“The world can’t hurt you if you just ignore it; well, not until it kills you anyway.”
This book shouldn’t make any sense at all but I swear it makes more sense than any other fantasy I’ve read before. This is one of the best books, the ones where you can just sit back and let them take you for a ride because you have no idea what’s even going to happen in the next sentence.
also September 2021
Wait this is gonna be a TRILOGY??? What a thing to drop in your Acknowledgements holy sh*t
Anyway, I’m ready for book two! More cities that are alive and have human avatars, please!...more
If I had read this at the beginning of my ace journey, Georgia’s internalized acephobia would’ve knocked me flat. So for anyone struggling to come to terms with their ace and aro identities, tread carefully. But Loveless came to me at the perfect time, five years after I realized I was on the ace spectrum.
I related to Georgia so much.
“You’ll find someone eventually—that was what everyone said, and they were right… All I had to do was wait, and my big love story would come.”
As a teen, I assumed that I would grow into sexual attraction like everyone else, like all of my friends. But I eventually reached an age when I realized I would never feel sexual attraction for anybody. My romances would be nothing else, just romance. And who would want to be with me romantically if I couldn’t be with them sexually? Like Georgia, realizing my identity sent me into a downward spiral of depression and low self esteem.
Also like Georgia, I felt infantilized by the people and the world around me. Society has a weird fixation on sex, including the belief that you aren’t truly an adult until you’ve had sex and/or a romantic relationship. When Georgia says she hasn’t kissed anyone at the ripe old age of 18, her peers look at her differently.
“The weird looks. The people who’d suddenly seen me as a child, as immature. The movies where the main characters freaked out about being virgins at the age of sixteen.”
It takes a lot of work for Georgia to find her way back to self-respect, to accepting herself. But despite the odds, she does get there. Despite the odds, I hope all of us will find our way to self-love and self-acceptance. I know I have. I’ve even come to see my identity for what it is: beautiful.
“I used to dream of a spellbinding, endless, forever romance. A beautiful story of meeting a person who could change your whole world. But now, I realized, friendship could be that too.”
I hope this book reaches as many people as possible, particularly young people. We go out into the world believing that only a romantic partner can complete us, and that simply isn’t true. More of us need to remember that friendship is just as desirable as romance.
“‘Give your friendships the magic you would give a romance. Because they’re just as important.”
CWs: (view spoiler)[ abuse, belittling/gaslighting (husband to wife), burning to death, child abuse, colorism, cult, disease, drugs, emotional manip CWs: (view spoiler)[ abuse, belittling/gaslighting (husband to wife), burning to death, child abuse, colorism, cult, disease, drugs, emotional manipulation, execution, fear, imprisonment, mass murder of children (by fire), misogyny, murder, near-death experience, physical and psychological abuse (older brother, graphic), poisoning, poverty, PTSD, racism, self-sacrifice, terrorism (hide spoiler)]
I am so deeply head-over-heels in love with this book.
The plot, characters, and world-building are all perfect and beautiful to me. And there is so much world and plot left to discover! I can’t wait to fall in love with the rest of the trilogy. It’s very rare for me to be on the edge of my seat waiting for a sequel to be released, but here I am.
Lesbian doorstopper epic fantasy has got to be my favorite genre. ...more
This is probably the best Valentine’s gift I’ve ever gotten. (Because I picked it out for myself)
Manga makes everything better, I can’t imagine lovinThis is probably the best Valentine’s gift I’ve ever gotten. (Because I picked it out for myself)
Manga makes everything better, I can’t imagine loving Lost Stars the book as much as I love this. Yes, I will definitely be collecting these volumes.
Keep the manga coming is all I’m saying. Adapt everything Star Wars into manga form. Starting with the Ahsoka novel, because we all need that in our lives....more
CWs: abusive relationship, bullying, gaslighting, homophobia, homophobic slurs (explicit), irrational guilt, sexual assault, sexual confusion, sexual CWs: abusive relationship, bullying, gaslighting, homophobia, homophobic slurs (explicit), irrational guilt, sexual assault, sexual confusion, sexual harrsssment, toxic relationship
The hype is REAL holy shit!!!!
It’s been a long time since a romance woke up my cold, dead heart. That honor goes to Heartstopper. There’s really no other competition. It’s like all my favorite fanfic and romantic tropes in one.
Get ready for the feels and the squeals, because this book is the most adorable thing ever. If you’ve ever had a supercrush on your best friend, this is going to make you relive the good old days. Nick and Charlie reminded me of my second major crush, just being around them made me so happy and I could never stop smiling. I love falling in love with Nick and Charlie falling in love with each other. My crushes never really worked out, but I can live the dream through them.
Finally, one burning question: Why does Charlie have darker skin on the cover but then has 0 shading in the book? ...more
CWs: dehumanization of prisoners, incarceration, miscarriage of justice, murder, murder trial
This represents the absolute best of the Middle Grade g CWs: dehumanization of prisoners, incarceration, miscarriage of justice, murder, murder trial
This represents the absolute best of the Middle Grade genre. I think it’s the perfect genre for bringing light to tough, sad issues (in this case, having an innocent dad incarcerated) while also balancing it with childhood joy. In other words: yes, let’s have a conversation about anti-Black injustice, and let’s also reminisce over the fun preteen obsessions that I think a lot of us shared, such as cupcakes, fancy stationary, and baking challenges on Food Network.
This is a book I wish I could’ve read when I was a preteen. It would’ve been a game changer for me. I can only hope it will go out into the world and change the lives of the children, heck, even the teens and adults, who read it. It feels like it’s been so long since I’ve found a book like this and I am not letting it go....more
Content Rating: green (YA) CWs: (view spoiler)[ death by train (mentioned), death by overdose (mentioned), grief, gun violence, family conflict, ma Content Rating: green (YA) CWs: (view spoiler)[ death by train (mentioned), death by overdose (mentioned), grief, gun violence, family conflict, manipulative music industry (hide spoiler)]
This is one of those books that I’m gonna be nostalgic for when I’m older. Heck, I’m already nostalgic for Anna K book one and I read it last year. Jenny Lee better write more contemporary YA because the genre needs her talent.
In this book we get a bi MC and a WLW relationship and it is absolutely lovely. This is a massive step up from book one, in which we get a random cis gay boy thrown in the background here and there. Let’s just say Anna K made me question if the author knew any queer identities besides cis gay boy. But this book is a vast improvement. I have no complaints. I’m actually very grateful for the representation shown here.
This is one of those books that feels like it was written for me in mind, so my rating is very biased. It definitely has flaws but it just feels like the perfect book to me....more
CWs: abuse, anxiety, attempted rape, cannibalism, choking, colorism, death, death of parents, deflection, deY’all ready for these content warnings?!?
CWs: abuse, anxiety, attempted rape, cannibalism, choking, colorism, death, death of parents, deflection, depression, epidemic, eugenics, familicide, forced marriage, gaslighting, hallucinations, incest, infanticide, live burial, manipulation, mass murder, mental illness, mistreatment of workers, racism, self-blame, self-doubt, self-harm, seizure, sexual assault, suicide, trauma
Whew! I think I covered most of them.
This book is my ideal kind of horror: slow-burn spooks with increasingly disturbing imagery + bits of full-blown horror that are easy enough to skim through. Noemí is an excellent protagonist. I never lost interest in this book because her character brings so much lightness to the dark atmosphere she finds herself in. It makes it even more heartbreaking when she inevitably gets sucked into that same darkness and has to fight tooth and nail to escape it.
CWs: car accident, colonization, death of a loved one, (destabilizing) grief, gruesome murders, life-threatening danger, murder, preying on the under CWs: car accident, colonization, death of a loved one, (destabilizing) grief, gruesome murders, life-threatening danger, murder, preying on the underprivileged, racism, racial profiling
August 2021
I’m not here to write an actual review, but I am here to say it’s cool that Darcie Little Badger is ace like her MC.
January 2021
That’s right, my home state made it into this book because it’s the land of cornfields and thus the perfect setting for fictional cursed scarecrows. Getting a cameo in this book is literally the most exciting thing to happen to Iowa.
I hope to write an actual review soon, because Elatsoe deserves it....more
Here’s the bad news: none of us are immune to racism. But the good news is that all of us have the capacity to fight against the racist policies and rHere’s the bad news: none of us are immune to racism. But the good news is that all of us have the capacity to fight against the racist policies and racist ideas infecting ourselves and our world.
This book can help.
Ibram X. Kendi helps us identify what racist and antiracist ideas are and gives us the research to challenge these ideas. It really is a must-read and begs to be read multiple times. I’m buying my own copy when it’s stocked in Black-owned bookstores again. This is a book to reference, to display, to cherish.
Also, a quick shout-out to this book for addressing gender-antiracism and queer-antiracism.
“To truly be antiracist is to be feminist. To truly be feminist is to be antiracist.”
I only wish there was a chapter to discuss how to be antiracist regarding Black people who are disabled and/or struggle with mental illness. That was Kendi’s one blind spot that I wish he had addressed. ...more
CWs: absent mother, anxiety, anxiety insensitivity, eating disorder insensitivity, friendship breakup, loneliness, parent with mental illness, passiv CWs: absent mother, anxiety, anxiety insensitivity, eating disorder insensitivity, friendship breakup, loneliness, parent with mental illness, passive aggression, prejudice against twins (I don’t know why, but it’s there), social anxiety
I was going to give it five stars. Then, after scrolling through some reviews, my enthusiasm kind of went downhill. Because there are a lot of issues with Fangirl regardless of my love for the manga. Like, for example, how Reagan treats Cath.
Reagan spends pretty much her whole time with Cath calling her pathetic, treating her like she’s a child, showing her tough love (that’s a lot more tough than love) and making a big deal about how she feels sorry for her. I’m pretty disgusted with Reagan’s lack of empathy when it comes to Cath’s anxiety and assumed eating disorder. If tough love helped anyone overcome mental illness then most of us with mental disorders would be cured by n0w.
I’m kind of horrified that Cath’s mental health isn’t really addressed at all. At one point she straight-up says she has diagnosable symptoms of anxiety. Um, maybe because you have anxiety! I wish we could’ve seen Cath interacting with a therapist or psychiatrist. Instead, we get Levi saving Cath from her social anxiety and introversion because apparently when a girl has social anxiety, what she really needs is a boyfriend. ...more