Reviews with content warning for Lesbophobia - The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

25 reviews

cecereads__'s review against another edition

4.5

This was so, so good. I had to stop myself after each story to savour it rather than just continue on bc it really was a page-turner for me. Really enjoyed the writing, and there was not a word out of place. It was spicy, sexy, direct, confronting, liberating, reflective, sweet and bitter and everything in between.
- I get why Peach Cobbler seems to be a general favourite
(though every story is quality and has a clear purpose)

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itsjadenbaby's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

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

1.5

This was one of my most anticipated reads as I had heard so many great things about it. Unfortunately, I really did not end up liking it. This book literally made me sick to my stomach with some of the things that happened. Maybe I need to rethink my belief that I have no content triggers. As someone who normally loves family dynamics and conversations surrounding relationships, I struggled with this a lot. When I walk away from the book with this feeling, I always struggle to know whether or not the feeling is based in the fact that I listened to the book on audio rather than physically read it. I’ll never know the answer for sure because when I dislike a book so much, I’m not going to spend my time reading it a second time. I’m very happy that so many people really enjoyed this, bummer I couldn’t be one of them.

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imaginaryisobel's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

3.0

Some really enjoyable stories and I could see this being a fave for other people I just wasn't majorly struck by any of them

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nad_books623's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I did not like how the last story was written but I liked the idea. Each story had something that I could relate to or that I knew a family member could relate to.

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buttermellow's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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5.0

I don’t always love short stories because I’m generally a character reader, and short stories don’t usually have the space to really flesh characters out, but every character in this collection felt so whole and real. Each story was delightful and captured so much with so little. Definitely one to revisit!

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grandpas_farts's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

This short story collect kept getting so much buzz. The buzzing finally became loud enough I took a bite. Happy I did! This book may be titled Secret Lives of Church Ladies, but scripture doesn't really play into the stories. This is not a "preachy" book and more of a cup of tea.

In each short story we explore the lives of various women, throughout various decades, places, life stages, and situations of life. Anyone who has grown up in/around church culture will know some of the people in a few of these stories. This collection shines a light on what happens when the gossipers hang their laundry out to dry. He who is without sin and all of that!

My favorite short story was "Instructions for Married Christian Husbands" because it connected to "Peach Cobbler". Here we have a daughter (did we ever get her name), that never wanted to turn into her mother. As we see from the article or Facebook post, whatever it is she made, she has ultimately turned into... her mother.

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