jaduhluhdabooks's reviews
83 reviews
Gilded, by Marissa Meyer
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Just sitting here. Crying. Feeling grateful and honored to have read this story. To have grieved alongside Michelle.
To have laughed. To have understood the horrors of illness and disease as it takes away the best parts of someone you love so deeply. To fight and to wish yourself away from that someone only to find yourself back to them, in search of them in everything, because you ultimately need them.
I resonate on the deepest of levels with this narrative.
From the shared love of food to the volatile experiences I had with my own mother - trying to carve out my existence apart from her tutelage. But her truth remained a part of me, as it did then and now that is something I am so thankful for. Holding pieces of my mother and her story and her culture so closely to my own being, guides me.
Grief - the way that Michelle personifies grief is real and raw and I felt it to my core. The extension of wonder mixed with the overbearance of
debilitation, that is grief. How something so unraveling becomes something you learn to walk side by side with.
Grief never leaves you, it grows with you.
1 am someone who knows grief well. We often meet in random alley's of my own memories, some memories that warrants griefs presence, even extends an invitation and some that do not, yet grief greets me. We're accommodated to each others presence now, conversing naturally and letting memories take their course and present moments have their way with us both. I recently told a friend that it's been hard, this read. ...but also a good release of grief that sometimes get lost in the cracks of growth and healing. ironically, grief is as much a strength as it is a hinderance or painful reminder of what was and what is not.
It is a reminder of humanity. Of the fealty of this body and this life. And for me - it points me back to the The Lord, which is why I think it's the hardest to read because I wonder where her grief points her. And that is the question I am left with. Grief needs something to hold on to, it can symbiotic or parasitic. I think I will sit with this story for a long time and hope for the best. Because grief and hope can too, coexist. I am the lived reality of that truth.
It is a reminder of humanity. Of the fealty of this body and this life. And for me - it points me back to the The Lord, which is why I think it's the hardest to read because I wonder where her grief points her. And that is the question I am left with. Grief needs something to hold on to, it can symbiotic or parasitic. I think I will sit with this story for a long time and hope for the best. Because grief and hope can too, coexist. I am the lived reality of that truth.
A beautiful book. A heart wrenching and gripping narrative. And an honor to be invited in to sit in your words Michelle.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Cancer and Grief
Minor: Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, and Fatphobia
Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Becoming, by Michelle Obama
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A woman who grew up on the south side of Chicago had a lot to say and I'm thankful I was honored to listen. This was powerful and empowering. As a Black woman, as an aspiring academic, as someone who is pursuing change
- these words say with me. I felt seen and heard in much of her own narrative and inspired to take hold of my own voice in spaces I'm missing weight.
I deeply appreciated the intention and inclusion of her moments of accomplishment and of humility. I think she held them both beautifully. I appreciated the inclusion of history both told and untold and the revelation and understanding of the pressure that comes with being Black, a woman, intelligent, and more. Attachment name sakes and titles and things are heavy and eyes are always on you.
appreciated her acknowledgment of privilege and recognizing the advantages of her education and family life and more.
All of the things and more - just a great read and refreshing perspective of life to view from someone else's eyes.
Terms and Conditions, by Lauren Asher
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-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
3.75
Ok I re read it and upon further discussion with wherever my head is finding space to enjoy a read fun book while it also consumes and survives academic grad school texts all day…how she does it? We’ll never know. We have decided to add a star to this rating because we STAN a Black queen finding love 🥹🤍
Also, grumpy x sunshine trope is UNBEATABLE. I will die on that hill. Grumpy x sunshine + enemies to lovers = undone. I’m out. Deceased. No record.
And it’s well written !? Yeah sign me up EVERY TIME.
Also, grumpy x sunshine trope is UNBEATABLE. I will die on that hill. Grumpy x sunshine + enemies to lovers = undone. I’m out. Deceased. No record.
And it’s well written !? Yeah sign me up EVERY TIME.
A Court of Silver Flames, by Sarah J. Maas
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
4.75
This has been my favorite in the series so far - I KNOW. BOLD WITH ACOMAF. But CASSIAN. MIGHT BE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE. also - just a huge fan of Nesta and the very real battles she faces with life, worth, acceptance and healing — the power of self winning out over all others. It’s really beautiful - and I wept coming out of wings and ruin like - omg.
Just gear up like sos.
Just gear up like sos.
Icebreaker, by Hannah Grace
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-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
3.0
SO CUTE. HOCKEY ROMANCES ARE SUPREME IN THE SPORT ROMANCE DEPARTMENT. 😍
Also the spice is real in this one just a bit of a heads up 👀
Also the spice is real in this one just a bit of a heads up 👀
A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
emotional
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
5.0
A Court of Wings and Ruin, by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
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? It's complicated
4.25
Bloodmarked, by Tracy Deonn
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
It was just incredible.
I laughed. I cried. I just love Bree. I feel so connected to who she is and the struggle and challenge of Black excellence surrounded by people who don’t even want to see you thrive. I empathize with the lived reality of not knowing my heritage and culture to its fullest extent, yet carrying the weight and the burden of my people’s history to its fullest. The weight of lived and unlived experiences, stripped dignity, and deep longing to be connected - but at what cost? I empathize with the lived reality of expectation of people who look like me and people who do not. What does honoring myself look like without my culture speaking into my ears about who I should be and how I should attain it? What does honoring myself look like without society and white dominate culture spear heading the conversation and winding what a “good” and “successful” Black woman is / the level to which she may rise and no further when she / if she does?
Just the heaviness, mixed with the walk of grief and learning to grow in your grief and not out of your grief and just — Tracy does that, let’s you into the story and hearts and the kind of these characters as if you wrote them and their stories yourself.
I feel scene and heard in these books in a way I haven’t ever seen a character so richly and powerful adapted. The nuance and the beauty of weaved understandings like, hair styling, the smell of southern grandmothers home cooking, the warmth of an elders hug — to the deeper meanings of shared looks between Alice and Bree when they’re facing an uncomfortable situation that their white peers aren’t coming to terms with as quickly as them — these are things that I felt where written about in a way that invited those who maybe aren’t so quick to notice them in reality, to know and to feel and to recognize just for a moment what it’s like to be Black, specifically a Black woman in a world designed for your utter and deplorable demise of self and expectation of more, success, better.
All this to say. Tracy is out here, once again, healing childhood wounds and empowering me more.
ALSO. TEAM. FREAKIN. SEL. UNTIL. I. DIE.
I laughed. I cried. I just love Bree. I feel so connected to who she is and the struggle and challenge of Black excellence surrounded by people who don’t even want to see you thrive. I empathize with the lived reality of not knowing my heritage and culture to its fullest extent, yet carrying the weight and the burden of my people’s history to its fullest. The weight of lived and unlived experiences, stripped dignity, and deep longing to be connected - but at what cost? I empathize with the lived reality of expectation of people who look like me and people who do not. What does honoring myself look like without my culture speaking into my ears about who I should be and how I should attain it? What does honoring myself look like without society and white dominate culture spear heading the conversation and winding what a “good” and “successful” Black woman is / the level to which she may rise and no further when she / if she does?
Just the heaviness, mixed with the walk of grief and learning to grow in your grief and not out of your grief and just — Tracy does that, let’s you into the story and hearts and the kind of these characters as if you wrote them and their stories yourself.
I feel scene and heard in these books in a way I haven’t ever seen a character so richly and powerful adapted. The nuance and the beauty of weaved understandings like, hair styling, the smell of southern grandmothers home cooking, the warmth of an elders hug — to the deeper meanings of shared looks between Alice and Bree when they’re facing an uncomfortable situation that their white peers aren’t coming to terms with as quickly as them — these are things that I felt where written about in a way that invited those who maybe aren’t so quick to notice them in reality, to know and to feel and to recognize just for a moment what it’s like to be Black, specifically a Black woman in a world designed for your utter and deplorable demise of self and expectation of more, success, better.
All this to say. Tracy is out here, once again, healing childhood wounds and empowering me more.
ALSO. TEAM. FREAKIN. SEL. UNTIL. I. DIE.