caseythereader's reviews
1744 reviews

Hope Ablaze by Sarah Mughal Rana

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emotional reflective slow-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

3.5


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Sex with a Brain Injury by Annie Liontas

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

 - SEX WITH A BRAIN INJURY is one of those books that puts a new lens over your view of life. I didn’t know much about concussions and TBI before this book, and now I can’t stop thinking about how many people live with these conditions and how society is failing them.
- Liontas uses a variety of writing styles in this book, including a stream of consciousness like style that puts the reader right into what her mind feels like while recovering from a concussion.
- The section that stuck out most to me was the discussion of the cycle of brain injury and incarceration. It feels ridiculous to say I’d never thought about it before, but I hadn’t, even though it seems obvious in retrospect.
- Liontas writes about not only what it is like to have this chronic pain and illness, but to be a queer woman with this condition, and a queer woman with a legacy of trauma from her mother’s addiction. 

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Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan

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adventurous emotional slow-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

3.75


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Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

4.75


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Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

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

4.0


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A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Thanks to FSG Young Readers for the free copy of this book.

 - A TEMPEST OF TEA is the best kind of heist story. Set in a fantasy world, a ragtag crew comes together, each with their own motives (and desires).
- I love the characters Faizal has created. Everyone has an agenda, but they come to care for each other, sometimes to their own detriment.
- And the action! I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I cannot wait for the second book. 

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Conditions of a Heart by Bethany Mangle

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emotional funny hopeful sad 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? No

5.0

Thanks to Books Forward PR for the free copy of this book.

 - Wow, y’all! CONDITIONS OF A HEART totally knocked me out. I enjoyed Mangle’s first book, but this one is on another level.
- I loved Brynn and her family, who all felt like real people each trying to do what they thought was best.
- Brynn is a fantastic protagonist, with a snarky inner monologue and a huge knot of complicated feelings to work through. It’s rare to see a novel unpick so many aspects of having a chronic disability, and this book tackles so much while still remaining a engaging read brimming with love.
- On top of the discussions of disability, the book also deals with classism and generational privilege and power. Also, quite importantly, there’s a cat cafe! 

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This Day Changes Everything by Edward Underhill

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adventurous funny lighthearted 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

5.0

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

 
  • THIS DAY CHANGES EVERYTHING is basically "eeee so cute!" in book form. I loved everything about it, from the queerness to the band nerdery to the running around NYC landmarks hoping for magic. It's beautiful queer joy wrapped in a book.

  • I love that Abby and Leo are allowed to be grumpy and touchy, that they can feel both joy and frustration.

  • It's also great to see a YA novel where the queer characters are still figuring themselves out: trying to find the right label, or decide that labels might not even be necessary at all.
 

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Reel by Kennedy Ryan

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

4.0


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The Friendship Study by Ruby Barrett

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emotional funny 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? No

4.5

Thanks to Harlequin for the free copy of this book.

 - I loved Ruby Barrett’s previous book, but THE FRIENDSHIP STUDY blows it out of the water. I adored Jesse and Lulu, who each felt like real, unique people.
- The friendship study itself is sort of vague, but it gives the characters such a great “we can’t be doing this” setup that I was willing to forgive how unscientific it felt, lol.
- Jesse is a bisexual man dealing with chronic pain after an injury, and Lulu is a queer woman just beginning to think she might have ADHD. Both are struggling with where their lives are going and the way making new friends as an adult seems impossible. And amid all these feelings, this book is HOT. 

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