madamelacy's reviews
132 reviews

The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

4.5

In Defence of the Act by Effie Black

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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

3.25

Persephone Made Me Do It by Trista Mateer

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

An account of Monisha’s journeys around India. I found this book absolutely fascinating. I sometimes wanted more details, but then the book would have been huge I suppose. It was a really nice mixture of stories about trains, fellow travellers and cultural sites.

I initially found it a bit twee that she called her fellow traveller Passepartout, but it does become obvious why she doesn’t name him. 

First They Killed My Father Movie Tie-In: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense slow-paced

4.0

An emotionally difficult read, but also something that I felt that I needed to learn about before visiting Cambodia. Blows my mind that this happened in my lifetime. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, War, and Injury/Injury detail

The Beholders by Hester Musson

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Child death

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I found this book a real page-turner. It dealt with some tawdry issues and wasn’t emotionally easy to read.
+ I found the MC believable; she was flawed, fallible and multidimensional 
+ the subtext of nature versus nurture was interesting 
+ the story itself was sadly credible 
- some of the more peripheral characters were less credible. Some characters really didn’t seem to serve any function and were dropped from the story for huge numbers of pages.
- I just didn’t love the ending… it all wrapped up too quickly. For example the podcaster was an interesting angle, which was then just finished very  abruptly. Amanda Herron having the last chapter seemed silly because she wasn’t a character who’d been developed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexism, and Toxic friendship