recycled_personalities's reviews
22 reviews

The Stranger by Albert Camus

2.5

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Genuinely such a fun read! I really enjoyed it. If you like fanfiction…this one is for you.

It definitely gets more serious and honestly a little scary near the end bc the mc’s are outed but the book is pretty fast-paced so it moves on quickly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Outing, Addiction, Death of parent, Confinement, and Homophobia

Moderate: Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Cursing, and Grief

The Outside Circle by Patti Laboucane-Benson

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.5

Genuinely such an amazing book that is really insightful. I wish that there was more emphasis on female characters rather than only being there as plot devices for the lead (the plot was really good though). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Medical content, Addiction, Murder, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Drug use, Torture, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Child death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

Really amazing book. Her memory is honestly impressive. Please read the content warnings before reading, there’s a lot of heavy stuff. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, Abandonment, Alcohol, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Pedophilia, and Rape

La route de Chlifa by Michèle Marineau
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.

FLA book study. I gave up on reading it, but my friends are better students than I am so they pushed through. They have explained to me the awfulness of this book and I simply cannot justify reading more. Save yourself, my friends didn’t get the chance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Mental illness, Cursing, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Colonisation, Grief, Racism, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and War

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Progressive for it’s time. Seen through a mordent lens, it could be better in its representation. Great examination of grief.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Alcohol, Murder, Alcoholism, Medical content, Bullying, Grief, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Transphobia, Abandonment, Addiction, Death of parent, Death, and Hate crime

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta

adventurous 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

4.75

HOLY SHIT! Ok it’s like a little slow at the beginning BUT I SWEAR JUST KEEP GOING IT GETS SO GOOD. I’m immediately buying the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Medical content, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and War

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Abandonment, Bullying, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, and Physical abuse

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I cannot say enough good things about this book. I would rate it higher if I could. This has risen to the top of my list of books I’ll recommend forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexism, Stalking, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Suicide attempt

Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles, Austria-France 1769 by Kathryn Lasky

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Listen, I’m a Marie Antoinette defender for life, and that’s probably thanks to this book. I probably read it for the first time like 5 or more years ago so it was nice to come back and feel like I was reading it for the first time all over again. The author says that although it’s a fictional depiction, it is largely based in fact. Do with that what you will. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Body shaming, Classism, Grief, Kidnapping, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Confinement, Body horror, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Medical content, Blood, Misogyny, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Fatphobia

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

Ok sooo it’s a wonderfully written book and the author is definitely talented. However, the story itself didn’t end up being my cup of tea. Rooting for the main character was super easy but her ending was not the one I was hoping for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Incest, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Classism, Death, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, and Mental illness

Basically Jane gets in a relationship, and engaged to be wed, with a man that’s 20+ years older than her when she is 18, leaves him for like 10 months after having found out that he had another wife literally locked in his attic, and then at the end of the book she comes back to him when she’s 19. And the ending portrays it as a happily ever after. Yeah, not my vibe.