paperbrownies's reviews
373 reviews

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

4.0

self-made boys
(remixed classics #5)
by anne marie mcLemore
~format: ebook
~about: lgbtqiap+, ya, historical, retelling, great gatsby queer reimagining, “American dream and its myths about self-made men”, be gay do crime, eat the rich, reclamation of one’s roots, sexuality and gender identity, beautiful prose, mutual pining, magical and absolutely dream like!!
~ m|m, w|w
~ rep: mexican-american transgender male character, transgender gay love interest, laina lesbian, sapphic love interest, other queer and brown characters

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

the darkness outside us
(the darkness outside us #1)
by eliot schrefer
~format: ebook
~about: lgbtqiap+, sci-fi, romance, astronauts in space, sunshine x grumpy, outer-space crisis, futuristic world, love, hope, love and duty, it is not what you think it is 👀,
~ m|m
~ rep: bi/pan mc, gay side character/love interest, gay rela ionship brief mentions of a side character using they/them pronouns

me when this book: talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, shit on it, vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it

initial thoughts: on one hand i am so interested in this story but it is also at the same time making me deeply uncomfortable that someone had the thought or the idea to cook this story up, okay. the principle upsets me more than the situation itself and right now i am a little too invested in this story to back track 🥲

such a simple premise and yet it dropkicks you in the gut every time you think you've finally understood it. tackling themes like love, duty and hope, i think this book does an extremely unique and amazing job at handling them; like you'd never know where it was taking you bc of the cover (which is in itself a work of art ☝️😍). someone on gr said in their review, “it made me paranoid at 3 in the morning” and i could not have agreed more cos i am at such a loss of words with this book. what i can say although is that, if you’re planning on reading this book (which you very much should) just read the blurb and dive right in to experience the writing genius that this book truly is!!

~cw: needles, blood, depictions of physical injury, violence, death, murder, suicide, confinement, cancer, gaslighting, vomit, medical trauma, medical content, gore

The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan

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