izzyvb023's reviews
90 reviews

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.5

I wish I could write something long and poetic about this book (and maybe someday after a re-read, I will return to do so), but I honestly have no words.

(Well, I have a few words). Suzanne Collins has done it again. Absolutely gut-wrenching. Destroyed me in the best possible way.

I encourage everyone who enjoyed this book to recognize the parallels to your own life and to your own government. As with the original Hunger Games Trilogy, Collins is practically begging readers to see what’s right in front of them—To open your eyes and realize you are FAR closer to living in the Seam than you ever are to enjoying the fruits of The Capitol. 

Some people are arguing that the character inserts and name-dropping were fan-serving and gratuitous, but I actually disagree. I thought they made sense and only added to the original characterizations. This book really developed Haymitch as a likable and empathetic person for me. It makes his actions in THG trilogy all the more devastating and compelling. 

I loved the Edgar Allen Poe references and how Collins shows Haymitch actively becoming the protagonist of The Raven through his own demise.
Stag Dance: A Novel & Stories by Torrey Peters

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

When I first opened the book, I was a little hesitant and disappointed because it started really similarly to “Manhunt,” by Gretchen Felker-Martin (and by God, I hated Manhunt). 

But I stuck with it and I’m SO glad I did. With “Stag Dance,” Torrey Peters bends both gender and genre to deliver an astonishing anthology of stories. 
While each novela touches on themes of sisterhood, community, identity, and intimacy, they are beautifully unique and engaging. 

I was drawn to “Stag Dance” because I really enjoy reading about different Bacchanals and the ways in which gender/sex are explored and exploited through them. The titular story in the book does this really well. The writing was hard to get into at first because of all the lumberjack lingo I was utterly unfamiliar with; however, if you just trust Peters to guide you through the adventure of reading her story, you will not be disappointed.

Read if you like:
- unique short story / novella collections 
- exploring gender and sexuality through unconventional characters and situations 
- lumberjacks, boarding schools, Las Vegas, or post apocalyptic societies
The Unmothers by Leslie J. Anderson

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“The Unmothers” was a fantastic feminist take on the folk horror genre. 
While reading this book, I was reminded that a lot of horror movies in the past few years have incorporated pregnancy/body horror surrounding the female body (Immaculate, The Substance, The First Omen, and even Beetlejuice2). There is certainly something to be said about the media we create and consume during different times, and how that relates to the world around us.
Under the current American administration, it is certainly terrifying to be a woman pregnant or not- and especially in rural America. “The Unmothers” tackles this horror beautifully. 

On the surface, “The Unmothers” is a story about a small town and the supernatural going-ons that lurk beneath it— a common folk horror setup. But the book takes this common framework and brilliantly uses it to touch on themes of sexual violence, abortion, addiction, religion, and access to reproductive healthcare.

Read if:
  • you’re a horse girl or former horse girl and you hate men
  • you love weird and disturbing stories, gothic horror, and/or folk horror

An excerpt I especially loved: 

“The whole town seemed to do a strange waltz around women like this, being ashamed of them, doing violence to them, using them as a lesson, and then also loving them deeply. What was happening here, exactly—or even vaguely? Could she believe that an entire town could tangle themselves so deeply in a dark story, in a superstition, while going to the white church and bowing their heads in prayer to a god who would not recognize their true religion, their songs, their nameless rituals?”
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Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

‘Nothing to See Here’ is a quick, quirky, and lighthearted read. I was originally drawn in because it takes place in my hometown, Franklin; but I stayed for the sweet humor and the fast-paced writing. The story wasn’t hard to get into and I found myself enjoying it and finishing it pretty quickly. 

Read if you enjoy:
- lighthearted books
- magical realism
- kids who catch on fire and make trouble for their wealthy politician father
Smothermoss by Alisa Alering

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“Smothermoss” is not for everyone…it’s weird. It meanders. It’s paced pretty slowly at times. Half the time, you don’t even know what’s happening. But by God, I loved it. 

