You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange forYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I read (and enjoyed) Pushing the Limits a few years ago. Since then, I haven’t read anything by Kate McGarry. This book has convinced me that I’ve been missing out.
Right away I really loved the two main characters Veronica (V) and Sawyer. I thought it was really interesting that V has a benign brain tumor. She was diagnosed at age 11, and keeps it a secret except from her closest friends. I love the way she sees life. I think I fell a little in love with her right away, just from the way she views life and death. I also have a little bit of a thing for the quirky characters.
The thing I loved most about Sawyer was his dyslexia. I love how real it was and how Sawyer viewed it with a lot of frustration, but he wasn’t ashamed by it. I also found his adrenaline addiction really fascinating. I guess I never really thought that an adrenaline rush could be addicting, but the way it’s portrayed for Sawyer, it really does feel like an addiction to any other drug.
I think I realized how much I was going to love this book when we learn that V and one of her best friends, Leo, have been flirting around the idea of a relationship. V is in love with Leo, but we quickly learn that Leo won’t allow himself to love V because of his fear of her tumor one day becoming malignant. This is so beautifully messed up to me?
The ghost and supernatural parts of this story were super interesting and super well done. It had me very confused by what type of novel this was, but the ending brings everything together really well.
This book does friendships really well. Not only with V and her gang of friends, but also with Sawyer and his two best friends, Miguel and Sylvia. I liked having a little queer rep with Sylvia, though I still wish there was a tad more, but I’ll take what I can get.
I will say that I wish we could have learned a little more about Jesse, one of V’s best friends. The only thing I really can remember about him is that he’s red headed and works/lives on a farm. Evelyn’s diary made this book a lot more interesting too. She was a TB patient in a hospital in the early 1900s. We learn in the author’s note that Evelyn’s story and diary are real and we get sources to read it and learn more about her. I love when author’s put small realities like this in novels. The ending was perfect. It made me emotional, but happy.
This is a little of a long read, but definitely worth it. I REALLY enjoyed this and I am looking forward to reading more by McGarry ...more
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange forYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I can’t believe I didn’t know who Diane Chamblerlain was a little over a year ago. She’s become one of my absolute favorite authors and her books are starting to feel a little like coming home. This one really was as good as the other ones, maybe even better. Morgan and Anna both had me drawn into their stories right away.
I found myself drawn more to Anna’s story, because of the mystery of it all. Like with all Chamberlain works, the mystery drove me nuts throughout the story, but it all comes together really well in the end.
As always, I really loved the relationships. Anna and Jesse’s platonic love for each other brightened my heart. Especially for the time they lived in when it was extremely taboo for a young white woman and a young black man to be friends.
I didn’t guess the twist at the end, which is another reason why I love Chamberlain. Mysteries often are really easy for me to figure out, but with her books I can never guess correctly. Close, but never exactly. I love it.
I’m shaving off half a star because I would have liked to see a little bit more of Morgan and Emily. I would have liked for the scene at the end of the book was a little bit longer. I definitely would have rated it 5 stars. ...more
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Actual rating: 3.5 stars
Colleen Hoover is one of my favorite authors and she is my fYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
Colleen Hoover is one of my favorite authors and she is my favorite romance new adult author. I typically don’t love new adult books because of how much sex is in them. (I’m not a prude, it’s just not my thing.) The most recent book I read from Colleen was Verity, which I really disliked. It just didn’t hit the mark for me. So I was pretty nervous picking Regretting You up. Thankfully it felt OG Colleen Hoover and I really liked it!
There’s two alternating POVs in this book: Morgan who finds out in the beginning of the book that she’s pregnant at 17, and Clara, Morgan’s 16 year old daughter. The first chapter takes place back when Morgan finds out she’s pregnant and the rest of the book is set 17 years later.
There was a lot of typical Colleen Hoover comedy in this, which is one of the reasons I love her books so much. She’s really good at blending tragedy, angst, and humor.
I think all the grieving and anger in this book was done really well. Especially from Clara’s POV. I was a little annoyed that Morgan blamed all of Clara’s rebellion on Miller even though it was very clearly rebellion based on grief.
I really don’t want to spoil anything so I’m trying to skirt around things, but I do want to say that Morgan and Jonah are so incredibly strong. I don’t think anyone can truly say what they’d do if they were put in the same position as Morgan and Jonah, but they handled it in an admirable way. The only thing that slightly bothered me is the way Morgan was so against telling Clara everything. I know she wanted to keep Clara’s memories of her father and aunt intact, but I do think she had every right to know the truth. Especially about Elijah.
