michaelion's reviews
250 reviews

Room by Emma Donoghue

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

SICK AND TWISTED !!!!! Almost a perfect book!

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The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I love Romy. That's literally my baby girl child.

This is my second time reading so I knew what was gonna happen but it's been years. But the twists! The turns! I still have whiplash!!! 

And to all the baby girls out there, this should be required reading! Master manipulators / groomers use the same tactics J used in this book! Every girl is special and wonderful and need to trust their instincts! Romy doubted herself because she's a girl, because she thought she was a foolish child; but I need every baby girl to know that you are wiser than you realize! You can doubt the world but don't doubt yourself!!!


Such amazing thrilling writing. I opened the book at 3 pm and finished it by 11 pm! Then I went and added several of James' books to my TBR as soon as I finished this. Lauren James you will always be famous!!!

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Black Lives Matter LOUD & QUEER Zine by Marisa Wohlschlaeger

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emotional reflective fast-paced

1.75

Great photos / images. Some nice drawings. One poem had one line I thought was beautiful, other than that the poems were just okay.

That play though? One of the worst things I've ever read. No substance. No plot. Barely qualifies as a slice of life piece. Maybe I would've given the zine as a whole 2 stars if not for that play. It was so bad. F- !!! See me after class!!!

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What We Found in Hallelujah by Vanessa Miller

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emotional reflective 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

2.75

Could've been 150 pages shorter if you cut out the amount of times characters repeat themselves or each other. Obviously written by someone who's Gen X in the way that the dialogue is kinda cringe but the way that movies trying to make a quick buck are. (That's a bad explanation, I really can't capture what I mean but the writing's not good. People are randomly dramatic for the "sake" of tension and these situations wouldn't make sense in person. And I know what you're thinking: "This is a book, not real life!" Fair. But I trusted you to suspend my disbelief and you failed! I'm back to thinking of reality!)

Not a complaint for the author but for the illustrator of the cover: Hope is supposed to be dark skinned. Like, based on the story she is uncomfortably dark for this Southern town. And yet there are no darkskins on the cover. All them ladies are medium brown tones. It's a beautiful cover absolutely, but I was lied to!

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Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Browne

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emotional fast-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

2.75

I bought this because I thought it was a poetry book. I was wrong. Anyway.

I really related to / understood the emotions of the character so it got some extra points. Other than that it's just okay.

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A Psalm for Us by Reyna Biddy

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
This is so boring :/ Straight people just have crystal clear minds with absolutely no substance. Good for them I guess but I can barely hold a conversation with this kind of person. There's just NOTHING there, no weight or meat or flavor. I'm glad you're finding your way but I was waiting for a good poem and couldn't find one. I skimmed the other sections and nothing. Not wasting the rest of my time.

If you like this book, you'll love r.h Sin.
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

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adventurous dark hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Something must've been in the book publishing water in the 2010s because this is the second book I've read dealing with the multiverse. Now there's so many multiverse movies! Or maybe this is nothing because I don't have enough evidence but still !!!

At first I thought this was just like that episode of Rick and Morty, then I realized it was like a different episode of Rick and Morty, kinda, then I realized none of these other medias will ever be EEAAO. So.

Negative points for being written by a man. When he said "Spanish eyes" I went oh lord here we go but also the action scenes made me think aww boys having fun playing with their toys so he kinda got the points back there. I really liked the ending.
I like when things can't go back to how they were. Even though, after we learn there's multiple other Jasons, that means there are universes with no Jasons at all and he could've just went to one of those... But also loving your wife so much you'd kill multiverse versions of yourself? That's so real. This one's for the yearners.


Last note, nothing to do with the book, it must be really acclaimed because when I placed the audiobook hold I started off in 57th place. Had it on hold almost 3 months.

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A Chorus Rises by Bethany C. Morrow

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adventurous reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Bethany C. Morrow, you MUST be a good writer, because I hated this girl so much, I really did, and I still kept reading! Miss Morrow MUST be TALENTED because there are real life people like Naema who I'd have no problem humbling, I don't care for their perspective for how bad or disrespectful of a person they are, and yet I had to finish this one! Props to Morrow!

I am being dramatic; I love me a story from the villain's perspective (although it is weird to call a kid a villain, even if it's true). In fact I couldn't go 5 pages without leaving a note about something that made me laugh or made me angry or a comment about something happening in the world. Usually if something is so bad it's good I'll comment that but this book and series are just good. Like okay good not excellent or superb. Like a pleasant okay good.

I had similar issues for this book as I did the first one (the world building isn't fleshed out (although I do understand it more the second time round now), the back half of the book hooked me a lot more than the first half then it was over so quick). I think it's a good message for the youths to be aware of though, and my teenage self would've ate this up.

For the third book, let Naema say fuck. She needs it, PLEASE. Let her express herself!

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When They Call You a Terrorist (Young Adult Edition): A Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World by asha bandele, Patrisse Khan-Cullors

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dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Raw. Emotional. Very personal. Very close to home for me on a lot of issues. I can't really sum up my feelings for this one. It was really heavy but VERY good, very well done, and gave me hope for the future.

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The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

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dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.75

Amazing. Excellent. Superb.

Historical nonfiction, in my experience, is very repetitive, but here it works. It also works that the books begins (in either the foreword or the preface, idk, 68 pages before we get to the meat of the text is crazy) with whichever writer mentioning that critics of the book have complained that the book doesn't give a good enough blueprint on what revolutionary actions they should take nexts. You fools. You spineless clowns. Fanon literally says over and over here's how the colonizer distracts you and the way forward is not gonna be the same for everyone. The repetition is to show that while every story and its circumstances are different, the root of all their problems come from the same source.

It's depressing that this book published when my grandmother was born (and has since passed) is still relevant to today. I hope it is not relevant by the end of my life time. I hope that people look back at this book as a cautionary tale, a reminder of our history we cannot forget and always, constantly relearn to remember what not to do and how to move forward. 

Also kinda fucked up his parents named him Frantz. Sounds like France. Is / Was that a common name?

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