thebakersbooks's reviews
271 reviews

The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I really liked that there was an actual paranormal explanation for the thriller stuff! Getting real tired of humans being the real monsters. Speaking of monsters, I did not care for the ending being set up so the cop was a savior figure. Gross, unnecessary, and frankly weird since he was also a stalker as a child and later considered being unfaithful to his pregnant wife. Heck of a narrative choice.

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Trying to give this book some grace because everyone's experience of queerness is different and that's especially true across culture barriers. However, this author is not trans to my knowledge, and as I am (in this book's parlance) both homosexual and transsexual, I find some of the ways transness is treated very upsetting. Not the parts that are different due to the setting, but things like the author's choice to give a trans character's deadname, her decision to show cis people "clocking" a trans woman based on features that don't pass, etc.

Further, there's an egregious degree of fatphobia that I don't care if it's a cultural thing, it's fucked up to make those observations about anyone.

This book doesn't even have a happy or hopeful ending. It's misery, plus bigotry, for basically nothing. I appreciated the look into modern-ish Iran and what life is like there for queer folks, but some of the purely *fictional* stuff in this book shouldn't ever have to be read by a trans person. Disappointing, as this was otherwise a heartbreakingly relatable story and I like(d) this author.

The Line by Teri Hall

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adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Based on the cover, I was expecting horror or a thriller. This was a frustratingly exposition-heavy fantasy novel that felt like it was trying to shove a message down my throat but I'm not even sure what the message was. Border walls bad? (I agree.) U.S.A. bad? (I agree.) I just think there was a more entertaining and less muddy way to write those things into a story if that's how you choose to go about activism. There's also a white-savior tone, although maybe in this case it's a privileged-people-as-saviors tone, which I like nearly as little.

I appreciated the commitment of the narrative to "helping others is good, even at great personal risk," as well as the apparent (correct) ACAB stance it seems to take. Gonna read the sequel because this one only took me two hours and it *did* make me curious with its ending cliffhanger. I also liked seeing an older, disabled woman getting to be a primary character and a fundamental part of the resistance, as that is incredibly true to life and just as incredibly underrepresented in fiction.

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi

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hopeful informative sad slow-paced

5.0

If you liked Palestinian Village Histories but wanted more personal/anecdotal information alongside the historical, social, and political analysis, check this out! It's obviously more comprehensive and thus a slower read, but it covers similar aspects of the subject in more depth.

Breathless by Amy McCulloch

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

if you want your book to be suspenseful, maybe don't name the *mystery antagonist* after the Oklahoma City Bomber. kind of a giveaway—it's a very distinctive surname.

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl by Brianna R. Shrum, Sara Waxelbaum

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced