Mini review: Empire of Pain

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe From Goodreads The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions: Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations to the arts and sciences. …

Second third reviews: 4+ stars

Happy Friday! Today is the second instalment of my thirdly reviews, where I'll be giving mini reviews of all the books I read in the last four months! Last week, I did all the books I rated 3 and 3.5 stars, and today are all the 4, 4.5 and 5 stars! Gender Queer by Maia …

Second third reviews: 3 and 3.5 stars

Happy Friday, friends! Every four months, I post mini reviews of the books I read in those months. I had quite a few from the past few months, so I decided to split it into two posts: one doing my 3 and 3.5 star reviews, and another doing my 4+ star reviews. Today is the …

Book review: And I Do Not Forgive You

And I Do Not Forgive You by Amber Sparks From Goodreads Exciting fans of such writers as Kelly Link, Karen Russell, and Carmen Maria Machado with prose that shimmers and stings, Amber Sparks holds a singular role in the canon of the weird. Now, she reaches new, uncanny heights with And I Do Not Forgive You. …

A review of The Family Chao but also a discussion on representation

Happy Friday, everyone! Today I'm doing a review and discussion, based on The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang. I had a lot of feelings about this book, and also a lot of feelings about some reviews of this book, so my review turned into a combined review and discussion. I do want to get …

First third reviews

Happy Monday, friends! The past couple of years, I've been doing round-ups of my reviews every four months as a way to ensure I'm reviewing every book I read. The reviews are usually fairly short (or they get their own post), but it's still a way for me to get my thoughts out. So, here …

Mini Review: Seven Days in June

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams From Goodreads Brooklynite Eva Mercy is a single mom and bestselling erotica writer, who is feeling pressed from all sides. Shane Hall is a reclusive, enigmatic, award-winning literary author who, to everyone's surprise, shows up in New York. When Shane and Eva meet unexpectedly at a literary event, …

Mini review: Last Call

Last Call by Elon Green From Goodreads The Last Call Killer preyed upon gay men in New York in the ‘80s and ‘90s and had all the hallmarks of the most notorious serial killers. Yet because of the sexuality of his victims, the skyhigh murder rates, and the AIDS epidemic, his murders have been almost …

Last third reviews

Happy New Years, friends! I hope your 2022 has been off to a good start! Every four months, I do a round up of reviews for the books I read during those four months. I've been really bad at reviewing things the past few months, so this post is a little longer than usual and …

A quick DNF review: A Ghost in the Throat

A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa From Goodreads In this stunningly unusual prose debut, Doireann Ni Ghriofa sculpts essay and autofiction to explore inner life and the deep connection felt between two writers centuries apart. In the 1700s, an Irish noblewoman, on discovering her husband has been murdered, drinks handfuls of his …

A needlessly long review of a 3 star book: Honey Girl

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers From Goodreads With her newly completed PhD in astronomy in hand, twenty-eight-year-old Grace Porter goes on a girls’ trip to Vegas to celebrate. She is not the kind of person who goes to Vegas and gets drunkenly married to a woman whose name she doesn’t know…until she does exactly that. This one …

Dual reviews: The Gallery of Unfinished Girls and Wink, Poppy, Midnight

Hello, friends! Today I'm doing a bit of a different review for me: I'm going to try to review both these books at the same time. I had almost identical thoughts on both The Gallery of Unfinished Girls and Wink, Poppy, Midnight, so I thought, rather than having near identical reviews, I would just review …