The prose was eerie and atmospheric. I felt like I could fully touch the rich beauty of the mountain as well as taste her suffocating decay. Having grown up in the south, not far from the mountains, I felt a connection to Angie’s and Shiela’s girlhoods. I remember Angie’s playful wildness as well as the weight of Shiela’s anxiety as if they were my own memories. Alering does a fantastic job of immersing the reader into the thralls of the unpredictable (and slightly menacing) mountainside. I was shocked when I found out this was only their debut novel. 
I’ve been reading a lot of Appalachian/Southern Gothics lately and this was a perfect addition to my collection. 

Words I’d use to describe “Smothermoss:”
mossy, muddy, mountains, Appalachia, queerness, femininity, girlhood, eldritch horror, weird, atmospheric, suffocating, supernatural, gothic, beautifully deranged

Don’t read if you don’t like:
- magical realism
- not getting all the answers to your questions by the end of the book
- suspending your belief in reality
- Weird gothics
Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Summer Sons was absolutely haunting in every aspect. As a Nashville native and a big fan of Gothic literature, I was really excited for this one.

At first, the pacing felt slow for me and I struggled to care about the characters. Mandelo’s prose was also difficult to get into. 
But once I got through a few chapters, I was ravenous for the story and couldn’t put it down. Mandelo does a fantastic job of immersing the reader into the sticky, humid atmosphere of a southern summer. The way that the ghost story intertwined with discussions on racism, queerness, academia, and gender was really well done as well. 

Read if you like:
  • Queer slow burns
  • Southern Gothics
  • Dark academia
  • Drugs and related shenanigans 
The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Described to me as a "modern Narnia" with sprinkles of detective fiction and magical realism, I was really excited for this one. In some ways, it lived up to the hype, but in others, fell totally flat for me. Overall, I enjoyed the read, but would be remiss if I said I absolutely loved it.

What I enjoyed:
  •  the first half of the book was great. I was immediately hooked on the premise and the characters
  •  the world building was believable
  •  Fritz the rat
  •  the relationship between Rafe/Jeremy + how they navigated grief, loss, and fear

What I didn't enjoy:
  •  the dialogue. The author tries so hard to make the characters quirky and relatable. Unfortunately, a lot of the time, it read as cringe inducing and obnoxious.
  •  the "story teller's corner." I truly don't think this was necessary. I understand that the author was going for a Lemony Snicket style snarky narrator who intervenes in the story, but it just didn't land for me. More often than not, the story tellers corner seemed like a way for the author to summarize plot points that she didn’t want to write
  • On that topic, there was a LOT of telling & not showing. For me, the magical aspects of the world really lost some of their fantastical qualities because of this. 

Overall, this was a fun and quick read! Lovely little LGBTQ romance + a great premise. But some of the attempts at quirkiness and snark were overdone and the the magical world building was less than ideal. 
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The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

“The Bog Wife” was so deliciously atmospheric. Each page was dripping with vivid imagery of the swampy isolated Appalachian bog. I came for a supernatural-ish Appalachian Gothic novel, and Kay Chronister certainly delivered. I stayed for the family relations, the gender dynamics, and the overwhelming spirit of decay that surrounded the book. 

Read if you like:
  • swamps
  • Appalachia
  • Weird culty families
  • Family secrets
  • That one painting of Ophelia by John Everett Millais

Don’t read if you don’t like:
  • When the setting is a character
  • decay/disease
  • abandoning the patriarchy
  • swamp women
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan

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challenging informative medium-paced

3.5

Fascinating look at the political, ideological, and social contexts that Jesus existed in. For me, it was tough to get into because it didn’t start chronologically, but it got more easily digestible as I kept reading. 

Very well researched and well defended.
Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

Loved this one! It was half legal drama, half thriller, with a splash of lqbtq romance and Satanic Panic. The pacing was great and I never felt like it slowed down or dragged along. I thought the setting and the time period were really apt for the story and I enjoyed how the author tied in the different timelines. You could also tell that the author was well researched on both Canadian and American legal procedures. This made for a fun, face paced read as I wait for my law school application decisions. 
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