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analenegrace's reviews
447 reviews
Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was such a great debut from Chatham Greenfield! They wrote such a beautiful piece of fiction full of heart and passion. As a disabled person with issues similar to Jess, a fat woman like Pheobe, and a queer woman in the South, it was really great to see parts of myself represented!
I LOVE time loop books because there's something so romantic about being the only two people who know about something. Greenfield captures the intensity of the trope and also what aspects of a person a time loop might bring out. I really appreciated the discussions of Phoebe's complacency and how Jess had to push her out of her comfort zone.
There were a lot of tiny things in this book that became important, and I thought that worked super well in a book with a time loop! This is absolutely one of the best time loop books I've read in recent years. Also, I love A Wrinkle in Time (and its crazy sequel where they meet Noah of the Ark), so I was very thrilled at how it was constantly mentioned.
Romance-wise, I really liked that this had childhood friends to strangers to friends to lovers with a bit of enemy in there because of their freshman-year misunderstanding. Often in YAs, I don't believe the characters are in love but Greenfield used the childhood friends aspect to really make me believe them; I loved how Phoebe's dad really believed in them but also had to make the choice to protect his daughter.
This book flew by and I adored it! Highly recommend!!
I LOVE time loop books because there's something so romantic about being the only two people who know about something. Greenfield captures the intensity of the trope and also what aspects of a person a time loop might bring out. I really appreciated the discussions of Phoebe's complacency and how Jess had to push her out of her comfort zone.
There were a lot of tiny things in this book that became important, and I thought that worked super well in a book with a time loop! This is absolutely one of the best time loop books I've read in recent years. Also, I love A Wrinkle in Time (and its crazy sequel where they meet Noah of the Ark), so I was very thrilled at how it was constantly mentioned.
Romance-wise, I really liked that this had childhood friends to strangers to friends to lovers with a bit of enemy in there because of their freshman-year misunderstanding. Often in YAs, I don't believe the characters are in love but Greenfield used the childhood friends aspect to really make me believe them; I loved how Phoebe's dad really believed in them but also had to make the choice to protect his daughter.
This book flew by and I adored it! Highly recommend!!
The Hellion's Waltz by Olivia Waite
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I love this series! The first book fully introduced me to histrom and I've enjoyed it so much since! (thanks Olivia!!)
The first one is still my favorite, but I like this one more than the second one. The characters in this one are particularly fun and admirable. I really appreciate the political aspects of this series and how Waite writes about how women were involved during this time, even without actual rights/power. She doesn't shy away from certain complicated topics, although she does write in diversity without discussing racism.
Maddie and Sophie's romance was very cute. They saw each other, and both immediately fell for each other. They had somewhat of a burn before falling head over heels, which I loved. I appreciated how they both didn't have family homophobia, and so their problems were outside forces instead.
The first one is still my favorite, but I like this one more than the second one. The characters in this one are particularly fun and admirable. I really appreciate the political aspects of this series and how Waite writes about how women were involved during this time, even without actual rights/power. She doesn't shy away from certain complicated topics, although she does write in diversity without discussing racism.
Maddie and Sophie's romance was very cute. They saw each other, and both immediately fell for each other. They had somewhat of a burn before falling head over heels, which I loved. I appreciated how they both didn't have family homophobia, and so their problems were outside forces instead.
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This was a super interesting take on a post-apocalyptic story. It's mostly a quiet story with an underlying plot as a small First Nations community deals with losing power, satellite, and access to the outside world. At first, they think it's just them, but they begin to realize that at least their surrounding area is as well.
This isn't really an adventuring story; the characters do not leave their home and instead, figure out ways to fend for themselves and keep their community as together as they can. When a white man and eventually some other outsiders show up, they are wearily willing to let them in, and this is when the story begins to speed up. This man attempts to take control of their community and manipulates others to join him. While this is a story of stopping him, it's also a story of hope and community-building as they create new lives as their previous lives fall apart.
I really enjoyed the audiobook of this and I thought the narrator did a perfect job with the character voices. It wasn't hard to figure out when the character's speaking changed.
I'm very interested to read more from this author!
