* Thank you Penguin Randomhouse for an eARC in exchange for an honest revew."
i absolutely loved the whimsy of this soft magic system. The James family* Thank you Penguin Randomhouse for an eARC in exchange for an honest revew."
i absolutely loved the whimsy of this soft magic system. The James family each have a gift and our MC linden the emotions of those around her. The town has always been a little uneasy of the odd family, except of someone gets sick or is otherwise in need, of course they'll ask for help.
Every year the turn holds the moth festival to honor the longest standing folklone of the turn, the moth man. He is an omen of death. And that folklore is held in even higher because 17 years ago, a four year old boy went missing. And last year, something happened to linden on the woods she still can't remember.
A small town mystery with of whimsical magic? Sign me up. This book didnt disappoint....more
*thank you Penguin Randomhouse for an eARC in exchange for review*
This story follows Lilah, a hard of hearing (HOH) girl who goes to a hearing (mainst*thank you Penguin Randomhouse for an eARC in exchange for review*
This story follows Lilah, a hard of hearing (HOH) girl who goes to a hearing (mainstreamed) school and remembers going to Deaf Summer Camp fondly. When talking to her friends about a summer job before senior year, she decides to reach out to a friend she knows is now Assistant Director of the camp and BOOM she's got the job!
This story is one part summer YA romance, three part Deaf education. For context, I am a professional ASL interpreter who is working on my certification at the time of writing this review. I found that all the education aspects were great in this story. There are so many things the Deaf community deals with from parents of Deaf children not being on board with ASL as true access and feeling that oralism is the only choice to the broader and scarier things that can happen in a situation with police when a Deaf person is interacting with them.
That said, I felt like there were too many things put into this cute summer romance. And to me, that screams that there is not enough rep of Deaf identity on our shelves. One author shouldn't have to feel like every circumstance needs to be covered in one novel just in case there's never another Deaf story out there.
The things I did love was the adorable romance and the summer camp setting. I loved how ASL was described for the reader to give the context of varying signs like the difference between making out and work. I loved the diversity and the addition of Blind characters and getting a little more information for myself about things that Blind people also have for access because I'm still new to that community as well. I also loved (and cringed) at seeing the perspective of the learning hearing interpreter in the mix of these characters.
Overall, especially if you're interested in the educational piece of the Deaf community and what growing up Deaf feels like for some people, this is a good book to turn to. I think it could open people's eyes to realizing that learning the ABC's and how to say bull-shit isn't enough and it isn't even cool. It would be a lot cooler to learn the language and take part in making your community more accessible for those who share it with you....more
*thank you Penguin Randomhouse for an eARC in exchange for an honest review*
holy shit. talk about a fantasy with so much incredible depth in the magic*thank you Penguin Randomhouse for an eARC in exchange for an honest review*
holy shit. talk about a fantasy with so much incredible depth in the magic system, the history of the world, and in the characters themselves.
This is a fantasy with a base in greek myth, and although it would have definitely been nice to have a bit more knowledge of greek myth coming into the story, Hatzopoulou does a great job of giving you what you need to understand the context of the magic system if you don't have any previous understanding of the different gods and what they did in the greek myths.
I absolutely loved the characters. I love the morally gray of the story. Can justice be black and white or are there crimes that are justified? Is revenge justified? When discrimination plays a role, are the parties who aren't in power never culpable for their mistakes and are the people in power always wrong solely for being in power?
The CLIFFHANGER hurt me. I am R U N N I N G to the shelves for Hearts that Cut immediately....more
*thank you Penguin Randomhous for an eARC in exchange for an honest review*
This is a story that does have a likable main character. This story doesn’t*thank you Penguin Randomhous for an eARC in exchange for an honest review*
This is a story that does have a likable main character. This story doesn’t hav many moments for mailing or laughing. It’s painful and hard to read. And Virginia does a lot of thing that are horrible because of the horrible things that were done to her.
Not every victim is the perfect victim. That doesn’t mean their story is any less important. A complicated person is a real person. Thank you Alena Bruzas for sharing your story in the author’s note and for sharing a ficionalized version of too many stories out here.
*content warnings* - sexual abuse, vividly deceive on the page - alcohol and drug abuse - partner violence - child sexual abuse & grooming - child neglect - sexual assault - online abuse - explicit language - verbal assault regarding being transgender And regarding promiscuity...more