Lauren
One of the things I really love about Talia Hibbert's characters is that they feel like real, complicated, and flawed people. The characters are well rounded and have growth that you can identify with. Its great to see it's often times rooted in healing from their past traumas so they can be in a healthy, fulfilling and long lasting relationship. Not to mention she has a real knack for making consent super sexy.
The LGBTQ+ rep in this made my queer heart soar.
A sweet love modern love story that many will see themselves in. I so appreciate that we had characters of color and also many different mental health struggles were addressed (including OCD, Anxiety and Depression).
Heads up: if you are squeamish about vomit being talked about, it occurs multiple times in this one.
One of the rare times when a re-read ends up with a higher rating. The first time around I found I gave this 3/5. The highlight for me was how it created a buzzing atmosphere with its language.
However, after reading the source material for the book, I can see how this is also a love letter to the young, queer, feminist Mary MacLane. Personally, I would highly recommend reading THE STORY OF MARY MACLANE to truly appreciate what the author did here and also experience the remarkable writing of Mary's book published in 1901 when she was just 19 years old.
A book, about a book that features a real book that's adapted to a film that's about making a film. About as meta as you can get. Strap in for this sapphic, gothic, horror story.
This was an excellent read!
Such an inspiring story of a woman rising to the top of a science field, and a highly informative while very accessible book about nature and the important role forests play in preserving the well being of the planet.
It's a long book, but I was deeply engaged and interested the entire time and love that it ends with practical suggestions for lay folk to get involved with their local forests and climate change activism.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
The audiobook was a great listen!
***Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for providing me with advanced audiobook in exchange for an unbiased review.
At the heart of it...this is a story of betrayal.
Ethel Rosenberg was betrayed by everyone in her life, from her family and husband to her government and country, and at the end of the day, despite all that she lost, she courageously stood firm in her beliefs and I deeply admire her for that.
Going into the book, I knew just a passing account of what happened, and found that the education I received in school about this story was severely lacking.
I would HIGHLY recommend reading this book. It's so important to understand history, and to realize the parallels to what is happening today in 2021, particularly with the lengths government officials will go to mislead and distract the public from the bigger picture and instead create a scapegoat, especially when a woman is involved.
The audiobook was very engaging, and I thought the narration from Orlagh Cassidy was very well done.
***Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley from providing me with an ARC audiobook in exchanged for a honest review.
As a former theatre major and someone who hasn't worked on a show in a decade, this was a wonderful way to connect with the drama of that world.
It was wonderful hearing from all the different perspectives of putting the show together from page to stage.
So much drama on and off stage. Loved it!
I listened to the audiobook and while the narration was fine I would have much preferred hearing from the actual folks who were featured in the interviews rather than the voice actors.
***Thank you to RB Media/Recorded Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced audiobook copy for an honest review.
This is a delightful quick history of bees and the practice of bee keeping.
We span the centuries with anecdotes and snippets from well known members of the bee keeping community, and we hear the author's journey of having a passing professional interest in writing a story about them to becoming a bee keeper herself, to her changes in perspective as she's learned more about the modern alternative bee keeping movement.
If you have ever been curious about bees, this charming book is a great primer into the world of beekeeping.
The book was written by Swedish author Lotte Möller, a wonderful translation from Frank Perry, and Julie Maisley's narration is lovely to listen to.
***Thank you to Dreamscape Media for providing me with the Audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.
Well that was an unexpected journey.
I knew very little going it, and thought it was going to be a haunted house/paranormal story of a newly married woman in a gothic setting.
Which it 100% was, but it took me down a path I wasn't expecting. The entire time I was wondering what is REALLY happening here, and it was a mind tripping, keep you guessing til the end experience.
It blended horror, paranormal and sci-fi beautifully, and while I don't think this book will be everyone's cup of tea (it can feel a bit dizzying at times) I personally, really enjoyed the ride.
Thoroughly enjoyed listening to this one, but it might be one of those that you listen and read at the same time, especially once things really take off in the 2nd half.
***Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me with the Audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.
I like the mixed media format, but found that final 3rd to be a slog.
I think if you don't read a ton mysteries and are interested in the format used you'll probably enjoy this.
As far as the mystery goes, personally, I figured out the meat of it by about halfway through, and could see all the “twists” coming.
And the final reasoning behind the whole thing felt like a pretty convoluted way to tie things together.
UPDATE:
Originally I rated this very high, and stated I wanted to read more from this author. The after posting my review I found out that TJ Klune's other book THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA was actually based on how during the 50s and 60s in Canada Indigenous children were taken from their homes and put into government sanctioned orphanages/residential schools.
