![luce [is reading]](https://wishfullyreading.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/9429655-1.jpeg){kind=small}
-
Soledad by Angie Cruz
βCould it be that thatβs just the way things go between people? Irreconcilable differences, which canβt really be explained or solved.β What could have been a polyphonic tragicomedy exploring trauma, abusive and dysfunctional relationships, generational and cultural divides, sex, love, and desire, is let down by a cast of cartoonish characters, repetitive dialogues and interactions,…
1990s, 2000s, 20th century, abuse, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, adolescence, Adult, America, Angie Cruz, Contemporary, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), Dominican American author, dominican republic, drama, Dreams, family, female authors, girlhood, grandmothers, illness, intergenerational, jealousy, latin america, latin american, latin american diaspora, latinx author, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+ side, MAGICAL REALISM, MELODRAMA, men who are sleazy, migration/immigration, motherhood, mothers & daughters, navel gazing, NEW YORK, no quotations marks, published in 2001, read in 2023, sex, sex scenes that are yikes, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, Soledad, style over character, trauma, trying and failing @ feminism, unrequited love, womanhood/femininity -
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 -
All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks
While there were certainly many pearls of wisdom scattered in bell hooksβ essays on love, I found many of the observations and conclusions she makes to be simplistic and at times even presumptions. Within these 13 chapters, bell hooks interrogates love (what does it mean to love someone? how does love look?) against the backdrop…
3 STARS, Adult, All About Love, All About Love: New Visions, AMERICAN AUTHOR, bell hooks, Black & Black heritage authors, ESSAYS, female authors, Nonfiction, parenting, psychology, published in 1999, read in 2022, Religion, self-help, social issues, Sociology, spirituality, trying and failing @ feminism -
Boy Parts by Eliza Clark
disclaimer: i did not like this book. the opinions and impressions i will express in this review are entirely subjective and i am not in fact stating βirrefutable factsβ. it has come to my attention that this author has a history of going on twitter to βbemoanβ reviewers who have given her book a negative…
1 STAR, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, beauty, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, books i hate, Boy Parts, British author, class, Contemporary, dark, dark humor, Eliza Clark, england, female authors, feverish, graphic content, grotesque, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LONDON, My reviews, navel gazing, Newcastle, offensive, photographers, PHOTOGRAPHY, PRIVILEGE, psychological, psychopaths, published in 2020, queer, rape, read in 2022, reading, satire, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, she is not feeling good at all, slow pacing, style over character, subject over characters/story, the female malaise, trying and failing @ feminism, unreliable narrators -
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
βBut I have no faith in love. Love cannot save me.I choose vengeance.β Xiran Jay Zhao has written an ambitious debut novel that should definitely appeal to fans of Pacific Rim & The Hunger Games. Iron Widow is likely one of the most creative books that I’ve read this year (which is saying something given…
1st pov, 2 STARS, action, alternate history, arc, battles, bi side characters, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, China, chinese author, chinese inspired setting, DEATH, dystopia, FANTASY, Iron Widow, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ side, m/f/m romance, My reviews, netgalley, Not Like Other Girls, polyamory, reading, RETELLINGS, revenge, SCI-FI, trying and failing @ feminism, violence, weak prose, weak worldbuilding, Xiran Jay Zhao, YOUNG ADULT -
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
DISCLAIMER: If you are thinking of reading this novel I recommend you check out some more positive reviews, especially ones from #ownvoices reviewers (such as Brandann Hill-Mann’s review). I didn’t hate this book it but I would be lying if I said that it didn’t really, really, really frustrate me (because it did). I would…
1st pov, addiction, America, Angeline Boulley, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, canada, coming of age, CRIME, DEATH, drama, FANTASY, female authors, Firekeeper's Daughter, gay side characters, GRIEF, indigenous, indigenous author, insta love, INVESTIGATION, kidnapping, lgbtq+ side, Michigan, MURDER, My reviews, MYSTERY, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, Not Like Other Girls, Ojibwe/Chippewa, Ojibwe/Chippewa author, psychopaths, published in 2021, rape, read in 2021, ROMANCE, sexual assault/abuse/rape, social issues, sports, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, trauma, trying and failing @ feminism, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, why the hype, YOUNG ADULT -
The Herd by Andrea Bartz
Having really enjoyed Andrea Bartzβs debut novel, The Lost Night, I had rather high hopes for The Herd. Sadly, not only is The Herd populated by simultaneously unrealistic and detestable characters but it also tells a rather derivative story. The summary seemed to promise a tantalising story, one that would depict the complicated and shifting…
1st pov, 2 STARS, ADOPTION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Andrea Bartz, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, books i hate, drama, female authors, jealousy, lgbtq+, MELODRAMA, missing persons, missing women, MYSTERY, NEW YORK, published in 2020, purply prose, read in 2020, SISTERS, summer reads, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, trying and failing @ feminism, weak prose, work culture -
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
i deleted my review after getting one too many comments misreading my various criticisms (either calling me “too woke” or implying that i do not respect women who want to have children or, and this gets the cake, “an anglo saxon liberal chauvinist” which makes me wonder if angry commentators such as these even take…
1st pov, 2 STARS, beauty, books about writers, Breasts and Eggs, class, Contemporary, existentialism, female authors, feminism, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, LITERARY FICTION, mental health, Mieko Kawakami, motherhood, mothers & daughters, navel gazing, plastic surgeries, pregnancy, published in 2019, read in 2021, SEXUALITY, SISTERS, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, TRANSLATED FICTION, trying and failing @ feminism, work culture -
The Trouble with Hating You by Sajni Patel β book review
As much as I wanted to love The Trouble with Hating You, I found its storyline frustrating and I’m ready to spill some tea. While I appreciated the way in which Sajni Patel incorporated serious issues into her narrative, I couldn’t push aside my annoyance towards her main characters. Yes, they did have chemistry and…
1st pov, 2 STARS, Adult, Contemporary, ENEMIES TO LOVERS, family, female authors, identity, indian american author, intergenerational, problematic, published in 2020, read in 2020, rom-coms, ROMANCE, Sajni Patel, scientists & co, sexual assault/abuse/rape, The Trouble with Hating You, trauma, trying and failing @ feminism, work culture -
Too Much: How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today by Rachel Vorona Cote
TW: mentions of self-harm Not only was Too Much not enough but what little it offers is wholly problematic. This book would have made slightly more sense if it had been published in 2010 instead of 2020. Its analysis of the social norms and literature emerging from the Victorian era are far from insightful or…
1 STAR, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Booklr, books about books, books i hate, female authors, feminism, films, literary criticism, mental health, problematic, published in 2020, Rachel Vorona Cote, read in 2020, self-harming, SEXUALITY, Too Much: How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today, trigger warning, trying and failing @ feminism
luce [is reading] 