vaguely_pink's reviews
139 reviews

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

Everyone’s always talking about creepy sentient fungi but now I only want creepy sentient bees and aspen trees.

This book is real good. I could not put it down and was audibly gasping towards the end. Fantastic characters, ✨immaculate✨vibes (it’s giving Midsommar), and honestly a lot scarier than most of the adult horror I read. This story will stick with me for a long time.

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Constellations, by Kate Glasheen

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

Constellations covers a lot of important topics and is clearly a labor of love from the author. The main character Claire, a GNC teen growing up in 80s New York, turns to alcohol when their traumas catch up with them and finds themself in rehab. Filled with unique art, Glasheen crafts a semi-autobiographical narrative about found family and finding yourself.

As a fellow product of adolescent IOP programs (albeit for depression, not addiction), the found family story was familiar to me and I felt that the author did justice in their portrayal of how complicated it can feel to forge friendships at the worst time in your life. However, it was at times hard to understand due to the strange narrative flow of the book. It was also not helped by the art style. Although very cool with its watercolor palette and doodle overlays, the art didn't serve a graphic novel particularly well in my opinion. It was often visually cluttered and the facial expressions mismatched the dialogue making for a difficult reading experience. I also found the middle section to be overly preachy at times. Maybe it's because I've been through similar kinds of therapy and have heard the broken records Charlie imbues in his clients many times before, but it often times felt like the main narrative of Claire's story was being overshadowed by detailed lectures from Charlie that didn't seem to progress the narrative at all. As a reader, I'm far more interested in Claire's journey learning those lessons than actually (re)learning them myself.

Constellations' story is important, and maybe I'm not precisely the right audience for it. If you resonate at all with Claire's story, you may find some comfort and validation here. Definitely check trigger warnings beforehand!

**Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review eARC**

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Spare, by Prince Harry

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emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

2.5

I'm fascinated by the royals in the same way I'm fascinated by cults. As an American, it's just a wild and supremely fucked up institution. So I was interested to hear what Harry had to say in this memoir. Unfortunately, I fear he has said too much.

And not too much about the monarchy or whatever. But perhaps too much about the war. And his frostbitten penis.

I suppose I can sympathize with having a hard time editing out bits of your life when composing a memoir, especially when that life has been lived so publicly and with such scrutiny over events that were inaccurately reported. And when you've endured so much trauma. But this book was entirely too long and often felt disjointed. I often tuned out during the middle section of the book where he goes on for eons about how much he loved the war.

Which is a shame because he has some very poignant and important things to say about how we treat those in the public eye. You just have to endure many stories about flying helicopters and camping in Botswana that you might not be interested in and paragraphs of the former Prince of Wales reminding you of all the "great work" he's done.

At the end of the day, if you're at all intrigued by the inner workings of the British monarchy and Harry specifically, Spare is probably worth a read. Just be aware that it definitely needed a more discerning editor.

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Wet Hot Allosaurus Summer, by Lola Faust

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.75

I'm not much of an erotica reader. Do I enjoy a good romance? Hell yeah! Do I like it when my fantasy series has a little bit (or a lotta bit) of ~spice~? HELL yeah. But I still haven't really ventured into the world of erotica much.

But when I signed up for a NetGalley account a few weeks ago and saw that one of the books on the "Read Now" had one of those old-school romance covers with a dinosaur on it, I could not pass it up.

Does this book have a stunningly crafted plot with deep characters? No, of course it doesn't. But that's not why you picked it up, and that's not what you're looking for in a review. You picked it up because you were like, "wtf, is this dinosaur smut?" and it IS. It does what it says on the cover, and it's a good time. I was laughing out loud multiple times and texting the group chat to laugh about it. At 60-something pages, it's a quick read and brought a smile to my face. And honestly, it got surprisingly deep a few times. If you want a good laugh and are curious to see what the hell dinosaur erotica could be about, I'd say it's worth your time.

**Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review eARC**

Content Warnings

River Woman, River Demon, by Jennifer Givhan

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.5

I really wanted to like this. A whodunnit thriller with witches? Sign me up. I read it via the Libby/Overdrive Together We Read campaign in part because the description suggests that it's "perfect for fans of Mexican Gothic."

This was nothing like Mexican Gothic.

First off, none of these characters are likeable. (Except perhaps the children, who also seem to perfect to be real.) Which like, whatever, that's kind of par for the course with thrillers. The issue is that it seems like the author wants us to like Eva. But I just did not. I don't necessarily agree with the many reviews that slam her for being a terrible mother (poor woman is being gaslit and traumatized, that would make it hard to parent), but she still isn't a particularly strong character outside of her parenting skills.

I also felt like the tone was just all over the place. One moment I'd be reading some really lovely, literary prose and the next she's calling Santa Muerte a bad bitch. I found it jarring and had trouble staying engaged.

It also simply just drags. Part of what keeps a thriller going is how the mystery unravels chapter by chapter, but Eva is not trying to solve the mystery, so the whole second act just slogs. I almost DNFed at around 35-40%, but decided to give it a bit longer. I skimmed tons of the middle chapters, but was interested enough as the loose ends started to tie up to finish. Eva never really tries to solve anything, the evidence just lands in her lap and she pieces it together. It's an interesting twist, albeit a little predictable. But it honestly was not worth the slog.

All in all, River Woman River Demon has such and a m a z i n g concept, but it's very poorly executed, which is disappointing. I don't necessarily regret reading and finishing it, but I wouldn't do it again. What the author has to say about racial injustice, especially in the legal system, in this book is important, but it was not an effective vehicle for it. Proceed with caution, and definitely check trigger warnings if you decide to give this book a go.

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One by One, by Ruth Ware

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Pet, by Akwaeke Emezi

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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? No

3.75

Pet uses allegory very impactfully to discuss topics of abolition, abuse, and accountability, however it’s hurt a bit by the straightforward narrative and often feels overly didactic. However, the Black, queer, trans, disabled, and autistic representation is *awesome* and the prose is gorgeous. I’m looking forward to reading the prequel.

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