sunshinemoth's reviews
53 reviews

Some Faraway Place by Lauren Shippen

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

There's not much I can say about this book that wouldn't be incoherent gushing and excitedly waving my hands about, but I'll try to be sweet and concise in my review here.
What initially drew me to this book was the gorgeous art style on the cover, and I was further drawn in by sapphic gender shenaniganry. It's no shock I ate this up in a single sitting and am now frantically writing this review ten minutes before my shift starts.
The author wrote that they based Cam and Brie off of themself and their wife, but I have to say that I feel almost like they drew direct inspiration from my own partner and me. A dorky, dramatic masc lesbian with a fervent love of fashion and a passionate and adorable pink-loving sapphic is the perfect description of the two of us. Maybe that adds a bias to my 5-star review, but I would argue that making your readers feel seen in your stories is a facet of excellent storytelling.
All of the characters were delightful and unique, the art style, especially the character designs and outfits, made this story a complete visual buffet. For a graphic novel, it was excellently paced and the dialogue was charming and had me smiling ear-to-ear several times.

We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets

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challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

Amateur: A Reckoning with Gender, Identity, and Masculinity by Thomas Page McBee

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

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Very good! I just have other reading priorities at the moment.

All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks

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challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.25

I try to rate books based on my personal enjoyment, rather than trying to stress over what I believe it's "objective" quality. 3.25 is not a bad rating, its a satisfactory one I think. This is my first bell hooks book, and unfortunately while I went in with extremely high expectations, I left a little disappointed.
I'm aromantic, so naturally I'm very aware of love's many names and definitions. I appreciated hooks' critiques of how much we value romantic love and her calls for community and acceptance of each other. I also, as a young feminist, find many of her critiques of how we view masculinity and gender roles still very relevant and well-said.
But as well, I found she often went to places in her writing where she lost me. I didn't expect her to talk so heavily about spirituality, and specifically her experience as a Christian. While I agree that community through spirituality can bring many people joy and fulfillment, as a pagan I found myself becoming annoyed when she began speaking on her belief in the importance of spiritual faith. I often wasn't sure whether hooks was attempting to make simple commentary, or to dispense advice, and it made it harder to take in her words.
I was sold this book as a new, refreshing look on love, but I felt more like it was a call to enlightenment with no real answers, often contradictory between chapters, and ended with me with a strange taste in my mouth.

This is not to say I didn't enjoy this book. If I did not enjoy this I would not have finished it. I agreed with more of hooks' opinions than not, and when she hit me with something good, she hit hard ("the desire to love is not itself love. love is as love does. love is an act of will(...)" is one line that really stuck out to me.), I just suppose my expectations were subverted in a way I had not necessarily wanted them to be.

A Man's Skin by Hubert

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challenging funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced