mousewitched's reviews
884 reviews

The Last Love Song by Kalie Holford

Go to review page

3.5

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this ARC!

First things first: YA bi rep that has somewhat healthy wlw? Hell yeah.

The Last Love Song was sweet. I can definitely see the Mamma Mia! comps, but doesn't feel like I'm reading a rehash of that story. To me the most interesting parts were from Tori's point of view, too, which I think most Mamma Mia fans would say Donna is the draw over Sophie (they made a whole movie about teenage Donna, after all). I found myself wanting more of her chapters than Mia's, not because Mia was boring but because it felt like Mia's story completely revolved around Tori but we weren't getting enough. I just cared more about Tori's journey than Mia's. 

I think in general I cared more about everyone than Mia except maybe Britt. These were truly fantastic side characters, including the town of Sunset Cove itself. I wanted to know more about them, too, and while I think this is a great stand alone I secretly hope Holford explores it further. It gives me such vivid, specific images of small coastal towns I've been to and love dearly. The details Mia's grandmothers, Linnea, and Edie provided drew me in and made me read a little more closely when I found myself skimming.

And I did skim. A lot. I think the one thing The Last Love Song suffers from, for me, is the song lyrics, because so much emphasis was put on chords and melodies that just having the lyrics there fell really flat. It wasn't clear to me what Mia's nor The Lost Girls' preferred genre was - should I be trying to come up with a more country sound in my head, like The Highwomen? Or are they kind of folksy rock, like Boygenius? Is Fate's Travelers a Fleetwood Mac allusion? I know there's no way to make the music sound like music in a book, but I really had a hard time with the long passages of lyrics. I think even additions like describing the tone of their voices or musical elements, like mentioning a heavy tambourine or a mournful piano solo, would make a huge difference. It's a book about songs with no sound to it.

Overall, I would recommend it, though! Especially for the rep. It's a quick read with a lot of heart even if it wasn't my favorite thing I've ever read.
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

Go to review page

4.5

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for a copy of this ARC!

Let me start by saying this: I am probably not uniquely qualified to review this book, but I am 1) gay and 2) a baseball fan since the womb, which I think gives me a leg up on, say, someone who knows nothing about baseball and is also straight.

You Should Be So Lucky feels a little like a love letter to baseball. It feels like watching the A League of Their Own series (and the movie, but in a different way). It's so familiar while telling a fairly unique story - to me, at least. I'll add here that I probably would not have reached for this if it was written by anyone other than Cat Sebastian; I trust Cat with my queer reader life.

The story follows Eddie O'Leary, barely out of a stellar rookie year and now sucking the life out of an already dead team, and Mark Bailey, who really no longer has a life, as far as he's concerned. I won't go into too much detail into their love story, because frankly that was less interesting to me and there are so many other excellent reviews that sing their praises. For me, this is about people falling in love, whether it be for the first time or in a new way, with baseball.

There's a passage later in the book where Mark remembers a conversation he had about a novel where baseball is a metaphor for life and how he complained about it. His partner responds "that nobody has ever written about baseball without it being a metaphor of some kind or another." Everything clicks for Mark in that moment, in that passage, a secret, much needed batting practice, and to me? That's the romance in this book. Mark, falling in love with someone but understanding the love that baseball inspires in others, even a little bit himself; Eddie, falling back in love with baseball after it let him down and makes him feel othered; George Allen, loving something so much he doesn't want to let it go, even as he gets older. Tony Ardolino and Sam Price, fighting for the sport they love to accept others.

And I think Cat Sebastian gets that - there is clearly so much accurate detail in the novel that can only be described as a labor of love. Mentions of the Philadelphia A's, prior to the KC A's, and the quirks of the Polo Grounds really got me good. Like I said, I trust her with my life. She hasn't let me down yet.

If you love baseball as much as I do, see the love story in the long suffering bad seasons and the elation of a playoff run, I think you'd enjoy this book. I know I did.

(Did I take .5 off for erasing the Mets? The world may never know.)
The Graham Effect by Elle Kennedy

Go to review page

4.0

someone wanna tell me why i got weepy at this FUCKING HOCKEY BOOK

briefly coming back to this review to add: i get the pwhl didn't exist when this book was written, but come on. there were SEVERAL professional women's hockey leagues at the time of writing/publishing, and not a single mention? no nod to the phf? pwhpa (this one i get because of the ties to team usa i guess)? ewhl? anything? foolish.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Tastes Like Candy by Ivy Tholen

Go to review page

3.0

solid 3 stars but def needs a tw for body horror!!! also i think the killer was p predictable but i dont necessarily mind that.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
I Hope This Doesn't Find You by Ann Liang

Go to review page

5.0

The perfect academic rivals to lovers!!!!!!!!!!!!! As a reformed Sadie though… oof.
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Go to review page

2.0

GOD I HATE THIS… yes i gave it 2 stars that’s solely bc i like the rest of 4th wing. when i tell u this is SO STUPID and THE SAME FIGHT OVER AND OVER AGAIN……… pls don’t be like me and get invested in smth u hate… also i hope x*d*n r**rs*n **** and also like everyone else.
Enchanted to Meet You by Meg Cabot

Go to review page

3.0

Oh Meg. I’m sorry but this was a bit of a snooze. Like it wasn’t technically bad, but there are much more fun magical realism romances without the instalove. If you need something super mindless I’d recommend it I guess, but I was pretty bored. Read a different Meg book instead honestly.
Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

Go to review page

5.0

I’d written a longer review but it crashed! So here is the abridged version:

Absolute banger no notes I too would like to slap a rich white boy in Vineyard Vines read if you’ve ever wanted to be trapped in a psychological thriller and/or want people with exorbitant generational wealth to die!
The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord

Go to review page

I will not be reviewing this book in solidarity with the ongoing boycott against St. Martin’s Press. For more information please go to r4a.carrd.co
Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation by Jen Gunter

Go to review page

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Highbridge Audio for this ARC! 

Full disclaimer here - I actively work as a reproduction and sexual health advocate/family planner, so a lot of this information was not new to me. I was mostly interested to see if this book would be accessible for my patients and if there was anything new I could learn to teach them. With this intention? I liked it a lot. I thought Dr. Gunter's explanations could lean a little more scientific than the average layperson, but not so bad that you couldn't recommend this book to someone outside of the field. The pelvic exam and pap testing portion especially stood out because I find this is where most of my patients have questions. I also liked that Dr. Gunter narrated it herself as it made something that obviously can be very clinical more personal. I definitely would like to get a copy to keep in clinic as a resource for young people to understand their bodies better.