divsenthilk's reviews
101 reviews

Thank you to Spiegel & Grau for an eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was such a lovely book with thoughtful musings on the healing power of nature when we listen and embrace the simple lessons all around us. I love books of nature and gender, and this intersection between the two genres was just *chef’s kiss *. I know I’ll return to many of the ideas here, such as creating a space around yourself like a bowerbird, using snail love as a teaching example for relationships, and sit spaces and being seen by nature. I’ve lived in the Midwest my whole life and have always appreciated the nature around me, yet I have a brand new appreciation for flatlands informed by the history of the plains. And as an aspiring scientist, the idea that nature and science already has itself figured out and research isn’t about “discovering,” it’s about revealing what’s already there and honoring it was revolutionary and changed the way the I think about the research I’m involved in. This book made me feel seen in a way I’m so grateful for.

I came across the graphic novel version in barnes, and the premise sounded so good that I checked the book out from the library. A bit in, I'm not loving the ableism and the grown man's take on the inner monologue of a 12 year old girl. There's also such a missed opportunity to portray and discuss class differences, even in a children's book. 

Thank you to Orbit Books for an eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Greenteeth is an adventurous fantasy story about found family, resilience, and strength. Jenny Greenteeth is content to live alone, maintaining her beloved lake, until Temperance, the witch of the local town, is thrown in by a group of angry townspeople. After saving Temperance, they embark on an action packed quest to save their town, Chipping Appleby, from a dark presence. 

Unfortunately, this book just didn’t work for me. I couldn’t connect to characters or the plot at all, which meant I didn’t care about the action. I liked the conversations around Temperance and Jenny connecting despite being so different, but I didn’t find the loyalty and trust of their friendship believable. I love a cozy fantasy read, but I honestly wish this book committed to the darker aspects and went full spooky as those were parts that kept me hooked. I appreciated O’Neill’s love for British folklore, which really came through in her writing. Despite not enjoying it as much as I hoped to, I would still recommend this book to anyone looking for an adventurous fantasy with rich lore.

Thank you to Random House Publishing for an eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Jack Jr wakes form a two year coma and has to face the family he left a decade ago and hasn’t seen since, as well as the COVID pandemic. This book was a wonderfully slow slice of life, character-driven story focusing on the beauty in mundane, everyday life. That’s usually right up my alley, but there were a few things about this book in particular that just didn’t work for me. First, I don’t enjoy consuming media about COVID times (it’s just too soon for me), so a big heads up if you’re the same way. Secondly, as someone who’s spent a lot of time around hospital systems and healthcare, the some of the beginning hospital scenes and the romance subplot really took me out of the book, so much so that I had to set the book down after two chapters and didn’t come back to it for a couple weeks. There were also some past memories that were introduced with a lot of suspense, but the build up to these reveals was too much and unnecessary. It made parts of the book confusing because you didn’t have the background context for why characters were acting a certain way to really care, and I don’t think it was necessarily to hold back on revealing those moments for so long. Juno and Jack Jr.’s dad were both really strong characters that I really connected with and cared about throughout the story. Jack Jr. wasn’t a flat character, but I didn’t feel as connected to him as I did to his dad and nephew, which also meant I wasn’t as connected to the core of this book about the growth of the main character. I appreciated the grounding reminder from this book of the importance in family and that everything will work out in the end. This book accepts you and says “take a breath, you’re doing alright.”

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for providing and eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Starving Saints delves into themes of desperation, power, and all the different forms of hunger while featuring masterful prose. It definitely hits the creepy, gory, and shocking aspects of the horror genre, but it’s not thrilling which is something I personally really like in my horror. There are amazing creepy elements introduced as the plot unfolds, and I think if there was more suspense and that “edge of you seat” feeling, it would’ve had a bigger impact. The book felt long and dragging at time, and I don’t think it’s because it was a slow book, but rather it was more medium paced when I really think the whole experience would’ve been elevated if the story was quick and concise. The gore sneaks up on you, and the descriptions are so well done that there were times I physically cringed (and I’m not squeamish). I loved the parts that were written in a way that you didn’t immediately get what was going on because the structure of the writing was fully immersing you in the experience or emotion it was describing — such masterful showing-not-telling writing. It’s a fever dream of an experience in that it’s so strange and unhinged, but I liked that you got most of your questions answered and weren’t left completely hanging. Towards the end, however, I found myself reading sections over and over trying to piece together some of these answers because some of the fever dream aspects of the book started to get messy and disorganized to follow. I felt completely immersed in the strange world this book creates thanks to the clever writing. There wasn’t any dense exposition to introduce the world, just indirect descriptions of the environment from the characters. Overall, I’m blown away by this book, it was a great way to end my reading year, and I can’t wait to see what else Caitlin Sterling writes.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a rollercoaster of emotions — so sad, then so so angering, then so feel-good. This book was a raw and honest depiction of a flawed person figuring life out and a reminder that everything will be alright. Parts of the book made me so frustrated because of how Francine was being treated, which really is a testament to how the characters are crafted. Swindle has a real talent for creating characters that walk off the page. The writing was a little too conversational for my liking, and there was a bit too much going on at times making everything muddled and the point get lost. The themes at the end pulled everything and were so healing, making this a story that will stick with me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! 

I’ve got some mixed feelings about this one. Homegrown Magic is a cottage core cozy fantasy with abundant queer joy and queer/nonbinary representation. However, there are few things that made it really hard for me to connect with the story. I found the characters to be flat which really took me out of the reading experience. We're constantly told about the characters and what they're like instead of shown – for example, their reactions to different events often seemed random to me because I didn't feel I got to know them. Yael's character presents themes surrounding being a part of the royal family and not agreeing with its values, and I think this part of the book really suffered because of the flat characters. The ending especially would’ve benefitted from some stronger commentary on the “real world” issues in this book, and I don’t think that would’ve taken away from the coziness of the book.

I'm usually pretty forgiving of the miscommunication trope, but for half the book, I wanted to shake both of the characters and tell them to just TALK to each other. They keep things from each for no good reason which was SO frustrating to read and made the end drag. It made it hard to root for Yael and Margot even though I really wanted to.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This Princess Kills Monsters is a fairytale retelling from the perspective of a smaller character in the story, Melilot. I wouldn’t say it’s by definition a cozy fantasy as there’s a good amount of battle in the book, but it’s definitely a gentle and heartwarming fantasy. The writing was witty and clever — I loved the fairy tale references sprinkled in throughout, and I always appreciate fun chapter titles. From the Author’s Note, you can tell how much care and effort went into these aspects. The book starts with the fairytale it’s based on so you can see the mystery outlined, and I found most of the closures to the plot satisfying. The story is adventurous, which I loved, and action packed, which I think I have to accept just really isn’t my thing. I found the world well crafted — there were a lot of details to both the world and the magic system, but I found it all easily digestible without there being a bunch of info dumping at the beginning. The idea of retelling a story from the “side character’s” perspective led to conversations on appreciating mundane things, feeling “enough,” and making heroes out of parent/guardian figures. I loved this themes but I wished we dived deeper into them as a lot of what the book touches on with these conversations felt surface level. Melilot was a wonderful and complex main character, which really brought all the action and plot points together. She was strong and heroic, but we also got to see her insecurities. Seeing her character growth was heart warming and inspirational. Additionally, I LOVED the strong sisterhood, queer themes and acceptance, the descriptions in the lake scene, and the main romance subplot.

i really liked this book! it wasn’t perfect but it had the flavor of remarkably bright creatures where lonely ppl find fulfillment when their lives intersect with a dash of mystery to keep you reading. it was perfect for my reading slump mood and also made me feel a lot of ✨things✨