This isn't really an adventuring story; the characters do not leave their home and instead, figure out ways to fend for themselves and keep their community as together as they can. When a white man and eventually some other outsiders show up, they are wearily willing to let them in, and this is when the story begins to speed up. This man attempts to take control of their community and manipulates others to join him. While this is a story of stopping him, it's also a story of hope and community-building as they create new lives as their previous lives fall apart.
I really enjoyed the audiobook of this and I thought the narrator did a perfect job with the character voices. It wasn't hard to figure out when the character's speaking changed.
I'm very interested to read more from this author!
Not Nothing by Gayle Forman
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Thanks to the publisher for a finished copy of this book.
As a Jewish person, I am well aware of Holocaust stories and the importance of them being passed on, especially verbally. This middle-grade novel takes a non-Jewish 12-year-old boy who has done a very bad thing (revealed very late in the book), living with his aunt & uncle while volunteering at a nursing home and pairs him with a 107-year-old Jewish man who hasn't spoken in many years but decides to begin speaking again to tell Alex his story.
This book makes a Holocaust story very accessible for the young mind while also not pulling any punches on the Holocaust. While it emphasizes a Jewish story, Forman takes the time to reiterate the many other groups persecuted and genocided during the Holocaust. It has a very diverse cast, with Alex's new friend, a Chinese girl who was adopted by Jewish Lesbians, and many other side characters, including a Trans man.
At a time now when Genocide is an important topic, as Palestinians are murdered every day by the State of Israel, I think Holocaust stories are important, and I think this book captures what is so viscerally important about this book.
I think discussing Alex's crime is important; he attacked a gay boy at his school with a baseball bat and was accused of a hate crime. Because we are in Alex's head, we know that he didn't attack the boy because he was gay but because of the trauma Alex was dealing with. While this book is about redeeming Alex and how one can rise to the occasion, it doesn't let Alex get away with what he did. He ends up with two more years of community service and has to really personally deal with why he attacked the boy.
Altogether, this is an important book that I think can be useful for any child over the age of about 10 to understand more about the Holocaust and also about being a better person than you were before, and redemption.
As a Jewish person, I am well aware of Holocaust stories and the importance of them being passed on, especially verbally. This middle-grade novel takes a non-Jewish 12-year-old boy who has done a very bad thing (revealed very late in the book), living with his aunt & uncle while volunteering at a nursing home and pairs him with a 107-year-old Jewish man who hasn't spoken in many years but decides to begin speaking again to tell Alex his story.
This book makes a Holocaust story very accessible for the young mind while also not pulling any punches on the Holocaust. While it emphasizes a Jewish story, Forman takes the time to reiterate the many other groups persecuted and genocided during the Holocaust. It has a very diverse cast, with Alex's new friend, a Chinese girl who was adopted by Jewish Lesbians, and many other side characters, including a Trans man.
At a time now when Genocide is an important topic, as Palestinians are murdered every day by the State of Israel, I think Holocaust stories are important, and I think this book captures what is so viscerally important about this book.
I think discussing Alex's crime is important; he attacked a gay boy at his school with a baseball bat and was accused of a hate crime. Because we are in Alex's head, we know that he didn't attack the boy because he was gay but because of the trauma Alex was dealing with. While this book is about redeeming Alex and how one can rise to the occasion, it doesn't let Alex get away with what he did. He ends up with two more years of community service and has to really personally deal with why he attacked the boy.
Altogether, this is an important book that I think can be useful for any child over the age of about 10 to understand more about the Holocaust and also about being a better person than you were before, and redemption.
Napalm in the Heart by Pol Guasch
challenging
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Thanks so much to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-arc for this book.
I think the prose in this book was gorgeously written but, unfortunately, too experimental for me. I tried hard to understand and had to reread pages and sections constantly, and often, I was still left a bit confused.
I think experimental literature is super important and this will be very popular with the right crowd, just not me.
I think the prose in this book was gorgeously written but, unfortunately, too experimental for me. I tried hard to understand and had to reread pages and sections constantly, and often, I was still left a bit confused.
