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caseythereader's reviews
1741 reviews
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Infidelity, Sexual content, Excrement, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Classism
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Classism
4.0
- It’s surprisingly (not so surprisingly) hard to find an addiction and recovery memoir that isn’t written by a white person, and FIRST IN THE FAMILY gets into the many reasons why that is.
- Hoppe blends memoir with facts and figures about how addiction was treated in her family and among people of color more broadly; specifically, how BIPOC experiences are purposefully erased from the mainstream frameworks of recovery.
- Hoppe reads the audiobook, and is such an engrossing and emotive narrator.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Rape, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
- IT’S ELEMENTARY is just how I like my cozy mysteries - smart, sharp, funny and fast paced.
- I adored Mavis and her inner monologue as she tried to keep up with everything on her plate as a single Black mom in a wealthy neighborhood.
- I do think there was a lot of time spent spinning wheels in the middle of the book, when nothing new was really being discovered. And even though I figured out whodunnit before Mavis, I still very much enjoyed my time spent with these characters and would absolutely read more mysteries by Bryant.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Kidnapping, Abandonment, and Alcohol
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
- THEA AND THE MISCHIEF MAKERS has me questioning why I don’t read more middle grade books, because this was so fun.
- I loved that this book is both a magical adventure and a lesson to look out for others instead of just yourself. Evan doesn’t have a stated diagnosis, but he’s clearly neurodivergent and Thea learns that someone’s awkwardness isn’t worth losing a great friendship over.
- There’s also a great thread of the plot that’s about the unexpected ways grief can manifest itself that’s done so well for younger kids to grasp.
- The duwendes were great too, also a perfect mix of silly and serious.
Graphic: Grief
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Abandonment and Colonisation
Moderate: Death and Racism
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
- ALL THIS AND MORE has such a fabulous premise. What if you could go back to the road not taken? Could you make your life absolutely perfect in every way?
- However, I think this book would have been better in a linear narrative format rather than the choose your own adventure style. Things got repetitive fast since we had to be sure we didn’t miss important plot points on any particular path. At one point I even got looped around to chapters I’d already read.
- The format also meant Marsh’s character growth kind of came out of nowhere. Instead of actually learning things, she just suddenly was a more take charge person because the plot needed it to move.
- The rules and mechanics of the quantum bubble also weren’t really cohesive. I’m not a stickler for explaining all the science in sci-fi, but it didn’t follow its own logic.
Graphic: Bullying, Infidelity, and Alcohol