You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
notesbynnenna's Reviews (513)
I’ve been trying to incorporate more nonfiction into my reading and I’ve been meaning to read this one for so long. I originally started this in paperback, but then ended up switching to the audio after about 75 pages. I’m slowly discovering that certain types of nonfiction work really well on audio for me and I feel like the audiobook helps me focus better sometimes. All that is to say that I really enjoyed the audiobook version, even though I was a little sad that it wasn’t narrated by the author as I’d enjoyed hearing her voice when I listened to MEDIOCRE several months ago.
I love Oluo’s writing because it’s just so direct, clear, and accessible. She really breaks things down so well in this book, explaining various terms and providing tips on how to have productive conversations about race. She writes about microagressions, the school-to-prison pipeline, tone policing, the model minority myth, and many other topics.
I’m on my own antiracist journey and I can admit that depending on the circumstances, I do find conversations about race difficult and uncomfortable. But they’re also necessary and important, and as Oluo says, I’m in the process of learning how to work through that discomfort. Books like this help.
If you’re looking to start your antiracist education somewhere, I think this is a good place to start. Even if none of this is news to you, her words are still helpful reminders or perhaps validating if you’re also a person of color that has had similar experiences to the ones she describes. SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE is a very useful and important read.
I love Oluo’s writing because it’s just so direct, clear, and accessible. She really breaks things down so well in this book, explaining various terms and providing tips on how to have productive conversations about race. She writes about microagressions, the school-to-prison pipeline, tone policing, the model minority myth, and many other topics.
I’m on my own antiracist journey and I can admit that depending on the circumstances, I do find conversations about race difficult and uncomfortable. But they’re also necessary and important, and as Oluo says, I’m in the process of learning how to work through that discomfort. Books like this help.
If you’re looking to start your antiracist education somewhere, I think this is a good place to start. Even if none of this is news to you, her words are still helpful reminders or perhaps validating if you’re also a person of color that has had similar experiences to the ones she describes. SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE is a very useful and important read.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
I had high expectations for this book when I picked it up and I was not disappointed. I loved this book from start to finish!
There is such a richness of detail in the story and these characters just jump off the page. I truly had to remind myself that they were fictional because they felt so real. This story sucked me all the way right in. I also thought it was so cleverly done with the way it’s structured in this oral history style with the narrator/writer interviewing various characters about Opal & Nev. I loved the little bits of history sprinkled throughout and it felt like I was reading a nonfiction book inside of a fiction book.
I love listening to music, but I’ve never been musical, so I don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes and all the work it takes to create the music I listen to. I found it fascinating when the characters talked about their creative processes. The more I read, the more I became convinced that the author might have been in the music industry herself because it just felt like she truly knew what she was writing about. I don’t think writing about music is easy, and on top of that, this is fictional music, but Walton does it so convincingly that I was fully invested in this story.
Walton writes about race and the political climate of the 1970s, about what it was like being a Black person and a Black woman in the music industry in that era, and in more recent years via the character of S. Sunny Shelton. The way she weaves the past and the present in this story so that we can see what’s changing and how much change still needs to happen was so good. And Opal was this amazingly fierce and flawed character that I could not help but root for.
This book was really well done and Walton is an amazing storyteller. If this book is on your TBR, I’m excited for you because I think you’re in for a real treat.
I had high expectations for this book when I picked it up and I was not disappointed. I loved this book from start to finish!
There is such a richness of detail in the story and these characters just jump off the page. I truly had to remind myself that they were fictional because they felt so real. This story sucked me all the way right in. I also thought it was so cleverly done with the way it’s structured in this oral history style with the narrator/writer interviewing various characters about Opal & Nev. I loved the little bits of history sprinkled throughout and it felt like I was reading a nonfiction book inside of a fiction book.
I love listening to music, but I’ve never been musical, so I don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes and all the work it takes to create the music I listen to. I found it fascinating when the characters talked about their creative processes. The more I read, the more I became convinced that the author might have been in the music industry herself because it just felt like she truly knew what she was writing about. I don’t think writing about music is easy, and on top of that, this is fictional music, but Walton does it so convincingly that I was fully invested in this story.
