sallysimply's reviews
1366 reviews

A fantastic book that I’ll be recommending to anyone who will listen. 

Changing (and, honestly, increasing) our understanding of adoption is crucial to the future of reproductive justice in the U.S., particularly for those of us who care about abortion, parenting, motherhood, and creating a more equitable society. As someone who is childfree by choice, I had never really considered things like the power imbalance at play, the demographics of folks who adopt and folks who relinquish, or what all of that means politically. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while!

Relinquished is essential reading for anyone considering adoption, anyone who sees themselves as pro-choice, and anyone who has pro-life folks in their orbit who tout the value of adoption. (It is essential reading for folks who consider themselves pro-life as well, I just have a feeling they won’t be super inclined to read it? But who knows! Recommend it to them, too.)

I devoured this, and it's possible it gave me nightmares. (Like... would I have had nightmares even without reading this before bed? Not sure! But nightmares were had!)

I may end up bumping this to 5 stars if it’s the kind of story that sticks with me. The writing is beautiful!

That was a delight!

I need to gather my thoughts.

The description of this as a "supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself" is probably the most accurate I've read. This novella isn't particularly scary and it doesn't even feel much like a ghost story although it is one, but it surely is a supernatural exploration and the focus is absolutely on the main character's journey into adulthood.

The audiobook cast does a fantastic job, and it's so short that if you bump up the speed, you'll get through it quite quickly. I turned it on to get some chores done, and it was a nice way to spend the time.

I can't say that I got a ton out of this story, though perhaps I'm just too far removed from that clumsy period of early adulthood. I was way more anxious about Mara keeping her job and not getting in trouble than I was about any hauntings -- that was the true terror here!

Such an interesting and engaging story, wonderfully paced.

I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this. If you’re going into it wanting a feminist retelling of Macbeth, I don’t think you’ll be particularly satisfied. 

I thought the reveal with the witches was kinda cool, there were some interesting moments about halfway through, and I suppose I liked the ending. Otherwise, this was just fine. Nothing bad about it but not really for me, I suppose.

Note that there’s a lot of assault and abuse towards women here. It’s not usually graphic, but there’s a lot of it.