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moonytoast's reviews
237 reviews
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
A brilliant modern edition to the genre of Southern gothic, Starling House is perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab’s Gallant. ***RTC
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Blood, Violence, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Vomit and Alcohol
Dear Mothman by Robin Gow
emotional
hopeful
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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death and Bullying
Minor: Car accident
Liberated: The Radical Art and Life of Claude Cahun by Kaz Rowe
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism
Minor: War and Confinement
The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Murder, Blood, Death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
this book has single-handedly altered my brain chemistry cause WHAT THE FUCKKKK this was so good!!!!! the story and world reid created have dug their way into my mind like worms into the soft earth, i feel like this book has possessed me fr 10000000000/10
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
The Apartment House on Poppy Hill by Nina LaCour
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Thank you to Chronicle Books and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this book!
The Apartment House on Poppy Hill is an absolutely charming and sweet chapter book focused on following the life of nine-year-old Ella, who lives in Apartment E with her mothers, Abby and Livy. Whether it be introducing the new neighbors to the tricks they need to know of their new home, juggling chores and teatime with her neighbor, or being invited to Apartment A to finally meet the elusive Robinsons, Ella shows her deep love and care for her community.
The writing style is easy to read and great small comedic beats, along with some genuinely heartfelt ideas about time and community. Ella’s personality and interactions with her neighbors reminds me of Eloise from Eloise at the Plaza, which brought a fun energy to this book and gave me a sense of nostalgia. I also adored all the illustrations by Sònia Albert.
This book is brimming with aspects that I love to see in children’s fiction, including intergenerational friendships and inclusive depictions of different couples and family dynamics. I’m excited to read more of Ella’s daily adventures in the apartment house on Poppy Hill as this series continues!
The Apartment House on Poppy Hill is an absolutely charming and sweet chapter book focused on following the life of nine-year-old Ella, who lives in Apartment E with her mothers, Abby and Livy. Whether it be introducing the new neighbors to the tricks they need to know of their new home, juggling chores and teatime with her neighbor, or being invited to Apartment A to finally meet the elusive Robinsons, Ella shows her deep love and care for her community.
The writing style is easy to read and great small comedic beats, along with some genuinely heartfelt ideas about time and community. Ella’s personality and interactions with her neighbors reminds me of Eloise from Eloise at the Plaza, which brought a fun energy to this book and gave me a sense of nostalgia. I also adored all the illustrations by Sònia Albert.
This book is brimming with aspects that I love to see in children’s fiction, including intergenerational friendships and inclusive depictions of different couples and family dynamics. I’m excited to read more of Ella’s daily adventures in the apartment house on Poppy Hill as this series continues!
We Still Belong by Christine Day
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
We Still Belong is such a beautiful, bite-sized story about a young girl whose big dreams for Indigenous People's Day—people reading her poem about the holiday in the student newspaper and asking her crush, Ryan, out to the middle school dance—don't go according to plan.
This is my first foray into reading anything by Christine Day, but she just writes in such a genuine and thoughtful way to where the heart of the main character, Wesley Wilder, just leaps off the page. Reading it feels like a warm hug and a promise of belonging, despite everything the world may say or throw at you.
NOTE: I haven't read much middle grade since I was the target age demographic, but I want to read more now that I'm working in a public library and want to provide more diverse reading options for these kids, since it's a pretty small town and the resources for reading outside the library are fairly limited.
This is my first foray into reading anything by Christine Day, but she just writes in such a genuine and thoughtful way to where the heart of the main character, Wesley Wilder, just leaps off the page. Reading it feels like a warm hug and a promise of belonging, despite everything the world may say or throw at you.
NOTE: I haven't read much middle grade since I was the target age demographic, but I want to read more now that I'm working in a public library and want to provide more diverse reading options for these kids, since it's a pretty small town and the resources for reading outside the library are fairly limited.
Content Warnings
Minor: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Racial slurs
The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
once again proving that percy jackson is THE superior fictional man (and also a total simp)
Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
4.25
Thank you to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for providing me with a digital ARC of this book!
Brimming with rage, resilience, and deep questions around humanity and creation reminiscent of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Wrath Becomes Her is a genre-blending gem of history, fantasy, and horror. Following the death of his daughter at the hands of the Nazis, a man creates a golem in her likeness using kishuf—ancient magic derided as an abomination against God—in order to avenge her death. Vera is a creation of clay and steel and ink and human teeth designed to be the ultimate Nazi killer... but is that all she is? As she encounters people whom she recognizes from stolen memories and uncovers a plot to channel kishuf to wage war, Vera grapples with the complexities of humanity as well as the nature of her creation and whether she is allowed or deserves to have a life or purpose beyond the one she was given.
Set in Lithuania against the backdrop of World War II, the novel creates an immersive sense of foreboding and the tangible dangers for simply existing as a Jew. Traveling back roads and sneaking through dense forests in the dead of winter, the horrors of clandestine camps for Jewish refugees being found by Nazis or Soviets, the tangible dangers of resistance to the extermination of your people.... These elements all swirl together and fill the reader with the same dread the characters feel with their every move. I am not well-informed enough to know whether the historical elements of this book are entirely accurate, but the world created for this book does feel real and lived-in by these characters. Part of this is likely the writing style, which somehow manages to overwhelm my pet peeve of first-person narration within historical settings and evoke a sense of immersion in the story.
Vera is a stellar character that resonates with the queer experience of being perceived as "monstrous" by others, perhaps even by oneself, and the grappling with identity that comes with existing beyond the traditional roles, experiences and bodies the world demands. I feel a kinship with her: a rage that is both her own and inherited from another, a hunger for more than her assigned role or purpose, a hypervigilance of her own physicality. Her interactions with the various humans she encounters throughout the book are interesting to read; particularly the way that Vera's perception of herself morphs into something greater as her connections and care for the living grow. To see her journey from her creation to creator was deeply compelling.
Deftly pitched as Frankenstein meets Inglorious Basterds, Wrath Becomes Her is a compelling story of Jewish resilience and rage against the Nazi regime during the Second World War that further cements Polydoros as a talented author of young adult fiction.
Brimming with rage, resilience, and deep questions around humanity and creation reminiscent of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Wrath Becomes Her is a genre-blending gem of history, fantasy, and horror. Following the death of his daughter at the hands of the Nazis, a man creates a golem in her likeness using kishuf—ancient magic derided as an abomination against God—in order to avenge her death. Vera is a creation of clay and steel and ink and human teeth designed to be the ultimate Nazi killer... but is that all she is? As she encounters people whom she recognizes from stolen memories and uncovers a plot to channel kishuf to wage war, Vera grapples with the complexities of humanity as well as the nature of her creation and whether she is allowed or deserves to have a life or purpose beyond the one she was given.
Set in Lithuania against the backdrop of World War II, the novel creates an immersive sense of foreboding and the tangible dangers for simply existing as a Jew. Traveling back roads and sneaking through dense forests in the dead of winter, the horrors of clandestine camps for Jewish refugees being found by Nazis or Soviets, the tangible dangers of resistance to the extermination of your people.... These elements all swirl together and fill the reader with the same dread the characters feel with their every move. I am not well-informed enough to know whether the historical elements of this book are entirely accurate, but the world created for this book does feel real and lived-in by these characters. Part of this is likely the writing style, which somehow manages to overwhelm my pet peeve of first-person narration within historical settings and evoke a sense of immersion in the story.
Vera is a stellar character that resonates with the queer experience of being perceived as "monstrous" by others, perhaps even by oneself, and the grappling with identity that comes with existing beyond the traditional roles, experiences and bodies the world demands. I feel a kinship with her: a rage that is both her own and inherited from another, a hunger for more than her assigned role or purpose, a hypervigilance of her own physicality. Her interactions with the various humans she encounters throughout the book are interesting to read; particularly the way that Vera's perception of herself morphs into something greater as her connections and care for the living grow. To see her journey from her creation to creator was deeply compelling.
Deftly pitched as Frankenstein meets Inglorious Basterds, Wrath Becomes Her is a compelling story of Jewish resilience and rage against the Nazi regime during the Second World War that further cements Polydoros as a talented author of young adult fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, and Grief
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
absolutely stunning work of nonfiction that makes me want to get
my hands on every single word this author has written and also watch a fuck ton of nature documentaries about the ocean
my hands on every single word this author has written and also watch a fuck ton of nature documentaries about the ocean
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Dysphoria, Alcohol, and Sexual content