I think experimental literature is super important and this will be very popular with the right crowd, just not me.
The Guest: A Novel by Emma Cline
funny
mysterious
tense
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
4.25
Read for the August 2024 Meeting of the Book Easy in New Orleans, LA.
I wasn't sure about this book when the book club picked it, but I ended up being SO absorbed by it; it was so hard to put down. This book was full of characters with varying amounts of privilege, all being narrated by perhaps the most unreliable narrator ever written, and yet it draws you in with Alex's descriptions and claims about people, class, and society at large.
I felt like I was also on a confusing cocktail of pills reading it, trying to track what was real, what was in Alex's head, and what was happening at any point. This type of fiction isn't generally appealing to me, but Cline's tight writing style, even in a book with this subject matter, makes it so easy to read but also something I want to reread to understand better immediately.
I'm putting a spoiler warning in this next paragraph as I write about the ending:
I came upon the end of this book so quickly, and even though I saw I was getting close to the end, I wasn't expecting it! I came to the last sentence, and I quite literally reread the last 3 pages a few times to really understand it... I still don't.
My first instinct was that she was dead, but then I was like, no... she interacted with Lori, but what if Lori was talking to someone else?!! And then I was wondering if maybe Dom or the cops or security were there for her, and that's why he was looking past?!? But what if she's dead, and if she's dead, when? In the water the first time, the accident with Jack, did she just overdose after the accident?!?!
I can admit to not understanding it in kind of the best way, so I can't wait to talk about it with my book club.
This isn't a 5-star read, and I can't fully explain why, but 4.25 just felt right...
I wasn't sure about this book when the book club picked it, but I ended up being SO absorbed by it; it was so hard to put down. This book was full of characters with varying amounts of privilege, all being narrated by perhaps the most unreliable narrator ever written, and yet it draws you in with Alex's descriptions and claims about people, class, and society at large.
I felt like I was also on a confusing cocktail of pills reading it, trying to track what was real, what was in Alex's head, and what was happening at any point. This type of fiction isn't generally appealing to me, but Cline's tight writing style, even in a book with this subject matter, makes it so easy to read but also something I want to reread to understand better immediately.
I'm putting a spoiler warning in this next paragraph as I write about the ending:
My first instinct was that she was dead, but then I was like, no... she interacted with Lori, but what if Lori was talking to someone else?!! And then I was wondering if maybe Dom or the cops or security were there for her, and that's why he was looking past?!? But what if she's dead, and if she's dead, when? In the water the first time, the accident with Jack, did she just overdose after the accident?!?!
I can admit to not understanding it in kind of the best way, so I can't wait to talk about it with my book club.
This isn't a 5-star read, and I can't fully explain why, but 4.25 just felt right...
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-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
3.5
I really wanted to enjoy this one, and while I started off being very interested, it lost me toward the middle and it never caught me again. I was unfortunately bored, and it got very slow with little exposition or plot for what felt like hours.
It took me days to listen to the last 30% of the book because I just wasn't that interested but I didn't DNF because I was hoping it would get better.
I really like Solomon's work but this just didn't work for me.
It took me days to listen to the last 30% of the book because I just wasn't that interested but I didn't DNF because I was hoping it would get better.
I really like Solomon's work but this just didn't work for me.
The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
4.0
Jessica Joyce simply cannot stop writing emotional bangers disguised as romance novels! I adored this Friends to Lovers to Exes to FWB to Friends to Lovers ARC because these two were so perfect for each other in ways where they simply just HAD to grow up that I couldn't stop reading!
Eli and Georgia both deal with serious mental health concerns in this book, and I really appreciate that it wasn't love that fixed them but was instead both of their dedication to getting and being better. (YAY THERAPY!)
The underlying plot of planning their friends' wedding added a frantic energy to this book that made it impossible to put down.
I love books where characters have to get their shit together, and Joyce absolutely slayed with this one!
She mentioned a lot of songs in the acknowledgments, but I liked the mention of Your Needs, My Needs by Noah Kahan.
Best Line:
Eli and Georgia both deal with serious mental health concerns in this book, and I really appreciate that it wasn't love that fixed them but was instead both of their dedication to getting and being better. (YAY THERAPY!)
