marslotus's reviews
21 reviews

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Did not finish book. Stopped at 18%.

Started reading other books on the side and just never got back to this one :/

Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

I really really love the theme throughout this novel of misremembering formative events, such a real thing that can happen so often. I also love how imperfect Amanda is, a coming out story doesn't have to be innocent and the complexity of her relationships is so compelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Outing, Bullying, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Transphobia

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Infidelity, and Cursing

Minor: Death of parent and Sexual content

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Reading this I felt as if I could feel the weight of care and consideration the author put into crafting this narrative, especially with a topic such as

sexual assault of young girls.

It's inevitable to relate to one or more characters within the story and the author makes you feel understood by his writing. I honestly sometimes felt like I was reading a quotebook the author compiled all of his favorite anecdotes on life into, and carefully assigned each opinion to certain characters.

If I were to complain about anything, I understand the purpose of so many different point of views since the book is quite literally about Beartown and how it's citizens react to drastic events but that doesn't make it less frustrating when I can't remember the name of characters that have 5 or so paragraphs total dedicated to their presence within the entire book. That and having new characters on top of those being introduced when you're already halfway through can just be a bit tiring. It also confuses me what worthiness it requires to be a named character vs being only referred to as something you do (the girlfriend, the president, etc). Maybe there's a real reason for it, but I haven't figured it out.

Regardless, this was a good read and I appreciate the way a lot of topics were handled.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Sexual assault, Rape, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse

Minor: Gun violence, Child death, and Alcohol

The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies by David Lubar
Did not finish book. Stopped at 18%.

The library website I was using to read it didn't have a copy of it anymore, plus I was just re-reading it for fun so I didn't feel the need to go out of my way and finish it lmao

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 1 by Ryoko Kui

adventurous funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.5

Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Lévy, Frederik Peeters

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Reading this after watching the movie feels like drinking water in a desert. It's fast but mysterious and uses some art style choices I don't quite understand (like putting dark shadows over the characters as they're talking making them appear a bit scary when all they're doing is sitting in the shade?). So.. solid story, wish it was a little more substantial.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Islamophobia, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Animal death, Cursing, Grief, Racism, and Death of parent

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Excrement, Confinement, and Rape

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Vomit and Excrement

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein — The Nine Eyes of Lucien by Madeleine Roux

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, and Death

Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

dark informative 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

4.5

This is a very interesting book that I heavily enjoyed, my only main problem being the open-endedness of the end. Instead of feeling like a reflective story on society, the quick ending leaves a few too many questions in my head to be able to ponder the meaning. Rather, I'm wondering things like "What was the point of the Warthogs," or "Why did the interviewer give a handful of names at the beginning with no mention of them again in the novel?" Maybe that's the point, but it was heavy enough on my mind to mention. I truly could not put this book down and had a great time reading it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Gore, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Cannibalism, and Rape

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

While I will admit this was a page-turner of a book, the writing styles of Monique's perspective versus Eveyin's never felt harmonial to me. That is to say I found myself drawn in when reading about Evelyn and unintentionally annoyed at Monique's character (until the ending of course).

She's introduced as honest and forthcoming, but is often presumptuous when speaking to Evelyn. It almost feels like two different people wrote the book, as I felt talked down to when explained bisexuality and LGBTQ+ issues by Monique's perspective. I would expect this from a teen novel, not from this story.

But I can't deny my eyes watering at least twice near the end of the book. This is a good story, maybe my personal preference is just getting in the way of fuly enjoying that. I didn't feel it had a strong start, but I'm glad it got better the farther along I read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Car accident, Death, Biphobia, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Cursing, Death of parent, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Outing, Suicide attempt, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Physical abuse

Minor: Sexism, Violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault