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ali_k0's reviews
159 reviews
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
- 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
3.75
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Summers relationship with her father was the emotional highlight of this book for me. Bal Khabra described their relationship in ways I had struggled for years to describe my own.
I loved the evolution of their relationship, how much of an emphasis, from both the author and the male lead Aiden, placed on consent and respecting boundaries (we're sorely needing that in modern romances I fear). Due to this, it's probably the only friends with benefits romance books I've enjoyed.
I think the third act dragged a little, but it was so nice to not have a third act breakup (they have a spat but honestly I don't think it counts, it's more like growing pains).
Loved it, will recommend, and can't wait for her next read.
- 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
Both sister had such clear voices, as I was reading I could here Charlie's Harlem accent, the stiff-backed confidence that etched itself into her narrative. And for Magnolia, her Southern Belle Drawl poured off the page. There were several moments I laughed at the way her sister described it.
Kelly McWilliams laces this book with a sense of unmooredness for the characters. Charlie returns to a home she's never known, deep in the Jim Crow South. Eureka is "a place where nothing ever changes and nothing ever dies", where her stiffed back confidence is the very thing that could get her killed. As for Magnolia, well she's a Southern Belle who's no Southern Belle at all.
Mirror Girls is a testament to Racism, dark and powerful histories, and the challenges of identity and homes that don't want you. I cried so much during the final pages of this book, it's beautiful, it's painful, I loved it all.
And I'll definitely be reading more Southern Gothics.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism
0.0
- 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
3.25
There was so much in this book I wanted more of: the Drowning, The Sleepers and their museum, the war between the nations. I know a second book is coming and I hope she tells us more, but I feel she missed a lot of foundations here. To pull from the book, I think we'll find it filled with water come morning.
Effy's trauma define her as a character, and how she responds to this trauma, not by taking up a sword but simply surviving, I think is very relatable to a lot of people. Although my version of survival and hers are very different, I still saw myself in her, and I think many others will too. I just wish she had been given more time to grow. Past her trauma, but also her prejudices.
The mystery itself was timeless in its own way. Anyone who knows literary history can guess the true author of Angharad from the moment the question is posed, but I don't think the obviousness is what the mystery suffers from. The book is sold as "part historical fantasy part rival to lovers romance and part Gothic mystery" and although it was all of those things, I think breaking it into so many parts made all of them suffer. None really has the time to shine, as the authors commitments to written aesthetic seemed to be the most important thing here.
Lastly, although the tale of stolen works is one that needs to be told, the starting evidence for the case Myrddin wasn't the author is, "a southerner is not smart enough to write this, so it must be a northerner" which then turns out to be true. Myrddin did write works, but they were bad middling poetry and one unsuccessful romance. In the end, it was the ingenious Northerner who wrote Angharad, only she was a women, which was the twist. I really think this book could have been better if the author went the route of, "it was a Southern girl, which everyone thought would be to much to believe, so it was given to a southern man." That the male lead Preston is so against how his people, the Argantians, are stereotyped, but is fine with the ones around southerners, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
In the end I still liked it. It's dark and dreary but also enchanting, a perfect book for cold nights by warm fires. I don't know if I'll pick up the second book, but I don't regret that I picked this one up.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Stalking, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation
But I was also cheering, whooping with joy, crying from relief. I swooned at certain romantic lines (even when I was aware I *really* should not be, but Wu Zetian the women you ARE) and reveled at the characters vengeance.
The author stings along your hopes, crushing them in one hand while reviving them in the other. They twist your view of the world in so many knots your as unsure of every step as the characters. It was thrilling.
I hadn't realized how much I've missed books that make me feel this way until I read Heavenly Tyrant. They are rare and brilliant and this is at the height of them. We had to wait a long time for the sequel to Iron Widow because of the industry, but this book is a testament to how good things are worth waiting for, and how revolution relies not just on violence, but the voices of artists to carry it.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Moderate: Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Miscarriage and Terminal illness
Did not finish book. Stopped at 55%.
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0