leahrosereads's reviews
1031 reviews

Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

When Samira met Horus, I knew what heartbreak would come. It happened differently and without poetry for me, but it happened. Like it's happened to so many other young folks. Like Samira, I didn't know any better.

But adult me still sees the scars and my soul cracked again with the same old hurt for a moment for teenage me.

Elhillo wove this story and Pesephone retelling with such haunting beauty. I'm going to read everything by her - I've fallen in love with her storytelling. 

Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

I wish I had read this in tandem with a physical or digital copy vs. only audio. I enjoyed it but, i think, especially near the end, I got a bit confused about what was fully going on. Then it ended kinda abruptly. 

A fun read nonetheless with a ton of cultural conversations that were necessary to read and recognize.

Twenty-Four Seconds From Now by Jason Reynolds

lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

Black boys deserve love stories, and Jason Reynolds gave them one of hopefully a million to come. This was a fun, stream of consciousness story surrounding first love, first times, and graduation. It was cute!

Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was an absolutely stunning companion prequel to Pet. There was so much important commentary on monsters, humanity, revolution, and art explored on these pages. I can see classes reading this book and discussing it for years to come. This, like Pet, are modern classics that need to be protected from bannings and shared widely.

Emezi truly excels not only at strong storytelling narratively but connecting the reader to every aspect of the characters' struggles, desires, pain, and triumphs. The empathy that these kids have is inspiring and also a reminder so that we don't become the monsters we're fighting to stop.

The Bookshop Sisterhood by Michelle Lindo-Rice

Skimmed the last 30ish pages cause the drama got to be too much for me. So first DNF of the year, and I'm ready to move on from this.

If this was only about one of the friends going through what they did, it'd have been a solid story. But all 4 made it disjointed and most things didn't get resolved at all.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.75

If you've dealt with any form of Christian religious trauma and want it exercised out of you in the most horrific way, this book may be for you. Holy fuck with this a rough read.

Predictable but poignant with some incredibly important conversations around cults, conversion therapy, and what evil really looks like.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, Torture, and Violence

The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

Just to get it out of the way, I don't know if I'd call this a "funny" romance as the synopsis suggests. There are lighthearted and humorous moments, but there are a lot of meaningful conversations around classism, corporate corruption, and abusive family dynamics.

Having read Zen Cho's fantasy, I was super excited to try this contemporar  romance, and I of course,  wasn't disappointed.  The story kept me captivated, and I adored the characters.

Like always, I could do without the miscommunication trope, but I get that it's the go to trope in this genre. And like always, it feels like it came out of nowhere, felt disjointed,  and wrapped up quickly.

Void by Veronica Roth

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed this until the end. It got a little corny there. I'd definitely read another mystery set in space though. That was fun as fuck!

How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey

adventurous reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I wanted to try something small by this author before I jumped into the big books, and I'm glad I did. 

This was a clever, interesting story with science elements that I was starting to get near the end. Getting to see different versions or glimpses of the characters was also really neat. Though I guessed the ending of sorts, the journey was still a blast to explore.

When Angels Speak of Love by bell hooks

reflective fast-paced

First time in a while where I haven't rated a book, but, I think...no, I know I chose the wrong collection of poems this go around. Poems focused solely on love end up feeling really repetitive when its the same style, author, format, etc.