Walton writes about race and the political climate of the 1970s, about what it was like being a Black person and a Black woman in the music industry in that era, and in more recent years via the character of S. Sunny Shelton. The way she weaves the past and the present in this story so that we can see what’s changing and how much change still needs to happen was so good. And Opal was this amazingly fierce and flawed character that I could not help but root for.
This book was really well done and Walton is an amazing storyteller. If this book is on your TBR, I’m excited for you because I think you’re in for a real treat.
3.5 stars
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
I definitely had really high expectations for this book and my feelings about it went on a bit of a rollercoaster ride as I was reading it. When I first started, it made me feel so nostalgic about my time working in publishing. I felt like I was Nella in a way once upon a time, although she’s in editorial and I worked in rights and permissions. I was reminiscing about the people I worked with and the office politics. At one point, Nella describes the drama about a junior staffer getting their own office (rather than an open cubicle) and I laughed to myself because I definitely remember discussions like that happening back in the day.
At one point, we can see that Nella’s coworkers have categorized her as the exceptional Black person, and that’s why she’s palatable in their minds. She’s not like “other Black people,” whatever that means (we know what that means). I truly felt for Nella because as we know, publishing is a very white space, and it is not easy at all to be a Black person in those spaces.
I thought there was so much good dialogue in this book, specifically the way that Harris wrote some of the conversations between Nella and her supposedly liberal white colleagues. Conversations where they can’t stop dropping the word “diversity” to the point where it loses all meaning. A moment where a white coworker mixes her up with the other Black girl. I think Harris really captured these interactions and they had me nodding my head in recognition. The microaggressions are constant and exhausting and we can see the toll it takes on Nella.
Then after a bit, the book took a turn that I wasn’t really expecting. We got introduced to some new characters, and I was kind of confused and unsure where the story was going. I was interested to see what happened, but at the same time, I wasn’t really feeling the thriller aspect of the story. I wanted more tension, or maybe I wanted more overt tension. And I do feel like I finally got that within the last hundred pages or so. It felt like the tension was dialed up from like a two to a seven or eight, so that was exciting.
When we finally found out what was happening, I was quite skeptical and I wasn’t really buying it. But I want to give the author more credit here because the more we learned and the more I thought about it, the more I was willing to accept the narrative arc. I sat with my feelings for a bit and then I was like, “Oh, this is pretty messed up!” That’s all I’ll say about that because I don’t want to get into spoilers, but as I reflected, I felt I had a better understanding of what the author was trying to do there.
With the additional perspectives, now after finishing the book I understand why they were included, but I felt that could have perhaps been executed a bit better. And did it work for me as a thriller? Kind of. As I mentioned, I thought it was lacking some tension in the first chunk of the story, that I didn’t really feel until later. But it did keep me on my toes because I did not know how it was all going to come together for most of the book.
Again, I loved that this was set in the world of publishing. I think this behind the scenes view of a publishing house is great because I feel like there’s a lot of mystery around how publishing actually works. And I appreciated the author’s social commentary about the difficulties of being a Black person working in a very white space.
I definitely had a lot of thoughts about this book, so I’d love to chat with anyone else who’s read it! And for that reason, I think it would make a good buddy read or book club pick because I can definitely see how people would have feelings across the spectrum about this one. I thought it was a strong, but not perfect, debut and I’m looking forward to seeing what she writes next.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
I definitely had really high expectations for this book and my feelings about it went on a bit of a rollercoaster ride as I was reading it. When I first started, it made me feel so nostalgic about my time working in publishing. I felt like I was Nella in a way once upon a time, although she’s in editorial and I worked in rights and permissions. I was reminiscing about the people I worked with and the office politics. At one point, Nella describes the drama about a junior staffer getting their own office (rather than an open cubicle) and I laughed to myself because I definitely remember discussions like that happening back in the day.