I’m rating this 3.5 stars because of a few things. I liked Miller, but I felt like his character was a little bland. I’m not 100% sure why I feel this way because he was a pretty three dimensional character. Something just felt slightly off with him. I did really love Gramps and I’m so glad he made it through the entire book.
Something else I didn’t super love is that we didn’t get to know very much about Lexie. Maybe that’s intentional so that Colleen can write a sequel with her or maybe a short story, but either way, I wish we could have gotten more of her.
Also, I love Colleen, but can we PLEASE get some type of queer representation? I totally respect her staying in her lane as a cis straight white woman, but can't we at least get a lesbian best friend, bi sibling, genderqueer classmate? Just something????
I wouldn’t say this is my favorite Colleen Hoover book, but it’s still a pretty solid read!...more
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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to MiranYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Miranda Asebedo and her agent for contacting me to review A Constellation of Roses!
I love magic realism, especially magic realism that is barely barely magic. Like if you blink you might miss it, and this book was exactly that! I absolutely loved the subtle magic in this book. It was so beautiful.
What I loved even more than the magic, was how very real Trix is. She’s had a hard life, that’s turned her into a hard person. Underneath all the hardness is just a girl who needs a home.
Trix’s loneliness was so palpable at times, it was heartbreaking. She wanted a home and family, but she has extreme trust issues because of the life she’s had to live. It was so wonderful seeing her go from someone who relies on no one, to someone who relies on her newfound family.
I LOVED Auntie, Mia, and Ember. Auntie especially. I am always there for the sassy ‘grandma’ characters, especially those who talk like Auntie. Mia was amazing. She is such a warm maternal character. I really loved how Trix and Ember’s relationship grew. You could see over the course of the book how they went from strangers to almost sisters. It was wonderful.
The romance in this was extremely sweet and not overbearing. I loved that Jasper was a fully formed three-dimensional character. If you had taken away his relationship with Trix, he still would have been an interesting character. I love this because I feel like often times, especially in YA, the love interest isn’t fully formed.
Trix’s relationship with her mom broke my heart. It was so very realistic though. Sadly, it’s not all that unusual. I wish there was a way for all the kids in Trix’s situation to discover they had a loving family like the McCabes.
This was an incredibly fast read for me. I received the ARC in the mail and finished it within a few hours. It pulled me in immediately and kept my interest the whole way through. I absolutely loved it and can honestly say that I didn’t dislike anything about it! This very very rarely happens for me, so I highly recommend A Constellation of Roses!...more
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange forYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I honestly don’t even know where to begin with this review. This book was so beautifully original and unique. Reveries are daydreams that have become real, they suck people nearby into them. When this happens, most people are not lucid. They play along with their parts of the daydream without being aware. The Others are a group of teens who stay lucid in the Reveries. They keep the story going as smoothly as they can and then ‘unravel’ them so that everyone stays safe. Each of the Others has a power to help them. I thought this was so cool! It’s so incredibly original! And also huge props to La Sala for creating so many worlds within his story!
Also there’s so many queer characters!!! Love that. I always want as many queer characters as possible. Something I really enjoyed about this novel was that the villain is a drag queen. She is a villain, but not because she’s queer or a drag queen, but because she’s a genuinely bad person. That was pretty cool. It works and isn’t offensive because the main character, Kane, is gay. While I sympathized with Kane because of how ostracized he was for being gay, I just really didn’t like him? His personality is just so unlikeable, which I feel is very unusual for a main character. He was just so angry and mean to everyone. He threatened to kill the Others so many times throughout the book. He’s probably why I didn’t give this book 5 stars. He annoyed me a lot.
All the other characters were so awesome though!! They are very three dimensional characters! I especially loved Sophia, Kane’s sister. I really enjoyed their relationship too. It felt like a very organic sibling relationship, which I feel like we don’t get in novels very often. Dean was adorable! I kinda wish we could have learned a little more about his background.
I felt like the action got to be a little too much towards the end. I found myself skimming it more than reading. After all the drama was resolved, though, I really enjoyed the ending. It felt really natural and peaceful, which was perfect for the tone of the story.
I liked the originality of this story, though I wish the main character could have been a tad more likeable. I recommend this for anyone who enjoys unique and magical stories! ...more
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange forYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Before I get into this review, here’s a short background on me: I was born with spina bifida and have since been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and transverse myelitis. All of these things combined plus surgical outcomes makes me very disabled and chronically ill.
When I got really sick back in 2008, I turned to reading. I have read hundreds and hundreds of books, but I’ve never found a book that I could relate so much to as Sick Kids in Love. When I first picked it up I was a little afraid that it would be another book that just didn’t quite get it. (Usually because of their able bodied authors.) You can tell almost immediately that Sick Kids is an ownvoice novel. There’s no way someone who is healthy could possibly write sick characters as authentic as Isabel and Sasha.
Although I don’t have rheumatoid arthritis or Gaucher disease, I fully understand what it’s like to be chronically ill. So many of these character’s reactions and interactions were familiar. The gutting disappointment of receiving normal test results, able bodied friends and family not quite understand even though they try, the utter hurt and disappointment that they can’t understand. There’s so many more instances that I could relate to.
Representation is so SO important. As a white person, I've had that rep my entire life. As a lesbian, that rep started really picking up in the last 10 years or so. Representation as a disabled and chronically ill person? It’s taken my entire 24 years to find some. And that breaks my heart, but also makes me so grateful for this book.
Not only does this gorgeous book have sick rep, the main characters are Jewish, and there’s tons of queer rep! Sasha is bi, has queer moms and a ton of queer cousins. One of Isabel’s best friends is a lesbian and dating another one of Isabel’s friends. All of this made me love the book even more. Another thing I really loved was it didn’t shy away from talking about chronically ill people having sex! It’s not an explicit part of the book, but it does show them talking about it and the things they would have to do different from a healthy couple because of their illnesses. I LOVED this part, because it’s shocking how often disabled/sick people are infantilized. Sick people can have sex too! And it’s nothing to be ashamed of if a few things have to be changed!
There are only a couple things I didn’t super love, but nothing major. One is that Isabel’s dad never really had any character growth. He is very dismissive of Isabel’s RA, which is so annoying (and something I can relate to as my dad is very dismissive of my illnesses.) I know that not everyone grows and that it would take a lot more than one conversation with Isabel, but I would have liked to see something more there. I also didn’t love how so opposed Isabel was to using a cane. I totally get not wanting to use it/being scared to use it, but I would have liked to see her use one in the end. I’ve been in the same situation of fear of what others will think of someone young using a mobility device, but eventually I got over that because of the need for it.
Other than those two things, this was so so so beautiful. It quite literally brought tears to my eyes knowing there’s people out there in the world who have had the same experiences I have. Thank you, Hannah Moskowitz, for giving me that. ...more
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Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange forYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
II was expecting a fun mermaid read. This was everything but fun. It was gut wrenching, tragic, depressing, but not fun. And that’s okay. I think these type of stories are incredibly important. They show us that we are not alone.
Everything with Hope broke my heart. She’s such a beautiful girl, I hate she was plagued with so much pain.
Brooke broke my heart too.
Coral’s POV was fascinating to me. I LOVED how it ended up intertwining with Hope, Merrick, and Brooke’s stories.
I also love Nikki and Grim.
The relationship between Merrick and his father, Hiro, was very real. I think a lot of children feel the same way about their parents as Merrick does with his dad. I also thought it was interesting to see how Merrick worshipped his mother, Lyn, although she is also just human. I think it’s really really cool to see such authentic parent/child relationships in a YA book. Those seriously seem to be pretty limited for whatever reason.
I will say that this is an incredibly heavy book to read, so please be wary if you suffer from depression and/or suicidal thoughts. Please stay safe. ...more
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange forYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
When I picked this up I thought it would be a contemporary read. That it would be more of a mystery/thriller type book. Boy was I wrong. It is definitely fantasy.
I enjoyed it! I really love that it takes place in Tennessee (my home state). The atmospheric writing made me feel very nostalgic for my childhood.
I will say that the magic and y’all of mana was pretty confusing at times. I’m still not sure I entirely understand it. I do love the description of the different elemental gate keys though. That was really fun to read.
I think this would make an excellent TV show for younger viewers. I think my 9 year old niece would absolutely love it, especially how the animals in it.
I liked Briony and Alder. I loved learning about their friendship as kids. I’m not sure I super loved the romantic aspect, but that’s not very surprising for me.
I wish Izzie had been in it more. I really loved her and how much she loved Briony. Same with Briony’s grandmother.
This was a cute book with breathtaking atmospheric writing, though parts felt confusing. I enjoyed reading it though and I’m glad it’s a stand alone....more
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Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange forYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Actual rating 3.5 stars
I was pretty skeptical about this one because of the low rating on Goodreads. It turned out pretty good though!
