lermonysnickers's reviews
263 reviews

Forging Silver Into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Jax and Tycho are everything to me and I need more of them now. BK's disability rep is always well thought out and nuanced, with wonderfully realistic arcs for these characters to follow. Love it, can't wait for the next book.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Love the book, love the audiobook. The reading of the Jude part is especially good.
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I have no idea how I loved this book so much as a kid. I like Bitterblue as a character, but the story is so slow and far too long for barely anything to happen. There was also much darker content than expected. The last book was carefully to heavily imply things in regards to Leck's crimes, which I really think this book should've done instead of stating it directly. I have no idea how I sat through that as a kid when it's too much for me as an adult. I guess I probably just didn't understand the gravity of it. But yeah, that wasn't a mental picture I needed running through my head. (TW for pedophilia, torture, and suicide: the scene in question is where
Thiel reveals that he and Bitterblue's other advisors were forced by Leck to rape and cut up little girls while he watched. After saying this, Thiel throws himself off a bridge.
So yeah, that was a lot for me and I wish that information had been conveyed a little more discreetly. I think just Thiel saying "Leck made us do those crimes" would've been enough to convey the point without needing to tell me what the crimes were in that moment.) And I will be honest, this one page was enough to drop my rating of the book because it was uncomfortable for me and I don't feel like it was necessary.
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Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

The audiobook is just as good as the book. This is such a deeply informative memoir that's close to my heart.
Breaking Rosalind by Gigi Styx

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.
This was never a serious read I just wanted the pages to count because I need storygraph to know I'm literate
Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan

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adventurous funny lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

God I love Percy Jackson. This book is dumb and fun while still being heartfelt and meaningful. Rick has completely obliterated the timeline at this point but I'll give him a pass since he's been writing about Percy for 20 years now, so he was bound to mess it up at some point. I think this trilogy is a perfect continuation of the original series that gives us a little more time with these beloved characters without feeling extraneous or overly dependent on filler. I can't wait to read the next one.
Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens by Marieke Nijkamp

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I really don't know how to rate anthologies because while some stories slapped, others felt unfinished or I just didn't get what the point of them was. If I'm being honest, I would've liked a little more wheelchair rep, particularly for ambulatory wheelchair users. So yeah, I don't really know how to feel about the book as a whole. A lot of the individual stories were great, particularly the ones towards the end. The first half was much harder to get through. 

Edit: the more I think about it, the more I realize that it really is a big issue for an anthology trying to represent as many disabled experiences as possible to completely overlook ambulatory wheelchair users. Maybe since this is #ownvoices, there just wasn't an author available at the time to write on that, but the ableism that ambulatory wheelchair users (and those with dynamic disabilities) experience is unique and must be included in genuine advocacy for the disabled community as a whole.
One for All: A Novel by Lillie Lainoff

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.
I really want to finish reading this someday to see how the POTS rep plays out, but the story and other characters just aren't compelling enough to keep me reading right now.
Darius The Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective relaxing tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is probably the most I've ever enjoyed a book I've had to read for a class. I read most of it in one day and it really does just speed by at a nice pace. The ending is a little open for my liking, but also finished off with certain character relationships exactly where I wanted to see them. It feels like there's still more to the story, though, so maybe a third book will come someday.
Initiation: Sex Wizards, Book 1 by Alethea Faust

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adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Did I know exactly what I was getting into? Yes. Am I knocking the rating down a star solely because I didn't need to hear some of this spoken out loud? Also yes. The book itself is still 5 stars and I will always love Sex Wizards but dear god hearing some of this stuff while working out nearly had me in tears. I've learned an important lesson about what should and shouldn't be a gym book.