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smtvash's reviews
498 reviews
Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.75
Loved this quite a bit. It's not just a latine fantasy book, it's one with bite with complex, challenging themes and interesting world-character building. A fable true and true, super happy I cracked this one open before the new year, I COULD NOT put it down.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
adventurous
funny
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
4.25
Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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
3.75
When Haru Was Here by Dustin Thao
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
A bit dry, characters have potential but everything is bogged down by dense, robust worldbuilding.
Beautiful cover art. Not engaged enough to complete this one.
Beautiful cover art. Not engaged enough to complete this one.
A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
Did not finish book. Stopped at 47%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 47%.
Lost interest in the prose, characters, and story.
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
4.0
Taking it's premise in full stride, Holly Gramazio's The Husbands is a light-concept-driven urban-fantasy adventure about the chase for true love.
But there's more going on here than love, isn't there?
As husbands pop in and out of the attic, Lauren finds herself interrogating not just the men that she would have married in other parallel worlds but other aspects of life as well: friends, family, career, hobbies, home, vibes. Gramazio has fun with this concept fully embracing "what if" in a way that was engaging and highly entertaining. And when things took a turn, when a break from the rules approached in, we hit moments of true emotional depth.
Marriage, settling down, comparing the big things against the little things; The Husbands is an experiment we can play over again and again ultimately in the hopes that we get to where we're going (wherever that may be).
But there's more going on here than love, isn't there?
As husbands pop in and out of the attic, Lauren finds herself interrogating not just the men that she would have married in other parallel worlds but other aspects of life as well: friends, family, career, hobbies, home, vibes. Gramazio has fun with this concept fully embracing "what if" in a way that was engaging and highly entertaining. And when things took a turn, when a break from the rules approached in, we hit moments of true emotional depth.
Marriage, settling down, comparing the big things against the little things; The Husbands is an experiment we can play over again and again ultimately in the hopes that we get to where we're going (wherever that may be).
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
3.0
3.5 -
Brief but expansive in scope. The Bullet Swallower has a lot of ideas but when all is said and done, it's a rather simple tale that follows Antonio's final journey. His actions affect his family and the rest of his bloodline and they're contextualized by the colonization, racism, and violence that affected Mexico in the 1800s. In this Antonio becomes a different type of western anti-hero. A more overt version of what the other books that inspired it.
The parallel timeline in the 1960s is interesting on the surface but the book doesn't do much with it apart from the obvious tackling of how the past affects the present. Some magical realism elements and questions of myth-making again on the surface are interesting. Just don't feel these concepts are deeply explored the way they could be.
Interesting for the most part.
Brief but expansive in scope. The Bullet Swallower has a lot of ideas but when all is said and done, it's a rather simple tale that follows Antonio's final journey. His actions affect his family and the rest of his bloodline and they're contextualized by the colonization, racism, and violence that affected Mexico in the 1800s. In this Antonio becomes a different type of western anti-hero. A more overt version of what the other books that inspired it.
The parallel timeline in the 1960s is interesting on the surface but the book doesn't do much with it apart from the obvious tackling of how the past affects the present. Some magical realism elements and questions of myth-making again on the surface are interesting. Just don't feel these concepts are deeply explored the way they could be.
Interesting for the most part.