sophiesometimesreads's reviews
279 reviews

The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi

adventurous challenging funny 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

4.25

That ending 🤯 

The middle was a bit slow and my interest in each storyline ebbed and flowed but I enjoyed the ending and how these all eventually came together. Some of the twists and reveals really shocked me, though looking back on them maybe I should've seen the signs from the get go, but to me that makes a good twist.

I'm excited to read the final installment.

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

I hadn't heard of the author before picking this up but it came highly recommended to me, and those who recommended it weren't wrong. I thought this was a great look into George M Johnson's childhood and how his intersection between the queer and black communities defined him and how he grew up. This will make a lot of young queer black children feel seen and I think it will help a lot of them figure themselves out more. Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia

Moderate: Death

Fine: A Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I really enjoyed this. I liked how we got stories from a range of people from a diverse range of backgrounds, intertwined with Rhea's own personal journey with their gender. I liked the graphic format, I think it made this more interesting than just having read transcripts. A good look into gender and the range of gender experiences, as well as how intersectionality influences peoples' gender experience.

Us by Sara Soler

hopeful informative fast-paced

This was an interesting, educational and generally cute read, looking at Diana and Sara's relationship through Diana's transition. I didn't realise going into this that it was a memoir, but I thought the progression of the graphic novel was good and the content was both informative and interesting. I liked how the colours used were the trans colours. I think the choice of style for Sara's cartoon self were interesting, the eyes kind of creeped me out a little at the start though. I found the lettering a bit hard to read though, as the "e"s were all lowercase but the rest were capitalised and it took me a while to get used to that.

(I don't rate memoirs)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Transphobia

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Suzanne Collins should've just stabbed me in the heart with a dagger because that would've hurt less.

This Day Changes Everything by Edward Underhill

funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

3.5

This was cute and fun. It veered a little on insta-love, which is not my favourite, but I enjoyed the representation in this book, particularly the trans rep.

The Fall Risk by Abby Jimenez

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

This was cute! I found myself really feeling for the characters despite the short length. I was wondering if a novella/short story was the best way to start my Abby Jimenez journey, but I needed something short and I'm glad I read this because it was really fun. If she can pack this much into a short story like this, then I'm excited to read what she can offer in a full length novel. It was a good balance between fun and serious. I liked how most of the story was them just getting to know each other, bit it did veer a little towards insta-love towards the end once they started talking about falling for each other after a couple of days, but it didn't bother me too much as they had built a good connection across the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser

emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.5

I loved the art style in this and how we got a glimpse into each of the girls' lives individually before their storylines came together. I also really enjoyed the look into wash day, and how the stories centred around this theme. The characters were diverse and we had a lot of representation in such a short story. The only minor criticism I have is that I'd have loved to see more into the lives of these girls and have the content expanded a little bit more.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

This was a bit of silly, goofy fun. I did have come criticisms but also understand that it's a children's book and I'm long out of that demographic, and some of the things I didn't like as much may come into the fact that it is written for children. There were some funny moment where I laughed out loud, but I found the story to be overly convenient at times and the pace was so fast that I felt we didn't get to dwell in some of the moments and the world. My edition also had the Little Wizard Stories of Oz at the end which seemed completely inconsistent with the world and storyline of this first book, so I'm not sure if I'm interested in reading more from this series as I believe these were written to get a younger audience into the series. Overall, I generally enjoyed my time with this book and am glad to have finally read the book that inspired one of my favourite movies, which I may just go and watch now.

Little Wizard Stories of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Read as part of reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.