yourbookishbff's reviews
575 reviews

Beloved by Toni Morrison

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

Who am I to review Toni Morrison. This is a classic for a reason, and a second read of Beloved (the first as a baby high school student) gripped me. Morrison is unparalleled in her use of sentence-level prose to convey deep trauma.
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The Bride Goes Rogue by Joanna Shupe

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emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I almost hated this. Were it not for the absolute perfection that is the three-tiered grovel in the third act, I could never have forgiven Preston for being the stupidest, shallowest, most arrogant man alive. Preston needed to 1) be rejected repeatedly and 2) apologize and 3) earn back trust through small and sincere gestures and then 4) be rejected repeatedly again and then, finally, possibly, thankfully 5) grovel and grand gesture his way to a happily ever after. What a relief to see Shupe stick the landing here. 
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The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Perfect. A thrice-jilted duke is my absolute favorite kind of duke, and to see THIS duke emotionally leveled by the brave and loyal and fiercely free Nellie? Love it. A lot to love, but highlights for me include: an abortion backstory that doesn't lean on trauma and instead centers agency and confidence, a strong focus on reproductive agency for all women, an absolutely stunning love declaration, a believable third-act conflict and a strong show of female friendship from our supporting cast. 
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A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 38%.
Not in the right mood for this unfortunately. I'm told the narration is a game-changer, though, so I'm going to opt for that instead and see if my mood circles around to this.
A Beastly Kind of Earl by Mia Vincy

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Mia Vincy routinely decimates me emotionally, and this was no exception. What begins as an absolutely bananas premise - the FMC is pretending to be her sister but WOOPS ends up fake married to a mysterious earl who OH DEAR already knows she's not who she says she is and just needs a wedding-on-paper for a spot of cash - serves up an emotional gut punch when both characters fall slowly and earnestly in love. Thea's societal ruination and the familial fall-out feels familiar (in that we encounter it frequently in historical romance) and altogether original (because only Thea would stage a pamphleteering campaign to expose the truth). Likewise, our widower "Beast" feels more fleshed out here, as we see his emotional journey caring for - and then grieving - a loved one with mental illness. Vincy's strength is in plotting conflict resolution, and once again, she nails each beat, as both characters need to find individual closure on their pasts before they can be truly vulnerable and open to commitment with one another. The final scenes are absolutely delightful (I ugly cried) and the overlap with A Scandalous Lady is UNREAL. Mia Vincy is an underrated talent in historical romance, and I'm begging romance readers to read her backlist!
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We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir by Raja Shehadeh

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challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

This had a slow start for me, and while it took me a bit to sink into the narrative, I'm glad I stuck with it, because it's an incredibly relevant examination of diverging opinions and methods among Palestinian rights activists over the last several decades. Raja Shehadeh is primarily writing of his father's work and advocacy as he finally reads through his professional papers years after his murder. Both practicing attorneys interested in both domestic and international law, father and son held seemingly contradictory - but likely very complementary - views on Palestinian statehood. Shehadeh reflects on his own dismissal of his father's work while he was alive, and the emotional gap that kept them at odds despite such similar passions. 

Through his father, Aziz, we see how a generation displaced at the start of the Nakba navigated newfound refugee status. We experience, through his legal battles on behalf of his fellow refugees, the maze of international law that sought to silence and dispossess them, and we witness how colonial powers like the UK and the US sustained an ancient game of international monopoly to ensure Palestinians lost their land, their homes, their assets and their hope of self-determination. 

Most fascinating to me were the examinations of Aziz Shehadeh's work on the frozen bank accounts of Palestinian refugees and his later political advocacy for a two-state solution. These accounts of his work are timely reminders that Western powers have worked against peace for decades and have used proxies to divide and silence those who dared to use pen and paper to fight for it. Shehadeh's belief that a military solution would never serve Palestinians long-term, and his unflagging determination to work within a system built to ensure his loss is, ultimately, heartbreaking to witness, with the knowledge of all that would come after his death.

Highly recommend this concise memoir for those interested in learning more about the Nakba generations and fights for Palestinian statehood through the last several decades.
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The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

The Message is an immersive and compelling collection of four distinct essays. Each essay gives Coates room to reflect on his life as a lover of words and on his career as a journalist, and each explores how stories told well can both illuminate and haunt. He's grappling with a lot in this collection, examining, in particular, where he's fallen short in his own career, where overconfidence and a lack of accountability have enabled him to perpetuate limiting narratives. These essays are starkly vulnerable, as he consistently seeks out the fault lines in his own understanding of the world, measuring reality against his expectations in an effort to ask better questions. From Senegal to South Carolina to Palestine, his reflections are human and urgent, calling us to read and write more responsibly, to protect stories and their tellers, and to question the narratives of Empire.
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The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri

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

5.0

Loved this follow-up to The Jasmine Throne! This deepened our existing conflicts so deliciously - internally for both Malini and Priya as they navigate their individual gifts and callings and externally for their nations as they grapple with the cost of Empire and the possibility of not-so-mortal interference. I loved the slow-boiling tension, rapidly rotating POVs (one of my favorite elements of this series so far) and the light horror elements woven in (I was disappointed to get less time in the Hirana but we make up for it with the Yaksa!). The romantic longing is so well done (the epistolary moments at the start were a perfect way to bring their angst on page) and I cannot wait to see how these two navigate all that will come next. And Bhumika!!!! [internally screaming] 
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Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austen

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I revisited Jane Austen after at least a decade since my first and only read, and this was so much more enjoyable than I remembered. Austen's dry humor, snappy banter and over-the-top characters had me smiling from start to finish, and I so appreciated the commitment to demonstrative personal growth for our main characters. An English classic deserving of the moniker. And the narration by Kate Reading?! Perfect.
The Lady Gets Lucky by Joanna Shupe

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adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I thoroughly enjoyed this! Reformed rake x wallflower, with loads of sexual agency and consent (lessons in seduction, anyone?!) and believable, well-developed character growth for both main characters. I particularly appreciated how Shupe explores two under-confident characters - one who masks their low self-esteem through social performance and likeability and one who retreats as much as possible to limit rejection and social discomfort. The beauty in this love story lies in how each character brings out the other's self-confidence without veering into codependency - a delicate balance and really well done.
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