solenekeleroux's reviews
112 reviews

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

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dark mysterious tense 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


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Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

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emotional informative reflective medium-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

4.25


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Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

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emotional 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

I loved this book so much. It's so weird and beautiful. The science fiction felt more like magic realism, I wasn't expecting it to be such a deep and poetic story.
I loved the character of Katrina, it was beautiful to see her learning to feel safe, to feel at home and to find family again. Big trigger warning at the beginning for abuse and sexual assault though, that was tough to read and also probably very true to the experience of many trans women of color. I loved how she is seen by Shizuka immediately for who she is. And also the building sisterhood between Katrina and the sentient IA / Lan's daughter was gorgeous, how they somehow relate in their identity quests.
To me it's a story about being seen, learning to listen to another person's soul, another person's song with the whole music metaphor. The descriptions of the emotions of music and the stories that it bring up for each person are so unique and beautiful.
I also loved the doghnut shop starship family shenanigans, discovering this mixed asian neighbourhood, all the delicious food. And the whole queen of hell storyline was amazing, with the demon who is basically every cis white man with power capitalizing on the villainization of a powerful asian woman.
There's so much in this book, I can't believe it and somehow it works perfectly.


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Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

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emotional lighthearted fast-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

4.5

A cute coming of age story about figuring out your sexuality.
I loved Ophelia's experience of crushing on a girl and her whole bi-confusion, it felt very realistic and relatable, it reminded me so much of my own high school experience. I absolutely loved the building friendships, and how she discovers that queerness is in fact all around her. I'm especially fond of the biromantic ace rep, and that character.
What I found less realistic was how for the first part of the book she is fully confused and messy like a teenager and when she starts to figure herself out, suddenly she has it all figured out, a quick trip to the LGBT+ centre and she's fully mature, realized, able to apologize to her friends and be a grown up about everything, that was just too fast in my opinion and it took away from what could have been a more interesting ending.
Also, and maybe that's just personal, but you can't give me that many hints at love triangles and not give me any polyamory. That would have made the ending so much more interesting, and I honestly thought that's where it was going instead of all the prom things that felt very like what we've seen on TV shows a thousand times before.

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The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

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

3.0


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Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

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dark emotional informative tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5


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Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal

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adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

Le ventre des femmes : Capitalisme, racialisation, féminisme by Françoise Vergès

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informative medium-paced

5.0


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