At one point, we can see that Nella’s coworkers have categorized her as the exceptional Black person, and that’s why she’s palatable in their minds. She’s not like “other Black people,” whatever that means (we know what that means). I truly felt for Nella because as we know, publishing is a very white space, and it is not easy at all to be a Black person in those spaces.
I thought there was so much good dialogue in this book, specifically the way that Harris wrote some of the conversations between Nella and her supposedly liberal white colleagues. Conversations where they can’t stop dropping the word “diversity” to the point where it loses all meaning. A moment where a white coworker mixes her up with the other Black girl. I think Harris really captured these interactions and they had me nodding my head in recognition. The microaggressions are constant and exhausting and we can see the toll it takes on Nella.
Then after a bit, the book took a turn that I wasn’t really expecting. We got introduced to some new characters, and I was kind of confused and unsure where the story was going. I was interested to see what happened, but at the same time, I wasn’t really feeling the thriller aspect of the story. I wanted more tension, or maybe I wanted more overt tension. And I do feel like I finally got that within the last hundred pages or so. It felt like the tension was dialed up from like a two to a seven or eight, so that was exciting.
When we finally found out what was happening, I was quite skeptical and I wasn’t really buying it. But I want to give the author more credit here because the more we learned and the more I thought about it, the more I was willing to accept the narrative arc. I sat with my feelings for a bit and then I was like, “Oh, this is pretty messed up!” That’s all I’ll say about that because I don’t want to get into spoilers, but as I reflected, I felt I had a better understanding of what the author was trying to do there.
With the additional perspectives, now after finishing the book I understand why they were included, but I felt that could have perhaps been executed a bit better. And did it work for me as a thriller? Kind of. As I mentioned, I thought it was lacking some tension in the first chunk of the story, that I didn’t really feel until later. But it did keep me on my toes because I did not know how it was all going to come together for most of the book.
Again, I loved that this was set in the world of publishing. I think this behind the scenes view of a publishing house is great because I feel like there’s a lot of mystery around how publishing actually works. And I appreciated the author’s social commentary about the difficulties of being a Black person working in a very white space.
I definitely had a lot of thoughts about this book, so I’d love to chat with anyone else who’s read it! And for that reason, I think it would make a good buddy read or book club pick because I can definitely see how people would have feelings across the spectrum about this one. I thought it was a strong, but not perfect, debut and I’m looking forward to seeing what she writes next.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
4.5 stars
This debut YA fantasy was one of my most highly anticipated 2021 releases. You know when you’re super excited about a book but also a bit worried that it might not live up to your expectations? That’s how I felt about Beasts of Prey.* But I didn’t need to worry because this book really delivered!
Our two main characters in this story are Koffi and Ekon. Koffi is indentured to the Night Zoo, a place where people come to ogle exotic creatures, and she’s working to pay off her debts. Ekon is training to become a Son of the Six, one of the city’s respected warriors. Their paths cross one fateful night when they both encounter the Shetani, a horrible beast that has been brutally killing the people of Lkossa for a century. Each of them has their own reasons around why they want to hunt this creature down, so they decide to temporarily team up and go after it together. And so the hunt begins!
First of all, I have to say that I love the cover and the line, “the hunt begins.” I was immediately intrigued and wanted to know what was being hunted. And then as I got into the story, I met the two main characters and fell in love with them. Ekon definitely feels a sense of familial duty. He comes from a long line of warriors and he wants to be just like his older brother, who is already a Son of the Six. As a young man trying to prove himself, he craves the respect and recognition that comes with that title. Meanwhile, Koffi wants her freedom. She dreams of a day when she and her mother have paid off all their debts and no longer have to be beastkeepers at the Night Zoo.
I appreciated how different their personalities are. Ekon is a planner and he likes to follow the rules, but Koffi operates on instinct and is more spontaneous. When they decide to hunt down the Shetani together, I knew it would be interesting to see how or if they could learn to work together towards their common goal. I loved observing how their relationship grows and shifts over the course of the book.
