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My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby
Not to sound dramatic but I feel betrayed. Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears managed to be gripping and gritty reads that managed to pack an emotional punch. The only nice thing I can say about My Darkest Prayer is that it attests to Cosby having grown as an author. My Darkest Prayer reads like a…
1st pov, 2 STARS, Adult, amateur detective, America, Black & Black heritage authors, Contemporary, CRIME, funeral homes, grit lit, male authors, men who are sleazy, men who do not seem to know how to write women, MURDER, My Darkest Prayer, MYSTERY, Noir, published in 2019, read in 2023, S.A. Cosby, SMALL TOWN, small town crime, Southern America, THRILLER, violence -
Nothing Can Hurt You Now by Simone Campos
A banger of a premise is let-down by sensationalistic storytelling, a banal plot, and a writing style that for all its attempts to be gritty & edgy comes across as laughable. Worst still, the narrative seems under the impression that it is doing a lot, in terms of unconventional female characters and challenging simplistic representations…
2 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, amateur detective, brazil, brazilian author, Contemporary, f/f, female authors, graphic content, kidnapping, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, men who are sleazy, missing girls, missing persons, models, MYSTERY, Neurodiversity, Not Like Other Girls, Nothing Can Hurt You Now, prostitution, published in 2019, queer, read in 2022, sapphic, sex, sex scenes that are yikes, Simone Campos, SISTERS, smut, style over character, survival, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION, trying and failing @ feminism, wannabe gone girl -
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez
“You have something of mine, I passed on something of me to you, and hopefully it isn’t cursed, I don’t know if I can leave you something that isn’t dirty, that isn’t dark, our share of night” Although I have previously quoted Lady Gaga’s iconic “talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same,…
1980s, 1990s, 4 STARS, abuse, Adult, ALIENATION, all of the trigger warnings, argentina, argentinian author, atmospheric, big books, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, boyhood, child abuse, CHILDHOOD, coming of age, creepy setting, cults, dark, DEATH, england, FANTASY, fathers & sons, female authors, friendships, gay side characters, graphic content, GRIEF, grotesque, growing up, GUILT, haunted house, HISTORICAL FICTION, HORROR, illness, latin america, lgbtq+, loneliness, Mariana Enríquez, missing girls, missing persons, morality, occult, orphans, otherness, Our Share of Night, parallel universes, PARANORMAL, POWERS, published in 2019, queer, read in 2022, road trip, sexual assault/abuse/rape, strong sense of place, summer reads, SUPERNATURAL, toxic relationships, tragedy, TRANSLATED FICTION, trauma, unrequited love, violence -
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
Despite the many moments of poignancy that appear throughout the course of Searching for Sylvie Lee, the novel is ultimately diminished by unnecessary melodrama and convoluted (yet predictable) soap-opera-ish twists. At its heart Searching for Sylvie Lee is a family drama about long-held family secrets. The narrative switches between three points of view: a mother and her two…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, America, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, chinese american author, Contemporary, DEATH, drama, family, female authors, gay side characters, grandmothers, incest, Italy, Jean Kwok, lgbtq+ side, MELODRAMA, migration/immigration, missing persons, missing women, musicians, My reviews, MYSTERY, Netherlands, NEW YORK, published in 2019, read in 2022, reading, Searching for Sylvie Lee, secretiveness, SISTERS, suicide -
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden
“I wanted to be the diametric opposite of who I was; am. To get gone.” T Kira Madden’s bold and unsparing storytelling makes for a brutal yet ultimately kaleidoscopic coming of age. This is easily one of the best memoirs I’ve read this year. Madden’s memoir makes for a bittersweet read, one that I look…
1990s, 1st pov, 2000s, 20th century, 4 STARS, addiction, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, CHILDHOOD, coming of age, family, fathers & daughters, female authors, female friendships, FLORIDA, friendships, GRIEF, growing up, hawaii, HIGH SCHOOL, identity, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, MEMOIR, mental health, middle school, mothers & daughters, My reviews, nostalgic reads, published in 2019, queer, RACE, read in 2021, reading, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, T Kira Madden, teen angst, trauma -
Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park
Brimming with humor and life, Love in the Big City makes for an entertaining read. I found its protagonist’s lighthearted narration to be deeply compulsive and I was hooked to his story from the very first pages. Similarly to Frying Plantain and The Nakano Thrift Shop Love in the Big City is divided into self-contained…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, Contemporary, conversational style, friendships, gay, heartbreak/breakups, HUMOR, interconnected stories, Korea, Korean, korean author, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, Love in the Big City, m/m, male authors, mental health, mothers & sons, My reviews, published in 2019, queer, read in 2021, reading, Seoul, sex, SEXUALITY, SLICE OF LIFE, TRANSLATED FICTION -
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
Mira Jacob’s Good Talk is a small gem of a memoir. Jacob combines different media to discuss a number of issues and topics. Jacob transports to the page the difficult conversations she’s had with her son about race, while also recounting her own experiences growing up as a first-generation Indian-American. Much of Good Talk takes…
2000s, 2010s, 4 STARS, Adult, America, American, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, colorism, Contemporary, dialogue heavy, family, female authors, Good Talk, Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations, Graphic Novels, India, indian american author, MEMOIR, migration/immigration, Mira Jacob, mothers & sons, My reviews, Nonfiction, politics, published in 2019, RACE, read in 2021, reading, Sequential Art, social issues -
Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun
I read Lemon only a few days ago and yet I can barely recall what it was about. Which isn’t a good sign. According to the summary, this was meant to be a suspenseful work exploring trauma, grief, and guilt but to be perfectly honest, it was anything but suspenseful and its themes felt barely…
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On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
“Sometimes you are erased before you are given the choice of stating who you are.” Ocean Vuong’s strikingly lyrical debut novel is a work of transient beauty. Within On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous there are many arresting passages that are, quite frankly, beautiful. At times this beauty derives from Vuong’s subject matter, at times it…
1st pov, 2000s, 3.25 stars, abuse, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, autofiction, beauty, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, boyhood, coming of age, Connecticut, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, existentialism, family, first love, gay, growing up, intergenerational, language, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, lyrical prose, m/m, male authors, migration/immigration, mothers & sons, My reviews, Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, POETRY, published in 2019, queer, read in 2021, reading, sex, style over character, trauma, Vietnam, Vietnamese American Author -
The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura
The Woman in the Purple Skirt is a thing that exists.Did it elicit any particular reactions, feelings, emotions—be positive or negative—from me? Besides a big fat ‘meh’, not really. This short novel never truly delivers on its premise. After reading the summary, I was expecting this to be a psychological tale about voyeurism and obsession,…
1st pov, 2.5 STARS, Adult, ambiguous protagonist, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, doubles, female authors, female doubles, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, jealousy, My reviews, MYSTERY, Natsuko Imamura, obsession, Psychological thriller, published in 2019, read in 2021, reading, slow pacing, stalking, SUSPENSE, The Woman in the Purple Skirt, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION, unnamed characters, unreliable narrators, work culture
luce [is reading] 