caseythereader's reviews
1744 reviews

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.

Turns out it’s extremely tedious to be in the mind of a service robot.

In Repair by A.L. Graziadei

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

Thanks to Henry Holt Books for the free copy of this book.

- Holy wow, this book. I had no idea what to expect going into IN REPAIR, and it turned out to be one of the hardest, most beautiful books I’ve ever read.
- I don’t think I’ve ever seen dissociation explored in a YA/NA novel before. The book puts you right there in Nathaniel’s head as he tries to hold in everything that has happened to him.
- IN REPAIR is also a beautiful representation of the love friends can show each other, and specifically queer friends. Whether you’ve known someone your whole life or have just met them, you can be there for them.
- I appreciated that the inciting trauma was not described in detail on the page. Omitting that never lessened the impact: just being there for the emotional fallout was all that was necessary for this story, and nearly as hard to stomach. Please check the content warnings before reading.

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The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

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dark emotional mysterious 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

Thanks to Avid Reader Press for the free copy of this book.

- What an inventive, emotional, and thought provoking book THE MINISTRY OF TIME is.
- This book is what I would call literary sci-fi, which is one of my favorite genre mashups. It’s also quite heavily character focused, with most of the action happening in the last third of the book.
- Despite my usual love of plot-heavy books, I was immediately drawn into the story of our unnamed narrator and her displaced-from-time charge.
- It’s easy to see how much research Bradley put into this book, but it never loses the intense emotion amid the historical tidbits.
- I don’t even have the space to touch on the elements of race, survivor’s guilt, and of catching someone up on centuries of history. There is so much going on in this book and I’m going to be thinking about all the pieces of it for a long time to come.

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Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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Triple Sec by TJ Alexander

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Thanks to Atria Books for the free copy of this book.

- TRIPLE SEC is the poly romance we’ve been waiting for! And it’s done with TJ Alexander’s signature sweetness, humor, and heat.
- I loved watching these three wildly different people fall in love with each other, and to see Mel discover how expansive romantic love can be.
- My only quibble (if you could even call it that?) is that Kade and Bebe’s relationship is SO perfect. At times it felt a little “we have to show readers that poly people can have happy marriages” like the early days of legal gay marriage.
- Aside from that, though, I breezed through this in a day or two and would have read hundreds more pages of Mel coming into her own with the love and support of her partners.

Content Warnings

Lavash at First Sight by Taleen Voskuni

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funny lighthearted 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? No

2.5

Thanks to Berkley Romance for the free copy of this book.

- LAVASH AT FIRST SIGHT had such promise but totally fell short for me. I loved the idea of PakCon - who doesn’t love a highly competitive niche industry story? and the idea of a story focused on two queer Armenian women. But all the elements felt sort of half-baked.
- Nazeli and Vanya’s romance didn’t have much to it. They virtually only ever talked about work and their parents, and Vanya didn’t so much have a personality as a small collection of details we’re told about her.
- The food competition was fun, but also a lot of the elements of it didn’t make any sense. Who was manning their booth while they were competing? Why was it being filmed? Why did just that one moment get shown on the screens for the rest of the competitors to see and nothing else ever?
- I can’t speak to the portrayal of Armenian culture, but the best thing about this book was the food descriptions. The dishes were showcased with such love, it made me want to hurry out and eat some myself.

Content Warnings

Escape Velocity by Victor Manibo

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thanks to Erewhon Books for the free copy of this book.

- ESCAPE VELOCITY is two or three books mashed together. There’s a rich people behaving badly plot, a past murder everyone is still trying to reckon with, and a brewing working class uprising underneath it all.
- I quite enjoyed the tone of the book. It was breezy and shiny while also being sharp and take-no-prisoners.
- All combined, it feels like a potentially pretty accurate vision of the future, if our current model of billionaires leading the space charge holds.
- A lot happens in the final chapters, everything falling together quickly after we learn all about the many players. I wanted to see more of the fallout from one of the revelations, but overall I really loved the risk Manibo took with the ending!

Content Warnings