I felt like the characters were well rounded and three dimensional, with the exception of Johnathan. I wish we could have learned a little bit more about him. My favorite was probably D, but I also really enjoyed reading from Ariel's POV.
I think it portrays the different ways of grief really well with D and Spider.
The only thing that I didn't super love was how each chapter jumped to a different point of view. This was a little confusing.
I liked the ending, though I wish we could have gotten just a little bit more of everyone's recovery. Especially Min's, I feel like we didn't get to see anything of her after the huge ordeal.
Overall I would say this is a quick and interesting read, though it's not completely memorable.
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Around this time I have to read at least one spooky book, this year I chose The HauntingYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Around this time I have to read at least one spooky book, this year I chose The Haunting of Ashburn. I pretty much chose it solely on the cover. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a good cover.
It’s a pretty typical spooky read set up, young woman learns she was left a house from a great aunt she knew nothing about. Once arriving she discovers that a grisly murder spree has taken place in the house a century ago. Pretty quickly things start going wrong.
It didn’t really get spooky until around the halfway mark, at which point it had me seriously freaked out. This very rarely happens to me. But I was properly scared. I loved it.
I admire Adrienne a lot and I super loved how much she loved her cat, Wolfgang. I related to that a lot. (I love my cats so much.) I don’t know if I would risk my life against a decaying supernatural creature for any of them, though.
I really loved the ending!!! I do wish we would have gotten a little bit more, I want to know if Adrienne ever wanted a family or not. And if so, would she bring them to Ashburn to live?
I will say that I absolutely LOVED that there is not even a teeny hint of romance in this. It gets extra points for that.
Overall I think this is a proper spooky book and I highly recommend picking it up if you want a good scare! ...more
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I’m going to say right off the bat, SPOILER ALERT: THIS REVIEW WILL NOT BE SPOILER FREE.You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
I’m going to say right off the bat, SPOILER ALERT: THIS REVIEW WILL NOT BE SPOILER FREE.
****AGAIN, THERE WILL BE MAJOR SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW****
I love how the book starts, seeing how well Jude’s been handling her exile. The answer: surprisingly okay in a very Jude way, though she hates and misses Cardan exactly as much as I would expect. I will admit, when Taryn shows up at the house Jude, Vivi, and Oak are living at, I was still very pissed with her. But as the story went on, I found myself liking her better than I did in the first two books. (It helps that she murdered Locke, because that bitch needed to go.) That being said, I still don’t forgive her for what she did. Nothing excuses her betraying her sister multiple times. I don’t really care how they were raised. It was a shitty thing to do. Vivi was raised the same way and she’s only ever been a good sister. (In her own Faerie way.)
When Jude makes her way back to Faerie, I was not surprised AT ALL to find out that Cardan never truly meant for her to be exiled. The wording was weird at the end of The Wicked King, and I’m very surprised that the majority of fans thought he had truly betrayed her. Not saying that Cardan wouldn’t, but it just didn’t feel right.
Let’s get to the real stuff though, how literal the cover is. ...more
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I always have faith in Diane Chamberlain to deliver a good book when I need one. This isYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
I always have faith in Diane Chamberlain to deliver a good book when I need one. This is the first book I've read since my hospital stay in June started, and honestly it was exactly what I needed.
I loved both characters of Laura and Dylan. Laura cares about her daughter so much, which is a running plot line in Chamberlain's books. She always focuses heavily on the mother/daughter relationship and how far a mother will go to keep her daughter safe. I love that trope and Chamberlain somehow finds new and innovative ways to write this trope and I love it.
I LOVED how quickly Dylan stepped into being a father once he found out about Emma. I feel like all guys should be like him and he is perhaps a little too perfect, but that's okay. Also seriously makes me want to go up in a hot air balloon. The closest one to me is $300 a person, so that's a no, but maybe one day. Definitely bucket list item.
Everything about Sarah's story broke my heart. I really can't say too much about her because of spoilers. I shed a few tears for her, which is not unusual with Diane's books.
I will say the only reason this didn't get 5 stars is because I did figure out a few things pretty early on. That's not unusual with Chamberlain's books, but I'm still totally okay with that. I will always pick up her books, especially when I need a comfort read. ...more
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I wanted to read this as soon as I heard about it. I was one of the ones who was taken iYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
I wanted to read this as soon as I heard about it. I was one of the ones who was taken in by all the hype of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I absolutely adored it and it became one of my favorite books ever. Unfortunately for me, Daisy Jones did not live up to that same level.
I should have known right away that Daisy Jones would be all about drugs and rock ‘n’ roll seeing as that’s how it was marketed, and that it was set in the 70s, mostly in Los Angeles. But I had hoped that there would be a little bit more to it than that. Unfortunately, there really isn’t.
The book starts out with us learning about a young (I’m talking like 14) Daisy Jones running around LA doing drugs and having sex without her parent’s knowledge or care.
After learning a little bit about Daisy’s young life, we learn more about the Six. Now I did really like learning about how the Six come together.
After this point, I really have no more interest in the book until the end. It was just all drugs and sex and just things that don’t matter to me at all. We saw some relationships form and we saw some relationships break. Mostly I just didn’t feel invested in any of that at all. I don’t know if this had to do with the fact that I listen to an audiobook or not, but it was just really hard for me to connect with any of them. Now I really did like the character of Karen, though she seemed to barely have anything to do with the book until near the end, and even then it was not much.
Camilla is a character that I felt was a motherfucking angel and doesn’t get enough love from the reviews I’ve read. I know the life she led was the life she chose and that she could’ve left at any time, but it doesn’t make me despise Billy any less for it. I won’t go into details so I won’t spoil anything.
I will say this, I absolutely cannot stand the characters of Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne. I think they were supposed to be characters like Evelyn where you can love and hate them both at the same time, but the love never came for me. Daisy just seems spoiled, and Billy just seemed like your everyday asshole who believes that the world should cater to him. Is this being harsh? You can let me know in the comments.
I’ve heard people talk about the ending and the ‘twist’, but it really wasn’t that much of a surprise for me. I didn’t necessarily see it coming, but it didn’t knock my socks off..
Unfortunately, this is not a book that I can recommend. I will continue to check out Taylor Jenkins Reid books and hope that the others are as good as Evelyn and not as poor as Daisy Jones and the Six....more
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I really didn't know what to expect when starting this book, but damn, it was not that. You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
I really didn't know what to expect when starting this book, but damn, it was not that.
I haven't been hit with a plot twist so hard in a really long time. I can't really say too much in fear of spoiling the story, but I really was taken by surprise.
The summary kind of plays it as a hugely romantic book, but it really isn't. Yeah, there's some romance, but it doesn't take precedence over the entire story, which I really liked.
It raises lots of questions about what you would so in the quiet at the end of the world.
It's a very diverse book and I really loved that. The main character is bi, Shen is Asian and deaf in one ear. Maya is bi and her love interest is a trans guy. So much beautiful diversity!
I can't say much else, so this is a short review. I definitely recommend picking this one up!! ...more
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TRIGGER WARNINGS: Sexual Abuse, Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Forced Miscarriage, SYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Sexual Abuse, Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Forced Miscarriage, Suicide
I picked this book off the bookstore shelf solely because the cover was cool. Then I saw that it was about a patient in an insane asylum in the 1800s??? That's SO up my alley.
And I really really really enjoyed it.
Grace is an amazing character. Her dissociation was fascinating to read and how she ended up dealing with it and rising above. It was just such a great flowing story and I really liked that particular part.
The beginning when Grace is still in Boston's asylum broke my heart. Just what she had to endure. It was awful. I did really like Falsteed as a character though. He was just so very fascinating. I wouldn't mind a book about him.
I also love that there was no romance. I LIVE for good books with no romance. It makes total sense with Grace being a sexual abuse survivor. I was SO sure Grace and Thornhollow would get together and there's some slight suggestion towards the end, but nothing concrete.
I think having Grace be Thornhollow's assistant in his detective activities was a nice addition to the book and it was fun reading how quickly Grace picked up murder scene deduction.
I love that Grace made friends in Lizzie and Nell at the Ohio asylum. Grace somehow forges such strong friendship without the use of her voice and I found that really interesting.
The ending was super satisfying too, so I really have no bad things to say about this book. I truly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who loves historical fiction, especially HF about asylums. ...more
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange forYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I picked this up because the cover made me think it would be spooky. It had somewhat spooky elements, but it mostly wasn’t scary at all.
The writing reminded me a lot of a Diane Chamberlain book. It took place in two different times and switched back and forth between the two.
I did love that the main character, Allison, was older. She wasn’t 25, which is unusual in this genre. Allison is still reeling after a bad divorce and she goes to Opal Beach for a quiet winter, not expecting to start a murder investigation.
I liked Maureen, though I wish we had gotten to know a little bit more about her childhood. We know her mom was a drug addict, but that’s pretty much it.
