mamareadstuff's reviews
315 reviews

Actually Invisible by Elisa Greb

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

A beautiful debut novel. For a brief moment, Living in California, I found some of the pieces of blatant homophobia in today's world harder to believe. Only in that it felt like life was for us "elder millennials" 15-20 years ago. But then I came back to reality and remembered I live in a mostly liberal bubble and life isn't the same across the country.

The main character feels extremely relatable and real. The stress and love of teaching, and parenting, and coming out, and staying in the closet, and family, and all of the messy in betweens.  Looking forward to more books from this author! 

Entwined: Essays on Polyamory and Creating Home by Alex Alberto

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

I really enjoyed and appreciated Alex's perspectives, insights, approaches and subtle guidance. Their approach to this book, a mix of direct experience through storytelling, and even some q&a, was refreshing and creative. 

Women We Buried, Women We Burned: A Memoir by Rachel Louise Snyder

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her by Robin Gerber

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

challenging emotional reflective sad

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

4.0

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

I would give this six stars if I could. It was lovely. And challenging. And moving. And silly. And caring. And not what I expected for this type of book, but I loved it so much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: War

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

adventurous challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

I really enjoyed this series, though the first was probably my favorite. I appreciated that the main character had to struggle and learn and make mistakes and wasn't immediately accepted or immediately all-powerful. Some fantasy book tropes can make the main character too all powerful and lose the compelling nature of the struggle. Understanding this is YA, I loved the complexity that Briana presented. The overlap between racism and evil and entrenched power was palpable. Definitely recommend this one for those that love YA/Fantasy and challenging the status quo. 

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.75

Oh I read this one too fast! 😭 It started off a little too YA for me, but by the end I was remembering, me as a teenager, feeling all the heartbreak and love and fear and confidence I felt then, even now as a 30something. The last chapters reminded me so much of my first San Francisco Pride, my determination to visit every major Pride celebration in California the following summer, and the never changing feeling of community among strangers.

"I'm screaming with joy. I'm screaming with pain. I'm screaming with the awe that I'm here, that we're all here, and that we're here because of the people before us, the people who couldn't be here, and I'm screaming for myself, too... The person beside me catches me with a smile, also wiping their eyes. I don't know this person, don't know their name, probably will never even see them again after this parade, but for thay one second, I feel like they're a friend, or a part of my family, and that's pretty f***ing amazing..." 

Thank you thank you Kacen Callender for bringing Felix to life. My queer heart is SO happy I finally read this one. 

The Power by Naomi Alderman

challenging dark tense

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