I don’t read a lot of horror, nor do I watch a lot of horror, because generally speaking, I’m not the kind of person who derives entertainment or thrills from being scared. A little suspense is great, and I can also handle a pretty good amount of gore, so it’s hard to say what goes from acceptable to nightmare fuel, but in any case, when it gets to be too much, I’m out. So, a book, movie, or show labeled “horror” needs a lot of […]
Beware the gossipy glitter birds
3.5 stars I experienced highs and lows during Reconstructing Amelia, a maybe-maybe-not YA mystery that alternates between the point of view of fifteen-year-old Amelia and her mother following what appears to be Amelia’s suicide at her swanky private high school. As her mother, Kate, tries to make some sense of the details around Amelia’s death, we also go back to Amelia’s life in the months before her death and are treated to the slow reveal of her spiral. The closer Kate gets to the truth, […]
Where I have nothing nice to say about a book I didn’t actually hate
2.5 stars I’ll be perfectly honest — I think I’m in a little bit of a historical romance funk right now and I didn’t like this book as much as I could have. Let’s break it down. Plot There was too much plot and little of it was entirely reasonable. Plot 1: the romance, ostensibly. I’ll get more into this later. Plot 2: Temperance and the Foundling Home, needing a patron. This is part of the contrivance behind Temperance and Lord Caire’s “agreement,” where his […]
One voice with the burden of representing many in the mainstream YA landscape
I’m going to keep this simple: as much as it was the case with The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian I don’t have it in me to *critique* If I Was Your Girl on the same level as I would a more … normative … book. It’s is very simple, mostly very pleasant, with Amanda, a milquetoast, blank-slate protagonist who wants nothing more than to be liked, to fit in, to have friends, to be confident, to be safe, and to be […]
A story about a flea, and also about how magic and fantasy are taken away from us
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is two things: it’s a fantasy story about a seven year old boy who encounters some terrible, unbelievable things, as well as some wonderful, unbelievable things. It’s also a neat little ode to childhood and commentary on growing up. The unnamed narrator returns to his childhood home, which isn’t even there any longer, to attend a funeral, and finds himself taking a diversionary trip to the farm at the end of the lane. He vaguely remembers there […]
The Hannibal of books
The Devourers is one of those books where I liked it so much that I don’t even know what to say about it. I read it in one sitting, ensconced in a fever dream, and because it was so intense and then over so quickly I had such a hangover afterward, wanting more. It’s like the Hannibal of books: fellow fans of the (too-short) TV show will understand when I say that it has that same quality of being breathtaking and captivating, literally beautiful, but […]
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