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kauliflower's reviews
109 reviews
Tinfoil Butterfly by Rachel Eve Moulton
taboo sexual relationship between step sister & brother explored.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
stars ,, 3.0
cawpile ,, 6.85
the writing was beautiful, i loved the two main characters relationship but the timeline pacing felt off & unrealistic - it ruined the immersion for me, therefore making the story less unsettling + creepy as it could've been. the blur between realistic fiction and magical realism was sometimes very confusing and could make the narrative hard to follow, other than that, i enjoyed the story. not a bad book!
lowell's character confused me though, his random 'arc' of sorts felt unnecessary and the re-introduction of him was obviously just for an extra obstacle/ scare factor in the plot,, felt like more could've been done with him though.
cawpile ,, 6.85
the writing was beautiful, i loved the two main characters relationship but the timeline pacing felt off & unrealistic - it ruined the immersion for me, therefore making the story less unsettling + creepy as it could've been. the blur between realistic fiction and magical realism was sometimes very confusing and could make the narrative hard to follow, other than that, i enjoyed the story. not a bad book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
challenging
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
stars ,, 4.0
cawpile ,, 8.14
i actually loved this, even if it took me a minute to wrap my head around some of the overarching metaphors, the writing was gorgeous 'nd i'll definitely be checking out 'severance' by the same author. :) none of the stories really fell flat to me either, i definitely had my favourites, those being 'the office', 'peking duck' & 'tomorrow' but all of them were great. not being too detailed in this rvw because there's just ,, so much going on.
boobclub pick with mari !!
cawpile ,, 8.14
i actually loved this, even if it took me a minute to wrap my head around some of the overarching metaphors, the writing was gorgeous 'nd i'll definitely be checking out 'severance' by the same author. :) none of the stories really fell flat to me either, i definitely had my favourites, those being 'the office', 'peking duck' & 'tomorrow' but all of them were great. not being too detailed in this rvw because there's just ,, so much going on.
boobclub pick with mari !!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, and Blood
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
adventurous
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0
stars ,, 5.0
cawpile ,, 10.0
want to read about dancing gingerbread-man golems fighting mercenaries? ,, this is your book!
i honestly can't express how much i loved this book. it was so fun 'n sweet and i cried, genuine sobs! this book was everything i wanted and more, it wasn't even on my tbr, i just saw the title and went,, yep, reading that now. the characters were fantastic,, and made me cry ,, the writing was impeccable (to the point of me forgetting where i was in real life for a hot minute) and the plot itself was so fun! would definitely recommend this! ,, definitely getting a physical copy noooowww ,, <3
cawpile ,, 10.0
want to read about dancing gingerbread-man golems fighting mercenaries? ,, this is your book!
i honestly can't express how much i loved this book. it was so fun 'n sweet and i cried, genuine sobs! this book was everything i wanted and more, it wasn't even on my tbr, i just saw the title and went,, yep, reading that now. the characters were fantastic,, and made me cry ,, the writing was impeccable (to the point of me forgetting where i was in real life for a hot minute) and the plot itself was so fun! would definitely recommend this! ,, definitely getting a physical copy noooowww ,, <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit and Grief
Minor: Animal death
Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
stars ,, 2.0
cawpile ,, 3.66
super disappointed !! there were only,, two(?) memorable sections in this book, maybe even one (and i just finished this). there was so much potential for almost all of these stories and the writing honestly showed great promise, which is why i'll still be checking out 'tender is the flesh'. a personal con ; i struggle to identify overarching metaphors in stories when left with no 'hints' which stood true for quite a few of these and therefore made them pointless in my eyes, so i couldn't even understand some of the stories, let alone enjoy them. bleh.
** was going to make a favourite to least favourite list but i'm looking at the story names and can't remember any of them. sob!
cawpile ,, 3.66
super disappointed !! there were only,, two(?) memorable sections in this book, maybe even one (and i just finished this). there was so much potential for almost all of these stories and the writing honestly showed great promise, which is why i'll still be checking out 'tender is the flesh'. a personal con ; i struggle to identify overarching metaphors in stories when left with no 'hints' which stood true for quite a few of these and therefore made them pointless in my eyes, so i couldn't even understand some of the stories, let alone enjoy them. bleh.
** was going to make a favourite to least favourite list but i'm looking at the story names and can't remember any of them. sob!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Blood
Moderate: Physical abuse and Abortion
Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun, Vol. 1 by AidaIro
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
stars ,, 2.0
cawpile ,, 4.0
i really enjoyed the art style and general plot in this volume !! those were the only positives. the sexualisation of the fmc (who is a child) was way too icky for me to ever consider continuing this series. there are so many ways to portray an innocent child longing for 'romance', and it's been done many times before - but this was just blatantly gross. if you don't think that,, go away !!
original thoughts ;
I really liked the art style and the general plot, I would've continued this series today if the MFC who is a child wasn't sexualised so often.
cawpile ,, 4.0
i really enjoyed the art style and general plot in this volume !! those were the only positives. the sexualisation of the fmc (who is a child) was way too icky for me to ever consider continuing this series. there are so many ways to portray an innocent child longing for 'romance', and it's been done many times before - but this was just blatantly gross. if you don't think that,, go away !!
original thoughts ;
I really liked the art style and the general plot, I would've continued this series today if the MFC who is a child wasn't sexualised so often.
Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 1 by Kamome Shirahama
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
stars ,, 4.0
cawpile ,, 8.28
this was a very bittersweet experience !! the art style was adorable, the characters were instantly lovable and the plot was extremely interesting,, but the plot was also heart-breaking. am i going to cry at some point during this series? probably.
original thoughts ;
This was very bittersweet. I loved the art style and the characters already seem loveable, I'm very prepared to have my heart broken here.
cawpile ,, 8.28
this was a very bittersweet experience !! the art style was adorable, the characters were instantly lovable and the plot was extremely interesting,, but the plot was also heart-breaking. am i going to cry at some point during this series? probably.
original thoughts ;
This was very bittersweet. I loved the art style and the characters already seem loveable, I'm very prepared to have my heart broken here.
Cat + Gamer, Volume 1 by Wataru Nadatani
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Oh my god. OH MY GOD.
This was the sweetest thing ever, I laughed so many times 'nd the fricking cats SO CUTE. Buying more right now.
This was the sweetest thing ever, I laughed so many times 'nd the fricking cats SO CUTE. Buying more right now.
Jade City by Fonda Lee
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
DNFed at 65%
This was way too slow for me. The characters didn't feel fleshed out, I didn't care for any of them, the women were wrote as some kind of separate species (didn't pass the Bechdel test either, not a surprise there) and the MMC was quite literally just a brat. I didn't want to DNF this as it's been loved by so many, but I truly couldn't get myself to read another page. The 'heart-wrenching' moments had absolutely no impact on me either, so I wasn't interested in the plot or characters themselves and I didn't even feel emotionally impacted. Bleh!
This was way too slow for me. The characters didn't feel fleshed out, I didn't care for any of them, the women were wrote as some kind of separate species (didn't pass the Bechdel test either, not a surprise there) and the MMC was quite literally just a brat. I didn't want to DNF this as it's been loved by so many, but I truly couldn't get myself to read another page. The 'heart-wrenching' moments had absolutely no impact on me either, so I wasn't interested in the plot or characters themselves and I didn't even feel emotionally impacted. Bleh!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Hide by Kiersten White
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
First one star of 2024! 🎉
This book was not enjoyable at all.. to be fair I did laugh a couple times but that was because I felt like I was going insane. The characters were flat, their relationships with one another felt meaningless and rushed, every stereotype under the sun was chucked in there too alongside other overused horror tropes. The writing was just baffling, the perspective jumps were jarring and ruined any chance of tension + the reader is literally told the entire backstory and origin of the threat through letters. The characters don't find anything themselves and instead luckily run into someone who can tell them everything! The primary villain is cartoonish and so annoying it makes my brain explode, the 'others' are not even in the book so that's wonderful. The plot itself felt obvious too. I want to cry.
..Apologies for the disorganised 'review', it's almost 1am and I just needed to get all my thoughts out so I could sleep without my brain exploding. <3
Rated using the CAWPILE sytem. :3
This book was not enjoyable at all.. to be fair I did laugh a couple times but that was because I felt like I was going insane. The characters were flat, their relationships with one another felt meaningless and rushed, every stereotype under the sun was chucked in there too alongside other overused horror tropes. The writing was just baffling, the perspective jumps were jarring and ruined any chance of tension + the reader is literally told the entire backstory and origin of the threat through letters. The characters don't find anything themselves and instead luckily run into someone who can tell them everything! The primary villain is cartoonish and so annoying it makes my brain explode, the 'others' are not even in the book so that's wonderful. The plot itself felt obvious too. I want to cry.
..Apologies for the disorganised 'review', it's almost 1am and I just needed to get all my thoughts out so I could sleep without my brain exploding. <3
Rated using the CAWPILE sytem. :3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, and Suicide
Moderate: Child death and War
Penpal by Dathan Auerbach
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
Wow. The first half of this book was phenomenal from the writing to the characters. I really appreciated the fact that the MC's mother made reasonable & safe choices rather than the idiotic ones you usually see in horror media - I actually liked the way her character was written the whole way through. The atmosphere and writing at the beginning was amazing, I was genuinely creeped out for the first 50-75% of the book but unfortunately towards the end, (as the MC grew up) , it began to fall flat for me.
I do believe that the ending itself was well done, it was consistent and logical.. and I was extremely close to crying, but the build up fell too far into the typical horror cliches for me. Overall, I'm glad I read this book because of the first 50-75%... wow.
Rated using the CAWPILE system. :3
I do believe that the ending itself was well done, it was consistent and logical.. and I was extremely close to crying, but the build up fell too far into the typical horror cliches for me. Overall, I'm glad I read this book because of the first 50-75%... wow.
Rated using the CAWPILE system. :3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Stalking
Moderate: Pedophilia and Kidnapping