whatthedeuce's reviews
1291 reviews

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Holes by Louis Sachar

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

4.0

Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

The prose itself wasn’t half bad, but I found Hayes’ instant attraction rather irritating. And it was completely absurd that
he just immediately told Saiorse anything she asked about with barely even a trace of resistance after knowing her all of five seconds. That and how he just kept promoting her rank within the 2-3 weeks he even knew her leading up to his birthday.
Also I understand the appeal of morally gray characters and grasped why Saiorse would see herself as a monster, but my lord, her constant inner turmoil about it was SO REPETITIVE!!! It felt like every other chapter involved her calling herself a monster.
I was pleasantly surprised when her dad called her out on it and said she needed to stop using that label as a copout when she was doing heinous things.


It also really grossed me out that Saiorse was supposed to be seducing older men when she’s only 17. Like she doesn’t sleep with any of them, but the concept of a teen luring men in is so repulsive even if it’s actually saying something about the men that they’d be attracted to a teen in the first place. It was mentioned that lots of them groped her before she ever sang to them to entrance them, which is sadly realistic, but it really wouldn’t have changed anything materially to age Saiorse up by like 4-5 years to make her young enough to still be exploring her power yet not so young that her role of having to seduce men is creepy.
Penance by Eliza Clark

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

3.5

The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya

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challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson

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challenging informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

I was absolutely loving this book, but I knocked off almost a whole star cuz the final chapter was so rushed and muddled. The final confrontation between Trey and G was so abrupt and then the story ended a few paragraphs later, which was incredibly jarring. It seemed like there were several scenes missing before we should have reached the conclusion. Also
Trey’s mom showing up outta the blue seemed an odd choice to me. Again it felt like something was missing from that encounter, and I found it jarring to go from that to Trey blackmailing the congressman to save Angie.
She's Up to No Good by Sara Goodman Confino

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

3.75

I think the last 50 pages are so we’re really clunky, and that really affected my final rating of the novel. Also
Neil’s acceptance of Amber burning his house down was so bizarre. I guess it makes more sense if you’ve read Part of Your World, but since I can’t recall him from that story at all, his reaction to such a catastrophic event was really stilted and weird. 

Another big gripe for me is that I really wish Emma’s healing journey via therapy was portrayed instead of wrapped in a “6 months later” time jump, which made it feel too neat. She had 30 years of trauma and abandonment issues to unpack, and it bugged me that she would feel she was ready to try tackling life with Justin and his siblings a mere half year after their breakup. Like a whole year would’ve felt somewhat more realistic as far as how much she could have learned coping-wise in therapy, as well as raising the stakes of whether Justin would have started dating again, ya know?
Lie with Me by Philippe Besson

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No

4.25

When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5