fun, and oft relatable, graphic novel.

Delicates by Brenna Thummler

emotional hopeful reflective

• 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

Delicates, the sequel to Sheets, once again invites us to let our ghosts out. Carefully writing about the teenage experience of bullying and its restricting, spectral consequences, Delicates is a hauntingly tender tale of survival, friendship, and embracing all that makes us uniquely ourselves.

"For a freak who sees dead people, I've been pretty blind to what's in front of me. Last year, I was the one who felt like a ghost. How did I end up on the other side? You never know what's going on inside someone else's head — how they're hurting — even if you put the hurt there yourself. Maybe we need to stop thinking only about what we see, and focus on learning what is actually there."

Sheets by Brenna Thummler

emotional hopeful slow-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

5.0

Grief, solitude, unlikely friends, and one haunted laundromat. Brenna Thummler's Sheets shows us that having ghosts isn't always a bad thing. In fact, it's through our ghosts that we learn how to start anew.

All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Ashley Flowers' debut, All Good People Here, tells the devastating story of a 1994 cold case and a young journalist hellbent on finding answers in her small Midwestern town of Wakarusa, IN.

Full of true crime elements, red herring leads, and plenty of small-town gossip, All Good People Here is perfect for casual thriller readers and true crime podcast listeners, alike. As Brit Prawat would say, this book will give you full body chills.

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

"Why do we romanticize the dead? Why can't we be honest about them? Especially moms."

Jennette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died is brutal, yet radiant. Resolute in her truth-telling, Jennette invites readers to bear witness to her pain, calling us in to partake in her healing. It is so terribly tragic/touching to be privy to — no, welcomed to — view someone who has been "seen" their entire life. It is a becoming, a beginning, as much as it is an end. 

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

Steven Rowley's The Guncle is as much a hit as it is a miss. A beautiful, often heart-wrenching tale of family and grief, The Guncle gave readers a glimpse into the life of GUP — Gay Uncle Patrick — as he processes the loss of his longtime friend and SIL, Sara, while simultaneously stepping up to be the caretaker of her children, whom have grief to parse themselves.

Though the story itself had many quirky and endearing moments shared between Patrick and the children, I wish each character would have been developed more fully, the depth of their grief and joy on display. In many ways, The Guncle relied too heavily on 1-dimensional stereotypes and tropes masquerading as humor. It was almost as if Rowley was writing Patrick as distant not only from his life, but from readers as well.

All in all, this was a worthwhile summer read — paired best with bottomless mimosas and brunch. 

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

dark medium-paced

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

5.0

Adam Cesare's Clown in a Cornfield is midwestern survival horror goodness. It's bloody, it's campy, it's gruesome downhome fun. Don't clown around, folks — add this one to your summer slasher reading list immediately!

"Quinn had never been scared of the dark. And before tonight, she'd never even thought to be afraid of clowns." 

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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

"Sometimes it hurts, it really hurts, for no other reason than the fact that our skin doesn't feel like it's ours. Sometimes we panic, because the bills need paying and we have to be grown-up and we don't know how, because it's so horribly, desperately easy to fail at being grown-up."

Fredrik Backman hurt my feelings with Anxious People. Though delightfully charming and heartwarming, this novel will break you. I admit that I was in a particularly vulnerable position in my life when picking this book up — buying a home, moving across the state, and encountering so many new ways to screw up at being an adult — but my goodness.

If you're looking for a wake up call and are in need of self/societal reflection, pick this one up immediately. Or if you're just looking for an excuse to cry every night. 

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Sigrid Nunez's The Friend rips right through your gut — overwhelming grief scorching stomach lining. Spoken into being by a nameless author, The Friend traces the steps of loss as writing bears witness to the suicide of a close friend. Mourning quietly in the margins, there sits a dog, too.

"But let me say this: When you're lying in bed full of night thoughts, such as why did your friend have to die and how much longer will it be before you lose the roof over your head, having a huge warm body pressed along the length of your spine is an amazing comfort." 

Chainsaw Man, Vol. 5 by Tatsuki Fujimoto

dark funny fast-paced

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

5.0