thespicylemon's reviews
282 reviews

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

Not the greatest book I’ve ever read. I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style and I did not think there was a lot of depth to the characters or their relationships. I was expecting a character driven novel about the intricacies of mother-daughter, sister-sister, and aunt-niece relationships similar to The Vanishing Half but unfortunately I didn’t think there was a lot of intricacies. 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

emotional reflective 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

3.5

Not exactly my cup of tea but I understand the appeal for many people. I did not start to enjoy the story until about 150 pages in.

I prefered the timeline of Ove's early life and his marriage to SonJa over the present timeline. I did enjoy the sarcastic and witty writing style but there was just something I can not quite place that made me only give it 3.5 stars. 

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

emotional funny 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? Yes

4.0

This was a really fun and heartwarming romance novel to pick up. I thought Dani was a fiery and quirky character who I really fell in love with. I definitely preferred this book to Get a Life, Chloe Brown. I thought the characters were more interesting and it was a lot more steamy and romantic.  

Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction by Joshua Whitehead

hopeful reflective medium-paced

2.0

This book was definitely a disappointing read for me. I didn't think the stories really meshed together or that this anthology had any kind of collective statement, which I believe is important when putting together a collection such as this one. Although I do believe there were topics affecting Indigenous people such as access to water, drug abuse, and environmental degradation of native lands that were woven into the stories, I believe that these topics were a little to shallow and did not present any commentary on what an Indigenous utopia would look like. 

Most of the stories were not fleshed out enough and I found them to be lacking in depth and development, even considering they were short stories. The majority of the stories ended abruptly and tacked on the overall message or meaning in the last couple of lines. 

The only story I really enjoyed was Story For a Bottle and the only two stories I thought being 2 Spirit and q***r had much relevance to the plot or message of the story was The Ark of the Turtle's Back and a teeny bit to History of the New World. The rest simply had 2 Spirit and q***r characters. I believe that their identity did not have much to do with the stories and considering this is an anthology of Indigiq***r speculative fiction, their identities should have been important.  

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

No rating because it is nonfiction but this book was really well done. It was heart wrenching and riveting. The author went into detail about her emotionally abusive and toxic relationship while also providing insights to her childhood, references to media and fairytales, and a broader discussion on same sex abusive relationships. Machado really flexed her MFA here and while that may turn some people off it did appeal to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Minor: Sexual assault

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

5.0

Butter Honey Pig Bread by francesca ekwuyasi

emotional hopeful reflective 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

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was unsettling, frustrating. enraging, and disturbing. I thought the author did a great job of exploring Vanessa's psyche and subtly including the ways Strane groomed her into the relationship and manipulated her into keeping quiet and making himself into the victim. My feelings while reading flipped between the desire to protect the teenage Vanessa and feeling so disgusted at Strane and the anger I felt towards the adult Vanessa for not coming forward, although I believe the way she had been brainwashed for decades was explained well. This was difficult to read but definitely reflective of a disturbing and illegal student-teacher relationship. 

I thought the writing was a tad bit repetitive and I thought it was building towards something bigger. I think the ending needed something to make it better and maybe give Vanessa a catharsis that showcases her knowledge of what Strane did and accepting that she was the victim, his death, etc.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault