queenfury's reviews
109 reviews

Carry Me Like Water by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"[...] but she would speak of it to him to remind him that love--even among families--was something as rare as rain in the desert."

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The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This was a mess of a book for me, full of cliches, predictable "twists," and unlikable characters.

The writing was not very good, either. The similes were numerous, awkward, and unnecessary, and I knew immediately that the author was a man (every woman the narrator sees had her breasts mentioned at least once). The editor(s) needed to go through the manuscript a few more times, as I found quite a lot of the prose added nothing to neither the story nor Anna's character.

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Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

"Growth isn't a deviation from what we've done before, but a natural progression to honor all those who make this community strong."

I cried, like, six times.

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Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

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dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

"It had never occurred to us to wonder how we would feel, being seen like that, being the spiders."

"Maybe all of us at Hailsham had little secrets like that--little private nooks created out of thin air where we could go off alone with our fears and longings. But the very fact that we had such needs would have felt wrong to us at the time--like somehow we were letting the side down."

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The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons and an Unlikely Road to Manhood by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

"Among the Conscious, a man is only worth his latest reading. Each page pulled you farther out of slumber, and among the most enlightened it was not uncommon to hear an entire conversation composed of footnotes."

"She knew that I had no idea how close I was, would always be, to the edge, how easily boys like me were erased in absurd, impractical ways."

"To be a black male is to be always at war, and no flight to the country can save us, because even there we are met by the assumption of violence, by the specter of who we might turn on next."

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Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

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challenging emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The middle third meanders a bit, but for the most part this book is strong. I love Emira and her relationship with Briar. Her mid-twenties "all of my friends are leaving me behind in terms of their accomplishments versus mine" anxieties were very well done and relatable.

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Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass

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challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

i had been looking forward to this one, but it was such a disappointing read to me. the pacing is atrocious (am i seriously supposed to believe all of this happened in a day??), and the voice of the narrator is annoying. the plot revelations are far too contrived to be satisfying. the worst part is how much of a white savior the main character is.

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Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali

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Did not finish book.
I made it about fifty pages in and realized that this was not the kind of book I wanted to read at the moment. I'll get back to it again later.
Shine by Jessica Jung

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emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum

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emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75