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carefulfearanddeaddevotion's reviews
155 reviews
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Death, and Drug abuse
The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats by Daniel Stone
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Chronic illness
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Julian Diaz, the sweetest dorkiest bad boy in all of fiction. <3 def my favorite character by far.
Liked all the characters, overall cute story and pretty visuals/mythology. The only things that made me enjoy it slightly less were:
1. the big twist was, in my opinion, super obvious from the veryyyy beginning. Buuuut I was more interested in the characters’ journey anyway, so it didn’t really matter so much
2. there was too much explaining re: the culture. Like at times it felt a little textbook-y. Like especially the translations of the Spanish directly after it was used (which I guess would be necessary to someone who doesn’t understand Spanish…)
3. Take this with a grain of salt because I’m not very familiar with Central American religion/mythology, but the gods/mythology referenced, are, to my knowledge, Mayan. The characters, however, despite all being Hispanic, aren’t all from that region. Half of them are from the Caribbean. Why did a Mayan god 1000 years ago extend the brujx power to peoples she had nothing to do with? Unless those other people married into the brujx, which might also explain the dilution of magic, but that also doesn’t make sense given that we’re told several times the brujx don’t like outsiders or straying from tradition.
Mhm…why do I always do this? I finish a book like “wow I liked that” and then when I start thinking about my thoughts as I was reading I come up with all these complaints lol. It’s still a fun cute book that I enjoyed but obvi it isn’t perfect
Liked all the characters, overall cute story and pretty visuals/mythology. The only things that made me enjoy it slightly less were:
1. the big twist was, in my opinion, super obvious from the veryyyy beginning. Buuuut I was more interested in the characters’ journey anyway, so it didn’t really matter so much
2. there was too much explaining re: the culture. Like at times it felt a little textbook-y. Like especially the translations of the Spanish directly after it was used (which I guess would be necessary to someone who doesn’t understand Spanish…)
3. Take this with a grain of salt because I’m not very familiar with Central American religion/mythology, but the gods/mythology referenced, are, to my knowledge, Mayan. The characters, however, despite all being Hispanic, aren’t all from that region. Half of them are from the Caribbean. Why did a Mayan god 1000 years ago extend the brujx power to peoples she had nothing to do with? Unless those other people married into the brujx, which might also explain the dilution of magic, but that also doesn’t make sense given that we’re told several times the brujx don’t like outsiders or straying from tradition.
Mhm…why do I always do this? I finish a book like “wow I liked that” and then when I start thinking about my thoughts as I was reading I come up with all these complaints lol. It’s still a fun cute book that I enjoyed but obvi it isn’t perfect
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Transphobia, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Child death and Deportation
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I was a little frustrated at the beginning about everything being super unclear, but that’s by design. The characters don’t know what’s going on, so neither does the reader. Some things are still up in the air at the end, but I think those are just plot threads that continue in the next book(s)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness
Minor: Body horror and Infertility
Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Would have been a 5 if the main character wasn’t insufferable 75% of the time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism and Rape
Minor: Domestic abuse
Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Guess there's some truth to "don't judge a book by its cover." I bought this book simply because the cover is stunning, and it somewhat disappointed. Blanca is little more than a narrator in what I thought would be her story. There was little to no plot, just slice of life. I like character driven books, but I don't think this book could even be called character driven. The prose was mostly very pretty, and both George and Blanca's pasts were more interesting to read about than whatever was going in the present. Overall, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Sexism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Eating disorder, Incest, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault