marthalperezs's reviews
230 reviews

Wish You Weren't Here by Erin Baldwin

funny 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? It's complicated

3.0

Such a cute YA romcom book which is just what I needed after reading like 4-5 heavy books. I deeply enjoyed this book and the characters were so fun to read, so fun that I finished this book in 2 days while reading in every lull in both days.

Thank you to Penguin Kids for the free ARC! 🫶🏼

Pure Colour by Sheila Heti

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

It’s a weird one, sometimes I felt I was reading a diary of a person going through a manic episode and sometimes it read really human and with tidbits of information that were so beautiful.
Alas, at the end, the vibe was very much kooky.
I might just not be philosophical enough to understand it as well.

Dune by Frank Herbert

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

The first like 200-250 pages of this book are so HARD, the world building is so minutiae but once you’re in it you eat the story up.
I LOVED the ending being about Jessica and Chani and not about Paul a LOT.
I also think the book could’ve been like 100-200 pgs smaller at the least, some things were overwritten, some chapters barely changed anything other than vibes but there were chapters that were SO GOOD.
The one thing that did drove me crazy was the POV jumping from one paragraph to another and you just had to catch up otherwise nothing made sense.

I’d definitely read Dune Messiah when I’m feeling like some sci fi. 

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.0

I struggled with this book, it’s not that is badly written or that it’s a bad book. It’s just a HARD book, like is hard to listen about a mother child relationship because almost everyone has one or we’ve been taught to want one. I listened to this book and HAD to listen to it to 1.7x because otherwise I don’t think I would’ve been able to bear the story. Michelle is an excellent writer because I could FEEL her anguish, her grief, her helplessness enough that I needed to rush through the book as to not get stuck in her feeling. 

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This was a book that at times I didn’t want to pick up but once I did I could read 1-2 hrs at a time. It has redeeming qualities in the sense it did a lot to depict  this real woman who studied and developed her own gynecology studies from and with her grandma successfully in such a controlled and strict environment. 
At times it was a little self indulgent in the tragedy but overall it was a nice book. 

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Some stories were very spooky but I found that the Great Awake wasn’t a story like any other I have read.

Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell

funny informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

I usually don’t read books about multiple generations of a family because I feel like the story doesn’t have the time to fully get anywhere because you keep jumping from character to character. But Lee did it beautifully, she gave closure to every one of the characters and each ending was 100% believable. The way she describes women was and is still true to this day, which is a sad thing since more than a 100 years have passed. But I could feel Sunja’s feelings, Lee did such a good job building her character that she’s could be a real person for all I know. 
Read this book as a buddy read with my sister through all of Jan and completely enjoyed talking about it with her.
10/10 would recommend.

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

4.0

A romantasy with pov of 2 sisters, sapphic, diverse bodies, diverse genders and enemies to lovers?!
I ate this book up, I loved that the sister relationship was one that I would actually believe sisters have. They go through fights, wars, exile, uncertainty together and as a sister myself can very much identify with that.
And the romance plots were so fun, it didn’t overtake the general story which I appreciate. I love me some enemies to lovers and had never read a sapphic one.
Overall, I really liked this book and will definitely read any upcoming books in the series!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for the ARC. 🫶🏼

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I didn’t quite liked this book. It is an important story that the world should know but to me it felt like tragedy after tragedy which can be real life. It may be that as a POC living in the US I don’t get the privilege of not knowing the history of immigration of my ancestros and those of other cultures, so this book just felt like trauma dumping. Like almost 400 pgs of trauma dumping with different characters, races, religions, abilities, like the trigger warnings on this book were endless. 
I get that stories don’t always have to be about good because that’s realistic but I also didn’t enjoy it and it took conviction from my part to finish the book. 
Or it might just be that I’m not in the niche for this type of stories.