illtakethenightshiftx's reviews
183 reviews

Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • 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

4.5

a stellar story about family, community, and moving forward. I loved returning to this world and these characters and following them as they journeyed south in search of something new. 
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House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films by Kier-La Janisse

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challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced
Long form review coming! I have a lot of thoughts kicking around about this book.

Almost all of the CWs are related to the films Janisse references and discusses in graphic detail. It’s a book about horror and exploitation films - read with care!
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The Mist by Stephen King

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Very different from the movie but just as dread-inducing. I had fun with this one!
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The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

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emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

can’t WAIT to talk about this at book club!!!!
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Tramps Like Us: A Novel by Joe Westmoreland

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dark emotional hopeful relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Tramps Like Us feels like a confessional, a celebration, and reflection, and a love letter all rolled into one. We follow Joe, our narrator, as he brings us through his life. From beginnings in the south, hitchhiking across the country, and his years in San Francisco. 

The novel is full of booze, drugs, anonymous sex, finding chosen family, and, at its core, hope and love - even in the midst of what will become the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Joe’s chosen family only grows with each passing page and some of these characters you come know and to love as if they could be your own friends. The new forward and afterward further enrich the story told within the pages between them. 

I am so glad this is being republished! I cannot recommend this enough for anyone who reads gay literature. Tramps Like Us feels like it will be a classic, cornerstone piece of gay literature among the likes of Giovanni’s Room and Stone Butch Blues.
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We Ate the Dark by Mallory Pearson

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4.5

The Man in the Banana Trees by Marguerite Sheffer

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4.0

The Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

This was a fast-paced bloodbath of a novel that totally scratched the slasher book itch I had! It read like a movie and I could picture everything that was happening in vivid technicolor. 

Was the plot a bit thin? Absolutely. Did that deter me from enjoying myself? Absolutely not!!
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American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.
might switch to audio. Paperback format isn’t working for me because the book is soooo stream of consciousness. 
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