The first 150 pages or so of this book are about setting up the world, then we move into the hunt, and we finish with a bang. I thought the ending was so exciting (action, reveals, a cliffhanger!). That pacing worked for me and although this book is nearly 500 pages, I felt like it read very quickly. I really enjoyed the writing and I thought she did a great job of building this world in a way that wasn’t too difficult to understand, but was still rich with detail. In the Author’s Note at the end of the book, she describes BEASTS OF PREY as a Pan-African fantasy. I liked the way she wove cultural details and tales from multiple countries into this story. And shoutout to the mention of egusi soup and jollof rice at one point- that made me very happy!
One theme that really stood out to me was familial duty and legacy. In different ways, both Koffi and Ekon are struggling with the duty they feel towards specific people and dealing with the legacy their families have left them. Growing up hasn’t been easy for either of them and they’re still trying to figure out who they are, or who they want to be. The author also writes about grief, guilt, betrayal, and having the courage to truly face your emotions. I’m someone who sometimes finds it difficult to be vulnerable and express my emotions, so that really struck a chord with me. As much as we might want to, we can’t run away from our emotions forever, or they will consume us.
Back to the ending because I’m still buzzing about it. I was not prepared for all the things we learn in the end! You should have seen me gasping in shock and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I am so excited to find out where this story goes next, but the only problem is that now I have to wait who knows how long for book 2! I am just so here for Black YA fantasy. If you feel the same, then I’m going to need you to read this book and then talk to me about it!
4.5 stars
This debut YA fantasy was one of my most highly anticipated 2021 releases. You know when you’re super excited about a book but also a bit worried that it might not live up to your expectations? That’s how I felt about Beasts of Prey.* But I didn’t need to worry because this book really delivered!
Our two main characters in this story are Koffi and Ekon. Koffi is indentured to the Night Zoo, a place where people come to ogle exotic creatures, and she’s working to pay off her debts. Ekon is training to become a Son of the Six, one of the city’s respected warriors. Their paths cross one fateful night when they both encounter the Shetani, a horrible beast that has been brutally killing the people of Lkossa for a century. Each of them has their own reasons around why they want to hunt this creature down, so they decide to temporarily team up and go after it together. And so the hunt begins!
First of all, I have to say that I love the cover and the line, “the hunt begins.” I was immediately intrigued and wanted to know what was being hunted. And then as I got into the story, I met the two main characters and fell in love with them. Ekon definitely feels a sense of familial duty. He comes from a long line of warriors and he wants to be just like his older brother, who is already a Son of the Six. As a young man trying to prove himself, he craves the respect and recognition that comes with that title. Meanwhile, Koffi wants her freedom. She dreams of a day when she and her mother have paid off all their debts and no longer have to be beastkeepers at the Night Zoo.
I appreciated how different their personalities are. Ekon is a planner and he likes to follow the rules, but Koffi operates on instinct and is more spontaneous. When they decide to hunt down the Shetani together, I knew it would be interesting to see how or if they could learn to work together towards their common goal. I loved observing how their relationship grows and shifts over the course of the book.
The first 150 pages or so of this book are about setting up the world, then we move into the hunt, and we finish with a bang. I thought the ending was so exciting (action, reveals, a cliffhanger!). That pacing worked for me and although this book is nearly 500 pages, I felt like it read very quickly. I really enjoyed the writing and I thought she did a great job of building this world in a way that wasn’t too difficult to understand, but was still rich with detail. In the Author’s Note at the end of the book, she describes BEASTS OF PREY as a Pan-African fantasy. I liked the way she wove cultural details and tales from multiple countries into this story. And shoutout to the mention of egusi soup and jollof rice at one point- that made me very happy!
One theme that really stood out to me was familial duty and legacy. In different ways, both Koffi and Ekon are struggling with the duty they feel towards specific people and dealing with the legacy their families have left them. Growing up hasn’t been easy for either of them and they’re still trying to figure out who they are, or who they want to be. The author also writes about grief, guilt, betrayal, and having the courage to truly face your emotions. I’m someone who sometimes finds it difficult to be vulnerable and express my emotions, so that really struck a chord with me. As much as we might want to, we can’t run away from our emotions forever, or they will consume us.
