teainthelibrary's reviews
261 reviews

I Fear My Pain Interests You by Stephanie LaCava

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

Between the Head and the Hands by James Chaarani

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

The Bliss House by Jim Bartley

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown

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challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

3.5

Mudflowers by Aley Waterman

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 19%.

I usually really like an unlikeable main character but 1) they have to be interesting and 2) I need to be able to understand their motivations for why they are who they are. Sophie is an extremely self-centred main character and I’m a bit tired of seeing that trait in bisexual characters. The main reason I didn’t get very far is that the stream of consciousness style was really overwritten and way too long. There wasn’t enough dialogue for my tastes and when I skipped to the end, it seems like the story is a series of “epiphanies” where Sophie blames other people for her behaviour and actions. I could be wrong as I DNF’d but I wasn’t going to make it through this.

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Memorial by Bryan Washington

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Lion's Den by Anthony Marra

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emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Can You Feel This? by Julie Orringer

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5