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lilydoyle6's Reviews (1.47k)

The Wilds

Sarah Pearse

4.0

adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i'm sad this series is coming to an end although i hope elin lives on somehow. there were a lot of twists and turns in this book and a few that were like DAAAAAAAMN. but i enjoyed this story and how the author handled the sensitive subject matter. i haven't experience domestic violence, but it seemed to capture the sinister, escalating nature of abuse and the lengths people have to go to to escape.

i knocked a star down because the ending was a bit confusing in the sense that

apparently steed/isaac didn't know what happened to his sister, kier, yet towards the end he visited her in the hospital???

that didn't make sense at all and wasn't explained well.

overall i enjoyed the book and it kept me reading. the way pearse writes investigations is so realistic and entertaining.

Content Warnings

Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve

Drew Afualo

3.0

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

rating this one is hard, because it is well-written and important, but a lot of the concepts and information are familiar & known to me. i enjoyed the more personal touches in this book, of drew's family/upbringing and stories she revealed for this book. the concepts of feminism and de-centering men have long been part of my journey and i'm glad she's bringing these concepts to the masses who weren't raised/familiar with them.

based on some press that she's done or podcast clips i've seen, i expected this to be more of a memoir and less of a self-help "how to guide," but it was good either way. writing is such a hard medium to translate personality through and i think sometimes her natural wit and excitement got lost behind the messaging.

if i'm rating this so that it gets boosted into the goodreads-sphere, 4; if i'm giving it a true rating, 3.

Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil

Ananda Lima

3.0

medium-paced

it was fine. some stories better than others but a lot were quite dry

Milk Fed

Melissa Broder

4.0

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i love melissa broder. this book is about hunger in a lot of ways, wlw, women denying women, judging women, mommy issues. so many things. there was a level of absurdity i enjoyed and the eating disorder stuff felt all too familiar and real.

the bits with the therapist were also entertaining

i also found the bits about israel / palestine particularly topical and interesting.

Open Throat

Henry Hoke

3.5

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this book was well - & interestingly written. the perspective of the mountain lion telling this story added a lot to the commentary on climate change, identity, and our true natures. i didn't get a large queer identity exploration or maybe less than i wanted, but i can't wait to discuss this in book club next week.