Back to the ending because I’m still buzzing about it. I was not prepared for all the things we learn in the end! You should have seen me gasping in shock and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I am so excited to find out where this story goes next, but the only problem is that now I have to wait who knows how long for book 2! I am just so here for Black YA fantasy. If you feel the same, then I’m going to need you to read this book and then talk to me about it!
If you’re looking for a messed-up psychological thriller, look no further! This book was SO good. As I was reading, I felt like I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough. You know when you’re so desperate to know what happens next that you start skimming? Well that was me reading this book, and I definitely had to make myself slow down a few times to make sure I was absorbing the words.
I agree with other reviewers who said that the less you know about this book going in, the better. It’s set at a private school full of rich kids and when someone described it to me as Gossip Girl meets Get Out, I knew I had to read it.
The tension in this book was unreal. Let me tell you, I was very stressed while reading this! In some ways it reminded me of When No One is Watching in that what makes the story so insidious is that it’s really not that far away from reality. I loved the writing and I loved the characters- I just wanted to give both of them a hug.
This was a gripping YA thriller grounded in real world issues and I would highly highly recommend it if you’re in the mood for a pageturner.
//
SO GOOD!! Full review to come.
I agree with other reviewers who said that the less you know about this book going in, the better. It’s set at a private school full of rich kids and when someone described it to me as Gossip Girl meets Get Out, I knew I had to read it.
The tension in this book was unreal. Let me tell you, I was very stressed while reading this! In some ways it reminded me of When No One is Watching in that what makes the story so insidious is that it’s really not that far away from reality. I loved the writing and I loved the characters- I just wanted to give both of them a hug.
This was a gripping YA thriller grounded in real world issues and I would highly highly recommend it if you’re in the mood for a pageturner.
//
SO GOOD!! Full review to come.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
This title and cover just screams summer, so I wanted to make sure that I read this before the end of the season. I loved the premise and was very curious about the relationships between the matriarch, Ama, and her three goddaughters, Perry, Olivia, and Billie. I wanted to know how exactly these three girls had come into Ama’s lives and what secrets she was hiding from them. Also, I’d never heard of Oak Bluffs before, so it was very interesting to learn about this Black beach community on Martha’s Vineyard, and it led me to look up more information about this place after I finished reading the book.
However, I had some issues with the writing. I thought it was a bit stilted and it felt like there was an emotional distance that kept me from being fully invested in these characters. There were some strange moments where the characters would be in an emotional situation, but then the narrator would start describing their clothes or name dropping. It was strange! I also felt like there were so many threads that were started and then quickly dropped. I can’t get into it without getting into spoiler territory, but I felt like I was left hanging more than once.
I feel like this was enjoyable enough for the beach and included some interesting history, but for me there were a few aspects that kept me from thoroughly loving this story.
This title and cover just screams summer, so I wanted to make sure that I read this before the end of the season. I loved the premise and was very curious about the relationships between the matriarch, Ama, and her three goddaughters, Perry, Olivia, and Billie. I wanted to know how exactly these three girls had come into Ama’s lives and what secrets she was hiding from them. Also, I’d never heard of Oak Bluffs before, so it was very interesting to learn about this Black beach community on Martha’s Vineyard, and it led me to look up more information about this place after I finished reading the book.
However, I had some issues with the writing. I thought it was a bit stilted and it felt like there was an emotional distance that kept me from being fully invested in these characters. There were some strange moments where the characters would be in an emotional situation, but then the narrator would start describing their clothes or name dropping. It was strange! I also felt like there were so many threads that were started and then quickly dropped. I can’t get into it without getting into spoiler territory, but I felt like I was left hanging more than once.
I feel like this was enjoyable enough for the beach and included some interesting history, but for me there were a few aspects that kept me from thoroughly loving this story.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
This book has such a striking title, no? I will say, this read was heavier than I was expecting, which now seems silly in hindsight considering the title. But just a heads up that if you’re looking for a light read, this is not the one.
Our main character is Tabitha Walker, a Black woman in her early 30s who’s got it all together: she’s just finished saving up a down payment for house, she’s up for a promotion at work, and she’s got a great boyfriend. But then life throws her a curveball when she’s told that her dream of having children one day may not be realized if she doesn’t take action soon.
I felt like Tabby’s struggles were very real. I haven’t experienced the same things that she has, but I think we’ve all had a time when things haven’t gone according to plan. How do you adjust? Do you stick with the plan or take time to reevaluate?
There’s a lot of struggle in this book and we see Tabby and her best friends Laila and Alexis go through some difficult things. Throughout the book, the author also explores the themes of complicated family dynamics, career ambition, and relationships (both romantic and platonic).
I could definitely relate to some of Tabitha’s feelings as a Black woman, but at the same time, I didn’t fully fall in love with this story. There were some scenes and comments from the characters that I didn’t love and I’m still trying to think through the purpose for including them. This is a story about facing life’s challenges and I appreciated this book for its relatability.
This book has such a striking title, no? I will say, this read was heavier than I was expecting, which now seems silly in hindsight considering the title. But just a heads up that if you’re looking for a light read, this is not the one.
Our main character is Tabitha Walker, a Black woman in her early 30s who’s got it all together: she’s just finished saving up a down payment for house, she’s up for a promotion at work, and she’s got a great boyfriend. But then life throws her a curveball when she’s told that her dream of having children one day may not be realized if she doesn’t take action soon.
I felt like Tabby’s struggles were very real. I haven’t experienced the same things that she has, but I think we’ve all had a time when things haven’t gone according to plan. How do you adjust? Do you stick with the plan or take time to reevaluate?
There’s a lot of struggle in this book and we see Tabby and her best friends Laila and Alexis go through some difficult things. Throughout the book, the author also explores the themes of complicated family dynamics, career ambition, and relationships (both romantic and platonic).
I could definitely relate to some of Tabitha’s feelings as a Black woman, but at the same time, I didn’t fully fall in love with this story. There were some scenes and comments from the characters that I didn’t love and I’m still trying to think through the purpose for including them. This is a story about facing life’s challenges and I appreciated this book for its relatability.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
I read Dolly Alderton’s memoir last year, EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE, last year. While I did like it, I was also a little disappointed as I was expecting to love it. So this year, when I heard she had a novel coming out, I was very curious to see how I would feel about her fiction writing vs. her nonfiction writing.
I really liked this book, maybe more than I was expecting to. I thought that Alderton wrote these really sharp observations of another type of coming of age- entering your thirties when many people are starting to settle down, get married, have kids, etc. She writes about how friendships change, the shifting dynamics between single people and their married friends, and the perils of online dating. And another important theme in the book is Nina’s struggle with her dad’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis as the dad she used to know slowly disappears.
I’m turning 32 later this year and I definitely related to portions of this book. Especially during the past tumultuous year+, I’ve thought a lot about the future and what it might look like. Sometimes getting older and figuring out what you want your life to look like feels very scary. And then there’s the unpredictability of life to add to the mix, because you might have your plan all sorted out, and then life throws you a curveball.
This book really made me reflect on my own life and the stage I’m currently in. However, there was a particular scene towards the end that I didn’t care for as it felt like it came out of nowhere and did nothing for the story.
I enjoyed her writing- it was funny, sincere, and also melancholy at times. If you’re wondering which of her books to start with, I would recommend this one as I think it was a stronger book and I preferred it over her memoir.
I read Dolly Alderton’s memoir last year, EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE, last year. While I did like it, I was also a little disappointed as I was expecting to love it. So this year, when I heard she had a novel coming out, I was very curious to see how I would feel about her fiction writing vs. her nonfiction writing.
I really liked this book, maybe more than I was expecting to. I thought that Alderton wrote these really sharp observations of another type of coming of age- entering your thirties when many people are starting to settle down, get married, have kids, etc. She writes about how friendships change, the shifting dynamics between single people and their married friends, and the perils of online dating. And another important theme in the book is Nina’s struggle with her dad’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis as the dad she used to know slowly disappears.
