sonygaystation's reviews
414 reviews

Nestlings by Nat Cassidy

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I enjoyed this for a lot of reasons, but it definitely comes second to Mary (which blew me away with how much I just LOVED it). I really liked Ana as a character - her disability and her relationship with motherhood were so good. I also absolutely loveeeed the inherent Jewish-ness of the novel. I think the way it was incorporated was so satisfying and the fact that you couldn’t have major plot beats happen if you erased the Judaic aspects is so chef’s kiss. I’m not even religious and I want to see more religion in horror. The vampires were an interesting new take too. Not my favourite the way they were presented but definitely novel and cool! I do wish the book had maybe been a bit more scary or had more of the vampires doin their thing than it did, but also hearing about it was so GROSS LMAO that maybe I’m good with what we got. I also really enjoy hearing Nat Cassidy’s thoughts at the end of the book and it felt comforting that his 2021 was as much a dumpster fire hell year as mine was, even though I wish very much that there wasn’t need for comfort or to be comforting. Also Reed wins shittiest man award I hated him and baby bird was the cutest friggin nickname ever ok that’s all :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Cursing, Ableism, Antisemitism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Grief, Gore, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Sexual content, Blood, Child death, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Infidelity

The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

This book was kinda messy but in  way I enjoyed! The time jumps were a little jarring with the perspective changes but once I got the handle of it (I listened rather than read the book) I could go with the flow better. I think there could’ve been more room for character development with the side characters because I enjoyed them and would’ve liked to see them more. I think James literally just served as a love interest (which I don’t dislike because lorde knows so many writers dump women in their novels as side characters just to serve as the MC’s LI) and I wish his role in things was a little more prevalent. I did really enjoy Nora’s extracurricular scenes because I really liked Ruth! With Becca, there was one line Nora’s sister said where it was made pretty clear Becca isn’t seen as good for Nora and (alongside a convo with Nora’s mom) implied that Becca’s too overprotective of Nora to the point that keeps Nora from making other friends. That felt like a big theme to have but it didn’t really go anywhere? Like all we see of their relationship is from Nora’s perspective but she spends 80% of the book only referring to their falling out and we only hear about the good parts really as they were when they were kids so that felt off. But! I had a good time and I’d read it again for sure!! I’m also happy it ended the way it did because Nora deserved some good things coming her way 🫶

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Kidnapping, Death, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Infidelity, Violence, Cancer, Medical content, Blood, and Terminal illness

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Body horror, and Confinement

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Violence, Medical content, Cursing, Grief, Gun violence, Abandonment, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, and Drug use

The Island by Natasha Preston

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Murder, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood, Vomit, Suicide, and Infidelity

Glitterland by Alexis Hall

dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Gaslighting, Biphobia, Alcohol, Infidelity, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Homophobia

Katherine: The Classic Love Story of Medieval England by Anya Seton
Did not finish book. Stopped at 64%.

Hold at library was up and I couldn’t renew :(

My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Cancer, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Addiction, and Death of parent

Moderate: Medical content, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicide, Alcohol, and Grief

Minor: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, and Cursing

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Alcohol, and Medical content

Moderate: Homophobia, Grief, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Vomit, Gore, Xenophobia, War, Body shaming, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Death, and Confinement

Minor: Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, and Child death