missrosymaplemoth's reviews
183 reviews

A page turner, yet so hard to read. Undoubtedly harder to live. I saw small slivers of my own childhood trauma in Tara’s story, although nothing nearly as extreme. Power to her for being able to chronicle this harrowing tale. I’m glad things are better for her now. A really gripping writing style that made me not want to put the book down.

I would rate it higher if it didn’t get frustrating at points. Once again, living this is obviously much harder than simply reading about it, but I wanted to reach through the page and slap so many people silly. It was hard to get through the descriptions of the physical and emotional abuse.

I read the “George” version. I’m so glad my library had this book. I’d heard a lot about it, mainly that it had been viciously banned. I’m so glad I read it.

“Melissa” is the story of a girl who others see as a boy. Such a sweet, emotional, moving, innocent portrayal of someone trying to be exactly who they are. I gained insight on thought processes of transgender individuals when met with cliche responses (ex: “Who knows how you’ll feel in a few years?”). Everyone should read this book!

Nana and Papa recommended this. This book amused me. It could have done without details of Katz and his (and the author’s) many sexist comments. Still, I enjoyed it enough.

Amelia, the main character, has pretty severe sound sensitivity. Yet all the adults around her act as if her noise canceling headphones and earmuffs are a choice and something bad that she has developed a reliance on. There is also the prevalence of the alarming mindset that one with such severe sound sensitivity can and should become desensitized. Shame on them for not having compassion for her sensory pain. Headphones are not bad! If they do not keep a child from learning, there is no reason to take them away.

This would have been a better book if Amelia’s condition had been named rather than just “sound sensitivity,” and if there was more emphasis on the fact that headphones and earbuds are necessary aides to navigate the world in a tolerable way. It felt like every character brushed it off and treated her like a spoiled child who wanted her headphones as an accessory, not an important accommodation. Also, why did Madge never apologize for being loud in the library? Yes, she’s loud, as some people are, but it’s completely reasonable to expect someone to keep their voice down to respect other patrons and library staff. It feels like that issue was treated as “Amelia couldn’t accept Madge!” when it was really “Amelia got upset with Madge for being disruptive in an established quiet environment.”

I think the author is suffering from ignorance around this subject, and the author’s note supports that theory. (She talks about “highly sensitive people,” and recommends PsychologyToday.com. Yikes.) Amelia read as autistic to me, yet the only time autism is even mentioned in this book is when a stranger incorrectly assumes Amelia is autistic and her mom gets really defensive, thinking autism to be an insult. Let’s do better in crafting neurodiverse characters.

This book educated me on several things I previously only knew on a surface level, such as how deep racist policing goes and how it’s connected to neighborhood watch groups. All of it is very real and equally as heartbreaking.

Several comments about “insanity,” “intellectually challenged” and psychotic” (pg 11-12) to describe white supremacy when those are real mental health issues didn’t sit well with me because mental illness/disability does not equal racism. I also didn’t appreciate the comment about the “LGBTQ lifestyle.” (Pg 186)

Though, that did not stop me from appreciating the book for what it was. I will be recommending this book to several people in my life. This is important to read to understand our history of the mistreatment of Black Americans in context.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t think of a major criticism or dislike. I knew the book would be about teen pregnancy, but I did not expect it to frequently touch on specific health conditions relating to pregnancy such as preeclampsia (which I knew as a term, but learned the full definition of the term from this book).

The first half of the book I was often annoyed at Kelly, then the second half I felt the same toward Erykah, but I always understood where the other was coming from. The plot twist with

Kelly getting pregnant and choosing abortion

was unexpected and really refreshing to see a similar situation’s different outcome. Her interaction with

the other woman in the clinic recovery room

really touched me.

I loved this book and rooted for the girls the whole way through. I liked that the author had a couple of pages of resources at the end. I’d definitely recommend this to any adolescent audience.

An easy read that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

It was hard to get into rooting for the characters and at times the dynamic, pace and storyline were a bit confusing. I still liked the book and thought a couple of the celebrity cameos were funny. It would have made more sense if the main character was ten to fifteen years younger, because she continually acted immature to the point I forgot she was in her mid forties. The romance was also confusing at times but I liked the dual POV. I wish the story explored Lu’s brother Cole more because that felt like a dramatic and traumatic issue that was only ever alluded at. I was not on board with the whole “Let’s stalk a celebrity” premise, but I understand how the story was trying to employ that aspect.

My first DNF of the year. This book was confusing. Enough errors to make me think it wasn’t proofread, either. The romance dynamic didn’t make sense and the stark sexual references in a supposed cutesy fairytale story caught me off guard. The writing style was annoying. I stopped mid-chapter, and I think that says enough.

A fast, fun read. Got me re-excited about John Wick and the upcoming fourth film installment. A little gory and gross, but that’s to be expected. I liked when he fed the stray cat.

Slow going but pleasant read. A good palette cleanser. Although it took two and a half books to reveal Conny’s name was Conrad. I thought the poor boy was just “Conny.”