The fact that a cis white man turned that trauma into a fantasy story doesn't really sit well with me.
So I'll be passing on reading his other works. Deeply disappointed upon discovering this and the interview in which he discussed his reasoning behind it.
This is a quote from the interview:
“I came across something known as the Sixties Scoop, which was in Canada during the fifties and sixties, where indigenous children were taken from their homes and put into government sanctioned orphanages, for lack of a better word. It was something that I could not shake. And so when I stumbled upon this article about children being taken because they were different or they didn't adhere to what standards people thought should be at the time , it was something that I couldn't get out of my head and, but I didn't want to co-opt, you know, a history that wasn't mine. I'm a cis white dude, so I can't ever really go through something like what those children had to go through. So I sat down and I was like, I'm just going to write this as a fantasy.”
SOURCE: https://www.jeffandwill.com/biggayfictionpodcast/2020/03/16/episode-232-tj-klune-on-the-house-in-the-cerulean-sea-extraordinaries-and-greek-creek/
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Pass the tissues and someone give me a giant Mei hug please.
A solid 4.5 read. The writing hooked me from the start. I loved the quirky style and got an immediate sense of who all the characters were. There are many recognizable troupes, but I enjoyed the journey and exploration of death and beyond. Wonderful world building and so many moments that tug at your heart strings, especially if you've experienced the loss of a loved.
This was my first time reading T.J. Klune, and will certainly be checking out HOUSE BY THE CERULEAN SEA as well as anything else to come.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Kirt Graves' narration, and felt he distinguished between each character subtly, but distinctly so I always knew exactly who was speaking.
***Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me with the Audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.
This was a lovely graphic novel memoir about a young ballet dancer and her journey through dance. It navigates the sacrifices young athletes have to make along with the pressures of meeting high expectations in a field where only a select few make it to the very top.
I think this is a great read for any young adult, but especially someone who dances. It really captures the passion that drives dancers from the beginning, that is never lost even if dance no longer holds the joy it once did.
I did get the feeling there was a bit of a rose colored shine on the storytelling style where I wish we could have gotten a little more real about the struggles she was experiencing, rather than feeling like she was presenting a pretty charmed existence and everything just kind of works out. But I feel like that comes along with the territory when you're reading something aimed at a Young Adult audience.
**Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing and Atheneum Books for Young Readers for providing me with the eBook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.
I really hated listening to every second of this. I kept waiting for it stop being so frustrating, and it only got worse the longer I listened. The main character's inner monologue and choices were INFURIATING. And I was able to predict every “twist.”
This is the 2nd Riley Sager book I've read, and I had a marginally better experience with that one.
(LOCK EVERY DOOR)
I'm ready to not pickup any other book from them after this though.
Harsh? Maybe. But both of these books were not enjoyable to me. They just made me angry.
Clearly, I am not the right audience for it.
Going into this, I was anticipating it would be a bit absurd and off beat, but I mainly found it to be disjointed, confusing, and not very entertaining.
I think if you are into unusual humor and storytelling this might be for you.
The art style was fine, again, not really my cup of tea, but I don't think it takes away from the story in any way. It seems to fit well with whatever the narrative was trying to achieve.
***Thank you to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for an ARC ebook copy of this in exchange for an unbiased review.
3.5 and rounding up.
As someone who studied a number of acting methods in my BFA program, I found this to be a nice combination of many that I personally found very helpful.
If you just breaking into the industry, this a very approachable guide to navigating scripts, productions, and auditions.
I am not a huge fan of audiobooks for texts like this because I like to annotate, so between that and the audio quality of this (the audio sounded very compressed and low volume), I would not recommend the audio version unless it's the only way you'll be able to read it.
***Thank you to ECW Press Audio for providing me with a copy of the audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.
I listened to the audiobook version, and thought Karen Chilton gave an outstanding performance and I would highly recommend giving it a listen. I found the storytelling to be very compelling.
Brenda aka Breezy, gives an account of her childhood, how she ended up as a sex worker, her struggle with drug use, and eventually when she got straight and off the streets.
I found this to be a very raw, no holds barred reading/listening experience that may be difficult for many, especially anyone who may be triggered by the subject matter. However, I think it's incredibly important to learn about sex work and addiction from those who have lived experience with those things because every path is different.
***Thank you to Macmillian Audio for providing me with a copy of the audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.
I'm a huge fan of biographical graphic novels. It's an excellent medium for telling the story of a person's life.
I wasn't terribly familiar with Lugosi's personal life outside of a basic understanding that he struggled to break free of his horror persona and ended up in financial difficulties as so many any film actors of this age of Hollywood experienced.
