lochanreads's reviews
306 reviews

Diamond Hill by Kit Fan

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

3.0

Set in British-owned Hong Kong during the 80s, a disgraced man flees for the streets of Bangkok, where he falls into a life of addiction, until he is taken in by a monk called Daishi in the temple of Wat Arun. Several years and the man known as Buddha returns to Hong Kong, sent back by Daishi to make peace with his past. Residing in a nunnery in Diamond Hill, a shanty town that was once 'the Hollywood of the Orient', Buddha's life becomes entangled with that of four troubled women.

Written with both beautiful and uncomfortable prose, Diamond Hill is a stark depiction of loss and hope in a slowly dying world.

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Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

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challenging dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I am sufficiently shocked and horrified from reading this book and I don't think I'll ever recover from that ending. A deeply disturbing, dystopian horror.

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

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

3.0

I Feed Her to The Beast is a sinister, villainous story about a girl who is willing to sacrifice anything to succeed in the punishing world of ballet. I liked how the flawed, dark energy of Laure, the protagonist, was applied against the book's cutthroat yet opulent environment. The more unforgiving and discriminatory the ballet institution treats her, the more Laure thirsts for the dark power of some enchanted blood-lake to make them all accept her as the best. I wasn't satisfied with the culmination of some story arcs, where it felt like the mystery was left unresolved, but overall this was a subversively alluring read.

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Bisexual Men Exist: A Handbook for Bisexual, Pansexual and M-Spec Men by Vaneet Mehta

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Bisexual Men Exist aims to validate bisexual and multi-gender attracted or m-spec men, who often have their sexual identity erased and stigmatised. It’s very holistic in the way it covers the many issues that bi and m-spec men face and it provides practical, first-hand advice and experience on things like coming out, sexual health and relationships. An important and affirming read.
Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

3.0

An endearing and inclusive 'opposites attract' teen romance with an ending to make readers swoon.

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The God of Good Looks by Breanne Mc Ivor

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

21-year-old Bianca Bridge is a talented writer, but when a suggestive photo of her and a married government official surfaces, causing public scandal, she finds herself being coerced into a career in modelling. She is later presented with an opportunity to escape the superficiality of her new profession in the form of the callous and prideful Obadiah Cortland (Mr.), an exceptional makeup artist, who offers Bianca a job, editing his company’s magazine. As these opposing personalities spend more time working together, alongside their luminous co-workers, Radhika and Dante, they begin to uncover eye-opening truths about themselves and each other.

McIvor is a resounding, new voice with the fresh take that modern-day Caribbean literature needs. Her debut novel The God of Good Looks is a witty, transformative and ultimately satisfying read. I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

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Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

A lovable, witty and temperature-rising romance. Talia Hibbert is quickly becoming my go-to for extra spicy love stories. Her writing is so lively and evocative in this second instalment of the Brown sisters books. She creates singularly unique characters, whose quirks and complexities I couldn't help but fall in love with. 

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Super Self Care: How to Find Lasting Freedom from Addiction, Toxic Relationships and Dysfunctional Lifestyles by Christopher Dines

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

Super Self-Care is a compassionate self-help memoir that explores the importance of making our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being a priority in our lives. It examines how doing so leads to personal fulfilment and meaningful relationships, especially for people struggling with addiction, toxic relationships or harmful behavioural traits.


Dines goes far beyond mainstream ideals that typify the practice of self-care, a widely popularised concept that has been gaining a lot more attention in recent years. More than just a surface-level discussion about things like; meditation, therapy, perfecting one’s mountain pose, or lighting scented candles, Dines probes deeper and approaches the conversation on what he defines as Super Self-Care through a broader and more multifaceted lens.


Super Self-Care
is both synonymous with working towards recovery from addiction and with addressing career and creative stagnation. It is the act of confronting our subconscious fears and building healthy relationships. It is the act of practising self-compassion and of harnessing the power of visualisation. This book has many dimensions to it and considers a comprehensive range of powerful themes. 


Dines writes from a place of profound vulnerability as he draws from his own past experiences with addiction, compulsive behaviours and recovery, to help people overcome the difficult trials they might be facing in life.



“All areas of my life improved when I became authentically visible. My challenge today is to sustain my authentic visibility, one day at a time.”
 

(pg. 57) Kindle Edition.


His writing both extends and evokes empathy not only in how deeply honest he gets in the personal unveiling of himself, but also in how he uses the collective voice in places, to demonstrate his understanding of the types of fears and insecurities people who this book is primarily aimed at will have in certain situations. 



“To observe our thoughts and feelings requires willingness and gentleness.”
 

(pg. 54) Kindle Edition.



In this way, Dines shares his extensive knowledge of mindfulness, group therapy i.e. Twelve Steps of Recovery programs, and spiritual practice to provide readers with a pool of effective techniques to aid in their personal growth.


Because of this book's sweeping range, I thought there was more scope for deeper development and for the many brilliant points it raises to be further expanded upon. However, I did appreciate the intentional structure of the writing; it has relevant subheadings throughout, that tie in nicely with the main subject of each chapter and help to break down the text into easily readable sections. Add to this the fact that Super Self-Care is a comfortably short body of work, 158 pages on Kindle to be exact, and it makes for a smooth reading experience! 


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Can't Resist Her by Kianna Alexander

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Oh how I wanted to love this book! I went into it with all the bias, all the excitement because queer black women's romances are my serotonin. So I felt really let down when this book ended up being such a disappointment. To its credit, I loved the premise and the conflict that the narrative was built on but I really struggled with the execution of the storytelling. The author obesses too much on minor details, making parts of the story feel extremely banal and as well as that, the dialogue was very cringe. In places, I felt like it had a natural flow but then it would lose that naturalness and start to feel contrived. But to end on a positive, this book has some really sizzling spicy scenes, which gave the story much needed excitement. Despite the excruciating sappy and clichéd epilogue, which I honestly could've done without, I love how this book celebrates women's love and how much it appreciates Black women. 

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