vagaybond's reviews
446 reviews

This Spells Love by Kate Robb

hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

generally I reserve 5 stars for things that Changed My Life or filled all my favourite tropes

This was a really sweet love story and it just made me feel good. All of the bad stuff that happened was always sort of with this underlying, "but this is just One Option of reality, and it is reversible." So I got to avoid a lot of the stress that comes with Genuine Conflict. When things were not great, they still fucked!

The alternative timeline of ourselves if just one thing were different is something I really like exploring. also the character growth of seeing the alternative and realizing the things that were in you all along.

idk just warm cozy!! but not without a bunch of amazing character growth or in any way compromising the story arch or tension. loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol

The Last Days of Lilah Goodluck by Kylie Scott

• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Car accident

Moderate: Alcohol

There is a relatively healthy processing of incoming expected death.

A head injury and drowning are also present near the end of the book.

Wren Martin Ruins It All by Amanda DeWitt

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia

The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

at first I was like "eugh this will be copaganda won't it" AND THEN IT WAS REVERSE COPAGANDA!!!!!! 🎉🥳🎇🎊 like the protagonist's backstory is overcoming his past as a cop and the bad rep that cops have in the queer community and the guilt he feels about having been one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cursing

Rape is one of the first scenes in the book. This scene is stumbled upon by someone else and the protagonist (the victim in the scene) is outed and exiled from his family and homeland because of it. The protagonist has 2 suicide attempts, the second because he fears rape.

Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Car accident, Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism, Classism

The protagonist's abusive father (who was/is a cop) chased the protagonist and his mother in a car, bumping the fender multiple times and driving the two of them off a cliff. The protagonist was 7 and was disabled by it, both with a leg issue and with PTSD triggered once in the book, by driving at night.

Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

challenging dark emotional sad

• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

I lack spoons for a review rn but want to give heads up that there is SA and suicide described on page, and suicidal impulse, hate crimes (a few), violent child abuse and transphobic murder of children, and generally other stuff that trans teenagers go through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail

The Borrow a Boyfriend Club by Page Powars

hopeful inspiring

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Transphobia

Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

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

3.25

this was hard to read, emotionally speaking. one of the protagonists is a multiple-times-over CSA survivor and the beginning of the story was a lot of him only for the first time realizing that people are capable of seeing him as something worthy of basic respect. it hits really close to home in a few ways that I don't think are something I want to channel in a book review.

this book is the kind of thing that you might glance over and think well, cute I love the fake relationship trope. but then it hits you with heavy catholic church scale pedophilia trauma and what it means to experience love when you don't have the capability to express or receive it. and how that traumatizes people who care about you and how it pushes people away. and what accountability for that means. and maybe closure.

I think it also just weighs on me a lot as someone who has complicated grief about an ex who met me when I was like that. I always had that sense of unresolve, but this ex died before we could talk again. it hurts and I wish I had the resources for this scale of therapy. it's hard to rate this because of how I feel about my own stuff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail

Time Out by Sean Hayes, Carlyn Greenwald, Todd Milliner

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

tbh my biggest beef with the book is that glee was recommended and that is only because of my own personal baggage as someone for whom glee was my personal era 🫣 (but I need 2 work thru that!!!)

It's so refreshing that when I got super annoyed by the protagonist, his friends came out of the woodwork to call him on his bullshit. I feel like a lot of YA can drag out the character's (very clear to the audience) flaws to the point where it no longer becomes sympathetic and in fact just becomes frustrating and beyond what I think anyone would behave by. I'm so relieved by not having to deal with that in this book (to the same degree anyway).

I also liked the SJW crowd he falls in with but I am prob biased as I fit that role p stereotypically

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Outing, Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Outing, Gaslighting