The supernatural aspect felt slightly misplaced in a book like this.
I don’t have a ton to say about this book, it was okay. Not great, not horrible. I don’t think it’s very memorable, but I didn’t hate it....more
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This book was provided for free in exchange for an honest review..
I don’t even know wherYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
This book was provided for free in exchange for an honest review..
I don’t even know where to begin with this book. I have so many thoughts about it
I’m gonna start here; I have read/seen several post apocalyptic stories. One of the ones that immediately comes to mind is The Walking Dead. This book starts off much like that tv series. Our main character, who we never learn the real name of, wakes up in a hospital after the world as she knows has ended.
Immediately I knew this was going to be different than other apocalyptic stories I’ve consumed, mostly because our character immediately runs into two guys who are gay. An apocalyptic story that doesn’t forget the gays exist??? Hallelujah! Even better? Our main gal is queer herself, pansexual to be exact. She thinks and talks about the relationships she’s had in the past, as well as the man she was with when the world went to shit..
One thing that is really interesting about this is how almost all the women and children have died, so women are far and few between in this new world. Normally I would hate a story like this, but having the main character be a midwife added so much to the story. The Unnamed ransacks a clinic and takes contraceptives with her to offer to the women she meets. In this new world, men have stolen women and keep them on chains as sex slaves. They trade them for things like antibiotics and opioids. The Unnamed Midwife gives the women she cannot save contraceptives because babies are no longer being born alive. Pregnant women either miscarry early, give birth to stillborns, or the baby dies within the first few minutes of birth. More often than not, the mother will also die during or soon after childbirth.
I really enjoyed how it was written in the form of a diary, because it really allows us to get into Unnamed’s mind. We see how erratic and scared she sounds during the months that she doesn’t see anyone. How scared she becomes. I also just really love that it’s in the point of view of a woman.
I know this all sounds depressing, and it is, but the book also has a hopeful vein in it. The ending especially ends on a somewhat hopeful note that I really adore.
This is an extremely hard book to read. There’s rape, sexual abuse, female mutilation, child molestation, pedophilia, child marriage, and other things I’m sure I don’t even know could be a trigger. I do highly recommend this book despite all this, but please only read it if you can do so safely.
I know I probably haven’t convinced you to read this book, but I hope you will at least give it a chance. I’m glad I did.
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange forYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
This was actually really really cute. The romance was slightly painful to me because it reminded me a little bit of my past, but it was still enjoyable to read.
What I really loved about this is that it will be the perfect read for young queers. I wish there was more books like this when I was in high school. The only books even remotely similar to this focused way too much on the coming out aspect of being queer, as well as the parental rejection. This book will be so so so good for the baby gays. It's so supportive, but also shows the harsh reality of being gay, without the book being about that.
I think the only reason I didn't LOVE this was that it's not super mature. But like, it's about teenagers so it really doesn't have to be. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more as a teen, and I can't judge it too harshly because I am not the target audience.
I loved the main character, Quinn, a lot. I think it's super interesting that she's a serious swimmer. I liked Kennedy and Gabriel a lot too. I didn't love Liam much, but he seemed sincere in the end.
Parts of this were SO cute that I was almost in tears. Like when Quinn and Kennedy go to Swensen's to talk everything out. That was probably my favorite scene.
Overall I think this was a really cute read and I'm so excited that girls first exploring their sexuality will have a book like this!...more
You can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
I really really loved parts of this and really disliked others.
Adam was extremely annoyYou can find this review and others on my blog SleepySamReads!
I really really loved parts of this and really disliked others.
Adam was extremely annoying in this one. I liked him a lot in the first one, and he was meh in the second one, but he turned to downright awful in this one. The way he treated Juliette was uncalled for. I know he was hurting, but that's really no excuse. Especially because she was trying to be as honest as possible with him.
So when they announced that this one wasn't going to be the last one, I kinda rolled my eyes. There's been past series that were originally supposed to be trilogies but that end up getting expanded that have really let me down. Examples: Maximum Ride and The Mortal Instruments. Each of those I really enjoyed the first three, but all the ones after that suck. (In my opinion.) But after reading this one I'm REALLY glad that there's going to be more. I would've been super disappointed with that ending. It was too abrupt and left too many things open.
Juliette and Warner's relationship was by far the best thing about this book. I just love it so much. I will die defending the enemies to lover trope.
Kenji is really awesome too. I kinda wish I had a best friend like Kenji. Everyone deserves a Kenji in their life.
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series! I hope it doesn't disappoint. ...more
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