haileyrt's reviews
333 reviews

Nana by Brandon Massey

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.75

A good mystery/thriller novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat! I feel like a lot of the beginning of the novel was a lot of world building, and setting the stage for what's to come later in the book. Although it was a bit difficult to stay interested in the beginning, I feel like it was necessary to get to understand and get to know the characters, nonetheless. I really didn't expect the ending to end how it did was because I felt like for the longest this book had things happening that weren't being explained until the very end, and I feel like the ending just kind of happened for a second and then something else happened for another second, and then boom happy ending. With this being said, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, just something that I had happened to observed. I did think this was a pretty good book with an interesting plot and decent, pretty likable characters. I do like Massey's writing style, even though I felt like in some parts it was a bit overly descriptive or certain details weren't really necessary, but I still enjoyed it in the way where it makes sense for context and understanding. If you like slow burn thriller/mystery novels with black characters, you'll definitely enjoy this book!

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

A good and well written short-story mystery/horror novel for someone who's trying to get out of a reading slump. I loved the "Kids Who Come Back" story, despite it being significantly longer than the other stories (about 50 pages long), but I did enjoy the turn the story took and getting to know the different characters for a while. I really enjoyed the diverse stories, but it's not an incredibly scary book, mainly just spooky and weird stories about people and events occurring in Buenos Aires. 

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

Alexis Henderson does it again! I actually really enjoyed this novel, as a bit slow as the beginning was. One thing I love about Henderson, is she really nails world building so that the reader can understand later in the book what's going on, and this is one of the reasons why I love her writing style so much. Marion's story along with Lisavet and the other blood maids is so interesting and captivating. From dealing with their own personal struggles and their family lives, I feel like I really enjoyed myself getting to know the characters and the twists and turns this book took me through. Also loved the fact the Marion was a WLW, YUPPPPP. Although I thought the beginning was a little long, the middle was pretty good, and the ending just kind of happened, I feel like everything was wrapped up pretty well even though there are still a few unanswered questions about the different houses and more about Lizabet's life and the House of Hunger's story. if they made a series of all the different houses and different women's stories throughout each house, that would be amazing but this is a good standalone nonetheless.

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

2.75

Jake's and Sawyer's story is definitely not a bad one, but I did find the world building and "horror" elements to be a bit lacking. Despite loving the black main character and his story with navigating going to a predominantly white school, dealing with his sexuality as a teenager who never really felt comfortable and understood, along his family life and his mother and brother feeling damaged constantly from his father's abuse and actions, I found that this book wasn't necessarily a horror novel. To me it felt like more of a psychological mystery/thriller and coming of age story. I did think that Sawyer's story was incredibly sad and in some ways psychotic, but I didn't really feel like this was a horror book to its core. 

Another reason why I didn't really initially understand the book was because the world building in the beginning wasn't the most understandable. Like I felt like things just sort of happened without any context or explanation, and I still don't really understand the "dead-world" as much as I feel like I should. 

Although we do get a lot of insight and experience from Jake and Sawyer, I feel like really only Jake and Sawyer's family along with Allister in some ways were a bit flat. Fiona is cool but I felt like every other character was either there for the mc's development or adding onto the mc's issues with himself, but not really having any depth to themselves as a character in the book if that makes since. 

All around I thought this was an okay novel. Even though I think a good portion of the beginning was slow and a bit confusing since the world building wasn't really there, and the middle and ending sort of just quickly happened, this is an okay black YA book for mystery fans who enjoy paranormal and black LGBTQ+ characters. 

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

"Perhaps that's what the Prophet should've named this wretched year. It's more fitting, don't you think? The Year of the Witching."

This book was so good! I really enjoyed reading Immanuelle's story and her journey through trying to save Bethel. 

I understand why it might be a bit confusing and slow at the beginning, but it is very important to keep going through the beginning of the book as the world building is super important to understand the rest of the story. 

I also enjoyed reading about Darkwood and how it's symbolized compared to Bethel. Imanuelle's story along with her mother Miriam's story, Vera's, Leah's and the Dark Mother's stories are all so interesting to read about. 

Although I wish certain people died (*cough* The Prophet *cough) at the end, the ending was spectacular and unexpected. Just when you think things didn't go right, they do and expect even more! (Imo Immanuelle is better than me because any chance to kill the Prophet I would've gladly taken it but I do see why she wanted the slaughter, killing, and death of people to end in Bethel). 

If you love stories about witchcraft taken place in the 1600-1700s with a black femcee claiming her power through an oppressive system, you'll definitely enjoy this book. 

The New Girl by R.L. Stine

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Guarding Temptation by Talia Hibbert

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.0

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

adventurous emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

what the freak was this ending and why was the beginning and middle just theatre kid drama.....painnnnnnnn

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

A good slasher-horror book that has the reader constantly guessing until the very end. Although I thought the dialogue in some parts of the book were written a little bit cringy (kind of like an adult writing about kids if that makes sense idk lol), I felt like this book's ending ATE ngl. As slow as the beginning felt and not much of the book really kept me interested (as far as crazy things happening and the plot actually starting the pick up) except when I was about 60% through the book, I thought the ending actually was pretty interesting and I literally read half of the book in two hours because I wanted to figure out what was going to happen next. I really like the twist and turns this book took, but it was a bit frustrating that you couldn't really understand what truly was going on until you were towards the end of the book, which is understandable, but I feel like I would've enjoyed the book a lot more if they were more clues hinting at what was going on in the beginning to hold my interest to figure out what's going on instead of smaller things quickly happening and leaving me confused. Despite this, however, if you like slasher-horror books with a twist at the end and don't mind a few younger main characters, you'll enjoy this book!

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-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

4.0

An incredibly powerful and eloquently written book. The plot along with the characters and the execution was just chef's kiss. I felt a personal connection to the black femcee Laurence and I felt like the connection made this read so much more engaging. As someone who's tried to go out of their way to prove my value to people even though I could be easily be replaced, am always doubted, or never truly understood or cared for, Laure's story is one of many. It was so refreshing to read about her story and the intensity of the ballet industry for non-white people. I also enjoyed reading about the other characters and how they played a role in Laure's development and story. It may seem a little slow at first, but the character development and world building is super important to understanding the story. I love how the ending of the book the reader (at least I was) able to connect the dots and figure out why the book was named what is was, and figure so much out and understand how corrupt so many characters are the industry was. Overall, this was a great read and I will be reading more from Shea!