As it turns out, I'm not impressed with Bela as a person. He was more often than not the creator of most of his struggles and seemed to refuse to take any responsibility for his role in them. I got the impression that he never grew out of the attitude that he was being wronged by others when in reality he was often the one causing harm to those around him and to himself. I found myself being quite exasperated by him throughout.
With that said, I still found it to be very interesting (especially learning about the different women in his life), and that the story had lots of detail that gave a nice well rounded view of Lugosi's life. The drawings were very well done and I would definitely check out more from Koren Shadmi.
***Thank you to Humanoids, Inc for providing me with a copy of the audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.
2.5 rounding up
In the end, I did “enjoy” the book, but I was on the fence about that for more the 1/2 of the reading.
So for the sake of brevity, the main issue I had was the behavior and internal monologues of both the main characters. I found Siri to be whiney and Jamie to just be awful in general. However, before I continue, I want to say that there eventually became a point in the book where I felt I understood the behaviors were the result of the trauma the girls had gone through which we don't discover until later in the book.
With that said, I found the first half to be a slog to get through. Siri behaves like someone much younger than she is and Jamie displays no regard for boundaries or awareness of others which was infuriating.
Then we take the twist into THE PARENT HOOD / FREAKY FRIDAY territory, that I was not expecting. So if you love those films, you will more than likely enjoy the dramatic and often unbelievable nature of the book.
As I said, eventually I came around to the characters and the reasoning behind their personalities. I also liked the LGBTQ+ rep and especially the focus on therapy and the work required to heal trauma.
If I hadn't received this as an ARC, I'm not sure I would have finished it, but again, once I got on board (around the 65% mark), I set my issues aside to finish the ride. It just took way longer than I would have liked.
Personally, I wasn't a fan of Zafir or his creepy approach to “meeting” people at the camp. It felt very inappropriate considering he was in a position of power at a camp full of people who were there trying to heal and find direction in their life.
If I'm being honest, I found a lot issues with the book. Especially once the backstory of the girl's childhood is revealed. So when I say I got onboard eventually it's only because this fits into the genre of the teen drama that is full of problematic scenarios. Anytime people are switching places it's an inappropriate invasion of people's space and trust. If that's your thing, you'll probably like this book.
The audiobook version was good. I always enjoy a dual narration.
***Thank you to Macmillian Audio for providing me with a copy of the audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.
This was a strange journey.
The whole time I wasn't sure if it was weird, for weird's sake or actually weird with a purpose and deeply interesting.
It was certainly a unique approach to a story. It incorporated a lot of tropes that felt very purposeful, but I think this is definitely an acquired taste experience.
If you have a deep love of mysteries, British culture, and enjoy odd entertainment that likes to test the status quo (think Twin Peaks/Dale and Tucker vs the World) then you might enjoy this quirky graphic novel and story telling style.
***Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free eBook for a non-biased review.
Wow. An excellent book for ALL parents to read.
Chris walks you through many practical ways that parents and adults who have children in their lives can make small and big changes to not only make their child feel love and supported as a LGBTQ+ youth, but also show kids how to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ children they will meet on playgrounds and within their community.
We all have learned gender roles, biases, and homophobic thoughts. Many LGBTQ+ children internalize that homophobia and carry it with them their whole lives. By addressing our own homophobia, we can help stop from passing that one to our kids, and also give them the tools they need to work through any they may internalize.
So many parents think their kids are too young to talk about being queer, much like they think their kids are too young to talk about racism. The fact of the matter is, that if kids are young enough to understand that people have boyfriends/girlfriends/husbands/wives, then they are old enough to talk about the different ways in which people can be partnered. We as parents need to move past our own discomfort and homophobia to have these important conversations with our kids. The longer we stay silent, the more we pass on the message that anything other than heteronormativity is wrong/strange/weird/taboo/not ok.
This is a great tool for any adult who wants to be a more conscious caregiver.
***Thank you to Dreamscape Media for providing me with a copy of the audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.
I found this to be a great intro text into reproductive rights. It covers a nice range from early history of the movement to the modern approach.
I was glad to see the critical lens it took while looking at the movement because it's important to acknowledge the flaws along with the progress.
It's astonishing to be reading it in 2021 and see what has developed since its publication in 2017. There have been many steps taken here in the USA to restrict reproductive rights EVEN more than had already occurred at the time this was released.
My biggest complaint with the AUDIOBOOK version is that the footnotes are read aloud at the end of each chapter. I would have much preferred they were left until the end of the book.
Overall, this is a quick read and I would highly recommend it to anyone who interested in learning more about the topic. Especially teens and young adults. I think it's a great way to get them interested as well as provide ideas on how they can become involved in the fight to protect and advocate for reproductive rights.