The underlying plot of planning their friends' wedding added a frantic energy to this book that made it impossible to put down.
I love books where characters have to get their shit together, and Joyce absolutely slayed with this one!
She mentioned a lot of songs in the acknowledgments, but I liked the mention of Your Needs, My Needs by Noah Kahan.
Best Line:
It’s a privilege to have someone trust you enough to show you those pieces of themselves, the most vulnerable and tender, the least polished.
Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thanks so much to Berkley and Netgalley for an e-arc of this book!v
I adored Jen Deluca's Ren Faire series, and this was a huge departure from that. It really showcased how fantastic Deluca's writing is; she's become an absolute must-read author for me!
Cassie and Nick's story in Boneyard Key was adorable, but I have to admit I was more caught up in the ghost story. I liked that Deluca didn't feel the need to explain how the ghosts worked; for the most part, they just existed and had ways of communicating.
I thought Sarah's story was particularly compelling as she was experiencing misogyny even decades after her death; Deluca captured how the "mean old lady" stereotype can often come from a harmful place. Byexorcising her husband , Sarah finally had peace in her house, and I appreciated that she didn't move on but got to appreciate her home.
Cassie and Nick had a pretty low stakes romance for the most part, with the book being more about both of them solidifying their place in Boneyard Key and finding a true home with each other, which I thought worked really well.
I hope we get more of this series!
I adored Jen Deluca's Ren Faire series, and this was a huge departure from that. It really showcased how fantastic Deluca's writing is; she's become an absolute must-read author for me!
Cassie and Nick's story in Boneyard Key was adorable, but I have to admit I was more caught up in the ghost story. I liked that Deluca didn't feel the need to explain how the ghosts worked; for the most part, they just existed and had ways of communicating.
I thought Sarah's story was particularly compelling as she was experiencing misogyny even decades after her death; Deluca captured how the "mean old lady" stereotype can often come from a harmful place. By
Cassie and Nick had a pretty low stakes romance for the most part, with the book being more about both of them solidifying their place in Boneyard Key and finding a true home with each other, which I thought worked really well.
I hope we get more of this series!
Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I'm left feeling very complicated with this one. I think there are so many things here that I was excited to read but I was left feeling very frustrated with this in the end. I loved the idea of queer rep, vampires, and archives but each of these things was too much for this short book and I was left unfulfilled by all of these things.
Our main character is also just deeply odd in a way that was just so weird. Like, he just could not grasp how he might be impacting other people at basically any given moment. But honestly, my biggest issue here was how this book almost pushes trans men and lesbians against each other in a very uncomfy way. There was a constant use of the D-slur to describe lesbians and a lot of treating being butch and being trans as one and the same.
Finally, our MC, Sol, and Florence break what is to me one of the most important aspects of looking at history through a queer lens: assigning people labels when they aren't alive to choose them for themselves. When going through Tracey's papers in the archive, they attempt to assign some aspect of discomfort with their gender to them, when from everything we know from her choices and from her WIDOW, she was a stone butch who was okay with that. Sol claims to be deeply in love with the archival field but as someone with an MLIS who spends all her time with other people with MLISes its basically agreed that that just simply isn't cool.
This was a let down for me...
Our main character is also just deeply odd in a way that was just so weird. Like, he just could not grasp how he might be impacting other people at basically any given moment. But honestly, my biggest issue here was how this book almost pushes trans men and lesbians against each other in a very uncomfy way. There was a constant use of the D-slur to describe lesbians and a lot of treating being butch and being trans as one and the same.
Finally, our MC, Sol, and Florence break what is to me one of the most important aspects of looking at history through a queer lens: assigning people labels when they aren't alive to choose them for themselves. When going through Tracey's papers in the archive, they attempt to assign some aspect of discomfort with their gender to them, when from everything we know from her choices and from her WIDOW, she was a stone butch who was okay with that. Sol claims to be deeply in love with the archival field but as someone with an MLIS who spends all her time with other people with MLISes its basically agreed that that just simply isn't cool.
This was a let down for me...