I’m turning 32 later this year and I definitely related to portions of this book. Especially during the past tumultuous year+, I’ve thought a lot about the future and what it might look like. Sometimes getting older and figuring out what you want your life to look like feels very scary. And then there’s the unpredictability of life to add to the mix, because you might have your plan all sorted out, and then life throws you a curveball.
This book really made me reflect on my own life and the stage I’m currently in. However, there was a particular scene towards the end that I didn’t care for as it felt like it came out of nowhere and did nothing for the story.
I enjoyed her writing- it was funny, sincere, and also melancholy at times. If you’re wondering which of her books to start with, I would recommend this one as I think it was a stronger book and I preferred it over her memoir.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
Ahhhh, this book was magical. I loved learning about this family, getting to know these characters, and the mystery surrounding Orquídea Divina. The writing was beautiful, lyrical, and immersive. It pulled me straight into this magical and mystical world that Córdova created.
It moves back and forth between the past and the present, and takes place in both the US and Ecuador. I thought the author wove the two storylines together really well and I just loved the imagery in this book. There are so many secrets in this family. But when they start to uncover the truth, it brings them together and makes them stronger as a family.
The characters of Marimar, Rey, and Rhiannon have my heart- I loved them so much. There’s adventure and heartbreak and betrayal in this book. It’s a story about family and legacy and inheritance. It’s about both choosing your family and your destiny. I cannot wait to read more of this author’s work because I absolutely loved this book.
Ahhhh, this book was magical. I loved learning about this family, getting to know these characters, and the mystery surrounding Orquídea Divina. The writing was beautiful, lyrical, and immersive. It pulled me straight into this magical and mystical world that Córdova created.
It moves back and forth between the past and the present, and takes place in both the US and Ecuador. I thought the author wove the two storylines together really well and I just loved the imagery in this book. There are so many secrets in this family. But when they start to uncover the truth, it brings them together and makes them stronger as a family.
The characters of Marimar, Rey, and Rhiannon have my heart- I loved them so much. There’s adventure and heartbreak and betrayal in this book. It’s a story about family and legacy and inheritance. It’s about both choosing your family and your destiny. I cannot wait to read more of this author’s work because I absolutely loved this book.
3.5 stars
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
All I knew about this book before I began is that the main character, a mother, believes she’s turning into a dog. I was afraid it might be too out there for me, but I actually ended up liking it!
The mother in this story, who remains unnamed, is all the way fed up. She’s fully burnt out from raising her son and not getting the support she wants from her husband, who’s gone for work for the majority of the week. But when she gives into her new dog tendencies, she experiences freedom and joy in a way she hasn’t in a long time.
This is a commentary on motherhood, parenthood, and the roles women are expected to play. Yoder writes about the uneven division of labor in the home, about the varying perceptions and judgements of stay-at-home moms and women in the workforce. The mother was an artist before she had her son, but she gives up that part of herself, which was an essential part, to take care of her son.
Yoder’s writing is sharp and funny and it definitely made me reflect on the difficulties of motherhood. I thought about the burdens that are placed on mothers and about how the choice of whether or not to have children is such a complex one. I’m still pondering on the ending though and what the author wanted us to take away from this story.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
All I knew about this book before I began is that the main character, a mother, believes she’s turning into a dog. I was afraid it might be too out there for me, but I actually ended up liking it!
The mother in this story, who remains unnamed, is all the way fed up. She’s fully burnt out from raising her son and not getting the support she wants from her husband, who’s gone for work for the majority of the week. But when she gives into her new dog tendencies, she experiences freedom and joy in a way she hasn’t in a long time.
This is a commentary on motherhood, parenthood, and the roles women are expected to play. Yoder writes about the uneven division of labor in the home, about the varying perceptions and judgements of stay-at-home moms and women in the workforce. The mother was an artist before she had her son, but she gives up that part of herself, which was an essential part, to take care of her son.
Yoder’s writing is sharp and funny and it definitely made me reflect on the difficulties of motherhood. I thought about the burdens that are placed on mothers and about how the choice of whether or not to have children is such a complex one. I’m still pondering on the ending though and what the author wanted us to take away from this story.